Best workout to hit each body part twice a week

[Burstyy]

Hey guys,

I've been lifting for over a year and currently train each body part once a week, but have read that training each body part twice a week will increase growth dramatically so I would like to switch over to this but have no idea where to start..I've read about push/pull and upper/lower body splits and stuff, will I be looking at something like this or what?

Any advice would be appreciated!

[rmwing]

Depends how many days a week you can go to the gym. If you are limited Upper/lower might be the way to go or if you are fairly free to go most if not every day a legs/pull/push/off repeat is optimal IN MY OPINION, but like i said it'll depend on how often you can go.

[Burstyy]

Depends how many days a week you can go to the gym. If you are limited Upper/lower might be the way to go or if you are fairly free to go most if not every day a legs/pull/push/off repeat is optimal IN MY OPINION, but like i said it'll depend on how often you can go.

3-4 days a week is easily achievable for me, I could do 5 but I would prefer 4

[rmwing]

3-4 days a week is easily achievable for me, I could do 5 but I would prefer 4

Well yeah if you would prefer 4 then Upper/Lower is the way to go.

[Burstyy]

Well yeah if you would prefer 4 then Upper/Lower is the way to go.

Sweet thanks, do you know any reputable upper/lower workout plans? I find looking at some that it's often to light on one body part such as biceps etc.

[SWelch]

Sweet thanks, do you know any reputable upper/lower workout plans? I find looking at some that it's often to light on one body part such as biceps etc.

Upper body has so many more muscles than lower body - so you may have to sacrifice one bodypart some every other workout. Like focus on tri's vs. bi's or sacrifice some front or mid delt reps in order to hit rear delts. incline chest vs. straight vs. outer vs. inner.

If you try to hit everything every workout, then you could be in the gym waaaay too long and overtrain.

rmwing's suggestion of push/pull/legs would make sense if you could swing it.


Get to the bottom of training twice a week vs. once (per bodypart) - the idea is that you're doubling the load and maintaining a more consistent tear/repair cycle. If you're going to sacrifice quantity per bodypart per session in order to do get two a week in - you're not adding more truly.

You might be better off with a four or five way split.

Take a look at Kris Gethin's DTP workout - 4 weeks of intense and completely enveloping workouts - and he hits each bodypart once per week. It's intense. I'm going for it shortly. Maybe if you give that a month of devotion, sell out to something like that, you can see some change and may give you a perspective on the route you want to take.

Hope this helps you in some way bueno suerte!

[Burstyy]

Upper body has so many more muscles than lower body - so you may have to sacrifice one bodypart some every other workout. Like focus on tri's vs. bi's or sacrifice some front or mid delt reps in order to hit rear delts. incline chest vs. straight vs. outer vs. inner.

If you try to hit everything every workout, then you could be in the gym waaaay too long and overtrain.

rmwing's suggestion of push/pull/legs would make sense if you could swing it.


Get to the bottom of training twice a week vs. once (per bodypart) - the idea is that you're doubling the load and maintaining a more consistent tear/repair cycle. If you're going to sacrifice quantity per bodypart per session in order to do get two a week in - you're not adding more truly.

You might be better off with a four or five way split.

Take a look at Kris Gethin's DTP workout - 4 weeks of intense and completely enveloping workouts - and he hits each bodypart once per week. It's intense. I'm going for it shortly. Maybe if you give that a month of devotion, sell out to something like that, you can see some change and may give you a perspective on the route you want to take.

Hope this helps you in some way bueno suerte!

Thanks alot, the reason i'm trying to change is that at the moment I just go 4 times a week, i'll go in and be like, oh I feel like chest and tri's today, lets do that.. and theres no real structure in what I do, and recently reading about training and how training each body part twice a week has a better tear/repair cycle as you stated and protein synthesis and all of that.

I think the problem is that I currently do about 9-12 sets per body part so going to a upper/lower body split, i'm going to be doing less than that so I just need to get that mindset through my head so it doesn't feel like i'm not doing enough training.

Does anyone have any tips on how I should select the exercises I do or link me to a good workout routine?

[stealthmedia]

PHAT

I do 5 work days on an 8 day rotation instead of 7 due to school constraints but it's pretty much still solid frequency.

[Adrian77]

Check out this thread:

forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=115643271&page=1

[Burstyy]

PHAT

I do 5 work days on an 8 day rotation instead of 7 due to school constraints but it's pretty much still solid frequency.

This looks interesting! It would be a struggle to make it 5 days a week though.. but maybe I could try the 8 days a week like you but it would kind've defeat the purpose I think

[Jasonk282]

Sweet thanks, do you know any reputable upper/lower workout plans? I find looking at some that it's often to light on one body part such as biceps etc.

Push/pull will do this as well, especially if you use compound only lifts

push(heavy)
squats 5x5
bench 5x5
OHP 5x5
pressdowns 5x20

Pull(heavy)
Deadlifts 5x5(ramping to a top 1x5)
pull ups 5xAMAP
bent over rows 5x5
curls 5x20

Push(light)
squats 4x10
bench 4x10
OHP 4x10
dips 5xAMAP

Pull(light)
SLDL 4x10
chin ups 5xAMAP
bent over rows 4x10
rear delt flies 4x10

Add 5lbs to bench, row and OHP each time you hit 5x5, add 10lbs to squats and deads each time you hit 5x5. other lifts add as needed. The light(4x10 days) are 80% heavy days. 5x20 curls and pressdowns are to aid in recovery, pump your arms and increase your endurance on the main lifts.

[stealthmedia]

This looks interesting! It would be a struggle to make it 5 days a week though.. but maybe I could try the 8 days a week like you but it would kind've defeat the purpose I think

5 in 8 is more than 4 in 7

[SWelch]

Thanks alot, the reason i'm trying to change is that at the moment I just go 4 times a week, i'll go in and be like, oh I feel like chest and tri's today, lets do that.. and theres no real structure in what I do, and recently reading about training and how training each body part twice a week has a better tear/repair cycle as you stated and protein synthesis and all of that.
Does anyone have any tips on how I should select the exercises I do or link me to a good workout routine?

Going with the instinctive training principle, eh? Been there. Something to be said for it - but, start with a structured "I know I'm gonna hit these bodyparts" - and then let the instinct principle guide you to a specific exercise like "should I do cable presses or skullcrushers?"

Another tip that may help you rotate your exercises so that you're not overtraining on any one day, thus tearing down further than your body can repair before the next workout (that would be bad) - is rotate your workouts by equipment type: Do a Bars only day, a dumbbells only day (or combine them into a freeweight only day), a cables only day, a machines only day (not my fave). This will force you to vary your exercises and you'll do a round robin thing on not only your muscles - but angles and ranges. It's worked for me when I want to shape or increase endurance.

Below: excellent way to exercise on a two way split. Compound lifts are key for getting the most work done in the least time. for example, If you do Bench - then adding overhead press and triceps pressdowns - you've maximized your efficiency in working delts and triceps through the progression and won't need extra tricep sets, as illustrated by Jasonk282:

Push/pull will do this as well, especially if you use compound only lifts...

[musikguy72]

Still looking?
Here's a very reputable upper/lower 4 day a week split: http://www.jcdfitness.com/2009/01/ly...lking-routine/