There is an interesting article on T-Nation titled "Training for Muscle Mass" (I can't post a link, but go have a look, a very recent post). In it the author comments on a number of different, yet common training splits/plans and his "pricipals of a good training program". It is a good read with some food for thought, but he keeps driving home the point that training muscle groups once per week is not optimal, which happens to be the basis for many 3, 4 and 5-day splits.
However, I (respectively) take contention with the idea that this type of training is "not optimal". Now, I'm definately not an expert and I wouldn't even know where to find any studies (please correct me if I am wrong on anything in this post), but from my own experience (using a 5-day split), and the experience of others I know (using 4 and 5-day splits), the best results have come from the "once per week" approach.
For those of you who may not know, 5-day splits are primarily done to work one muscle group per week. This allows you to break down the muscle to the fullest and allow a full seven days before working that muscle again to fully recover (the article argues if this much time is needed). We all know recovery is key in bodybuilding and this approach will help prevent overtraining from working a muscle too much in one week. Also, training a muscle group once a week allows you to use high volume training and not worry about having not enough time for recovery. Training a muscle group twice a week during a 5-day split is possible, but I would'nt recommend it because it leaves little room for recovery. In my personal opinion, without a doubt, training muscles once a week during 5-day splits are better than training it twice a week. People who will benefit the least from this kind of training will be those whose aim is only to gain strength, such as the power lifters. Working out five days a week is calling out for overtraining for power lifters since they will not have enough time for recovery.
I have been running a 5-day split for about a year now, although today it doesn't resemble what I originally started with. It took a few months to get the adjustments to diet, exercises, sets/reps, workout order, muscle group orders and perodization set up, but once I found the right combination (at least for me) progression has been constant wether bulking or dieting. I find the 5-day split can be used effectively for both mass gaining and fat loss training. My training split looks like this:
Day 1: Legs/Abs
Day 2: Chest/Calf's
Day 3: Back/Abs
Day 4: Shoulder/Calf's
Day 5: Bi's/Tri's/Abs
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Rest
I settled on that order of muscle groups because training the lower body is probably the most taxing for my body. Therefore it is crucial to train it first in the beginning of each week to ensure that the workout is done while my body is still fresh. Also, it's more optimal to space shoulder and arm days as far as possible from chest day to allow the joints and triceps to recover properly.
As for the set/rep range, I train both heavy and light to target all the muscle fibers available to allow optimal growth during recovery period. I also use various techniques that prove to be useful, such as supramaximal hold, heavy eccentrics, rest-pause, heavy lifting and ballistic lifting etc… I switch either the main exercise or technique (or both) after 3 weeks or so.
One thing I don't do, but really should is go 5-days in a row without a break. Ideally I would like to have a day off in bewteen day 1 and day 5 somewhere, but I go Monday to Friday only as weekends are family time (which means the wife won't let me out of the house!).
I am really interested to hear any thoughts and opinions on the above!
However, I (respectively) take contention with the idea that this type of training is "not optimal". Now, I'm definately not an expert and I wouldn't even know where to find any studies (please correct me if I am wrong on anything in this post), but from my own experience (using a 5-day split), and the experience of others I know (using 4 and 5-day splits), the best results have come from the "once per week" approach.
For those of you who may not know, 5-day splits are primarily done to work one muscle group per week. This allows you to break down the muscle to the fullest and allow a full seven days before working that muscle again to fully recover (the article argues if this much time is needed). We all know recovery is key in bodybuilding and this approach will help prevent overtraining from working a muscle too much in one week. Also, training a muscle group once a week allows you to use high volume training and not worry about having not enough time for recovery. Training a muscle group twice a week during a 5-day split is possible, but I would'nt recommend it because it leaves little room for recovery. In my personal opinion, without a doubt, training muscles once a week during 5-day splits are better than training it twice a week. People who will benefit the least from this kind of training will be those whose aim is only to gain strength, such as the power lifters. Working out five days a week is calling out for overtraining for power lifters since they will not have enough time for recovery.
I have been running a 5-day split for about a year now, although today it doesn't resemble what I originally started with. It took a few months to get the adjustments to diet, exercises, sets/reps, workout order, muscle group orders and perodization set up, but once I found the right combination (at least for me) progression has been constant wether bulking or dieting. I find the 5-day split can be used effectively for both mass gaining and fat loss training. My training split looks like this:
Day 1: Legs/Abs
Day 2: Chest/Calf's
Day 3: Back/Abs
Day 4: Shoulder/Calf's
Day 5: Bi's/Tri's/Abs
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Rest
I settled on that order of muscle groups because training the lower body is probably the most taxing for my body. Therefore it is crucial to train it first in the beginning of each week to ensure that the workout is done while my body is still fresh. Also, it's more optimal to space shoulder and arm days as far as possible from chest day to allow the joints and triceps to recover properly.
As for the set/rep range, I train both heavy and light to target all the muscle fibers available to allow optimal growth during recovery period. I also use various techniques that prove to be useful, such as supramaximal hold, heavy eccentrics, rest-pause, heavy lifting and ballistic lifting etc… I switch either the main exercise or technique (or both) after 3 weeks or so.
One thing I don't do, but really should is go 5-days in a row without a break. Ideally I would like to have a day off in bewteen day 1 and day 5 somewhere, but I go Monday to Friday only as weekends are family time (which means the wife won't let me out of the house!).
I am really interested to hear any thoughts and opinions on the above!
