Chest Twice A Week. Good or Bad?

TryinToGetStrong

TryinToGetStrong

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So title says it all. Would it hurt me or impede the healing process if I started working chest twice a week? I only ask this because I don't seem to be getting much results working it only once a week.
 
whats your current chest routine? Overtraining is not usually the answer and I know very few who can grow on 2x a week routines. Usually its the opposite that needs to occur.
 
Newbies can do the same muscle twice a week and grow, but as you progress in weight lifting it takes longer to recover. Just hit it hard once a week. Unless you're just doing one excise, say bench strength training, then I would probably stick to once a week. This is my opinion.
 
My routine looks like this. I do one muscle group each day at the gym.

mon-biceps
tues-back
wed-quads
thurs-tri's & Calves
Frid-shoulders
Saturday-rest
Sunday-chest

This is not eactly what I do but wanted to give you an idea. I do train legs particularly quads 2x's a week along with some other groups. I always give 3 days of rest no matter what (without the rest they will not grow). However, I feel that if I want to give my bicep a quick pump after a leg workout thats fine. You def. dont want to overtrain the second time around that will do more harm than good (quick pumps IMO is ok).

Now, your asking about the chest particularly. I would say 2x's a week sometimes is ok: Not every week though. Lets say that you trained chest monday (getting a good pump) and on Thursday you want to hit it again. Thats fine, but again I would just get a quick pump in (should take only a few minutes), and thats it.

Also, mix it up. Lets say that for your chest workout you did all bench type workouts. Bench, incline, decline, press, etc. Thursday when you want to hit it again do more focused exercise like cables or DB fly's.
 
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barrysanders said:
My routine looks like this. I do one muscle group each day at the gym.

mon-biceps
tues-back
wed-quads
thurs-tri's & Calves
Frid-shoulders
Saturday-rest
Sunday-chest

This is not eactly what I do but wanted to give you an idea. I do train legs particularly quads 2x's a week along with some other groups. I always give 3 days of rest no matter what (without the rest they will not grow). However, I feel that if I want to give my bicep a quick pump after a leg workout thats fine. You def. dont want to overtrain the second time around that will do more harm than good (quick pumps IMO is ok).

Now, your asking about the chest particularly. I would say 2x's a week sometimes is ok: Not every week though. Lets say that you trained chest monday (getting a good pump) and on Thursday you want to hit it again. Thats fine, but again I would just get a quick pump in (should take only a few minutes), and thats it.

Also, mix it up. Lets say that for your chest workout you did all bench type workouts. Bench, incline, decline, press, etc. Thursday when you want to hit it again do more focused exercise like cables or DB fly's.
Click to expand...


the problem i see with that routine (just an observation, great if it works for you) that can be confusing to a newb especially is that you are doing tricep work for 2 days straight and shoulder work 2 days before you train chest. That is not 72 hours rest if you are kiiling those muscle groups on that day.

Same thing with doing back the day after biceps. If you kill the biceps, how can you have a good back workout? I know I couldn't. That's why I think a simple low volume routine is best for most people until they become advanced enough to know their body.

If you kill legs, it should take a week for them to recover enough to do them again with max intensity. Now, I said recover, not be sore, but fully recover to do another balls out workout.

Same for chest day. If you kill heavy bench work... you shouldn't be able to do heavy chest/delts or triceps for a week without proper recovery. Juice or not.

Again, not knocking anyone's workout, but most newbs overtrain and undereat... not the opposite... and thats why they fail.
 
RJ- None taken. Listing the workout routine monday-friday like I did was just an example (a bad one) to show that I work just one muscle group each visit at the gym. Your absolutely right about the order of the workouts that would kill your shoulders (including mine). I was on my iphone at the time (hard to type everything).

My actual point was if you have the time I found it better to work on one muscle group per visit at the gym. I do 4 or 5 days on 2 or 3 days off (and sometimes that a little to much for my shoulders). Rest IS Key, not for only growth, but to make sure that you dont injure yourself (which happens quite often).

You have to find what works best for your body and your diet.

My actual routine looks like this more than anything (it varies depending on how I feel).

Monday:Chest
Tuesday: Quads
Wednesday: Shoulders
Thursday: OFF/Calves
Friday: Back/ARMS
Saturday: OFF
Sunday: OFF
 
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You know, now that I think about it, I don't usually have a split.

I just workout what I want when I feel like it, and make sure I hit all my muscle groups.

If my chest feels sore, don't hit chest. If my legs are sore, don't hit legs..

Listen to your body. If you can bench twice a week and see good gains, then so be it.
 
Larrybird said:
You know, now that I think about it, I don't usually have a split.

I just workout what I want when I feel like it, and make sure I hit all my muscle groups.

If my chest feels sore, don't hit chest. If my legs are sore, don't hit legs..

Listen to your body. If you can bench twice a week and see good gains, then so be it.
Click to expand...

LOL thats kind of the way i look at it also. One issue with me, I can kill the arms working out, to the point where i cant even lift a damn coffee cup lol. Once i pass out, wake up the next morning... like nothing even happened. no soreness nothing.

now legs on the otherhand LOL! That is definitely a 1x a week deal. i over killed my shit and i couldnt walk this morning hahaha. I got a few good steps in, just sore a bit. Got to my stairs... after the 4th step my legs said fuck you and i almost ate shit down a full flight lol.
 
TryinToGetStrong said:
So title says it all. Would it hurt me or impede the healing process if I started working chest twice a week? I only ask this because I don't seem to be getting much results working it only once a week.
Click to expand...

You should be able to make great gains doing chest once a week if you train right. Training twice a week at the same intensity and volume is counterproductive. An option would be to do a light-moderate workout on day 2. Meaning you would do higher reps -less weight. But truthfully its better to just kill the chest once a week and let it heal and grow. Keep chest workout to 9-10 sets. Don't overtrain. Things will start happening if you listen to your body.

MAXIMUS HRT
Dave Bergstrom
Consultant
Direct: (978) 761-4051
Fax: (248) 694-0983
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- Maximus HRT
 
Yeah, its hard to give advice. It's really about the individual and how fast you can recover. However, what ever body part I'm looking to improve on I normally do give that muscle some extra attention per week & that seems to work for me.

You'll figure it out by some trial and error. Best advice I can give is that if you DO NOT get a good PUMP during a set...redo that set!!!!
 
I think it's all relative to you. You have to find out what works best for your body.


I seem to respond better to 2+ hours in the gym per body part per week. But that's just me.

And I mean, I enjoy it.


I don't really believe in overtraining, either. Just under eating.


But try hitting chest 2x a week. If it works for you, stick with it. If not, then at least you're that much farther ahead in your knowledge.

Just my two cents.
 
82nd_Fister said:
I think it's all relative to you. You have to find out what works best for your body.


I seem to respond better to 2+ hours in the gym per body part per week. But that's just me.

And I mean, I enjoy it.


I don't really believe in overtraining, either. Just under eating.


But try hitting chest 2x a week. If it works for you, stick with it. If not, then at least you're that much farther ahead in your knowledge.

Just my two cents.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks there 13F appreciate it. Sorry for not replying long ago guess I didnt see it
 
The frequency in which you work any particular muscle is not a one size fits all answer. It is based entirely on which muscle fiber type is dominant in your body.
 
All you have to do to make progress for any muscle group is just progressive overload/increase reps with that same weight. Building muscle really isn't a hard science too many people over complicate things, and do stupid as routines and burn themselves out by doing too many sets, etc.

If you look at the guy for example that goes and does chest every week but only does let's say 9-12 Sets but adds weight/reps every week and doesn't burn himself out by overdoing to a guy who is doing 15+ sets and thinking that training to failure all the time is good, and not progressing as much the guy adding more weight and doing less sets is still going to grow more.

So I know most people have a mindset that if they do more that they are going to grow they are pretty much going to make minimal gains compared to good gains.

Just my two cents.
 
I would train chest and all other muscles 1 time a week.May have to expriment with sets and reps as everyone is different.I stay at 9 to 12 sets per body part.Rep range anywhere from 4 to 6 to 10 to 12 change it up and also try throwing in dumbell presses works for alot of people I know.
 
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