Manchester Mike

Whats the best way to fully work your body and gain muscle mass??

I've heard for example:

Day1- back and biceps

Day2-chest and triceps

Day3-shoulders and legs

I've also heard....

Day1-Chest

Day2-Back

Day3-Shoulders

Day4-Arms

Day5-Legs

Currently i'm doing the second option, spending around an hour at the gym on each section rather than spliting muscle groups as in the first option.

Which is best though? in the first option you will probably find you can train each muscle group more than once a week rather than in option two where it will only be one trained once a week.

But i find that spending a hole gym session on one muscle group makes me feel that i have really give that area my all.

Am i talking bollocks? does it not really matter which route you go?

Thanks, mike.

Paul Eggleton

I don't think it does matter. People can train at different intensities than others and have different recovery rates. The best thing to do is try one for a few weeks and then try the other and try and measure the success of each method. Then modify it to suit your body.

One thing I will say is this. If you can train shoulders on the same day as legs, then you are not training legs hard enough

Manchester Mike

Cheers Paul

RSeb

Try doing two muscle groups at a time, but do a multi joint exercise first like squats, this helps to recrute testosterone which enables the building of muscle fibres, then do ur second exercise ie chest, bi's, tri's etc.

Obviosly get some protein down ur neck afterwards, in ur 'window of opportunity', where ur body can absorb the most, approx within 1 hour of training

yoshi

Doing a 4 or 5 day split might be too hard for your body unless you have monster genetics or shoot Deca every morning.

If you're pushing hard, your joints and muscles will be killing ya after 2-3 days of workout.

I train 2 days weights per week only with heavy free weights and have done so for 12 years. I feel if you push very hard with free weights, your body can only take 2-3 days of this per week. Even pro-bodybuilders on steroids + GH do 4 days a week maximum until they've got 5-10 years under their belt.

However, if you use machines (and stay away from deadlifts and squats) you can easily train 4-5 days per week.

Manchester Mike

pmsl

What do you suggest then Yoshi?

Chest and back one session, then arms and shoulders another?

Cheers for the info guys

Anonymous

Yeah, that's not a bad plan.

Maybe you could try

Workout 1
6 sets for back
6 sets for chest
5 sets for Abs

Workout 2
6 sets for bis/tris
6 sets for shoulders
5 sets for Abs

Workout 3
Legs
5 sets for Abs

OR (my routine)

Train TWICE only per week. Train to pure failure at 90%-max intensity.

Workout 1
Back/Lats - warmup + 2 x lat pulldowns, 2 x wide grip chins, 2 x 1 arm dumbell rows, 2 x machine lat pullback.
Shoulders - 2 x dumbell flys
Abs - 5 sets

Workout 2
Chest - warmup + 2 x flat bench, 2 x incline bench, 2 x dumbell pullover, 1 x incline fly, 1 x flat fly, 1 x machine press.
Shoulders - 2 x front barbell press, 2 x front dumbell raise
Abs - 5 sets

Workout 3
Lower back/traps - warmup, 2 x deadlifts, 2 x reverse barbell rows, 2 x narrow grip chins. 2 x rear shrugs, 1 x front shrugs. 2 x behind neck barbell press. 2 x rear delt flys.
Abs - 5 sets

Workout 4
Triceps - 3 x tricep pushdown, 2 x overhead tricep extensions, 2 x close grip bench press.
Biceps - 2 x barbell curls, 1 x dumbell curls, 2 x hammer curls, 1 x bench curl, 2 x concentration curls.
Shoulders - 2 x dumbell shoulder press, 2 x upright rows, 2 x wide grip rows.
Abs - 5 sets

Workout 5
Legs - warmup, 2 x squats, 2 x 45 degree leg press, 2 x seated leg curl, 2 x hamstring curl, 3 x calf raise
Abs - 5 sets

I've been doing this routine for 8-9 years now and I'm 260lbs.