3day split vs. 5day?

[xavier2484]

have a question? i was talking to a couple guys at the gym today about there splits and what not. and these guys were huge. and lean. deff had a few cycles under there belt.. all of them work out 6 days a week?
how come ,most ppl say that u should work out eod so that your body will recover? or else it wont grow? has anyone here went from a 5-6 dayu split to a 3 day .. and saw better results???

 

[squatsthename]

I think you already answered your question, its about recovery.

 

[Grizzly]

I think you already answered your question, its about recovery.

Recovery varies between individuals. However, there is nothing wrong with 6 or 7 days a week workouts, providing you structure them appropriately.

 

[PreMier]

6-7 Days with weights a week is a beginner mistake. 3-5 is all you need and even if you are on a huge steroid cycle it is good to take a day off every 3 days or less. So 3 on 1 off 2 on 1 off.....ect

 

[squatsthename]

I dont understand why people dont just take the time out to test their bodys to see how long it takes for them to recovry.

 

[wildman1717]

A bodybuilder on cycle can recover faster then a natural builder. Change things up and see how a 3 day split works, what works for you may not work for someone else and vice versa. Good Luck.

 

[Grizzly]

6-7 Days with weights a week is a beginner mistake. 3-5 is all you need and even if you are on a huge steroid cycle it is good to take a day off every 3 days or less. So 3 on 1 off 2 on 1 off.....ect

Really? So I guess competitive olympic lifters with their 20+ workouts a week are beginners. That seems a bit of a paradox: beginner and competitive. I guess strongmen and their 3 days in the gym and 3 days with the equipment are beginners, too.

Hell, JohnSmith used to squat everyday. And I can tell it was a huge detriment to him. Not only does he have super impressive lifts himself, but he's also taken his lifting team to back to back national titles.

 

[PreMier]

Really? So I guess competitive olympic lifters with their 20+ workouts a week are beginners. That seems a bit of a paradox: beginner and competitive. I guess strongmen and their 3 days in the gym and 3 days with the equipment are beginners, too.

Hell, JohnSmith used to squat everyday. And I can tell it was a huge detriment to him. Not only does he have super impressive lifts himself, but he's also taken his lifting team to back to back national titles.

I have trained with many power lifters and a few Olympic lifters and not one trained more than 5 days a week....several of them set records in their day. I guess you know more than a man who has set a world record...LMAO

 

[Ramstein II]

People who do 5-6 day splits are usually working one major muscle group per workout for a total of once a week. I think youll find that if strength and power are your goals, then this is not a great split. Power relies on training your nervous system to contract your muscles in a given range of motion. So, higher frequency is required for constant reinforcement.

However, many have had success working each muscle group every 7 days when size was their goal. The reason is that it gives your muscles plenty of time to recover. These bodybuilder splits probably breakdown more muscle protein than strength programs and exhaust the muscles of their energy reserves. Arguably your muscles may be recovering in less time, so why not work them more frequently? Those who do less frequent workouts would argue that you dont lose your gain in 7 days, so its better to err on the side of more rest. This has become the norm among bodybuilders.

However, you have to ask yourself, if a person who has near perfect genetics, who devotes his entire life/day to bodybuilding, who takes the maximum amount of drugs, who has perfect nutrition, who weighs about 300 lbs with 10-12% bodyfat etc... (ie. a pro bodybuilder) does 12-20 sets per body part once a week, then what should you be doing? The answer is probably not what the pro is doing, unless youre just like him.

I personally have had better success doing lower volume6 sets, maybe 9 for short periods of time, per muscle group on a three day split with four workouts a week. That has been the best FOR ME. Less volume and I detrain. More volume and I overtrain. More frequency and I dont recover. Less frequency and I have too much time to recover. Keep in mind Im advanced, natural with good nutrition, and very good genetics. Someone else may have to do more or less. A beginner should definitely do less volume/higher frequency. I recommend you read Designing Resistence Training Programs by Fleck and Krammer.

The exception to all this, of course, is strength training. Then, I would tell you to read Zatsiorsky and many of the programs on this board, such as 5x5. And, by the way, strength training is one way to go about getting huge.

 

[PreMier]

People who do 5-6 day splits are usually working one major muscle group per workout for a total of once a week. I think youll find that if strength and power are your goals, then this is not a great split. Power relies on training your nervous system to contract your muscles in a given range of motion. So, higher frequency is required for constant reinforcement.

However, many have had success working each muscle group every 7 days when size was their goal. The reason is that it gives your muscles plenty of time to recover. These bodybuilder splits probably breakdown more muscle protein than strength programs and exhaust the muscles of their energy reserves. Arguably your muscles may be recovering in less time, so why not work them more frequently? Those who do less frequent workouts would argue that you dont lose your gain in 7 days, so its better to err on the side of more rest. This has become the norm among bodybuilders.

However, you have to ask yourself, if a person who has near perfect genetics, who devotes his entire life/day to bodybuilding, who takes the maximum amount of drugs, who has perfect nutrition, who weighs about 300 lbs with 10-12% bodyfat etc... (ie. a pro bodybuilder) does 12-20 sets per body part once a week, then what should you be doing? The answer is probably not what the pro is doing, unless youre just like him.

I personally have had better success doing lower volume6 sets, maybe 9 for short periods of time, per muscle group on a three day split with four workouts a week. That has been the best FOR ME. Less volume and I detrain. More volume and I overtrain. More frequency and I dont recover. Less frequency and I have too much time to recover. Keep in mind Im advanced, natural with good nutrition, and very good genetics. Someone else may have to do more or less. A beginner should definitely do less volume/higher frequency. I recommend you read Designing Resistence Training Programs by Fleck and Krammer.

The exception to all this, of course, is strength training. Then, I would tell you to read Zatsiorsky and many of the programs on this board, such as 5x5. And, by the way, strength training is one way to go about getting huge.

"The body doesn't know muscles. It only knows movements."

-Mel Siff

 

[a-bomb83]

i find 3/week to be much better. anyone in the gym more than 5 days per week are more than likely overtraining and going by Flex magazines on how to train. they are also the ones who year after year get no bigger and always look the same.

 

[Grizzly]

I have trained with many power lifters and a few Olympic lifters and not one trained more than 5 days a week....several of them set records in their day. I guess you know more than a man who has set a world record...LMAO

Sure you have. I bet you commute from Australia on a daily basis to train with those who have monopolized the record department for the last decade; Metal Militia and West Side Barbell.

Furthermore, I said strongmen, not powerlifters. Of course, you already confirmed what I said to begin with. I said 5 or 6 days is just fine. You just said they trained 5X/wk. Thank you for supporting my argument.

And how many times a day did the oly guys train? A couple, right. We're talking 10+(on the low end) workouts a week.

If you do a search of the forum, you can find a training program used at the Olympic training center for the strength training purposes of the olympic wrestlers. 4 days a week, 2 times a day. All of this on top of their wrestling training.

Thank you for being you. You make me look so much better. I'm beginning to like to read your drivel. It just reinforces how great I am.