How many times do you work out a muscle group a week?

[ifly417]

How many time should one work out the muscle group a week for maximum mass gains?

[Farley1324]

Depends.

[ifly417]

Depends.

on? im saying average. is it like 5 times or like 2 or 3 times? and 1 time enough for someone that does not have time to go to gym everyday

[bigsexy882]

i work the major muscle groups twice a week while mixing cardio in and out, but i also work out 6 days a week...

i think if you have a solid full body routine and do it 3 times a week with adequate rest, that should be fine

[domino25]

on? im saying average. is it like 5 times or like 2 or 3 times? and 1 time enough for someone that does not have time to go to gym everyday

If there was a fixed number the whole world would be following that number . You have to give you body a chance to recuperate from the pervious workout before working that muscle group again, otherwise you are just setting urself up for an injury ( from personal experience ) . Try out few things and see what works out best for you .

[dsm_david]

i like to only train each body part once per week. hell it takes 4 days alone for my legs to feel normal again...

[Blizzard589]

How many time should one work out the muscle group a week for maximum mass gains?

It's all about feeling things out. See what feels good for you. And I'm not talking about what feels nice and easy or whatever. Keep logs and see what kind of progress you make with different splits. Keep track of which routines have you feeling fresh for each workout but not too fresh like you haven't worked out in a while. Since I'm going more for strength than muscle I focus more on specific lifts (squat, bench, deads, cleans, etc) than body parts. I'd say each body part is getting worked at least indirectly twice a week minimum right now and I feel good, or maybe just a bit sore, for before the next workout. I've seen the most gains working like this so I'm sticking with it for a little while. See what works. Then stick with it for as long as it works.

[TaoistWarrior]

It all depends on the volume/intensity of each workout. If you're the typical kabillion exercises/sets for each body part guy, and dont have excellent genetics and aren't on drugs, you're going to burn out quick working each bodypart more than 1-1.5 times/week.

If you're training for size, and again not an IFBB pro, the optimal setup seems to be 2-3 times per week at a lowered intensity/volume per workout. You spread the volume over the course of 3 workouts instead of piling it all into one.

[JustinRideout]

How many time should one work out the muscle group a week for maximum mass gains?

Depends on the intensity of the workout


Justin

[matjusm]

Why do so many people think training your muscle either 1x or 2x a week are the only options? I personally hit the same muscle group every 4-6 days, which makes my workout average 1.5 times of training the same muscle per week.
If you think once is not enough and twice might be overkill, try something in between.

[nsiegel5]

We have all been brainwashed into thinking that we have to workout each muscle to an extreme volume once a week. To me if you are sore for 4, 5 or 6 days from a workout something is not right. There has to be a point where doing this much damage to the muscle becomes detrimental to the growth. I had followed this method of training for many years until I decided something had to change and to decrease the volume and increase the frequency. What I found was that I was no longer as sore, that I was getting bigger and that I could perform at a higher level more frequently. I also found that by performing exercises such as squats and bench on a more frequent basis my body was more comfortable with the movement and I have been able to lift heavier.
Look into different exercise programs think about what your goals are and remember that you are not one of the guys from the magazines and what works for them may not work for you.

[bigtallox]

How many times do you work out a muscle group a week?

Lets see. Here's my routine

Monday - Heavy Squats
Wednesday - Speed Bench
Thursday - Speed deads
Saturday - Heavy Bench

Not sure which muscle group you're referring to, but lets just assume chest. So I work my chest 4 times a week ( If you think squatting and deadlifting doesn't work your chest, you aren't lifting enough weight ).

OK, that's probably not what you meant, but IMHO you really can't isolate muscle groups so why build a routine around trying to?

[jgreystoke]

How many time should one work out the muscle group a week for maximum mass gains?

Starting out, three times is perfect, getting your scheduled reps in good form, and adding a tad of iron every session.

Intermediate can still benefit from hitting every muscle group up to three times a week, but will have to vary the intensity and possibly reps. They can't add 5lbs every session, probably once a week when all is going well.

Advanced need a more advanced program to make gains......who would have thought it. They are lucky to add 5lbs a month to a lot of their lifts.

Really advanced guys often gravitate to an upper/lower split, which can be very effective.

The bottom line is that if you are not moving a lot more iron for your favorite rep ranges in the big basic barbell moves(in your profile above your goals) next year, how the hell can you expect a lot more muscle?

Most people who read that some mass monster obliterates his legs once a week think they can make the quickest gains by imitating their hero. They can't.

Very few reach an advanced level in bodybuilding, strength training, powerlifting, music, mathematics, or anything else.

Sadly most people who COULD reach a pretty advanced muscle and strength level, don't. They are led astray by all the confusing garbage in print.

[W1LL]

Depends.

this

[liammccarthy]

Lets see. Here's my routine

Monday - Heavy Squats
Wednesday - Speed Bench
Thursday - Speed deads
Saturday - Heavy Bench

Not sure which muscle group you're referring to, but lets just assume chest. So I work my chest 4 times a week ( If you think squatting and deadlifting doesn't work your chest, you aren't lifting enough weight ).

OK, that's probably not what you meant, but IMHO you really can't isolate muscle groups so why build a routine around trying to?

lol. Ox, the principles that powerlifters use (and the weights that they are able to lift) are not always the most beneficial to increasing muscle mass and vice-versa. You are great at what you do and work hard to reach your goals (which you usually do). But timing of reps, rest between sets as well as frequency of training can greatly influence the muscles hypertrophy vs. strength gains.

It really depends on a number of factors:

Your goals
Your level of resistance training experience
The volume of work done in a workout
Your genetic ability to recover

Generally (edit: VERY generally) beginners benefit most from programs aimed at increasing strength in compound movements with low volume but higher frequency.

Advanced lifters looking to increase strength will increase volume and slightly decreaase frequency (of the same workout... here supplemental workouts are added).

While advanced lifters looking to primarily focus on hypertrophy will incorporate a lot of eccentric phases to their lifts, which leads to increased muscle tissue damage and hence requires longer recovery times. Leading hypertrophy focused lifters to use higher volume of training per workout with less frequency for each muscle group.

And then your genetics come into play either allowing you to increase volume or frequency.. But you have to work that out for yourself.

[Joelift]

Studies have suggested that total volume of sets per muscle per week may be more important factor, than how many sets per muscle you do in a given workout.

A good source - http://www.bodybuildingweb.net/blog/...muscle-growth/

I agree with that theory and base my workouts off of total volume per week. With that said, I prefer full body routines for several reasons -

1. They have given me better gains
2. They make me less sore
3. I find them easier to handle mentally and enjoy them more

My personal belief for the better gains from higher frequency is that my genetics, level of fitness and nutrition lead to a better than average recovery time. If I were someone that was a more advanced lifter, a hard gainer or ate poorly - then it would be completely different.

[BigJohnny999]

Depends.

Pretty much sums it up, but you shouldn't be training the same muscle groups every time you work out. Unless you only work out every 3 or 4 days.