Twice a week?!

LUVdaBENCH said:
What does everyone think about working out every muscle twice a week.
if you train balls to the walls 2x per week per bodypart it will lead to overtraining sooner or later
 
it can be done if one day is a light higher rep day with different movments. but even then not all can keep it up for a long period of time. as long as you know your body and know when to miss a session or two youll be OK. the variables aslo become more important as well. eating, supps, nutrition, stress, etc.......
 
Even a light Metal Militia routine just beats me to shit, I can't seem to hang with it and I'm not natural.
 
I've been thinking about training like this.I'm going to try training small muscles 4-6 sets and large muscles 9-12 sets
 
depends on your genetics. Some worked well with twice a week..some not. Well, to answer you, LuvdaBench, some do have fast recovery time. I still stick with 3x a week. works fine.
 
I used to do the 2x a wk thing. I was way over trained and once I figured out that more it NOT always better, cut my workouts to 3, sometimes 4 days a wk I added alot of strength and a fair amount of size. I think 2x a wk would be overdoing it, especially if youre natural. I was and I couldn't cut it on 2x per wk. Genetics, diet, rest all play a part. Experiment see what works for you.
 
I have tried it time and again over the last 25 years and even on gear I have NEVER been able to make gains training 2 x a week. I can do a bodypart/lift once over 5 days, but after 5-6 weeks I hit a wall and have to deload or take time off. Which isn't a bad idea anyway for most trainees.Notheless, I still do better in the long-term on once in 7. I run 65-75 personal training clients at a time and well over 80% of them do better on once every 7. And I train many pretty talented lifters.

IA
 
im using a westside template right now that uses two upper body and two lower body workouts per week. each has a light day and a heavy day, and it is really kicking my ass. 2x per week is really difficult.
 
IA, i think I will try that. my elbows and forearms especially need a break. Ill take a few days off and start that next week.
 
blackjack said:
im using a westside template right now that uses two upper body and two lower body workouts per week. each has a light day and a heavy day, and it is really kicking my ass. 2x per week is really difficult.

I am doing basically the same and so far it's worked out great. Once in a while I feel like i'm not at 100% but I have been making great progress in size and strength, gained about 35 lbs in maybe 4 months all natural. I think the key to this type of program is tons of food.
 
Experiment and do what works for you. Science might say that you're overtraining but how do you explain how the average football player who trains each muscle at least twice a week grows like a weed. I know guys who train certain muscles 3 times a week just to further growth and they are swole like pro bodybuilders. I know guys that only eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner and put on muscle consistently. Choose a workout and follow it consistently for at least 8 weeks and see if it works. If not, try another one. Quite honestly, I think CONSISTENCY and PROGRESSION is the key.
 
I think it depends on the person. no one is the ssame and some people respond to things differently
 
HST for instance calls for 3x a week fullbody, or more. Your muscle isn't what gets overtrained, it's your CNS that gets overtrained. So if you use lower volume during each workout, you can workout more frequently.
But here's the thing - your volume will end up being the same as it would be if you only hit each muscle once a week. So if you do 12 sets for chest a week (just pulling a number out of my ass) and you do those all in one day right now, with HST you would be doing 4 sets each day, 3 days a week - so in the end it ends up being the same.

I don't know if there is a benefit to either method. I guess it's up to you. You'll be doing the same volume either way, so how much time do you really want to spend in the gym?
 
Only muscle I work 2x/week are calves, and they respond much better to that then once a week. Calves are the only muscle I train farily high reps on, somedays lower but most often high.
 
Behemoth said:
HST for instance calls for 3x a week fullbody, or more. Your muscle isn't what gets overtrained, it's your CNS that gets overtrained. So if you use lower volume during each workout, you can workout more frequently.

True, I did just fine on HST. Trying to double the volume though (same routine, twice a week) and it will start to cost me within a matter of time.
 
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