Confused about frequency of weight training

N

NathL

Cathlete
Hi Cathe and Cathe Nation,

I have a question about how often to workout with weights. From what I understand, the muscles need about 48 hours to restore thmeselves and be ready to workout again without depleating themselves. I know a lot of people like to do splits, working muscle groups 1-2 times a week. With that 48 hour thing, isn't it best to do total body weight workouts every 2 days in order to improve muscles all the time? I know that a lot a you out there say that they still continue to build up muscles even if they workout each muscle group once a week but I would like to understand why (I would like to do splits but I can't bring myself to do it, knowing that after a 48 hour rest, my muscles are ready to be worked out again!!!).

Thanks!
Nathalie
 
Is your question why you should wait the 48 hours between the weight workouts? and why you should split the workouts instead of doing a total body workout?
 
I think it's a trade-off. If you're doing splits (e.g. legs one day, biceps/triceps the next), it's easier to get a full hour of just working that muscle group in. With a total body workout, it's probably more likely that you're devoting roughly half an hour to the entire lower body and upper body each. So the net time that you're giving each muscle might turn out the same, but I think the the intensity would actually be higher for splits.

If you try splits, you might find you don't want to work those muscles 48 hrs later. :)

Btw, I do total body workouts 4x week. Just works better for me.
 
NathL said:
With that 48 hour thing, isn't it best to do total body weight workouts every 2 days in order to improve muscles all the time? I know that a lot a you out there say that they still continue to build up muscles even if they workout each muscle group once a week but I would like to understand why (I would like to do splits but I can't bring myself to do it, knowing that after a 48 hour rest, my muscles are ready to be worked out again!!!).
Click to expand...

Working splits allows you to work those muscle groups harder..so they need more recovery. The work of lifting the weights and stressing the muscle causes microtears in the muscle that must be repaired. As they are repaired, the muscle grows stronger and larger, as the body tries to compensate for the same stress again (but we try to outwit it by working out a bit harder, thus it has to compensate some more).

Depending on your individual recovery ability (which is affected by age, body type---ectos need longer recovery, in my experience, mesos less so, hormones, diet--a healthy, alkaline diet, high in antioxidants, helps with recovery, and other factors, including other stresses, both external and internal), you may be ready to work out the same muscle group in 48 hours...or more...or less. BUT you may find you have better results by pushing a bit more on the workouts (add a bit more weight--even if it's small increments, like the 1/2-pound Pace Weights--to your lifts) and allowing the full recovery time.

Whether you work full-body or splits, if you work the larger muscle groups (legs, back, chest) during a workout, there is a higher calorie burn, and more stimulation to human growth hormone production, so focus split workouts on those muscle for best results (a "shoulder/bicep/tricep" workout definitely won't have the same metabolic punch, even less so, a bicep/tricep workout).

Here are some ideas for splits:
1) 2-day split (lower body/upper body: like PLB/PUB): work lower body days 1 and 4 (ie : Monday and Thursday), upper body days 2 and 5 (ie : Tuesday and Friday).

3) 3-day split (again, focusing on the large muscle groups: legs/chest with smaller muscle groups/back with smaller muscle groups: like Pure Strength, Gym Styles): work one upper body day 1, lower body day 3, second upper body day 5. If you feel you need more leg work, for example, you could do the leg workout twice, following the 2-day split protocol above, and alternating the upper body workouts.

HTH!
 
Where Can I Find a Video Rotation Schedule?

Hello Cathe-ites! Can someone please tell me where I can find Cathe's suggested video rotations? TYIA! Off to the gym now to GET BUSY! ;)
 
For the last week and a half I have been working only one body part per day (along with 30-40 min of cardio most days), and let me tell you, sometimes those parts are not ready to be worked again for even more than 48 hours! For example, I did biceps on Sunday morning and here it is Tuesday night and they are STILL sore! I definitely work the muscles harder this way.

Usually I prefer splits to full body. (I'm trying one body part per day just to mix things up a bit, since I've been doing upper/lower splits for a couple of months now.)
 
Hi Kathryn,
Yes, I does help. If I understand you correctly, a person who recouvers quickly (and has a lot of time!!!) could do full body workouts every 48 hours or so.
Another question: how can I know if my muscles have recovered? I hardly ever get DOMS (even when I use S&H or the GS or when I have a hard time finishing the last reps of an exercise) so I can't really use DOMS as a clue whether I'm ready to workout the muscles again?
And another one: since I workout 3 days/week (usually Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday) do you think that it would be conterproductive to do all the upper body workouts from GS or S&H all in one day for a certain period of time?
Thanks again
Nathalie
 
NathL said:
Another question: how can I know if my muscles have recovered? I hardly ever get DOMS (even when I use S&H or the GS or when I have a hard time finishing the last reps of an exercise) so I can't really use DOMS as a clue whether I'm ready to workout the muscles again?
Click to expand...

After a while, you get to know the feeling when your muscles are ready for more. (I know that's not too helpful, but it seems to be true for me).

One sure sign that they aren't is that, once you're in the workout, you have to go down in weights for the same exercise (this only works, though, if you're doing the same workout, as exercise sequencing, number of reps and sets and other factors that vary from one workout to another come into play).

With the 'ideal' recovery, you should be able to increase the amount of weight you are using, even in a small increment, about every two workouts or so.
 
NathL said:
I didn't know about that! Thanks for the info. :)
Click to expand...


It's not a hard-and-fast rule, and some may disagree, but I've seen it recommended, and it seems to jibe with my experience (when I did a P90X rotation, I was able to increase poundage and/or reps--either increase works--with almost every workout).

Of course, there will come a time when you will reach your genetic strength limit and see no increases, and as you get stronger, sometimes the increase can be smaller.
 
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