Confidence and Success > Fitness/Diet
How often should you work out?
Noner:
First off I don't mean how many days at the gym, I mean how often should a particular musclue group be worked out.
For instance biceps; I hear people say 3 times a week becuause it keeps the muscle active and fights the fatigue and sorness.
I hear others say do it only once a week because the muscle fibers need time to re-build and only then can the muscle grow.
So which is it? More frequent or less?
I am starting a revised routine for the new year to get ready for a special event and would like some advice.
happyharry:
I'm not quite sure about the exact interval periods between workouts, but what
I can tell you is that you definitely shouldn't do them every day. Once in two or three days sounds more reasonable.
Here's an article for you to check out. Read the paragraphs under the heading "Recuperation".
Hope this helps...
Oh, by the way: I know you already got your own routine, but it can't hurt to check this site out.
These are isometric exercises you can do at home without any equipment, and they have the same
result as going to the gym and working them machines and lifting weights.
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/shenandoah/OBB/OBB.html
Medic aka Rocko:
From what I've read, I think I general rule is not more that twice a week for any specific body part. That being said, I'm not sure that I totally agree with that. I think it depends more on the goals of the individual, i.e. weight loss, fat loss, building mass etc. When I whipped myself back into shape about a year ago, I used light weight and did full body workouts 4 times per week, sometimes on consecutive days. The main thing is to find something that works for you & your schedule. There are countless examples on the net, try some out & see how you feel.
Robmeister:
--- Quote from: Noner on December 20, 2006, 03:26:14 PM ---I hear others say do it only once a week because the muscle fibers need time to re-build and only then can the muscle grow.
--- End quote ---
Not only have I heard this same principle...but I've experienced it to be true. After many different approaches to weight training over the years, I've gotten the _BEST_ results following this principle. And it's the principle that Bill Phillips' book, "Body 4 Life" advocates ( www.body4life.com ).
It's sorta in between the two that you mentioned where a body part gets worked out 3 times over a 14 day period....or 1.5 times per week.
I have outlined in a nutshell here: http://www.slybaldguys.com/smf/index.php?topic=448.0 if you want to take a looksy.
ar3inc:
Here is my insight on the subject; there are only two muscle groups the do not need recovery time after being worked, the abs (including obliquis) and the gastrocnemius (the calf). Those muscles in theory can be worked everyday indefinitely. I would not recommend it especially to a beginner. A fair a realistic goal would about 14 days in a row and about 1-2 days of relaxation.
The others now, to keep things simple I’ll group as arms, chest, back (including neck), legs and cardio (mainly referring to the heart). The larger the group the less time needed to heal after the breakdown of a work out. Example the lats will recovery faster than the biceps. In my opinion the best work out routine focus on complimenting muscle groups; (in most cases the whole extremity) for example, biceps and triceps together, back and abs and so on. Many argue on an older system of alternating the muscles of each limb. It is very important to keep a routine that allows proper recovery for the muscle to develop and breaks the muscle fast enough to keep to ego motivated.
Before I start to write a dissertation on fitness and proper workout theory, I am going to cut to the bottom line. There are too many variables involved to just provide one size fits all answer to this question. The best guidance I can offer as a general rule is if you really want to push yourself, achieve fast results, and you are already in a fair sense of fitness, then about the day before the soreness is completely gone from the muscle group you can work it again. If you want to be more on the safe side wait about a day or two after the soreness is gone.
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