Rest/OFF Days - schedule

[Damios]

Hi dudes!

Topic about Rest/Off days from gym. How does it look in your's routines? Are you taking rest day becouse this is in your plan even when you feel very well and can go to the gym or are You basing on your fettle and do it by instinct?

My split routine is:

Legs
Arms
Chest
Back
Shoulders

I'm taking day OFF only when i fell tired, sleepy etc. Sometimes i can train 21 days in a row, sometimes only 2 days. And... i dlon't like rest, i fking love train and i'm feelling better when i have train day than rest day.

What about Your's exeperiences with Rest/OFF days?

 

[dnoyez]

Hi dudes!

Topic about Rest/Off days from gym. How does it look in your's routines? Are you taking rest day becouse this is in your plan even when you feel very well and can go to the gym or are You basing on your fettle and do it by instinct?

My split routine is:

Legs
Arms
Chest
Back
Shoulders

I'm taking day OFF only when i fell tired, sleepy etc. Sometimes i can train 21 days in a row, sometimes only 2 days. And... i dlon't like rest, i fking love train and i'm feelling better when i have train day than rest day.

What about Your's exeperiences with Rest/OFF days?

Well you may be able to train 21 days in a row and see your gains or three in a row and need your rest like you claim but you should keep in mind muscle over lap could also be slowing even better gains that you could pontentually be experiencing maybe even by 50 %.Your arms are placed the day before your chest and triceps gets worked on chest day so overlap is layered into a pontential day of growth and recovery following hitting arms.For that matter its safe to say you are hitting your arms 4 days in a row with your split.

 

[Damios]

I will be change my routine to:

Chest
Back
Shoulders
Arms
Legs

 

[Damios]

A lot of different ways i see...

1.

Chest
Back
Shoulders
Arms
Legs
Repeat

2.

Chest + Bic
Back
Shoulders + Tric
OFF
Legs
Repeat
OFF

In 1st option body part every 5 day but without scheduled OFF day and in 2nd option body part every 5 day but with two scheduled OFF days.

I'm more enjoying from 1st option but effectiveness > all so... hard to choose which one

 

[Demondosage]

The best I ever look on half the effort and half the die is by training with weights day 1, day 2 just abs/cardio, day 3 off, repeat. Full body routines

 

[Demondosage]

****diet

 

[rutman]

I will be change my routine to:

Chest
Back
Shoulders
Arms
Legs

If it were me......... I'd go:

Chest
Back
Legs
Shoulders
arms

rest day, maybe 2 rest days if the body needs it

repeat

 

[raysugar1234]

The problem I see with this routine is that your shoulders and arms are getting much more work than your back and chest. Shoulders and triceps are used in all your pushing exercises, then you have a separate day for them. I prefer to train chest and back twice a week...

 

[illuminatty]

Same here, I don't have a separate day for arms. I train tricep with chest and shoulders and train bicep with back.

I did layne norton phat routine a few years back, was one of my favorite.

 

[raysugar1234]

Same here, I don't have a separate day for arms. I train tricep with chest and shoulders and train bicep with back.

I did layne norton phat routine a few years back, was one of my favorite.

I still don't understand why some guys take a whole day of training for arms. I think your much better off hitting them more frequently with less volume, rather than having a separate day for them and hitting them with a ton of volume.

 

[rutman]

I still don't understand why some guys take a whole day of training for arms. I think your much better off hitting them more frequently with less volume, rather than having a separate day for them and hitting them with a ton of volume.

If you haven't ever tried just training arms by theirselves, I'd encourage you to give it a chance. For years, I trained with a traditional push pull routine and made decent gains doing so. But for the last month, I've gave each body part their own day and have exploded in size and strength! My arms have went from 18in to 18.5 in 4 weeks. Shoulders have really filled out as well. You have to go in and very thoroughly kill the particular body part that day.

 

[raysugar1234]

If you haven't ever tried just training arms by theirselves, I'd encourage you to give it a chance. For years, I trained with a traditional push pull routine and made decent gains doing so. But for the last month, I've gave each body part their own day and have exploded in size and strength! My arms have went from 18in to 18.5 in 4 weeks. Shoulders have really filled out as well. You have to go in and very thoroughly kill the particular body part that day.

I have, and I don't agree that you have to thoroughly "kill" a body part to get it to grow. But to each there own.

 

[raysugar1234]

That's definitely some good size arms though bro, good work. Mine are about that size too. And it took years of training get there.

 

[illuminatty]

I guess everyone reacts differently. My arms grow when I don't do a lot of volume.

Rutman,

Do you mind posting your routine

 

[raysugar1234]

I guess everyone reacts differently. My arms grow when I don't do a lot of volume.

Rutman,

Do you mind posting your routine

Same here, of course many pro's use body part splits with a lot of volume and an arm day so it does have some value. To me, it seems like by "killing" a muscle, you are just fatiguing it and doing lots of damage. Harder to recover from and by training this way you also hit the muscle less frequently. The pro's don't have to hit muscles as frequently because they are already maxed out for the most part. It's more maintenance and being tighter and dryer. But for lagging body parts many of them do hit that muscle twice per week. I'm trying to add mass all over, so frequency over volume just makes more sense to me.

 

[rutman]

Raysugar, I totally agree that it's harder or takes longer to recover when training that way. Used to when my split was back-bi's, chest-shoulder-tri's, and legs, I could actually recover faster and be ready to work the muscle again in about 4-5 days. I trained like that for 15 years.....and did very well with it. I guess my body has changed since I've gotten older, lol. I now go into the gym and can go all out for the body part that I'm working that day. Sometimes I may do 12 working sets, but sometimes I may do 20 working sets ( especially for large body parts), just all depends on how effectively I'm working the muscle that day. But I can totally focus on that body part and not have to hold back because of having to work shoulders and tri's after chest, or bis after back.

At the moment, my split is
Back
Chest
Legs
Shoulders
Arms
Off day
Off day
Repeat

 

[raysugar1234]

Raysugar, I totally agree that it's harder or takes longer to recover when training that way. Used to when my split was back-bi's, chest-shoulder-tri's, and legs, I could actually recover faster and be ready to work the muscle again in about 4-5 days. I trained like that for 15 years.....and did very well with it. I guess my body has changed since I've gotten older, lol. I now go into the gym and can go all out for the body part that I'm working that day. Sometimes I may do 12 working sets, but sometimes I may do 20 working sets ( especially for large body parts), just all depends on how effectively I'm working the muscle that day. But I can totally focus on that body part and not have to hold back because of having to work shoulders and tri's after chest, or bis after back.

At the moment, my split is
Back
Chest
Legs
Shoulders
Arms
Off day
Off day
Repeat

Since you have been training so long and have made good progress I can see how this split could be beneficial to you. I think newbie's should stay away from splits and should have a bigger focus on strength. To make any serious progress I think you need to be able to move some decent weight.

 

[rutman]

Since you have been training so long and have made good progress I can see how this split could be beneficial to you. I think newbie's should stay away from splits and should have a bigger focus on strength. To make any serious progress I think you need to be able to move some decent weight.

I like to talk about training because I'm always looking to improve what I'm doing! I'm kind of torn on the whole "amount of weight that one needs to push".... When I was younger, I always wanted to lift heavy. Low reps, heavy weight. I had some major setback injuries because of it. I think that it all comes down to more isn't always better. It all about quality and not quantity. Really focusing in on how to better and more effectively work the muscle. Changing the speed of the reps.....using lighter weights and slowing the rep down to where you can feel the muscle working throughout the entire range of the rep. I know guys with 20in arms that can't bench 225 10 times. They're all about getting the maximum blood flow into the muscle using the minimum amount if weight. Like I said, there are so many different ways to train. That's what's cool about what we all enjoy to do!

 

[raysugar1234]

I like to talk about training because I'm always looking to improve what I'm doing! I'm kind of torn on the whole "amount of weight that one needs to push".... When I was younger, I always wanted to lift heavy. Low reps, heavy weight. I had some major setback injuries because of it. I think that it all comes down to more isn't always better. It all about quality and not quantity. Really focusing in on how to better and more effectively work the muscle. Changing the speed of the reps.....using lighter weights and slowing the rep down to where you can feel the muscle working throughout the entire range of the rep. I know guys with 20in arms that can't bench 225 10 times. They're all about getting the maximum blood flow into the muscle using the minimum amount if weight. Like I said, there are so many different ways to train. That's what's cool about what we all enjoy to do!

I agree, I'm not a power lifter and it's definitely not all about numbers. However, I do think you need to focus on it to a certain extent. Lets face it, strength does play a part in gaining mass. Look at Ronnie Coleman, his back is fantastic and he pulls some serious weight. He could never have grown a back like he did off of a 400 pound dead lift.

 

[illuminatty]

I've always wondered about pumping the blood into the muscle. Does that give gains? I'm not a power lifter either but I can't imagine building an armor like chest benching 185lbs on the bench. I could be wrong.

Push ups give great pumps and pumps a lot of blood into the muscle but it doesn't build giant pecs.

I'm 31 and I am concerned about my joint health. With that said I'm not all that strong. I'm 5'10" 175lbs low teens bf pressing 105-110 on dumbell presses, squatting 275 for reps and rack pulling 325. I guess I would consider myself not a beginner but in between intermediate and a beginner.

I notice I don't grow unless I'm pushing heavy weights for low reps.

I'm interested in learning more about pumping blood into muscles = gains.