An often made training mistake

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iron addict

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Many lifters do programs that use back to back training days. IMO this is a mistake for MOST lifters and aside from Olympic lifters, most of the programs with the highest success rates have a day off between sessions, or only one session done back to back. Having said that many lifters will still structure their routines with back to back days out of desire or need.

One of the ways to make this work as well as possible is to ensure there are no lower body days followed by upper body days. Trying to get a good chest workout the day after doing heavy legs is a recipe for failure as an example. Why? CNS will usually be dampened from the heavy leg work. So if you must do back to backs, do the light stuff followed by the heavy leg/back work. A chest/arm day will not impact a leg workout much the following day, but doing legs and then looking to recruit muscles optimally the next day is making things way more difficult than need be.

Iron Addict
 
i agree 100%
the majority of people cycle overtraining with poor results followed by giveing up and not training at all . more isnt always better .
 
i hate all the little fuckers on my boat who run to the gym everyday and say "lets do burn outs today fuck yea". All the newbies out there, who think its ok to do advanced techniques (when in fact the have only been working out for a year or 2) are jackess. imo

on the split training theorys im trying to find out if the 4 day split is more effective then the 3.

sun-chest/arms
tue- back/shoulders
thur- chest/arms
fri- legs

vs

sun- chest/arms
tue- back/shoulders
thur- legs
 
This is a great post.. Ive leanred this about my body, aswell.. Ideally for me 1 one 1 off seems to work great.. it keeps me fresh.. the problem is, like most here, im addicted to training, so ill go 2 on 1 off until my body tells me to back off, i do train westside though, so the program is pretty taxing
 
I think it depends on the person and goals, I know very few bodybuilders who could take eod off and compete.
 
True, like issaid, i would say ideally, for training westside for my body anway, 1 on 1 off would work,becase on westside too you may hit 3 BDPTS in one day i normally do 2 on 1 off.. remember im natural too... well, 80% natural lol
 
goin4275 said:
True, like issaid, i would say ideally, for training westside for my body anway, 1 on 1 off would work,becase on westside too you may hit 3 BDPTS in one day i normally do 2 on 1 off.. remember im natural too... well, 80% natural lol
Click to expand...

Mentioning that you train natural makes a very valid point, I think that we sometime forget that gear speeds recovery.
 
I like going back to back, i think i get more out of it and stay more motivated with my weekends off for recovery.

Split
Mon-legs
tues-chest
wed-back
thur-delts
fri-arms
 
I'm going to throw my 2 cents in. I really think it depends on your training style. I know trainers that have their clients lift 5-6 days a week. They are doing very low volume where they can recover within a few days.
 
CNS and muscle recovery are two different things. AND as importantly context needs to be given and taken. Most of my posts are aimed at those that need it most. Beginners and intrmediates. And no, you can't fit EOD into the calender week and make it work, but you can do it the way westside lays it out and the only back to back days are legs after an upper body day. You get 4 days in the gym and until you are ready to compete, 4 days is enough for most everyone even though the obsseive compulsive BB crowd will say no way. I respect a lot of BB'ing and strength coaches, and Charles Poliquin while not perfect understands BB'ing hypertrophy and strength training at a level few come close to, and his statement that unless you have no job, responsibilties, or other time and energy consuming activities in your life four days a week is enough training for anyone except for the most genetically elite. That has been my experience after trying 5-6 day a week schedules on some very talented lifters.

Iron Addict
 
I agree whole heartedly with Iron Addict. I beleive another serious issue is people trying to train legs 1 day after training lower back/legs with dead-lifts.
 
I agree with it being individual......the way I train, I have a day off in between M.E. Squat/Deads and M.E. bench(monday). Then I do D.E. squats/deads(wednesday) the day after M.E. bench(thursday), shoulders and traps(friday), D.E. Bench (saturday)....... on my bench days I do quite a few sets, but I only do 3 lifts, so it works fine. :)
 
liftsiron said:
I think it depends on the person and goals, I know very few bodybuilders who could take eod off and compete.
Click to expand...

So true, in comp season, I am in the gym basically every day.


I do train intuitively, so I listen to my body. If I am tired, or know that my muscles are sore, I might do the 'bits' like forearms, calves, some abs and cardio, work on my routine, or just take a day off.

Being a woman, training some things are a bit different for me, for example chest......

I do train my entire chest, never do decline stuff, focus on incline.

Most of my chest is covered with breast and bikini on stage, so really, only needs to be strong and look good, not massive pecs (not that they grow massive anyway :) )
 
I dont think i have the genetics for it.... not muscular genetics but i mean CNS genetics.. does this make sense at all ?... what i mean is i tire or fatigue quickly if i train too much... and by too much i mean like 5 days a week... especially now that i work 11 hr days
 
I've been lifting off more than on for the past year, so when I can steadily lift again I'm going to run a 3 x week routine than eventually bump it up to 4 x.
 
Yup , 3-4 times a week is my optimal training days for a balanced lifestyle... ofcourse i do not take training as seriously as others on this board due to other pursuits.. but even when i was 5 days a week was the aboslute MAX days i could do without burning out, and even then id have to take 2d ay breaks here and there
 
my routine is messed up now ....i just listen 2 my body ...if im feeling good ill go 2 gym if not then i wont ....

i started doing chest every 4-5 days now ...cuz im focusing on it ..so far its going good
my diet is perfect
not natural lol
my sleep is pretty messed but it always has been ..

my routine kinda goes
sat chest/ bi
sun Off
mon Back
tue Legs
wed Off
thur Chest/Tri
fri Off
sat Back/Bi
sun Off
mon which is 2day ..will hit either chest or shoulder ....depends on how im feeling that day ...

i miss out shoulders since they usually r hit as secondry myscles on other work outs ..but i try 2 do it at least 1nce every 10 days

its amessed up routine but just testing it seems 2 b working
 
My 5x5 has me doing workouts 3x a week, with low volume high weight, but I usually go MWF, or TRS. I have always heard that it was not a good idea to train the same muscle groups back to back. I personally am not fond of doing the opposing muscle groups on back to back days. But then again, I am not trying to compete.

A friend of mine who is a phys ed teacher has mentioned on many occasions about how she has to listen to her body and IMHO it is something everyone should do. I have had to listen hard to determine if I should lift or my body really wants another day of rest. Most of the time I think it is jsut complaining a bit, but other times it has been serious, and I have been glad I rested.
 
Well yes, and no. Meaning that everyone as diferent genetics for 1, everyone as diferent goals with/about their training, and what works for some may not work for others so everything comes down to being personalized.

The worlds strongest man trains legs 3 times a week I can only train my legs once a week or 1 every 10 days even.
 
Whaddya think of lift/cardio/lift/cardio? Too much? Permits for recovery?
 
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