What are your thoughts on this?
“Thats Nice.” - Borat
As with everything, it depends. But check out Dan John’s One Lift a Day Program article on this site. I am in week 3 and very much enjoying it.
I switched to this a few years ago and really love it. It gets me in the gym every day… and it’s much easier for me to stick with it if it’s not every other day, or whatever.
Plus, I feel like I gain strength and size quicker this way.
I do:
Monday: legs
Tuesday: chest
Wednesday: back
Thursday: shoulders
Friday: biceps
Saturday: triceps
I do a couple of ab exercises every day at the start of the workout. It’s only 30-35 minutes every day. It’s great.
Great for strength, sucks for hypertrophy.
[quote]Avoids Roids wrote:
Great for strength, sucks for hypertrophy.[/quote]
I beg to differ…
[quote]PGA200X wrote:
Avoids Roids wrote:
Great for strength, sucks for hypertrophy.
I beg to differ…[/quote]
I concur…
I prefer 1 exercise a day to 1 muscle a day. I don’t get the logic behind 1 muscle a day.
Why only train one muscle… this just makes no sense to me?
[quote]drew91 wrote:
I switched to this a few years ago and really love it. It gets me in the gym every day… and it’s much easier for me to stick with it if it’s not every other day, or whatever.
Plus, I feel like I gain strength and size quicker this way.
I do:
Monday: legs
Tuesday: chest
Wednesday: back
Thursday: shoulders
Friday: biceps
Saturday: triceps
I do a couple of ab exercises every day at the start of the workout. It’s only 30-35 minutes every day. It’s great.[/quote]
Question for you Drew… why would you waste a whole Friday routine on a measly bicep? Then even worse spend Saturday on your tricep?
Why not train more muscles in one simple compound lift… and hit that as often as possible? Seems a little less time consuming and logical to me. Not to mention, more productive.
If there was only 1 exercise I need to do for full body development, I would do just that exercise. The closest thing I can find to it is a variation of the deadlift or some form of an Olympic lift.
I mean really… how many exercises and sets are you wasting on your “biceps” for “Friday”?
[quote]Go heavy fool wrote:
I mean really… how many exercises and sets are you wasting on your “biceps” for “Friday”?[/quote]
Agreed
Working each muscle group once every seven days makes one week…haha, get it? Yeah I’m a big dork, anyways I enjoy the one body part a day workout…I do it for a couple months each year and always see good gains…currently I’m doing it with legs split into two different days(hamstrings one day, quads the other)
I know science and some of our wonderful mentors here at T-Nation tell us there are better ways, but for me personally, I’ve found better success with this type of program than any other.
I have been working 1 muscle group per session for a good half a year now. My own reason for doing this is that it enables me to perform the heaviest lifts possible for one body part. I used to experiment with working two body parts (e.g. chest, shoulders) in the same day but I would get subpar results.
My current schedule is not based on 7 days a week.
Session 1: Chest
Session 2: Lowerback
Session 3: Shoulders (traps)
Session 4: Upperback
Session 5: Quads (mainly squats and leg extensions)
Session 6: Hamstrings, Calves
Session 7: Cardio
Session 8: Dayoff
I normally hit biceps or triceps on lowerback or leg days. Ideally I would combine leg days but squats really tax my body.
[quote]Go heavy fool wrote:
I mean really… how many exercises and sets are you wasting on your “biceps” for “Friday”?[/quote]
Heavy. Bi’s and Tri’s are usually done on the same day. The one muscle group per day isnt for people who workout 3 days a week. Its for people who can get to the gym almost every day of the week for shorter periods. So a person who struggles to reach 4 times per week wont get the same benefit. When its gym season for me its school time and the less I spend in the gym the better. I go during my lunch break from work (I work full time) and hit one body part with a few movements. I’m done in 40 minutes max.
Your recovery isnt an issue since you have 5 days or so between body parts.
Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Back
Wednesday: Legs (or Leg Split Quads & Calves)
Thursday: Leg Split Hams (or rest)
Friday: Bi’s/Tri’s
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Chest…
When leaning down I do 3 full body sessions a week. When trying to add, I do 4 body parts a week. Usually chest & quads, back & hammies, arms and calves. 4th day is back to chest.
They both work. Consistency is the key.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to wait a whole week between workouts on the same muscles. That’s a lot of down time.