Ok i'm used to not working legs so i was working each body part 2 times a week. And i know that on gear your able to do that because of what gear does to help your body recover. But since i started to work legs i only work out 1 body part once per week and by the end of the week i don't feel like my body has worked anything. This is the second week of my cycle, what kind of split can i do to work each body part 2 times per week and stay from overtraining?
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workout twice a week
- Thread starter ORACLE
- Start date
very few people have the kind of genetics to be able to work the same muscle more than once per wek and be able to make significant muscle size and strength gains. gear will aide in your recovery and also allow you to push yourself harder when you workout but it will not allow the average person to be able to work a muscle group more than once per week if you are pushing yourself as hard as you need to in order to grow muscle.oracle said:
muscle soreness is not necessarily needed to dictate a good workout.
post up your complete workout here including comments on whether you go to failure on any particular set so i can get a feel for what you are doing and we can try to change things up to make sure you grow.
i've always worked each body part 2 times each week and managed to gain size. It normally depends on what i feel for the week normally a 2 day 1 day off routine. Here's somewhat of an example: excuse the crude terms for some excercises.
I initially start with 2 warm up sets per excercise to get in the right groove and form and then I pyrimid to were i do 5 - 6 reps with heavy weight
Day 1
Chest: Incline sets 4 sets x 5-6 reps
flat sets 4 sets x 5-6 reps
Incline flyes 4 sets x 5-6 reps
Cable Crossovers 3 sets (reps)
Bi's: *Alternating dumbell curls 3 sets 5-6 reps
*e-z curl suicides. (where you start from the down position and bring the bar half way up for 6 then start from the top position and bring it half way down for 6) 3 sets 6 reps each
*one arm dumbell concentration curl using preacher bench 3 sets 5-6 reps
* alternating dumbell hammer curls 3 sets for reps
Day 2
Back: Bent over rows 4 sets 5-6 reps
Lat pull downs wide 4 sets 5-6 reps
Lat pull downs narrow 4 sets 5-6 reps
Bent over Dumbell rows 4 sets 5-6 reps
Tris: Skull Crushers 3 sets x 5-6 reps
Over head dumbell press 3 sets 5-6 reps
Kickbacks 3 sets 5 -6 reps
Day 3
off
Day 4
Shoulders: Military Press 3 sets 5-6 reps
One arm lateral raises 3 sets each 5-6 reps
Bent over lateral raises (rear delts) 3 sets 5-6 reps
Dumbell Shrugs 3 sets 6-8 reps
Day 5
Chest and Bi's
day 6
off
day 7
Back and Tri's
I also go by how my body feels. If i feel i need to take 2 days off instead of 1 inbetween working days i will but usually on the weekends. As you noticed i did this without working legs. Sometimes my routine would change since i normally liked to work chest on mondays to start a fresh week. Don't ask why just a mental thing. I did this in my last cycle and was never burnt out or even overtrained and i increased strength and size while doing this.
But i just completed my 1st week on this second cycle and i tried the one body part a week thing and my body just doesn't feel the same. It's like i'm having too much of a gap inbetween each body part.
I initially start with 2 warm up sets per excercise to get in the right groove and form and then I pyrimid to were i do 5 - 6 reps with heavy weight
Day 1
Chest: Incline sets 4 sets x 5-6 reps
flat sets 4 sets x 5-6 reps
Incline flyes 4 sets x 5-6 reps
Cable Crossovers 3 sets (reps)
Bi's: *Alternating dumbell curls 3 sets 5-6 reps
*e-z curl suicides. (where you start from the down position and bring the bar half way up for 6 then start from the top position and bring it half way down for 6) 3 sets 6 reps each
*one arm dumbell concentration curl using preacher bench 3 sets 5-6 reps
* alternating dumbell hammer curls 3 sets for reps
Day 2
Back: Bent over rows 4 sets 5-6 reps
Lat pull downs wide 4 sets 5-6 reps
Lat pull downs narrow 4 sets 5-6 reps
Bent over Dumbell rows 4 sets 5-6 reps
Tris: Skull Crushers 3 sets x 5-6 reps
Over head dumbell press 3 sets 5-6 reps
Kickbacks 3 sets 5 -6 reps
Day 3
off
Day 4
Shoulders: Military Press 3 sets 5-6 reps
One arm lateral raises 3 sets each 5-6 reps
Bent over lateral raises (rear delts) 3 sets 5-6 reps
Dumbell Shrugs 3 sets 6-8 reps
Day 5
Chest and Bi's
day 6
off
day 7
Back and Tri's
I also go by how my body feels. If i feel i need to take 2 days off instead of 1 inbetween working days i will but usually on the weekends. As you noticed i did this without working legs. Sometimes my routine would change since i normally liked to work chest on mondays to start a fresh week. Don't ask why just a mental thing. I did this in my last cycle and was never burnt out or even overtrained and i increased strength and size while doing this.
But i just completed my 1st week on this second cycle and i tried the one body part a week thing and my body just doesn't feel the same. It's like i'm having too much of a gap inbetween each body part.
part of the reason for this could be that your body was in constant fatigue and rebuild mode where with the once per week workouts you will actually fully recover from each workout.oracle said:
if the 2x per week per muscle group works for you then by all means keep doing itbut just keep a very close eye out for stagnation and lack of gains or constantly feeling fatigued then change up.
for your workouts i would definately keep legs in the schedule. leg workouts have a very positive affect on your entire body and should not be neglected.
for your chest, with the flat & incline presses, alternate between using a straight bar and dumbells each week. if using dumbells for inclines then use straight bar for flat then the next week switch it up. same with the flye's, one week do flat bench flyes the next week do incline flyes. also do the flyes with the same movement as you are using the straight bar for. cable crossovers will not be needed during your workouts if you are doing flyes. they are more of a shaping exercise and not a mass building movement and will not be needed when doing flyes.
for back do deadlifts at least once per month in place of bent over rows. i would also do wide grip chins once in awhile.
for triceps you can replace kickbacks with close grip bench presses. kickbacks are a shaping exercise and must be done with light weight and perfect form and will not add size where the closegrip bench presses will definately add size to the triceps. also add a few sets of dips going to failure at the very end of your triceps workout for a complete destruction of the tri's. try to get them to the point where you must wear a weighted belt when doing them.
for shoulders, a great way to really work them when doing military presses is after you finish the last rep of each set, lower the bar or dumbells to just above the shoulders and hold till your delts fail you. you will need a good spotter for this or use the smith machine and set the holders at shoulder height and hold the bar just above it. this exercise will make your delts swell up and get big in no time at all as long as you hold till complete failure.
i usually dont keep a log of my workouts but this week i think i will so i can post it up here for you to give you a good example of what i do. it is a ball buster workout each day and after i am done i definately need the full week to recover from it. good luck and remember that the only one who can determine what does and doesnt work for you is YOU! i can only make suggestions but do not expect you to just change everything to what i do only to give you a few things to think about and possibly try out.
Yeah the once a week seemed long. like right now i'm about to go to the gym for week 2 and i feel like it was ages ago i worked out. i really need to restructure my workout to keep my body growing. I know i needed the rest for my muscles but i feel like i'm cheating them by not working them out. Maybe i could move around my arms towards the end so it feels like they've worked out throughout the week. I don't know but i'm open to suggestions.
oracle said:
i know what you are talking about. during my injury down time this last fall i was only able to do very light workouts 2x per week with only certain muscles and it did feel like it was a long time between workouts. just remember one thing though, your muscles do all their growing while you rest them not during the actual workout.
any time you make a change to your routine it will feel unfamiliar and wrong when you first start it. just keep plugging away
i will try to get a workout program together for you that will involve some rather unique ways of working the muscles but is guaranteed to make them grow. give me a few days and i will pm it to you and you can give it a try. if it doesnt make you sore then i will be at a loss
modified chest workout:
flat bench press on smith machine: use a weight you can do 10-12 reps and at the top of each rep hold for 2 seconds at near lockout then take at least 7-10 seconds to do a very slow negative. hold at the bottom just above your chest for 2 seconds also to stretch out the muscle before doing an explosive press up.
incline dumbell press: do the same thing with the hold at the top but really focus on squeezing the muscle at peak not on how much weight you can use. no need to lower the weight slowly but do hold for 2-3 seconds at the bottom to stretch out the muscle.
last set will be a rest/pause set with either flat bench or incline done on smith machine. set the stops just above your chest and use a weight that you can get 6-8 reps with. once you do the reps and cant squeeze another one out rack the weight and take 10-15 deep breaths and continue by doing as many reps as you can, rack the weight again, take the 10-15 deep breaths and do one more set of as many as you can. on the last set you want to fail on the negative and each and every rep should be done with a slow negative. have a spotter handy to help you lift the weight up to the starting point if needed. alternate each week betwen incline and flat bench with this exersize.
after you are done with the last exersize, get a pair of dumbells that are about 75% of what you would use for flat bench dumbell flyes and lower them down to their lowest point as if doing flyes where you are really stretching out the muscle, and hold as long as you possibly can going for at least 30 seconds. when you can hold for 30 seconds next time move up in weight.
this is a form of doggcrapp training and will feel much different for ya but tends to produce great results. more workouts to follow for the rest of your muscle groups but try this one first and see how ya likes it
flat bench press on smith machine: use a weight you can do 10-12 reps and at the top of each rep hold for 2 seconds at near lockout then take at least 7-10 seconds to do a very slow negative. hold at the bottom just above your chest for 2 seconds also to stretch out the muscle before doing an explosive press up.
incline dumbell press: do the same thing with the hold at the top but really focus on squeezing the muscle at peak not on how much weight you can use. no need to lower the weight slowly but do hold for 2-3 seconds at the bottom to stretch out the muscle.
last set will be a rest/pause set with either flat bench or incline done on smith machine. set the stops just above your chest and use a weight that you can get 6-8 reps with. once you do the reps and cant squeeze another one out rack the weight and take 10-15 deep breaths and continue by doing as many reps as you can, rack the weight again, take the 10-15 deep breaths and do one more set of as many as you can. on the last set you want to fail on the negative and each and every rep should be done with a slow negative. have a spotter handy to help you lift the weight up to the starting point if needed. alternate each week betwen incline and flat bench with this exersize.
after you are done with the last exersize, get a pair of dumbells that are about 75% of what you would use for flat bench dumbell flyes and lower them down to their lowest point as if doing flyes where you are really stretching out the muscle, and hold as long as you possibly can going for at least 30 seconds. when you can hold for 30 seconds next time move up in weight.
this is a form of doggcrapp training and will feel much different for ya but tends to produce great results. more workouts to follow for the rest of your muscle groups but try this one first and see how ya likes it
you will be either thanking me or cussin me out the next dayoracle said:Looks tiring...and painful...ah what the heck i'll give it a try.