BP rest...

[Hockey Playa]

IVe been told to do BP and give it a week rest. I cant imagine getting any real gains doing it once a week, 3 sets... I feel like i can bench again after 2-3 days, whats appropriate?

 

[WC2]

Whoever told you that obviously doesn't know what they're talking about. Chest 2 - 3 times a week is appropriate. Just make sure you spread out your workouts so you're not working with sore muscles. The pectoralis major is one of your body's biggest muscles, so you don't need more than 2 - 3 days rest (unless you're maxing out).

Also, BP isn't the only thing that you should be doing for your chest. Incline, Decline, Flys, and Dips should also be implemented.

 

[don juan jr]

if you feel like you can do bp again after 2-3 days then you haven't punished them enough.

it takes me around 6-7 days to feel like i can bp again, but i hit them extremely hard starting with bp, incline, decline, butterflies, and dips.

 

[WC2]

That can work too. If you're JUST hitting your chest that day, then you might want to wait a little longer like don juan said.

 

[Dobo]

Every second day you should be in the gym working out. That is unless you are really giving it your all, then I'd say every 3 days. I'm assuming that you don't have any kinds of injuries that can mean you only do this once a week???

 

[Hockey Playa]

dips for chest ? i thought they worked tris

 

[grr]

Its just like pushups: do the wider dips for pecs, narrow for tri's.

 

[WC2]

Dips work chest and tris and is a great exercise for both

 

[Skilla_Staz]

I've always been told that your muscles need a full week to recover when hammered, like they should be. My muscles are generally weaker and sore 4,5 even 6 days after an intense workout session.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Most people can handle training a muscle group twice a week as long as the volume is low. I've yet to see a routine on here where the volume is low enough to allow for more frequent training of a particular muscle however. it's very easy to overtrain 2xa week if you go all out, and you'd also need different exercises (2 x 5 deadlifts twice a week? you gotta be joking).

I've always been told that your muscles need a full week to recover when hammered, like they should be. My muscles are generally weaker and sore 4,5 even 6 days after an intense workout session.

muscle recovery and muscle growth are different things. your muscle needs to recover from a workout before any growth the workout induced can be manifest (woo, sounds like something out of a bad fantasy novel). you damage your muscles working out, this damage has to be repaired before any new tissue can grow.

Skilla - if you're still sore 5-6 days after your workout then something's wrong. a couple of days is fine, especially if you've not trained for a while, but not if this is a regular thing. either your recovery is poorer than average, your diet is off, too much volume in your training, bad post-workout nutrition. In contrast my best gains were usually when I didn't get sore much or at all (my recovery was great, usually thanks to lots of cardio and truly massive eating).

 

[mrRuckus]

Most people can handle training a muscle group twice a week as long as the volume is low. I've yet to see a routine on here where the volume is low enough to allow for more frequent training of a particular muscle however. it's very easy to overtrain 2xa week if you go all out, and you'd also need different exercises (2 x 5 deadlifts twice a week? you gotta be joking).

What about the 5x5 program? Those guys are doing benches, rows and squats 3 days a week.

 

[Warboss Alex]

What about the 5x5 program? Those guys are doing benches, rows and squats 3 days a week.

as far as I'm aware only the last set (i.e. the 5th set) of the 5x5 is an all-out set - if all five sets are 'all out' then they're not all out. (by all out I mean max load) hence the volume is low enough for you to do this.

only the squat is done 3xweek, the rows, deads, presses etc are rotated.

really it depends on what types of weights you're using. if your weights are puny then you can get away with it. if they're not puny then after a while squats 3xweek will become impossible. even the strongest guys in the world (WPO lifters) can only do squats 1xweek (twice if on WSB but the second day is not ME).

if you can do 1x5 squats 3xweek and still add weight every time and not overtrain you're either a) an android or b) not using nearly enough weight.

 

[Skilla_Staz]

Skilla - if you're still sore 5-6 days after your workout then something's wrong. a couple of days is fine, especially if you've not trained for a while, but not if this is a regular thing. either your recovery is poorer than average, your diet is off, too much volume in your training, bad post-workout nutrition. In contrast my best gains were usually when I didn't get sore much or at all (my recovery was great, usually thanks to lots of cardio and truly massive eating).

Most of the time I'm weaker a few days after, rarely sore, and if it still is sore it's more along the lines of "A good stretch and I'll be fine" type stuff.

My diet is crap right now though. Extremely low budget makes it very difficult to buy enough food. I'm basically on cupboard scavenge mode these days.