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2006/04/09, 12:45 PM
Hi, I'm passed the stage of being a beginner and feel its time to take my workouts a lot more seriously. My diet is pretty much how it should be. The only problem I have at the moment is the decision out of which routine to use. I am after gaining as much mass as possible, should I be working each muscle just once a week or twice a week. If it were once my schedule would be:
Day 1- Arms/Abs/Calfs
Day 2- Rest
Day 3- Legs/Back/Abs
Day 4- Rest
Day 5- Shoulders/Chest/Abs
Day 6- Rest
Day 7- Rest
However, I feel that I recover quite easy even ater a heavy session and lift weights til exhaustion. Would this routine benefit me more?:
Day 1- Abs/Arms/Chest
Day 2- Rest
Day 3- Abs/Legs/Back/Shoulders
Day 4- Rest
Day 5- Abs/Arms/Chest
Day 6- Rest
Day 7- Legs/Back/Shoulders
The routines aren't perfect, but the rough idea is there. Basically would I gain more mass from working the muscles to exhaustion once or twice a week? Thanks in advance.
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2006/04/09, 01:04 PM
Sorry I forgot to mention that for the bigger muscles such as chest and legs I will do around 12-15 sets of 8-12 reps. For the smaller muscles such as arms I will do 9 supersets of 8-12 reps.
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2006/04/13, 11:43 PM
An excellent post from Lyle McDonald that is excellent...
For maximum hypertrophy....
5-8 repetitions. The reason is based on recruitment thresholds of motor units (MU's, the muscle fibers and nerve that activates them). 5-8 reps is roughly 80-85% of 1 repetition maximum, at that intensity, you will get full MU recruitment through the entire set. Doing 5-8 repetitions with that weight will then ensure that maximal amount of metabolic work given 100% MU recruitment.
That is to say, if you went heavier, say 90% 1RM (about 3 reps), you wouldn't get any further recruitment effect, but you would do less metabolic/mechanical work.
If you went lighter, say 75% 1RM (12 reps), you would get more total work but you wouldn't know when or if the highest threshold MU's were recruited.
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Strength and Honor!
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2006/04/13, 11:44 PM
Another thing, splits are way overrated....the body is actually a whole.
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Strength and Honor!
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