weight training frequency. how much?

[n.mitch]

There is a lot of conflict out there as to how many times you should train a body part per week. Some say you should train each body part twice a week e.g chest monday and friday while others say that can leed to overtraining that you should only train body parts once a week.
currently i train body parts once e.g chest and tri on mondays. back and biceps on wed, shoulders and deltoids on fri and legs on saturday some times i add extra small chest work out on fri with my shoulder work out.
I have tried training twice a week program for each muscle group but didnt notice any gains.
But i never get big any way.
What do others find the best and do you notice much difference?

[manofkent]

Nobody can say a sure time for you. Cos no body other than you can tell when your, muscles are ready and healed from your last workout.

I dont know how hard you work out or what hurts the next day.

If you train light then 48hrs is fine. Somtimes when I Isolate a muscle and work it hard in one session it will ache for 5-6days. so you see I can train the muscle twice a week, but not on a 7 day routien.

This may sound strange but I dont think "programs" are a good idea.

Just go to the gym every 2days, or 2 out of three days and pick a workout that suits you on that day. sometimes I'll work out 5-6times in one week, sometimes its 2. Dont try doing 1 particular muscle group on a particular day, cos you'll just end up over training or undertraining.

[Chief Fox]

Doing the standard break down of body parts and muscle group routine is really more of a body building routine than a functional fitness type routine in my opinion.

Those routines are designed to severly break down a muscle group to promote maximum muscle growth. Maximum muscle growth does turn into strength but it doesn't necessarlly turn into functional strength. ie. make you a better martial artist.

I'd recommend a program like the crossfit workout (http://www.crossfit.com). This program is based soley on functional fitness, speed and power. I'd say that it combines perfectly with martial arts training. At first, the workout is very taxing and you are completely wiped out but soon your body adapts and you can train both crossfit and martial arts in the same day. The workouts are extremely hard so they also benefit your mental toughness as well. That's how it has worked for me anyway.

Try out the workout for 2 weeks and you'll see what I mean. Check it out.

[fa_jing]

The once a week training thing is for bodybuilding only. For functional strength training with weights, you want to do something like I do. I work out every 3 days, always working the whole body. Emphasizing Squat, Deadlift, Bench, Power clean, overhead press, and rows or chins. Throw in biceps, calves, and ab work at the end if you like. Lots of sets but keep reps between 3-7 so that you don't lose concentration. Sometimes emphasize volume and sometimes intensity (lifting close to your max for a given rep range). Never go to failure in an exercise more than once a week. Hope that helps

[IronFist]

If you do high volume you'll have to wait longer between training sessions.

If you do lower volume you can train more often.

Some powerlifters train with high weights and low reps and a few sets and train the same lift almost every day.

Some bodybuilders train high volume for each muscle group with many reps and sets and they can only do it once a week.

[1renox]

Ditto on what other guys said--and some more advice.

If your not a professional athlete, or don't have lots of free time, I'd suggest you not stick to the 2 body parts per week program. No need to read the rest of this post if you do have lots of free time on your hands. Heck you could even do 3-4X per week then.(oh, to dream such a dream!)

But--in practice (for us poor working sods, that is), the frequency depends upon, among other things, personal time constraints.

If I plan to train ( lift) 2X per week, but miss one work out every week due to job, school, family, lack of facilities, etc, the exercise program will NOT be effective because probably the most important principles for any type of training are;

a. consistency. Consistancy means working the body part regulary--that is peforming the same exercise ( or approximatyelty the same one) each session. You are trying to get the muscle to adapt.

b. overload. Over load meaning being able to improve. [ By increasing weight or sets/reps or both]

W/o a consistent program, that fits your realistic time schedule, you will go nowhere. For example, flies will help your bench press wieghts, but flies alone will not make the bench press wieghts increase. If you don't have time to do flies and bench press, then stick only with bench press. Variety does help, but that's another topic.

W/o a frequency that allows for overload, you will go nowhere. For improvement, there must be a period of recovery. But, wait too long and the benfit is dimished. After about 8 days, the training effect of the last workout has been lost.

As another post suggested--don't stick to any "program". Instead, use a frequency that realistically works for you and allows for consistency and improvement. 2X per week is a good guideline, but it's only a guideline.

Here is what works for me. This is much less than optimal. I can make slow gains and complete it w/o causing much conflict with other commitments.

Full body workout every 2 to 3 days, 4 to 5 sets, 2 to 4 exercises per muscle/group. Run/aerobics every 2 to 3 days. Will do lifts/ aerobics same day (a.m. vs. p.m) or one after the other if missed one of the previous days to fit it all in. Almost always rest Sunday (church, family), sometimes full body work out. Never > 4 days recovery between any activity. Will lift/run even if not recoverd so can fit it all in. On occasion, if a rest days comes up about 30 mins worth of power lifts. Will take time off if feeling overtrained. Take 5 days off every 10 weeks and start a new cycle.

[Toby]

Some powerlifters train with high weights and low reps and a few sets and train the same lift almost every day.

I like this IronFist character. He knows what he's talking about .

[manofkent]

The once a week training thing is for bodybuilding only.

That is absolute Cr*p. I train 2 in 3 days Using mainly isolation exersises, working each muscle once every 6-8 days.

Its not just for body building, this is the fastest way to build strength. I understand what ppl are saying, "its not practical strength" What they mean is, The new muscle may restrict movement and slow me down. This may be true, But it just mean you must train and strech more.

You dont train fast kicking and internal forms at the same time. Just think of flexibility and strength training as two diffrent parts of your training

[n.mitch]

I know what you mean by not having time thats one of the main reason i do muscle group splits as opposed to doing total body work outs.
by doing splits your only in the gym around 30mins or so and thats doing around 12sets per body part 4different exercises* 3 sets as opposed to full body workouts that take 1hour 30mins or more doing only 9sets or less per body part.
I agree that if you train full body 2or 3 per week you will get fitter than splits but you should be getting fitter training MA, splits give you more time to do that and i find less fatiging and i think you get just as strong.
Its just there is so many ppl on both sides e.g skip la cour trains only 1 per week(muscle group) where as keven levern and others train twice (and he is on the gas ) as opposed to la cour.
Its good to get some mortals opinions lmao.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

I'd recommend a program like the crossfit workout (http://www.crossfit.com. Check it out.

this looks like exactly what i have been looking for.

would you mind tossing me a little more info via reply, pm, email before i throw down 20 bucks on it? like what you typically do in a week or something. i understand it says routine is the enemy, but theres got to be some standard to fit around time constraints and what not even if the activities are always changing. i just didnt see any way of measuring your progression on the site ... im assuming thats what they want you to subscribe to the journal for.

[Merryprankster]

Trey, you're not over training. You have rest or active rest four days a week.

Gotta tell you that the sleep thing is going to catch up with you though. It's not going to happen today or tomorrow - it's a gradual wearing down thing.

For the record, if you are doing a ton of different lifts in the gym, you aren't using your time wisely. I don't doubt your dedication or your conditioning - I'm just telling you that there are better ways to get your lifting done - and that will also yield more benefits.

Focus on total body lifts and compound movements. You'll get much stronger, faster, and in ways that are better for what you do.

Just my two cents.

[Trey]

Good advice merryprankster, and i must agree with you. I do perform compound and olympic type lifts, and I do realize how important these are for overall strength and muscle stability, (especially in the core).

[FooFighter]

n.mitch,

In CST's perspective, we do not isolate muscles into a specific group for specific training. However if you want to train muscles into groups and discuss when and how to do so will be than you want to discuss this with those who have the paradigm of bodybuilding and perhaps powerlifting? In the body building community, there is two schools of thoughts: more is better and less is more. Intensity, progressive loading, and volume will vary according your psychological temperament, genetic make up, past experience, and present specific goals. What works best for me in putting on size and strength is doing a double density program using my 45lb Clubbell bruiser. I am doing the ABC program: http://clubbell.tv/abc.html. I do not do specific isolated exercises, but I am adding "size" evenly all over by using my Bruiser. I have noticed that the principles of ABC and the attritubes have developed through CST has also increased my martial arts ability as well.

One in CST,
Bao

[fa_jing]

Don't call people stupid and then misspell "Bored" as "board"

If training once a week was the fastest path to strength, then Olympic weightlifters and powerlifters would train once a week. They don't, though. They train their "bodyparts" two or three times a week.

Also, I believe I am being misquoted as training 3 times a week, when what I said is that I train the whole body every 3 days in general. You can do more or less though.