Working out back/biceps twice per week too much?

[crjorgensen]

Hey everyone I just wanted to ask if working out back/biceps twice per week is too much. I currently lift 4 days per week...I do 1 day: back/biceps another day legs/abs, another day chest/triceps and another day shoulders/abs....I want to lift 5 days per week and already tried doing another legs day but my leg workouts are pretty tough and can only handle them once per week so I was thinking about adding another biceps/back day since my biceps are my weakest area. Also, I know the back is a larger muscle group so I figure working a larger muscle group twice per week would be good...(I know biceps aren't a big muscle group which is why I am kinda hesitant working them out twice per week but I want to strengthen my weaknesses and hit the gym 1 more day per week). Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

[Whisky]

so wait you want to do only back/bis twice a week and everything else once a week?

[liftingson]

when you say you want to work your back, are you refering to hitting deadlifts twice a weak? or is your back routine latt pulls and seated rows?

[crjorgensen]

I have seen great strengths in doing each muscle group only once per week. I do enough exercises each workout that I think once per week is fine unless you guys think that there are other muscle groups I should work more then once per week. I already tried working legs twice per week, but I am too sore usually to do them anymore then that. Most days I am in the gym for about 1:30-1:45 depending on the day and don't take much rest in between sets so I get a lot done......Also, to the back question yes I try to do as many deadlifts as possible, also do rows for back....I don't do machines for back, I do dumbbells and then deadlifts. I try to rest 2 days per week too since I think rest is important to muscle growth. To be honest, I thought more people would say doing back/biceps twice per week would be too much, but I could be wrong. Also, any suggestions on workouts you guys do/how often per week you do them?

[crjorgensen]

Also, I really haven't improved my biceps as much as I have wanted too and that has been my only real weakness so that is why I want to hit them twice per week even though I know its not a big muscle group....Also, I do back with biceps so it is good I think that I work a larger muscle group so I can do deadlifts, etc....idk maybe I am totally wrong here.

[ThickAsABrick]

A couple things:

First, be realistic about biceps gains. Most people are impatient and expect to have super gunz right away. If you aren't genetically gifted this may not be realistic.

Second, if you do want to focus more just on biceps, why are you adding an additional back workout too?

You could switch your existing split around to hit biceps when you're fresher (i.e. not after back) without manipulating your overall frequency and volume of other bodyparts.

here is one option for how to do this:

back/tri
legs
chest/bi
rest
shoulders

there are plenty of other ways too. you could even keep your split the same and just do some extra sets on a different training day if you want. just make sure your expectations are realistic, and stay patient while working hard.

[Whisky]

look through this site there are plenty of solid routines out there...id highly advise against working out only one part of your body twice and the rest once...

There are programs that hit muscle groups twice a week if thats what your looking for. Take a look at Layne Nortons Power/Hypertrophy routine...

[soapmaker77]

look trough this site there are plenty of solid routines out there...id highly advise against working out only one part of your boy twice and the rest once...

There are programs that hit muscle groups twice a week if thats what your looking for. Take a look at Layne Nortons Power/Hypertrophy routine...

^^this
I actually just started a thread about this in the forum. power/hypertrophy is awesome. if you do train them twice a week, train them differently. one day power and the other day more traditional schemes

[crjorgensen]

Alright thanks for the replies guys this is all really helpful. I will def. take a look at Layne Nortons Power/Hypertrophy routine..I mainly just want to just add another day to the gym since I want to lift 5 days per week instead of 4 and since I am always too sore to do legs twice per week I figured I would do biceps twice per week since it is my biggest weakness and the more back exercises I have added I have found it has helped my other lifts as well. Also, I don't expect to get huge bicep gains right away. I def. know that and my bicep gains have come slower then my other muscle groups which I am perfectly fine with. I mainly just want to lift 5 days per week and figured this would be a decent way to do that.

Also, to soapmaker777 I am obviously going to read up on this Power/Hypertrophy routine later, but I was wondering if you could give me a brief explanation about working power 1 day and then a more standard routine the other. I am still fairly new to this so is power just doing 4-6 reps one day, then 8-12 the other....or is it just working different exercises for a muscle group 1 day and then doing different exercises another? Sorry, for all the questions and I will read up on this over the weekend. I just want to get a little better understanding of it before I read the article. If you could explain that then that would be great, but if not that is fine too....Anyways, can't thank you guys enough for all the help you have given already.

[soapmaker77]

Alright thanks for the replies guys this is all really helpful. I will def. take a look at Layne Nortons Power/Hypertrophy routine..I mainly just want to just add another day to the gym since I want to lift 5 days per week instead of 4 and since I am always too sore to do legs twice per week I figured I would do biceps twice per week since it is my biggest weakness and the more back exercises I have added I have found it has helped my other lifts as well. Also, I don't expect to get huge bicep gains right away. I def. know that and my bicep gains have come slower then my other muscle groups which I am perfectly fine with. I mainly just want to lift 5 days per week and figured this would be a decent way to do that.

Also, to soapmaker777 I am obviously going to read up on this Power/Hypertrophy routine later, but I was wondering if you could give me a brief explanation about working power 1 day and then a more standard routine the other. I am still fairly new to this so is power just doing 4-6 reps one day, then 8-12 the other....or is it just working different exercises for a muscle group 1 day and then doing different exercises another? Sorry, for all the questions and I will read up on this over the weekend. I just want to get a little better understanding of it before I read the article. If you could explain that then that would be great, but if not that is fine too....Anyways, can't thank you guys enough for all the help you have given already.

http://www.simplyshredded.com/mega-f...ated-2011.html

for example, monday i ll do an upper body power day.
incline bb, mil press, skulls, bar curls, tbar rows, rack chins. reps are usually around 5. this day i train like a powerlifter. if i feel like going up to 1-2 reps, squats and deads especially i will.

then on thurs ill do a shoulders/back hypertrophy workout. here i like to do a dorian yates style set where i do about 10-12 reps with a slow negative, explosive contraction and a heavy squeeze. The idea is to stimulate all types of muscle fibers. ill post a sample workout in this thread
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=134691841

[vincerich]

No, it's not too much. If back and biceps are weak points, focusing on them for a while could be beneficial. Make sure that you leave a few days in between back/bicep workouts though.

[crjorgensen]

Thank you for that man. I really appreciate it and I am def. going to look through it today. I usually vary my reps depending on 6-12 depending on the exercise so I kinda do this already (not all the way)...but I def. can see the benefits of low reps one day and higher reps another day...Thank you for all the responses everyone and ya for working biceps I would do monday/thursday for those.

[elmagodelossema]

Hey everyone I just wanted to ask if working out back/biceps twice per week is too much. I currently lift 4 days per week...I do 1 day: back/biceps another day legs/abs, another day chest/triceps and another day shoulders/abs....I want to lift 5 days per week and already tried doing another legs day but my leg workouts are pretty tough and can only handle them once per week so I was thinking about adding another biceps/back day since my biceps are my weakest area. Also, I know the back is a larger muscle group so I figure working a larger muscle group twice per week would be good...(I know biceps aren't a big muscle group which is why I am kinda hesitant working them out twice per week but I want to strengthen my weaknesses and hit the gym 1 more day per week). Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

is back a weak point too? remember to never change your overall volume and if you're specializing then take some of the volume away from your other stuff in order for your body to be able to use its resources towards your weak points

[crjorgensen]

is back a weak point too? remember to never change your overall volume and if you're specializing then take some of the volume away from your other stuff in order for your body to be able to use its resources towards your weak points

No it isn't at all....back is one of my stronger points. I was thinking things over and am prob going to change my routine up a little bit. I am going to do biceps/triceps together and chest/back together now...before I was doing biceps/back and chest/triceps so now I am going to do 5 days per week with 2 days of bis/tris, legs/abs another, chest/back another, and then shoulders/abs another so I can do 5 days per week. My triceps are probably my second weakest so working the whole arm together would probably be good anyways. If I am wrong I would love any feedback because I am open to all suggestions.

[LoneWolf720]

A couple things:

First, be realistic about biceps gains. Most people are impatient and expect to have super gunz right away. If you aren't genetically gifted this may not be realistic.

THIS

many people start doing curls and get frustrated when they don't have bulging biceps peaking up to the delts after a month. arms in general are really somewhat slow to grow i notice, i dont think "big" arms really come until you've been working out hard for about 2 years.