How many days per week would you recommend I train each muscle to gain size & strengt

[nkingy2003]

I havent been very consistent with my workout programs so far but part of that is because I have never had faith in a workout routine yet. I have only been going to a gym that has resistant machines and no free weights but thankfully I have found a local gym with free weights and want a new routine.

My goals at present are to cut about 20lbs to get down to about 10%bf before I try to gain lean mass slowly. So initially I know I wont be gaining mass but hopefully I will gain strength. I am going to do some HIIT to help me lose this 20lbs.

I would like to try a routine like this:

Mon: back
Tue: chest
Thur: legs
Fri: arms/shoulders

but I hear that training each muuscle group once per week is not recommended for beginers?

The other option I was thinking about was:

Mon: back/bi's/legs
Tue: chest/tri's/shoulders
Thur: back/bi's/legs
Fri: chest/tri's/shoulders

This was the last routine I was doing about 3 months ago but I was finding it hard to get strength gains but maybe this was because I was using resistance machines?

Basically, Im asking for your opinions on how many times you think you should train each muscle per week for optimal strength and size gains? 1, 2 or 3??

[Kelei]

The more often you train a movement, the faster strength gains will come, instead of performing a movement once per week for 7 sets you should perform it 7 times per week for 1 set, just an example, either way it's the same amount of weekly volume to recover from.........so don't let uninformed people tell you that high frequency is directly related to overtraining.

[amardeus]

The more often you train a movement, the faster strength gains will come, instead of performing a movement once per week for 7 sets you should perform it 7 times per week for 1 set, just an example, either way it's the same amount of weekly volume to recover from.........so don't let uninformed people tell you that high frequency is directly related to overtraining.

lol

He means train each muscle group once a week.

[Kelei]

lol

He means train each muscle group once a week.

Training a muscle once per week is far from optimal for strength development.

[amardeus]

Training a muscle once per week is far from optimal for strength development.

Yeah, I though he was going for size.

[sabonis224]

How about trying a full body routine, or a push/pull routine.

[soSoFly]

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...7853341&page=4

I recommend the last one on this page. Or try any of the other fullbody or push/pull ones.

[Orlando1234977]

Training a muscle once per week is far from optimal for strength development.

X2, frequency is vital for strength development; and if the reps are high enough, SIZE development.

[Kelei]

X2, frequency is vital for strength development; and if the reps are high enough, SIZE development.

Yes I believe in frequent training also, it's the rep range that determines the adaptions you will see, if you are aiming for strength then you should aim to increase your strength in the 3-5 rep range, if you are training for a blend of strength, sarcomere hypertrophy and some sarcoplasmic hypertrophy then you should aim to get stronger in the 6-12 rep range, if you are seeking more sarcoplasmic hypertrophy then you should aim to increase your strength in the 15-20 rep range etc.

I have experimented with a high frequency full body routine in the past with good results......basically I would pick 12 exercises to cover the entire body and I would perform 2 sets of each exercise per day, 1 in the morning, one in the evening,

6AM - Full body workout, 12 exercises, 1 set each
6PM - Same as 6M workout

I would do this every single day, so I was training each movement 14 times per week, once I could perform 20 reps on an exercise I would add weight and then work up to being able to perform 20 reps with the new weight, then I'd add more weight again. The size gains were very impressive I must say, although if you were training more for strength you would increase weight everytime you could do perhaps 6 reps rather than 20, or if you wanted a balanced combination of size/strength you could perhaps add weight whenever you could perform 10 or 12 reps.

[uday1583]

The question you have asked is opinion based actually and it all depends on your goal and workout pattern... the muscle strength would come at a very fast phase when it is trained more often...

so ensure you train sufficiently based on your goal and ensure sufficient rest in between so as to keep a balance going

[italianbull]

one or two depending on how much you are in shape and how much you eat

[ExCompetitor]

nkingy2003 check out Hany Rambod`s site,tons of great info www.fst-7.com

[nkingy2003]

Ok guys thanks for the advice. It seems as though most people would not recommend training each muscle group only once per week.

My goals are to gain size AND strength, hard to do I know. So based on what you have been saying, what do you guys think of this workout:

Rep range: 10-12 to help increase strength and gain size.

Mon: back/bi's/legs
Tue: chest/tri's/shoulders
Thur: back/bi's/legs
Fri: chest/tri's/shoulders

What do you guys think?

I am also going to incorporate a HIIT routine with this and need advice on what you guys think the best HIIT routine is as there seems to be loads out there. I will start a new thread about that here in the workout program section.