Working a muscle once a week???

[Realtest]

Let me tell you about working a muscle once every week.It is nonsense.They all say everyone's body is different maybe true but when it comes to recuperation it takes a muscle anywhere from 3 to 6 days.For me preferably around 3 to 4 days.I am a natural bodybuilder who always works out hard and since I switched to working out a body part once a week I noticed loss of strength and muscle size.I am in the camp now that if you want a great body and your not on the juice you should be working a body part close to twice a week.One thing I will tell you I have worked a muscle once every 10 days and that increased muscle strength unbelievably but I saw no muscle size gain and only an increase in body fat.If you want that then try that but you will not have the hard muscle bodybuilders aspire for.This once a week is not going to work for some guy who wants a ripped ,powerfull look at the beach unless one uses steroids because he is too lazy to work out hard.You don't have to work out 2 hours every day.Maybe 4 or 5 times a week for an hour and making sure you do one heavy work out 4-6 reps resting no more then 90 seconds between sets and the next work out being light 8-12 reps resting no longer then 60 seconds between reps.Don't waste your time with the once a week body part training if you are seriously looking for real gains!!!

[Quantum_Man]

This once a week is not going to work for some guy who wants a ripped ,powerfull look at the beach unless one uses steroids because he is too lazy to work out hard.

So I guess I can't get a good body with the 3 day split I'm doing eh?

[jino]

Originally posted by Realtest
Don't waste your time with the once a week body part training if you are seriously looking for real gains!!!

I've tried working each body part once, twice, and three times a week. I've gotten the best results when I switched to once a week so why should I change to twice a week when it got me nowhere? And you should also realize that better recovery is one of the reasons (besides steroids) why today's pros are much bigger than the past's. I'm not going to waste my time switching back to 2 or 3 times a week when it didn't give me nearly the same results.

[Realtest]

I understand that some guys have success with working a body part once a week.I am training right now for a possible career as a boxer.I am about 6'1 218lbs.When I was at my biggest with 18 1/2 inch arms I was faster and stronger and I already had great punching power.Even if I was not going in to boxing I would still be body building because the myth about bodybuilding and being muscle bound is an old myth unless your on the juice.I just don't think that working a body part will give you the combination of muscle mass and definition which will make you actually see your progress.I have tried eating 6 to 8 small meals every 21/2 to 3 hours but the simple fact is when I was training a body part once a week I lost definition ,muscle mass.I will say again that when i waited 10 days to work out a body part again my strength was gaining incredibly.But I didn't see muscle mass or tight muscle,But I am not a power lifter.Being a bodybuilder is to have muscle mass and definition and as long as you do a light work out after doing your heavy work out most guys should be recuperated inn a week.Its sord of like doing push ups in a way.Push ups can be done every other day with good results. I wish i had a magic schedule but I don't think one exists.If someone knows one let me know???One of the things I know is that when i train my body parts twice a week people always tell me how good i look but when doing them once a week I feel. believe and know my muscles shrink.I have heard that only guys that take steroids can train with success a body part twice a week.I think when lifting heavy you stimulate the fast twitch muscles and when you train lighter 8-12 reps you stimulate the slow twitch muscles.I believe that a true body builder needs these 2 types of muscle fibers to max out there potential.Well Im going back to the twice a week body part training.I just don't know how I am going to split it up.I would love to see great results and work out less often too but I no longer believe in working a body part once a week in my opinion.

[Quantum_Man]

You can train however you'd like and train to how your body responds the best. It's just that your first post above came off as you telling everyone that what you thought was the law and the only right way to train.

It's like if I was a new member to this board again, and I made a thread saying how anything less than 20 reps a set is nonsense, and everyone should be doing 5 sets per exercise, because that's what worked best for me. If everyone trained like Arnold, that doesn't mean we'll all have a body like him.

But yes plenty of people here do train their entire body more than once a week. In fact, I'll be doing HST soon. It just sounds bad when you say, this is the only way to gain mass, everything else is junk.

[Rassilon]

My biggest strength/mass gains came from when I did the one-day a week muscle group.

My workouts were 30 min. of nothing but torture and it was awesome. All my PR's just flew right by constantly..

Maybe I just respond to volume training?? *shrug*

Anyways, yeah some programs work for some but not others, and you still need to tailor your program to your specific goals (combined with body response)..

[Realtest]

By all means Im no pro.I know that.Everybody has a schedule that may work for them but not for someone else.The one thing I got kind of confused about is when I trained my bodyparts once every 10 days and I got great strength gains but how can a muscle grow with all that rest.I just think that working a muscle every 10 days increased my strength but did not increase my muscle mass.With working a body part once a week hitting it hard I actually lost strength.The confusing part is if I continue to gain strength with this once every 10 day training a body part 4-6 reps 12sets will i see gains or will this put me in more of a power lifting type body which i don't want.I heard some guy on a internet link say that if you Bench press 75lbs more with the once every 10 days training a body part you will see results because of the muscle being stronger.I just think a muscle needs to get pumped twice a week for certain guys like me to have the definition and mass to look defined and muscular although Im not fat.I have tried the once a week body part so many times with no results.I always feel stale and sore and always weaker.My problem now is do i work each muscle twice a week or once every 10 days.What a difference between the 2???Nothing in the middle works for me.Do i go for strength or do I do 1 heavy and 1 light workout for a bodypart 2 times a week???Back in the old days everybody was training there bodyparts twice a week including me back when i was 16 now Im 34.I have to say when I was training twice a week every body part I seemed to stop progressing.I was benching around 320lbs for the longest time and could never sem to get any stronger.If there was a perfect schedule I would do it though but being a natural bodybuilder has its limitations I guess.If everyone seems that working a muscle twice a week is too much what about working it once every 10 days for bodybuilding???

[rick65]

currently i am doing once a week, very intense , long workouts
i am making gains still,
when i was younger 15 years ago, i rotated my routine and
i would have 4,5 or 6 days between body parts and made gains.
age , genetics and life factors affect everyone different ,
do what works for u.
i curenttly do 30 sets for back and chest
12-15 sets for bi and tri
20-22 sets for shoulders
18-20 sets for legs
this works for me, these sets include the initials sets.
i have tried doing less , but don't feel the soreness if i don't
push hard enough.
this is not for beginers, i train naturally and always will.

[Quantum_Man]

Soreness is not a reliable indicator of a good workout and/or of growth. The only real way to gauge your progress is, are you getting stronger? Are you getting bigger? Or if you're cutting, are you getting leaner?

[Realtest]

Originally posted by rick65
currently i am doing once a week, very intense , long workouts
i am making gains still,
when i was younger 15 years ago, i rotated my routine and
i would have 4,5 or 6 days between body parts and made gains.
age , genetics and life factors affect everyone different ,
do what works for u.
i curenttly do 30 sets for back and chest
12-15 sets for bi and tri
20-22 sets for shoulders
18-20 sets for legs
this works for me, these sets include the initials sets.
i have tried doing less , but don't feel the soreness if i don't
push hard enough.
this is not for beginers, i train naturally and always will.

When i was training my chest and back working it once a week I was only doing 12 sets.Maybe if i upped the sets I would not feel as stale or have muscle soreness because when I trained my muscles twice a week my muscles never ever got sore.Maybe for this once a week hitting a body part can work but you have to hit that muscle really hard???The only thing is rest between sets.I have heard that for Chest and Back rest no longer then 90 seconds,60 seconds or less for arms,traps,and 3 minutes for legs,when doing squats.Other guys will say that when working out heavy don't worry about the pump and you will need 3 minutes rest in between sets for lets say Chest and back.Other guys will say that bodybuilding is all about the pump???Before when I was going to a gym i would see nobody take as little as 60 seconds in between sets and thats the reason that most of them never changed there appearance.I agree that hitting a muscle twice a week is tough and can put you more at risk for injury.Maybe I will give this a try using a similar type of schedule you have but i do not know how I am going to split up my body parts.Iknow working chest and back for 60 sets is way to much in 1 day though.I think Monday-Chest-Bis Tuesday-Legs Wednesday off- Thursday Back-Traps Friday- Shoulders-triceps.Saturday and Sunday Off might work for me,who knows???

[Quantum_Man]

Originally posted by Realtest
Other guys will say that when working out heavy don't worry about the pump and you will need 3 minutes rest in between sets for lets say Chest and back.Other guys will say that bodybuilding is all about the pump???

Again, soreness and the pump are not good indicators of a good workout. The only proof in the pudding is, if you're gettting stronger and/or bigger, depending on your goals.

[Realtest]

Is 30 sets for chest and back,22 sets for shoulders,18 sets for legs, too much or is it ok as long as the workout is 60 minutes or less???I have heard to many times that work outs when too long are not progressive but if you can squeeze in 30 sets within 60 minutes that would really intensify the work out and possibly shocking the muscles in to growth and strength.Intensity is one key in success in bodybuilding so I might try this once a week per body part again but with alot more sets and alot less rest in between sets. 12 sets never worked for me in training the muscle once a week.I later tried working a muscle once every 10 days and I did make great strength gains but as far as muscle mass and definition it was non existent.Great for power lifters but not for bodybuilders in my opinion.When doing so many sets like 30 the only thing is by about the 10th set the weight will have to be keep being reduced so much because of all the sets especially when resting the muscle between 60 and 90 seconds between sets.I don't know if thats bad or what???I have to say over the years my biceps have been my most impressive muscle along with the triceps and over the years while doing my biceps I would only use the standing barbell curl and i would work biceps like an animal with taking as little rest as I could between sets sometimes less then 30 seconds or less.I wonder if I worked my whole body like that how would it have worked.

[El Dudereno]

Originally posted by Realtest
Is 30 sets for chest and back,22 sets for shoulders,18 sets for legs, too much or is it ok as long as the workout is 60 minutes or less???I have heard to many times that work outs when too long are not progressive but if you can squeeze in 30 sets within 60 minutes that would really intensify the work out and possibly shocking the muscles in to growth and strength.Intensity is one key in success in bodybuilding so I might try this once a week per body part again but with alot more sets and alot less rest in between sets. 12 sets never worked for me in training the muscle once a week.I later tried working a muscle once every 10 days and I did make great strength gains but as far as muscle mass and definition it was non existent.Great for power lifters but not for bodybuilders in my opinion.When doing so many sets like 30 the only thing is by about the 10th set the weight will have to be keep being reduced so much because of all the sets especially when resting the muscle between 60 and 90 seconds between sets.I don't know if thats bad or what???I have to say over the years my biceps have been my most impressive muscle along with the triceps and over the years while doing my biceps I would only use the standing barbell curl and i would work biceps like an animal with taking as little rest as I could between sets sometimes less then 30 seconds or less.I wonder if I worked my whole body like that how would it have worked.

I don't care who you are - you will not recover from 30 sets of anything unless you're on copious amounts of gear (and even then you won't necessarily recover). If you can do 30 sets on chest in 60 minutes then I'd say you're the new Richard Simmons because that's aerobics, not anaerobics!

[Realtest]

It does not sound to me like 30 sets is the way to go either.I was just asking.I am trying to put as much muscle on without the juice and I am seeking to work a body part once a week but every routine I have tried has not worked.I get more sore when doing a body part once a week and when I go back to train the same bodypart 7 days later i know as soon as I touch the barbell that i did not get any stronger.I don't think this once a week per body part training should be etched in stone.if anything i believe its for guys who are not willing to find out how there body reacts to certain shedules,work outs and sets.Now if i take between 3-5 doing 10 to 15 sets for larger body parts days i am not sore and I can work out hard without feeling stale and sore and I have not been doing this type of work out because i have become lazy and Im looking for something easy but the once a week per body part for me seems to have me in an undertrained state as far as how my body responds.

[El Dudereno]

Originally posted by Realtest
It does not sound to me like 30 sets is the way to go either.I was just asking.I am trying to put as much muscle on without the juice and I am seeking to work a body part once a week but every routine I have tried has not worked.I get more sore when doing a body part once a week and when I go back to train the same bodypart 7 days later i know as soon as I touch the barbell that i did not get any stronger.I don't think this once a week per body part training should be etched in stone.if anything i believe its for guys who are not willing to find out how there body reacts to certain shedules,work outs and sets.Now if i take between 3-5 doing 10 to 15 sets for larger body parts days i am not sore and I can work out hard without feeling stale and sore and I have not been doing this type of work out because i have become lazy and Im looking for something easy but the once a week per body part for me seems to have me in an undertrained state as far as how my body responds.

Then it sounds like you aren't eating enough. Try going on a 'calorie blitz' making sure you get at least 1.5-2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.

[LAxguy]

Thats alot of sets

[KingofWac]

I think there are a lot of ways to train but I have been doing splits(each muscle once per week high volume) and am not seeing the best of results.

I have been doing a lot of reading on workouts that follow a principle of ONE working set per muscle group 2-3 times a week (I am doing HST but it is sort of like this). Not counting your warmups you would do only one set with very high intensity and thats it! This volume is low enough that you can train your muscles more than once a week without overtraining. In addition each time you do a certain exercise you increase the weight from what you did previously.

I don't want to type out everything but I have started doing workouts like this and I think they work way better for me. Within a couple weeks I have already broken through plateau's I've been stuck at forever and I feel much stronger. I mainly believe that it just takes 1 hardcore set to make your muscle grow and there is no need to do more. I never feel like my muscles are fatigued and I continue to get stronger each workout.

I doubt that everyone agrees with me here but I truly think someone can make significant gains like this.

[Realtest]

I am 34 now and the only reason I have not made gains in the past 7 years is because of working a muscle less frequently.I lost strength and size trying this once a week body part thing.It sucked for me.I remember when i was in high school and I worked my arms 3 times a week and there was no doubt that it worked.I also was thin about 6'1 165lbs at 20 yrs old and I worked my trap muscles every other day,let me tell you that is the first thing people would notice about me and I noticed that people had more repect for me even though I was not a big guy.Being a tall guy like me it took a while for me to fill out and now I have a hard time staying below 220lbs..To have big traps and biceps intimidates people even though I was 16 years old.I mainly worked my traps because i was planning a boxing carreer and I knew that I had to be able to take a great punch.I had an illness that put me back 6 years and I just never followed my dream although i still might try to get a boxing license even though I am 34.Well I am 6"1 220lbs now and I wish I had the same traps I did back when I was 20.I also remember doing chest for 5 sets 3 times a week.I am benching around 320lbs now.I think as you get older its best to work a body part once every 3 to 6 days.the one thing is I am alot stronger at 34 then when I was 20.The main thing is when you start to overtrain you don't get stronger.What i think is best is 1 work out 4-6 reps 3minutes rest between sets and the next work out for the same bodypart should be around 10 reps with less rest in between sets.Sets are best in the 10-15 range.Not only are you working the fast twitch muscles on the heavy days and slow twitch muscles on the light days you will most likely avoid overtraining because you are working different muscle fibers.Once a week working a muscle will not work in most cases if you want the ripped solid muscle but be aware to alternate heavy and light work out days.You will get results if you want to work hard enough for them.Why is it everyone just started to say well working a body part once every 7 days is best.Maybe for some guys it works and they swear by it but the majority will be between 3-6 days rest for guys.For me I like 5 days.I wish I had a picture of when I was 16 when I was working my traps and biceps 3 times a week intensely to prove it.There is no magic shedule but as long as you confuse the muscles and not work them with the same weights twice a week progress will be made.As far as me going back to working my biceps 3 times a week now.i don't reccomend it because it makes the muscle look defined and it is hard to get big biceps when working them 3 times a week.Now Trap muscles I might be doing them 3 times a week because I think they recover quicker somewhat like the calve muscles.Abs 3 times a week.

[digdug123]

You are 34 and about to begin a career in boxing?

Congrats.. you must be in great shape!

[Realtest]

In shape yes but going 3 rounds in a boxing match is as grueling as any weightlifting routine ever!!One round is excruciating!! I have only sparred with shorter guys and my power was way much in every case.I knocked a bodybuilder when I was 20yrs old 6'1 165 and he was 5'9 210 pounds with one right hand that landed on his gloves but the momentum of the punch knocked him out for nearly a minute and that was with sparring gloves and head ear.I need and want to get stronger and bigger as fast as possible because being around 6'1 218lbs i would have to fight in the heavyweight division.The heavyweights today are getting bigger and stronger.Thats not to say height has alot to do with who's a better fighter.It might be a little intimidating to fight a guy 6'5 250lbs but once the match started it wouldn't matter what size he is.You have to keep motivated to work out because if you don't then you will look for excuses to skip work outs.Its kind of like when Girly Mike Tyson bit Holyfield's ears in there 2nd fight because he wanted to quit.He was a coward and gave up.You need something to motivate yourself,music,sports,girls or thinking of how you will look after you work out hard with the weights.I am in shape but believe me not cardio wise so Im in no shape now to fight anyone unless every match would end in the first round.Bodybuilding has improved my power,while not affecting my hand speed one bit.Since i was 15 boxing has driven me to the weights and helped me get to 220lbs of muscle.I am not the biggest guy but I have 18 3/4 arms and take no short cuts.I was 265lbs but for my frame I was to fat so i lost 45lbs and feel alot quicker and stronger now then ever.You have to be blessed with a great punch but in bodybuilding just about anyone can make great gains if they are dedicated!!

[Mr. Jack]

Guy, you need to start using paragraphs.

[ArchDukeOfTops]

RealTest, if your workouts are as long as your posts then you're one bad ass mofo .

I just try to remember that you tear muscle down in the gym, but you get bigger when your out of the gym. Working out body parts twice a week means I'm in the gym way too much. Lift big a few days of the week, eat well every day of the week, and get some sleep. thats what has worked for me.

[Skillz Killa 2]

Hey RealTest -

I have an English paper due on Thursday. The directions call for a three-page-minimum, but I've hit writers block after the second page. Think you can help me out?

[dubbz]

i say working out this routine is so far best
day 1 - chest / back
day 2 - arms / shoulders
day 3 - legs / abs
day 4 - off
(repeats)

people may say its overtraining but when i work only 1 muscle group 1 time a week i feel im losing my gains..
i says you should switch it up once and a while and do roughly 2-3 exercises per muscle group and hit it intense..
for me atleast you should figure out how your body works and then build a routine that works for you. everyone is different i say now one exactly heals the same length
for me if i work my chest and back on monday by thrusday it ready to go BUT i wait an extra day so it builds up that extra added on muscle for the next work out
i have tried both working 1 muscle group 1 time a week to everything and best results is this anything else for me but im under training..
do what works for you personally i feel that 1 muscle group a week is to little and that you could get better results if you find out what and how long it takes for ur muscles to heal and work them out to there maxium potential

[kron3007]

Personally I do each muscle group once per week. However, I try to include as many compound excersizes as possible. In reality most muscle groups are being hit to some degree at least twice a week, most likely more. To me it would seem that if I actually tried to hit them twice a week they would be getting worked way too much. As it is I had to move leg day to the end of my rotation because my sore legs were interupting my deadlift if I did legs earlier.

I think if you target them once a week, focusing on large compound movements, it would be best. However, you should do what works the best for you. I will eventually try twice a week, but as I am still making good gains with my current approach I am waiting until later.

One last thing though. If you are working out for boxing purposes, wouldn't you want to increase strength and speed while mantaining a lower body weight (you said every ten days increased strength, but you got no size)?

[BoSox]

Why dont you check out what the natural pros do for workouts. Anyone know which pros are not on gear (through testing)? I know theres Skip Lacour and Jeff Willet, who are both advocates of 4-6 reps to failure, and that the larger muscle groups should only be worked once a week.

[basement iron]

Originally posted by Mr. Jack
Guy, you need to start using paragraphs.

B U M P My poor eyes. heh

Seriously though, I think everyone should experiment with once or twice a week and just see what works for them.