How long are you going between training days?

[thejeepguy]

I was recently listening to some old Mike Mentzer tapes and he was commenting to wait three days between training days. To allow you body to heal and build new muscle tissue and without the extra time your body would only heal not build new tissue. I work out 6 days a week then take one off. Different days different muscle groups. Then there's cardio. So I spend a massive amount of time training. His train of thought got me thinking I need to tone it down. What is the common amount of down time? What does everyone else do? Thank you for any information or tips.

 

[Demondosage]

Mike Mentzer spoke some facts to a degree, but let’s not forget that he built his physique on volume training before he ever got with Arthur Jones. So did Casey Viator, Ray Mentzer, and Boyer Coe. Mike was Arthur Jones echo, his cash cow when he was marketing his nautilus equipment.

With that being said, Mike spoke some truth, but he got carried away with it. I’ve been in the gym over 30 years and recovery is definitely harder, but I don’t need 3 days off between each lift. If Mike was alive I’d like to ask him “why the fuck even train at all?” You think 3 days off is a lot, in heavy duty 2 I believe he even advocates taking an entire week off between lifts!

What works well for me, which is SOME Mentzer principles would be A being upper body day and B being lower body days. Week 1 would be A,B,A, week 2 being B, A, B. So I do throw together a full upper body day with each exercise being 3 sets usually, and a lot of muscle groups are hit intensely with just 3 sets total, then on to the next muscle group, but I also do cardio 6 days a week rt now. Mentzer said cardio was a waste of time, on that one he was totally full of shit!

Find what works for you, that guy was a know-it-all that hung off Arthur Jones dick. He built his physique with volume like everyone else until he worked with Jones. After that, half of what he spouted was marketing bullshit!

 

[narta]

Depends on age and if one is on gear or not.

Personal experience:

Young-no gear: 2on/1off
Young+gear:5-6on/1off
Old-no gear:1on/1off
Old+gear:2on/1off

 

[Alert_Custard]

I have done a bit of everything over the years.
Training Monday to Friday bro split was fun when I was young, not moving much wait and not knowing any better.
Now that I am older and stronger than I was, 5 days a week is too much. 2on, 1 off, 2on, 2off works well.
3 days a week Legs, Push, Pull, plus cardio on the non weight days works very well.

Right now I am trying a full body EOD or 3 days a week (depending on what I am doing on the weekends) like Jordan Peters mentions. So far I like it and progress is being made, but too early to tell.

Bottomline is that it will depend on the person, intensity, volume, external factors, etc. Try different things for a while and see what works better for you.

 

[thejeepguy]

Mike Mentzer spoke some facts to a degree, but let’s not forget that he built his physique on volume training before he ever got with Arthur Jones. So did Casey Viator, Ray Mentzer, and Boyer Coe. Mike was Arthur Jones echo, his cash cow when he was marketing his nautilus equipment.

With that being said, Mike spoke some truth, but he got carried away with it. I’ve been in the gym over 30 years and recovery is definitely harder, but I don’t need 3 days off between each lift. If Mike was alive I’d like to ask him “why the fuck even train at all?” You think 3 days off is a lot, in heavy duty 2 I believe he even advocates taking an entire week off between lifts!

What works well for me, which is SOME Mentzer principles would be A being upper body day and B being lower body days. Week 1 would be A,B,A, week 2 being B, A, B. So I do throw together a full upper body day with each exercise being 3 sets usually, and a lot of muscle groups are hit intensely with just 3 sets total, then on to the next muscle group, but I also do cardio 6 days a week rt now. Mentzer said cardio was a waste of time, on that one he was totally full of shit!

Find what works for you, that guy was a know-it-all that hung off Arthur Jones dick. He built his physique with volume like everyone else until he worked with Jones. After that, half of what he spouted was marketing bullshit!

So do you see decent gains with only 3 sets? I usually at minimum do 4 exercises at 6 sets each to failure. The pain is real but I can feel the difference. That being said I am just about 40 and do worry about doing more damage than good.

 

[Excel.exe]

4 days a week.

mon: chest/back
tue: quads/hamstrings
wed:shoulders/arms
thu: any 2 compound exercises

i dont want to get too big

 

[Demondosage]

So do you see decent gains with only 3 sets? I usually at minimum do 4 exercises at 6 sets each to failure. The pain is real but I can feel the difference. That being said I am just about 40 and do worry about doing more damage than good.

I’m cutting rt now so it’s more arranged around a recovery factor, but I’m pretty big and lean rt now (226 lbs @ 5’9 with abs) but my cardio regimen is dedicated rt now. I do a 6 day straight cardio regimen where day 1 is an hour and 20 min, then each day following I reduce cardio by 10 min, so by day 6 I’m only doing 30 min, take a day off and then repeat.

I feel like the weight training 3x per week allows me to hold more muscle while getting leaner, the size to lean combination rt now at 44 yrs old is better than it was when I was 30, take that as you will

 

[SalsaCat]

I've been doing a Mon / Wed / Fri rotation (A/B/A, B/A/B) but with full body workouts for both A and B, plus cardio on most of the off days. Over the past 9-10 months I've been doing this, I've made some serious progress both in muscle gain and leaning out. Currently the number of sets and reps varies every 4 weeks along with switching up which exercises are where and what variants I do. Every workout has some core work (1 or 2, either static or dynamic), then power or combination work, the various strength sets hinge/push/lunge/pull and squat/pull/single-leg/push, plus sometimes some metabolic work or another combination (like squat & press or deadlift & row). I usually wrap things up with a few intervals. I leave wiped, but absolutely exhilarated most times, and I often want to go back and do it again without resting. I never used to look forward to gym days before this - they were a chore to be done to get the gains, but now I truly enjoy them. I know I can't do the same thing forever and will probably be switching this up a bit come spring or summer, but I started out a full-body skeptic and have been shocked how effective it can be.

 

[buck]

Depends on the amount of weight being used, number of sets, intensity, diet, ones own ability to recover etc. If diet training etc are good and one is not growing then more recovery days are likely needed. I liked to train so that has been one of my bigger down falls with growing. Early on i trained everything 2x a week and grew well. As i got stronger requiring more recovery i started breaking the body into more parts. Or lowered the number of sets being done. Or added more recovery days. There is a number of ways to go about not digging the recovery hole to deep that one cannot get out of it.

 

[Grey Spartan]

I usually push it until my body needs a break. At my age the max I can do is 6 days a week for 4-6 week before needing a few days off. I usually stick to a 4 days on 1 day off schedule to push the needed break further out. Something like:
1. Back
2. Chest
3. Legs
4. Shoulders & Arms
5. Rest

I do some sort of cardio every day or I will get fat.

 

[BabaJagga]

For me is PPL 5x per week with legs only once. Mailny i go monday-friday and weekends are restdays but sometimes i take day off during week and go at saturday to finish.

I need deload weeks on regular basis ofc but i can recover from this pretty well (or just got used ro beeing fucked up i guess?)

Problem is during spring/summer when i cycle on bike a lot, 3-5x/week, 45-50km each day. then systematic fatigue hit realy fast.

 

[Ateam2023]

i'm doing a push/pull/ day off then legs day off then arms , lower weight higher reps , im just coming off a surgery in October so im still "moving on up",,

 

[AlexDavis43]

I plan to go to the gym every day and do as much lower body work as upper body. Rest days happen but I don't schedule them.

If glutes/hams are tight or sore, that lower body day becomes quad-focused. If chest/shoulders are tight or sore, that upper body day becomes lat-focused.

I track weights and reps on main exercises and follow a basic Westside Barbell training program (with a bodybuilding/volume focus).

If you're a beginner or only have a few years experience, might need a more strict program. Westside has a lot of flexibility.

 

[Ateam2023]

Unfortunately for me after these damn surgery on my hands/elbows , i've basically had to revert back to "beginner level" pull excercises, super light weight and just the "mind muscle" connection, this damn left elbow is giving me painful problems and being ultra sensitive, frikin sucks, Limiting my movements as far as pull excercises, even push excercises are aggravating it, idk, its a slow process at this point, , Ima start mega dosing 5 mg bpc157 daily for a couple weeks and see how that does,,

 

[Eddie.]

I'm doing pull push upper lower and frequency is 2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off. I've done bro split with 5-6 a week, i've done strict upper lower, i've done a powerlifting program with lots of accesories (aka powerbuilding) and the latest i've tried is the PPL. All these in a span of 20 years.

There's no good or bad split/program, the more you think of it the less you will enjoy it. Just train hard and allow your body to recover until you hit the same group again.

For me personally i'm a higher volume/lower intensity guy, especially as i'm getting older and i'm dealing with a lot of injuries.

 

[Care2Play]

Waiting three days between training days sounds long. In my experience allowing 2 days of rest for a muscle group before training it again is enough when getting enough sleep.

 

[Bumpygooch]

At 51, I’ve turned my volume way down, with intensity kept high. I now do PPL, repeating every 5 days. I try to get a day off between P/P, so, it looks like P/off/P/L/off/P/off/P/L/off/P/off/P/L, so, 9 training days over 2 weeks.

 

[havanabanana]

Hey man, I've been thinking about this Mentzer stuff too after hearing those old tapes. It's pretty interesting but honestly, I don't think you need to wait 3 full days between every workout these days. Like, most guys I know (including me) train way more frequently and still make good gains.

I'm running a 6-day split too and it works fine as long as you're eating and sleeping right. The key is not destroying each muscle group every time - you just gotta find that sweet spot where you're pushing hard but not killing yourself. Bigger muscles like legs and back might need more rest (like 2-3 days) but smaller ones can handle more frequent training.

That said, if you're feeling constantly tired, not making progress, or your joints are acting up, then yeah, maybe tone it down a bit. Could try dropping to 4-5 days and see how that feels. I've done both high and lower frequency, and honestly, it's super individual. Some guys crush it on high frequency, others need more rest.

Just watch your body's signals. If you're growing and feeling good, stick with what works. If not, maybe Mentzer had a point and you need more rest. No shame in trying different approaches until you find your sweet spot.