How effective is working one muscle group a week?

[JTruckenbrod]

Currently I am doing a program that has 4 work out days. 1. Chest/Tri 2. Bicep/Back 3. Legs/Abs 4. Shoulders/traps/calves

Is just working out one muscle for a hour a week effective?

[davisj3537]

Will you build muscle? Yes. Is it optimal? Far from it.

[JTruckenbrod]

What is optimal then? 2 times per group per week? I feel like anymore than that will not give enough rest time.

[davisj3537]

What is optimal then? 2 times per group per week? I feel like anymore than that will not give enough rest time.

Doing your own research will provide you with a far better answer than I can type up in a few sentences. Cliff notes- It is all based on your current fitness level. The majority of lifters do the best with 3xweek frequency. Keep in mind the majority of lifters never leave the beginner stage.

Example: I did a 3 time per week frequency till I benched 3 plates. As long as you progress (even a little), stay with the frequency.

[ScottishSpartan]

I am currently on same program, except I do calves with legs. I have a good results so far. Would like more gains, though. I am curious to answer as well!

[JTruckenbrod]

From others I have talked to, it depends on the intensity of the work out. But I will do some more digging and see what more I can find, thanks!

[Jasonk282]

Currently I am doing a program that has 4 work out days. 1. Chest/Tri 2. Bicep/Back 3. Legs/Abs 4. Shoulders/traps/calves

Is just working out one muscle for a hour a week effective?

Say you've interviewed for two jobs. Same position at two different companies.

Company A pays you $1000.00 a week. Company B pays you $1000.00 every other day...which would you take?

[jgreystoke]

Depends on how advanced you really are.

Is just working out one muscle for a hour a week effective?

You have hundreds of muscles. If you do that, it will be a long time before you get back to "one muscle" lol.

I presume you mean muscle groups.

When I target bis DIRECTLY once a week with 5 x 10 curls up to 50kg(110lbs) it is effective for ME. I will already have hit them with my close grip chins a couple times in the week. And indirectly by stuff like Pendlay rows/DB rows/Lat pulldowns. I am not trying to isolate them at all, as if I was a collection of unconnected bodyparts. I am trying to make them big and strong.

Since I am vastly bigger and stronger than when I was a little weakling in my forties(illness), it takes me a bit longer to recover from HEAVY work than when the weight for everything was the empty bar.

If you are beyond novice level, you can hit everything twice a week, usually heavy/light.

On a simple upper lower split, like 5 3 1, that is normal anyway. Your bench and press days have a lot of overlap, same with your squat and dead days.

On a bodybuilding split, if you do chest/biceps one day and back/tris a few days later, the chest is light tris, and the back is light bis. So that is actually a version of the proven heavy/light approach.

If you try to isolate so much that you only hit your bis a whole week later, say by using chest/tris and back/bis, then they become a little detrained before you hit them again. You didn't hit them when they were ready for more stimulation(soreness has little to do with that). So they don't man up like they would if you asked them to. Soreness is INCREASED by low frequency, but training progress is usually DECREASED.

You should train when you are sore anyway. If I didn't, I'd still be 130lbs.

[magic15]

video on your question :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyERPy77PX4

[a3sthetic]

video on your question :

Lee Hayward's explanation is poor. Mostly just rambling nonsense. Most likely cr@p that he's made up in his head.

This is a better explanation:

youtube.com/watch?v=d8brhySqyDw

[magic15]

Lee Hayward's explanation is poor. Mostly just rambling nonsense. Most likely cr@p that he's made up in his head.

This is a better explanation:

youtube.com/watch?v=d8brhySqyDw

Alright I think your right in that the video from Lee Hayward does have a little rambling about programs he's trying to push. Besides that you don't have the slightest clue. Rambling nonsense? Its funny because you had me thinking 7 minutes was a long time to "ramble". Until I went to open up the video you recommended which is 14 minutes. Fuk that I'm not watching a 14 minute video on this crap. So 7 minutes is rambling but 14 minutes isn't? Crap you say that he made up in his head - He said Bodybuilders use to mostly do full body workouts, thats a fact bro. He talked about switching programs once your routine plateaus and keeping track of your weight and measurements and bodyfat %. Those are all terrible ideas right? And at the end of the video he says' there is no wrong or right answer which he says 52 seconds into the video, because it comes back to what the individual is training for and personal preference?

Comprende?

[a3sthetic]

Alright I think your right in that the video from Lee Hayward does have a little rambling about programs he's trying to push. Besides that you don't have the slightest clue. Rambling nonsense? Its funny because you had me thinking 7 minutes was a long time to "ramble". Until I went to open up the video you recommended which is 14 minutes. Fuk that I'm not watching a 14 minute video on this crap. So 7 minutes is rambling but 14 minutes isn't? Crap you say that he made up in his head - He said Bodybuilders use to mostly do full body workouts, thats a fact bro. He talked about switching programs once your routine plateaus and keeping track of your weight and measurements and bodyfat %. Those are all terrible ideas right? And at the end of the video he says' there is no wrong or right answer which he says 52 seconds into the video, because it comes back to what the individual is training for and personal preference?

Comprende?

Dude, don't take it personal, I'm not criticising you. I am being critical of Hayward. The suggestion that they invented more machines therefore they needed to split body parts is got to be the dumbest thing I've heard all week. Plateauing means that you need a new program is also wrong. Your muscles respond to progressive overload and at times require weight resets/deloads in order to rebound (periodization). He never explained where 3x/2x/1x was appropriate, he just says do what you like it's all the same.

If the question is "what will give you the fastest muscle growth with all things being equal", then "there is no right or wrong answer" is a bad answer. The correct answer is either "The program I am going to be the most consistent with that gives me growth" or "the method that will give me the most muscle synthesis". I make the exception because I want to close that loop hole, but it does not mean that anything and everything works best.

If you actually watched the video I posted, you'd understand where I was coming from.

[magic15]

Disregard my post you got all the answers