How often can you workout the same muscles?

[Lord Nimbus]

If you workout certain muscles, say biceps, and they are no longer hurting in say 2 or 3 days, is it alright to work them out again or is it overdoing it? I've been working out 4 times a week, doing each type of muscle workout just once a week but I'm healed long before its time to workout the same muscles again. Is it alright to work the same muscles if you arent hurting? Thanks for any help!

-Lord Nimbus

[blargh]

As your ability to generate intensity increases, you generally should decrease the number of workouts for a muscle accordingly. For a fairly well-trained lifter, 1-2 workouts per body part per week is often recommended. Most of the time, I hit 1 bodypart per week. I'll occasionally increase that, but decrease my intensity to prevent overtraining.

[Lord Nimbus]

Cool, I will heed your advice, thanks.

-Lord Nimbus

[Luke530]

soreness has nothing to do if you are healed or not, thats just lactic acid buildup and some from fiber damage, but your muscles are still recovering long after you are not sore anymore.

[ElusiveMuscle]

bump. need more answerss

[asto_86]

screw the science, train on instinct. Nothing wrong with hitting a muscle goup 3x's a week regardless of soreness. Just gotta feed your body what it needs and it will all work itself out.

[SwiftyX]

You can wok a muscle a lot if you scale the volume. I'm sure you aren't doing that.....so 1-2x a week, still dependatnt on volume.

[bbvin]

you could probably train your muscles twice a week if your cns allowed it?

[nkh]

you could probably train your muscles twice a week if your cns allowed it?

I've hit each body part 3 times a week for the past 8 weeks and am loving it.

[sdbolts512]

Its all about balancing volume, intensity, and frequency.

So rule of thumb is if you want to work each bodypart twice a week, cut back on volume and intensity a little unless you are genetically gifted and your body can handle it.

(Layne Norton does super high volume 2x per week for each bodypart)

It takes 2-3 days for a muscle to fully repair (given your diet is in check and you are a fairly experienced lifter) so hitting them as soon as they repair is actually a better way to train as opposed to waiting a full week before hitting them again.

Its difficult to determine how much you can handle because a new routine might have you sore all the time and possibly overtrained, but after a while your body adapts to it and you will be less sore and you will be able to make strength/size gains.

Just give it a try and don't give up too soon if you don't think it is working immediately

[ironwill2008]

Let your rate of progress be your guide, since it is the only factor you can accurately quantify. If you are adding weight to the bar and/or reps on a steady basis, then you're working within your recovery capability. If you're not progressing your working weights, then change either your volume/frequency, get more rest, and/or eat more.

Soreness/lack of same doesn't mean much; go by your rate of progress, as above.

[Farley1324]

Let your rate of progress be your guide, since it is the only factor you can accurately quantify. If you are adding weight to the bar and/or reps on a steady basis, then you're working within your recovery capability. If you're not progressing your working weights, then change either your volume/frequency, get more rest, and/or eat more.

Soreness/lack of same doesn't mean much; go by your rate of progress, as above.

This.



For many people, especially guys without a lot of SERIOUS training under their belt (recently), a full body three times per week works very well

[bigtallox]

If you workout certain muscles, say biceps, and they are no longer hurting in say 2 or 3 days, is it alright to work them out again or is it overdoing it?

You're probably asking the wrong question, there are more important things to worry about than frequency, like HOW you're training, ie exactly what you're doing when you're in the gym. Maybe I'm reading into something that doesn't exist, but it's concerning that you ask about biceps. I'm convinced that most people would make better progress if they just forget they even had biceps. What exactly do you mean by "work them out"? I train my biceps when benching, deadlifting and even when squatting ( if you're squatting heavy enough, you'll understand what I mean ). So could claim that I work my biceps to some extent every training session, however I do very little in terms of direct bicep training ( I've found that to be ineffective ).

My advice would be to find a beginner routine based on fundamental barbell movements.

[MDPower75]

Let your rate of progress be your guide,

So old. So smart.

You're probably asking the wrong question, there are more important things to worry about than frequency, like HOW you're training, ie exactly what you're doing when you're in the gym.

So much smarter than he looks!

[RockCrab]

So much smarter than he looks!

That's because it's bigTALLox, not bigDUMBox! :P

[Alex360]

Give at least 24 hours before working out the body part again. I work most of them out two times a week.

[gomez26]

Give at least 24 hours before working out the body part again..

Spoken like a true 150lb'er.

You do realize there is 84hrs per half week do you?

[_Jordo]

What you can do is have a 3 day split, during the working week that covers the whole body, then a power pull and power push on the weekend. So everything gets hit twice, just at a different ratio

[Farley1324]

spoken like a true 150lb'er.

You do realize there is 84hrs per half week do you?

rofl

[jessejukic]

Ok, I have a controversial statement that I never understood when comparing my experiences with my reading but.

Towards the end of secondary-school I went to the gym in 4 hour sessions, everyday.
Needless to say I worked out every muscle everyday for months and months on end. Only when I was away on holiday without access to a gym would I not workout. Boarding school meant I had access to a gym all the time except when I went home for holidays.

I made progressive gains without rest days, and even when I was on holidays I made big bursts of gains where people would ask if i'd taken up steroids over the holidays. Almost as if I was recovering and making gains all along but not fully recovering and building up greater need for recovery and then on holidays making those accumulated gains in the holidays.

I didn't have any downsides. I ate crap but I was making gains, muscly, lean, energetic. Since then I have trialled many types of acclaimed workouts and diets and I following strict nutrition guidelines and calorie counting but i'm in CRAP condition compared to my workout which contradicts all other information which worked a dream. I used DOMS as my guide, if I didn't get DOMS I wasn't working out hard enough and I ALWAYS hurt, everywhere. I don't know if any of you have had DOMS enough but you learn to love it.

I don't know, i'm very confused at the complete contrast between scientific & common knowledge and my personal experience.


Give me your thoughts!

[gerryh777]

If you workout certain muscles, say biceps, and they are no longer hurting in say 2 or 3 days, is it alright to work them out again or is it overdoing it? I've been working out 4 times a week, doing each type of muscle workout just once a week but I'm healed long before its time to workout the same muscles again. Is it alright to work the same muscles if you arent hurting? Thanks for any help!

-Lord Nimbus

Depends on the volume. For a non-advanced you should probably do 12 sets per week for large muscles and about 8 for small muscles. So for example do chest three times a week 3 sets each time or twice a week 5-6 sets each time. I would say the best schedule would be to hit each muscle twice per week.

[dday39]

chest and biceps errrday

[goobyplss]

If you workout certain muscles, say biceps, and they are no longer hurting in say 2 or 3 days, is it alright to work them out again or is it overdoing it? I've been working out 4 times a week, doing each type of muscle workout just once a week but I'm healed long before its time to workout the same muscles again. Is it alright to work the same muscles if you arent hurting? Thanks for any help!

-Lord Nimbus

It depends how hard you work it.

I'm making much better gains by only hitting muscles once per week than I was hitting them 2-3x a week.

[RockCrab]

Depends on the volume. For a non-advanced you should probably do 12 sets per week for large muscles and about 8 for small muscles. So for example do chest three times a week 3 sets each time or twice a week 5-6 sets each time. I would say the best schedule would be to hit each muscle twice per week.

Doubt he's checking on this thread - 10 years later . . .

[jessejukic]

Yeah, respond to me! I necroposted because it was a high Google result. So we could continue the discussion.

[RockCrab]

I made progressive gains without rest days, and even when I was on holidays I made big bursts of gains where people would ask if i'd taken up steroids over the holidays. Almost as if I was recovering and making gains all along but not fully recovering and building up greater need for recovery and then on holidays making those accumulated gains in the holidays.

I didn't have any downsides. I ate crap but I was making gains, muscly, lean, energetic. Since then I have trialled many types of acclaimed workouts and diets and I following strict nutrition guidelines and calorie counting but i'm in CRAP condition compared to my workout which contradicts all other information which worked a dream.

What are these 'gains' that you speak of? Did you keep a log? How much weight did you gain / lose in what time frame? How much poundage were you able to add to the bar for the big three? Again, over what time frame?

I used DOMS as my guide, if I didn't get DOMS I wasn't working out hard enough and I ALWAYS hurt, everywhere. I don't know if any of you have had DOMS enough but you learn to love it.

Pretty piss-poor guide . . . of course THAT depends on how you answer the questions above.

[jessejukic]

No I was new to the gym and I was young so it was not very regimented and didn't have logs. We all worked out as a year level in the school gym and I excelled. At the end I was lifting a lot of weight before I lost form during a deadlift and pinched a disc. Felt great until the next day but that's another story.

Most machines ran out of higher weight settings, I was bench pressing 90kg, Doing 80kg power clean and press. I'd be lying if I remembered how much I was deadlifting but it was 110kg+. Wasn't doing squats.

Weighed 70-75kg 175cm

Yeah it was considering all the information out there it was a piss poor guide but I had read that the body can adjust to working out each muscle everyday and I was like ok, and I worked up to it with DOMS as my guide. In the beginning I had breaks of a week at a time but very very quickly DOMS became shorter and shorter to the point where it sort of seemed like it was gone in a bit over a day so every muscle every day seemed feasible. Looking back, it worked for me. Knowing all the years of accumulated knowledge I know now and putting it into practice i'm worse off.

It's damn frustrating you know? I have spent years accumulating knowledge and crafting my lifestyle to what science says will work.

Eat every 3 hours
Take omega 3 supplements to help the breakdown and use of fat
Drink 500ml of water immediately after waking up to spike the metabolism and stay hydrated throughout the day
Make sure all my ingredients are high protein
I limit bad fats strictly
Take a shot of cider to boost metabolism
Work out when my core body temperature is highest, my cortisol level is low and my testosterone levels are high (About 3pm)
Work out to failure
Take 60-120 seconds between sets
Tried with and without cardio, going to try high intensity cardio soon.
Workout my muscles AT MOST every 48 hours.
You get the picture...

I'm trying to put all the knowledge I come across into practice, I tell you what though. I practically never get DOMS and I don't feel like i'm pushing my body to make gains and I don't think i'm making the gains I should be or could be on my original routine.

I have read that people can workout everyday. 3 articles last night, even. It just has to be worked up to. The common theme seems to be not to though, point blank never.

[gerryh777]

Doubt he's checking on this thread - 10 years later . . .

Lol! I missed that part.

[Roger14]

In my opinion , workout 1 part of the body each day with full intensity , and rest the muscles until the next week

[Determinednoob]

No I was new to the gym and I was young so it was not very regimented and didn't have logs. We all worked out as a year level in the school gym and I excelled. At the end I was lifting a lot of weight before I lost form during a deadlift and pinched a disc. Felt great until the next day but that's another story.

Most machines ran out of higher weight settings, I was bench pressing 90kg, Doing 80kg power clean and press. I'd be lying if I remembered how much I was deadlifting but it was 110kg+. Wasn't doing squats.

Weighed 70-75kg 175cm

Yeah it was considering all the information out there it was a piss poor guide but I had read that the body can adjust to working out each muscle everyday and I was like ok, and I worked up to it with DOMS as my guide. In the beginning I had breaks of a week at a time but very very quickly DOMS became shorter and shorter to the point where it sort of seemed like it was gone in a bit over a day so every muscle every day seemed feasible. Looking back, it worked for me. Knowing all the years of accumulated knowledge I know now and putting it into practice i'm worse off.

It's damn frustrating you know? I have spent years accumulating knowledge and crafting my lifestyle to what science says will work.

Eat every 3 hours
Take omega 3 supplements to help the breakdown and use of fat
Drink 500ml of water immediately after waking up to spike the metabolism and stay hydrated throughout the day
Make sure all my ingredients are high protein
I limit bad fats strictly
Take a shot of cider to boost metabolism
Work out when my core body temperature is highest, my cortisol level is low and my testosterone levels are high (About 3pm)
Work out to failure
Take 60-120 seconds between sets
Tried with and without cardio, going to try high intensity cardio soon.
Workout my muscles AT MOST every 48 hours.
You get the picture...

I'm trying to put all the knowledge I come across into practice, I tell you what though. I practically never get DOMS and I don't feel like i'm pushing my body to make gains and I don't think i'm making the gains I should be or could be on my original routine.

I have read that people can workout everyday. 3 articles last night, even. It just has to be worked up to. The common theme seems to be not to though, point blank never.

Those numbers aren't really that high. Any growing boy noob could probably get to that range doing most anything.


/thread again fo realz and stay dead?