How many days a week do you lift?

[LaZaRuS]

I'm on a routine where I lift 5 days a week.

 

[Classic]

I lift 3 days a week.

 

[Drex]

3

 

[semag]

I try for 4

 

[Fred Da Head]

Wasn't a similar question asked not long ago?

...I work out 5 times a week, and I think I'll add a 6th day in a month or so.

 

[livin large]

6

 

[Soshyopathe]

6

 

[xanderbaz]

In a month:
2 weeks x 2 and 2 weeks x 3.
I'm trying not to overtrain or burn out, since I'm dealing with a lot of work and basically have no time to go to gym on daily basis.

 

[Aiken_Drum]

4

 

[adonis_bb]

Mo: Back, Traps & Forearms
Tu: Abs, Quads & Delts
We: Rest
Th: Chest & Hamstrings
Fr: Biceps, Triceps & Calves
Sa: Rest
Su: Rest

on rest days i do 2x hapkido, 1-2x cardio in the off-season, 3 times when cutting up

 

[Arod161]

4 for moderate to advanced weight trainers

My schedual

Mon - Chest, Tricepts, abs
Tues - Legs, Bicepts
Weds - off
Thurs - Shoulders, tricepts, abs
Fri - Back, traps, bicepts

 

[Loverman]

The Edge

One.

Ha, and I'm seeing results!

Minimalist approach, less is more.

 

[WrEcKLeSS2000]

5

 

[semag]

Oh yeah... might wanna add for how long... what good is 5 days a week if it's for 10 mins a day

or 2 days a week for 5 hours each?? There could be big differences.....

Mines 4 days a week for an hour each.

 

[Alpha male Female Catcher]

I've been weight training since I was 19 and am now 35 (i.e. 16 years of training). The first couple of years I trained 6 days a week then I spent several years training 3 days a week then two days but for the last 4 years I've only been training one day a week (i.e. one day with a 3.5 to 4 hour workout).

Although I haven't really gained anything on my one day a week workout I haven't lost anything either. I still regularly do 4 sets of 5 with 308lb in the bench press and can still do 360 to 370lb in a single press. I've got 19" arms and weigh 255lb but am somewhat overweight and would probably be closer to 210lb if really cut). The point being that while one day a week is probably not optimal for gaining mass it is sufficient for maintaining what I've got (which in my case is not too bad, and in any case I'm probably at my genetic limit anyway).

I read a theory a long time ago (in someone’s exercise encyclopaedia) that I tried out and it seemed to work, that goes as follows. The ability of your body to repair muscle tissue that is damaged in exercise stays about the same throughout your body-building career (artificial hormones excluded). What this means is that when you start out body building (e.g. for someone bench pressing in the under 100lb range) because you've got a lot less muscle to repair your muscles recover a lot quicker and so might be fully recovered and ready to retrain after only 48hours or so, so you might only need to rest one day before exercising the same body part again (or maybe even the very next day).

However once you’re pressing over 200lb you are damaging a lot more tissue than when you were pressing only 75lb but you only have the same amount of resources (protein in the blood etc) to repair it as before so it will take longer for your muscles to fully recuperate.

(You want to wait until the muscle is stronger than when you last trained it before breaking it down again. If you hit it again when it is weaker then when you last trained it it will just keep getting weaker and weaker each cycle – otherwise known as overtraining).

So you might only exercise the same body part twice a week. In fact once your getting closer to the 400lb bench press mark it may take all week for each muscle group to recover so you might only exercise each body part only once a week

I definitely find I loose strength rather than gain strength if I do bench press more than once a week. For me anyway the optimal rest period for muscles seems to be a week (though this doesn’t necessarily mean you work out only once a week – you may still work out 2 to 3 times a week but you only do each body part once a week e.g. chest, shoulders and triceps on day 1, then legs and forearms on day 2, then back and biceps on day 3 or whatever – with evenly spaced rest days between your 3 work out days).

My ideal routine (for me at my current level) would be 3 one to one half hour gym sessions per week (but only once a week per body part as just described). After 16 years or training I don’t have the same drive to train or the psychological energy to train more than once or twice a week at the most now days.

I wouldn’t recommend anyone else do the all your body parts in a single day thing like I do though (unless your body has also been toughened by 16 years of exercise) but I would definitely recommend the only once a week per body part thing (when your level of development warrants it). Who knows if this philosophy is really true but it has worked for me.

Don’t get me wrong here. If you can work out 6 days a week and you are still seeing gains (and not getting weaker) and you aren’t continually injuring yourself and being forced to stop exercising altogether when exercising 6 days a week, then 6 days a week is probably the way to go (if you can really spare that much time).

While you will see gains on a one day a week work out even if you are a rank beginner, you will see better gains if you work out more than one day a week. I think an absolute beginner is selling himself short if he is only working out once a week but it is better than nothing if that is all your willing to give time wise.

The reason you drop back from six days a week is because you likely will not have enough recovery of your muscles before training them again (i.e. you will over train your muscles and get weaker not stronger) if you work out that regularly. If you are a genetic freak or on steroids/growth hormone then you may well be able to do the six day a week work out and if so ‘more power to ya’. The other reason you may drop back from 6 days a week is because there are so many more interesting things to do in a week than lift weights – but while your young and able to motivate yourself with dreams of being Mr Universe and able to dedicate the time and able to physically recover you should probably take advantage of the ability to do 6,5 or 4 days a week while you’ve got it but when your older and closer to your genetic limit your will probably find you need to drop back a bit (or take steroids which I don’t condone – I certainly never have and haven’t done too badly).