How Often Do You Train?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

How many days per week do you train?

What kind of split do you use?

What’s your reasoning behind it?

What are your goals (size vs strength or both)?

Right now I’m training 4x/wk with the following split looking for size and strength:

Sunday - shoulders
Monday - off
Tuesday - Legs / back (legs focus)
Wednesday - off
Thursday - Chest
Friday - Back
Saturday - off

This is my first week back from a forced de-load because I got my wisdom teeth removed a little over a week ago, and I wanted to go 5x/week with another leg day on saturday, but I know I can’t handle it this week. Might try to get it in next week depending on how my recovery is going, but training 4 days in a row might be tough.

After 3 weeks of this sort of split, I’m thinking about going with a 4 way upper/lower split cycling it over MWF for the last 3 weeks of the semester, then giving poliquin’s super accumulation a try once I get back home in May.

Let me know what you think and feel free to throw in your plans for your next couple cycles of training…

2

I don’t work out by days of the week. My cycle is 4 - 5 days long.

Day 1: Legs and Shoulders
Day 2: Chest and Traps
Day 3: Back and Calves
Day 4: Arms
Day 5 is a day where if I don’t feel good enough to take on day 1 again, I will rest. Otherwise, I go back to day 1 for day 5 and keep on going.

I guess this means I train 5 - 7 days a week depending on how I’m feeling. I do this because I feel like I have pretty good recovery ability. I also go pretty high volume on my workouts (about 2 hours long). This workout schedule is what has worked best for me. My goals are size, but I know I can’t get big without being strong, so I train for strength as well.

Specifically, I wish to be 260+ lbs with 8% body fat. I need about another 40 lbs of lean muscle before I will reach that.

3

Day 1 - Back
Day 2 - Legs
Day 3 - Chest
Day 4 - off
Day 5 - Shoulder, biceps/triceps
Day 6 - Cardio and abs
Day 7 - Off or start cycle over.

4

day 1 pull ups and deads
day 2 pull ups and rows
day 3 pull ups and squats

houston, i mean texas, we have a problem

5

[quote]Blongo wrote:
How many days per week do you train?

What kind of split do you use?

What’s your reasoning behind it?

What are your goals (size vs strength or both)?

Right now I’m training 4x/wk with the following split looking for size and strength:

Sunday - shoulders
Monday - off
Tuesday - Legs / back (legs focus)
Wednesday - off
Thursday - Chest
Friday - Back
Saturday - off

This is my first week back from a forced de-load because I got my wisdom teeth removed a little over a week ago, and I wanted to go 5x/week with another leg day on saturday, but I know I can’t handle it this week. Might try to get it in next week depending on how my recovery is going, but training 4 days in a row might be tough.

After 3 weeks of this sort of split, I’m thinking about going with a 4 way upper/lower split cycling it over MWF for the last 3 weeks of the semester, then giving poliquin’s super accumulation a try once I get back home in May.

Let me know what you think and feel free to throw in your plans for your next couple cycles of training.[/quote]

My goals are similar to yours. I’m going for size and strength. I’m using a training program from the article blending size and strength http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1807367&cr=

So far I’m really liking it. It’s 4days a week. 1st day is heavy upper, 2nd is light lower, 3rd is light upper, 4th is heavy lower. A couple days of cardio and some ab workouts. Will be on my third week and it last for 12 and plan on sticking to it for that long and seeing what kind of results I get.

I might suggest the same thing for you, but if you’re doing good with what you’re doing then don’t stop till the progress halts.

6

i dont think i like to push things

7

[quote]drummerofgod89 wrote:
I don’t work out by days of the week. My cycle is 4 - 5 days long.

Day 1: Legs and Shoulders
Day 2: Chest and Traps
Day 3: Back and Calves
Day 4: Arms
Day 5 is a day where if I don’t feel good enough to take on day 1 again, I will rest. Otherwise, I go back to day 1 for day 5 and keep on going.

I guess this means I train 5 - 7 days a week depending on how I’m feeling. I do this because I feel like I have pretty good recovery ability. I also go pretty high volume on my workouts (about 2 hours long). This workout schedule is what has worked best for me. My goals are size, but I know I can’t get big without being strong, so I train for strength as well. Specifically, I wish to be 260+ lbs with 8% body fat. I need about another 40 lbs of lean muscle before I will reach that.[/quote]

7 days a week with no rest sounds crazy unless you’re using some type of gear. Also, 260 at 8% is pretty mean. I’m sure it’s possible to get there naturally, but that depends on a whole lot of factors including time and genetics…if you stay natural. 220 already? what bf% are you at?

8

[quote]ZeusNathan wrote:
i dont think i like to push things[/quote]

huh? You gotta push and pull to get big.

9

[quote]Blongo wrote:
How many days per week do you train?
[/quote]

3

DC training

I started doing it because

  1. it has worked for LOTS of people (many of them already advanced BB’ers)

  2. I’ve got a couple screws loose and love mind blowingly intense workouts

Primarily size, but DC is all about weight progression, so strength increases are a big part of it.

Been doing this program since November and I’ve gotta say that I love it. In all honesty I’ll probably stick with this program for the remainder or my lifting career (read: until father time or murphy dictate that I must stop lifting knock on wood).

[quote]
Right now I’m training 4x/wk with the following split looking for size and strength:

Sunday - shoulders
Monday - off
Tuesday - Legs / back (legs focus)
Wednesday - off
Thursday - Chest
Friday - Back
Saturday - off

This is my first week back from a forced de-load because I got my wisdom teeth removed a little over a week ago, and I wanted to go 5x/week with another leg day on saturday, but I know I can’t handle it this week. Might try to get it in next week depending on how my recovery is going, but training 4 days in a row might be tough.

After 3 weeks of this sort of split, I’m thinking about going with a 4 way upper/lower split cycling it over MWF for the last 3 weeks of the semester, then giving poliquin’s super accumulation a try once I get back home in May.

Let me know what you think and feel free to throw in your plans for your next couple cycles of training.[/quote]

Cool. Hope it works out well for you.

10

[quote]Sir wrote:
7 days a week with no rest sounds crazy unless you’re using some type of gear.
[/quote]

Why does it sound so crazy?

Honestly if I had all the time, money, and food in the world I would prefer to workout 6-7 days each week.

I don’t understand where this philosophy came from that you have to be basically sedentary at least once a week… but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you think about it.

While you are working one muscle group, all your other muscle groups are resting. Just be sure to pair up muscle groups and organize the routine intelligently and you can train 7 days a week without “overtraining” or having to be on anabolic steroids.

11

[quote]Blongo wrote:
How many days per week do you train?[/quote]
4

Personally made.

It works. So far I’ve gained two inches in 5 months, and a shitload of lbs on my lifts.

Dumb question.

Sunday - Rest
Monday - Chest/Back
Tuesday -Biceps/Triceps
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Shoulders/Abs
Friday - Legs
Saturday - Rest

I don’t have plans. Shit will change if it has to, and for specific reasons (e.g. one exercise hits a certain bodypart better than another). If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

12

Oh yeah, my routine can be found in my training thread “witty banter”… if you’re curious.haha

3-way split, ideally 6 days a week. Depends on time constraints.

13

[quote]Fulmen wrote:
Blongo wrote:

What are your goals (size vs strength or both)?
Dumb question.

[/quote]

Explain to me how this is a dumb question. Granted I posted this in the body building thread, but ever hear of relative strength? As idiotic as it might sound to some not everyone is interested in moving massive amounts of weight or getting huge.

14

Monday: Chins/Bent-Rows

Wednesday: Bench/Military

Friday: Squat/Stiff Legged Deads

These are 45 minute workouts. (After 45 minutes I can barely move so an hour is unrealistic, although once I get more conditioned volume will increase.)

~

I’m trying to keep it simple for a couple of years to build a strong base.

I analyze my diet much more than my gym routine, for the routine I just make sure to lift heavy stuff until I’m wasted and rest enough.

I’m training predominantly for strength.

15

I go 4 times a week, using 3 day splits.

Sometimes going twice a day, splitting the workout from that day.

16

I would love to workout 6 days a week but things come up at night when I workout so realistically 3-5. lifting is simple just do easy 3 day split when I can.
Day 1: chest/shoulders
Day 2: arms/back
Day3: Legs

17

Right now it’s looking like this
Back
Chest/Shoulders
Legs
Arms

18

[quote]Blongo wrote:
How many days per week do you train?[/quote]
4-5

Personaly made.

Day 1 Chest, Triceps (Strength)
Day 2 Back, Biceps, Legs(Deadlifts)
Day 3 Off
Day 4 Off
Day 5 Chest, Triceps (Size)
Day 6 Biceps, Back (Size)
Day 7 Legs(Squats), Shoulders (Size/Strength)
Day 8 Off

Repeat

I’ve been making the best strength and size gains I have ever made in my life.

[quote]What are your goals (size vs strength or both)?
[/quote]

To be the biggest, strongest baddest mofo on the planet.

19

[quote]Sir wrote:
drummerofgod89 wrote:
I don’t work out by days of the week. My cycle is 4 - 5 days long.

Day 1: Legs and Shoulders
Day 2: Chest and Traps
Day 3: Back and Calves
Day 4: Arms
Day 5 is a day where if I don’t feel good enough to take on day 1 again, I will rest. Otherwise, I go back to day 1 for day 5 and keep on going.

I guess this means I train 5 - 7 days a week depending on how I’m feeling. I do this because I feel like I have pretty good recovery ability. I also go pretty high volume on my workouts (about 2 hours long). This workout schedule is what has worked best for me. My goals are size, but I know I can’t get big without being strong, so I train for strength as well. Specifically, I wish to be 260+ lbs with 8% body fat. I need about another 40 lbs of lean muscle before I will reach that.

7 days a week with no rest sounds crazy unless you’re using some type of gear. Also, 260 at 8% is pretty mean. I’m sure it’s possible to get there naturally, but that depends on a whole lot of factors including time and genetics…if you stay natural. 220 already? what bf% are you at?

[/quote]

Listen to what Mr. Popular says down a few posts. If I hit a muscle group hard every 4 - 5 days, then that’s fine. I see to many people worrying about what specific day of the week they work out what body part when they don’t even have time constraints to where they can only fit in workouts on specific days. These guys have time everyday where they could lift, but just do not think outside of a week-long cycle. I want to grow as fast as possible without gear (at the moment, I will probably use it in the future when I’m close to my genetic limit). I’m a very easy gainer, so I take advantage of high intensity, high volume, and high frequency training without steroids while I still can.

Yeah, I’d be about 220 if I were 8% bf. I’m 18% as of now. I’m 6’2" also. I have years of growth ahead of me, and I know 260 at 8% will be difficult, but I have no doubts that I will reach it.

Like I said, my split is based on how I feel, not what day of the week it is. I see people taking a day or two off when on the last day they worked out, they used their legs and the day they come back is arm day. I fail to see how resting those two days will be of any benefit to any lifter in such a situation.

20

4 days a week.

Days 1,3: 40mins CARDIO + Upper Body
Days 2,4: 40mins CARDIO + Lower Body + Abs

Extra cardio outside on occasion. My goals are heart health first, size second.