Is this ok to do?

I

Iwillgetripped

0
I am currently in the process of maintaining my muscle mass the best way possible while lowering my calorie intake to lose this last annoying layer of body fat hiding my abs.

I rest on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I do my workouts in this order.

1st day: Biceps, Triceps
2nd day: Pectorals, Quadriceps
3rd Day: Back, Trapezius

My workouts is always 1 hour.

If you notice, sometimes one of my muscle groups will end up getting 4 days rest. Is this too long of a rest period? Does resting that long lower strength in that particular muscle group? After the 4 days scenario, I will work that muscle group the 5th day and the next time it comes around will probably be in 3 days.

I ask this, because I fear my muscles will get smaller due to an inevitable 4 day rest period . I know muscles won't get bigger with the diet I am on now trying to lose stubborn body fat, but is the 4 day rest period bad or good?

Also, I do not do cardio. It is a pain in the arse since I do not have easy access to a gym or a bicycle or a treadmill etc. I used to do these inane cardio workouts where I would run in place etc., it was too inconvenient and frustrating.

I am able to see my ripped body if I stiffen out my body and I like what I see, it's just I want to see that in my regular stance. After about 3 weeks I can now see the core of my abs peeking out without needing to stiff my body, and my muscles are still intact.


Note: my topic question is directed to the 4 day rest period scenario, the other info is just for you all incase you need it to help me better.

Thank you.
 
It's not too much rest. Scientists believe muscle repair and recovery takes up to 5-7 days, depending on the muscle itself.
 
I work my abs 6 days a week. Rest it on saturday. My Ab sessions range from 20-30 minutes.

What about my routine needs work?

I think I end up not working any muscle group hard enough if I try to work more muscle groups per workout, which is why I stick to 2 muscle groups per workout day, or do you mean I should be working other muscle groups?
 
Its not necessary to train the abs with that amount of volume. Focus more effort on the core lifts and your diet.

List your routine if you want some suggestions.
 
"...Yeah 4 days of rest is fine, on another topic, your routine needs a lot of work..."

instead of picking it apart how about some suggestions?

If i was you i would go for full body workouts for 3/week or alternate upper and lower body workouts every 2nd day for 4/week using compounds only...no curls and limit ab work to HARD core exercises such as dragon flags, hanging leg raises etc...don't lower cal's too far though or you'll lose strength which will in turn lower the int of your workouts resulting in slower fat loss
 
IWILLGETRIPPPED,

Don't worry about losing muscle with 4 days rest. You most likely haven't even recovered from the previous workout. Keep increasing your intensity (more weight, reps), and decrease your volume. Bomb the muscle in 20 minutes at an ultra high intensity, and go home and grow!

P.S. It is a proven fact that when most overtrained bodybuilders take more than 2 weeks off from training they are stronger on the first workout back. YOU BUILD MUSCLE AT REST NOT WHILE WORKING OUT!

Now go increase that intensity, and GET RIPPED!
 
swans05 said:
"...Yeah 4 days of rest is fine, on another topic, your routine needs a lot of work..."

instead of picking it apart how about some suggestions?

If i was you i would go for full body workouts for 3/week or alternate upper and lower body workouts every 2nd day for 4/week using compounds only...no curls and limit ab work to HARD core exercises such as dragon flags, hanging leg raises etc...don't lower cal's too far though or you'll lose strength which will in turn lower the int of your workouts resulting in slower fat loss
Click to expand...

Because if you read his "note:..." it says that he is only asking about the four day rest period.

If he had asked about the routine, then I would have replied about the routine obviously.
 
Thanks for the help.

I am glad to hear the 4 day rest period is actually better.

I just checked out info on dragon flags and that is one badass workout, I was able to do 1 full rep of it correctly and that thing totally owned me.

Will definitely be doing more of those.

I will do compound workouts that work the muscle groups on the specific day, so I will be working those muscles plus others indirectly.
 
although you wont lose any muscle by having 4 days of you will definetly not gain any,
protein sythesis(muscle growth) starts when you lift a weight and subsides between 36 to 48hrs so if you train a muscle every 48hrs you are staying anobolic longer.
studies have also shown that even though a muscle is loaded again the next day it did not stop hypertrophy.muscle does not need the time to recover its your CNS (central nervose system)
 
Iwillgetripped said:
Ok, I am at a lost now.

Which is it?

Should I keep it down to 2 days rest at most? I have seen many say 2 days rest at least.
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You know what, i dont blame you for being "lost".

Do me a favour. Do 1 day on, 1 day off for a max of 4 weeks. So lets say:

Monday - Weights
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Weights
Thursday - no more than 30mins cardio (no HIIT training) and Rest
Friday - Weights
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - Weights
Monday - Cardio (no more than 30mins and no HIIT) & Rest
Tuesday - Weights
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Weights
Friday - Cardio (no more than 30mins and no HIIT) & Rest
Saturday - Weights
Sunday - Rest
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Weights
Thursday - Cardio (no more than 30mins and no HIIT) & Rest
Friday - Weights
Saturday - Rest
Sunday -Weights
Monday - Cardio (no more than 30mins and no HIIT) & Rest

Take some stats now and once you have done this (the above routine), please come back and post and let us know how you went.

A few tiny things, chuck some leg work in your regiment to break up the week a assist in muscle building (chicken legs anyone?) and take it easy for the first week (above) eg, the first week, dont exceed 45mins of workout, then the weeks after that, dont exceed 1.5hrs.

Cheers,

Steve.

PS: Stop any routine you have now and dont start the above until the up-coming Monday, so you fit in with the above routine and to give yourself a 'full rest'.
 
as wesky said or weights every mon.wed,fri, will be good
info from hst site



Whether you are sold on heavy weight and low reps, or less weight and more reps, if your training frequency is not planned with the same scrutiny as other aspects of your routine, you may be wasting time unnecessarily. With a little insight into the factors affecting the optimal timing of your workouts, you may just experience more success than you believed you could.

Knowing exactly when your muscles need to be trained again after the previous workout is difficult to judge with absolute certainty. Recent research in the area of muscle damage and recovery is showing results that may surprise you. Science is now showing us things that may change the way you train forever!

When you lift weights, you cause damage to your muscles. This is often referred to as "microtrauma". Microtrauma involves the tearing and shearing of delicate protein structures within your muscle cells. This may sound bad but in reality it is necessary for the initiation of growth after your workout.

This microtrauma may be expected to require you to postpone your next workout until your muscles are back to normal. It is this logic that your average personal trainer will use when he/she tells you to wait, sometimes a full week, before training the same body part again. Recent research however is showing us that putting off your next workout until your muscles have "fully recovered" may not be necessary or even desirable!1,2,3 In a study performed at the University of Alabama4, two groups of subjects performed the same periodized resistance training routine either once per week or three times per week. The results showed that muscle mass increases were greater in the three workout per week group, compared to the one workout per week group. In addition, the strength increases in this group were on average 40% greater! So what does this mean to you? It means the fear of overtraining, which sometimes verges on paranoia, may be preventing you from getting the most gains you can in the gym.

So science is telling us that training a muscle group approximately every 48 hours may be more effective than training it once or twice per week. If you train your whole body three times per week with your current workout routine it might take several hours to complete. I doubt many of us would have time for that. Does this mean you can't reap the benefits of more frequent training? Once again, new research provides us with some answers.

In a study performed at Montclair State University5 researchers investigated the effect of a single set vs. a multiple set routine on increasing upper body strength. They had the subjects perform either one set or three sets of bench press, incline dumbbell press and flat dumbbell flies using ten reps, three times per week for 12 weeks. This kind of study has been done before but this one is particularly valuable because it involved previously "trained" subjects. This is significant because untrained subjects will usually respond positively to virtually any training routine. Just because a training strategy works for beginners doesn't mean it will work for experienced lifters. These researchers found that doing a single set of each exercise was equally effective as doing three sets of the same movements in increasing the subjects one repetition maximum (1RM) on bench press. The take home message is that you needn't do more than a single work set to achieve the same relative gains of doing multiple sets. This makes incorporating a whole body workout into your schedule much more feasible.
 
Wesky I just may try that starting next Monday.

Although, should I stick with my routine and throw in more leg work on one of the routines, or were you thinking of a different workout, as I can see you just mentioned "Weights" and nothing after. Should I squeeze my workout routines to 2 parts and alternate those parts during the "Weights" days or should I keep the same 3 workout plan.

P.S - Is cardio necessary for me? I don't get enough calories for bulking yet (Still working on some way to get in extra calories after I burn this last layer of fat hiding whats left of my abs/general muscles) and I suspect the cardio will just reduce my calories per day down too much.
 
You should incorporate 1-2 days of cardio a week. Nothing wrong with keeping your heart in shape and it really won't do much damage to your bulking. Also gets you ready for your cutting phase.
 
Iwillgetripped said:
Wesky I just may try that starting next Monday.

Although, should I stick with my routine and throw in more leg work on one of the routines, or were you thinking of a different workout, as I can see you just mentioned "Weights" and nothing after. Should I squeeze my workout routines to 2 parts and alternate those parts during the "Weights" days or should I keep the same 3 workout plan.

P.S - Is cardio necessary for me? I don't get enough calories for bulking yet (Still working on some way to get in extra calories after I burn this last layer of fat hiding whats left of my abs/general muscles) and I suspect the cardio will just reduce my calories per day down too much.
Click to expand...

I guess the change in routine is up to you, be it turn it into a 3 day or 4 day routine to accommodate the legs.

The options are below:

1st day: Biceps, Triceps, Hams
2nd day: Pectorals, Quadriceps
3rd Day: Back, Trapezius, Calves

1st day: Biceps, Trapezius
2nd day: Pectorals, Quadriceps
3rd Day: Back, Triceps
4th Day: Calves, Hams

It cannot be stressed enough that a full body workout is a must. Not only does it balance your physical appearance but it also helps your core strength. A big upper body on a small lower body, just doesnt balance (i learnt from my mistakes) :)
Dont take this as a bashing either, im just re-iterating the importence.

As for the "light" cardio, this is fine - as big angry hippo said. Its a good idea to have a good heart while working out. After all, it controls our blood flow and blood flow is everything when building muscle. If you have a weak heart, you will have a weak build.

As he also said, it wont damage your bulking phase as it will be light cardio (30min jog). Like all exercise, it will burn the wanted cal's but it wont remove so much that it stuns growth.


Hope this helps!

Steve.
 
do a fullbody workout 3x a wk
squats
deadlift
benchpress
pulldowns or chins
shoulderpress
that should be enough but if you want to add bis tris and calfs thats up to you.
 
3wks of 15 reps
increase load
3wks of 10 reps
increase load
3wks of 5 reps
take 1wk of weights carry on doing cardio,then start over again
if you can increase the weight every couple of sessions instead of every 3wks then thats even better,if not your still getting progression




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forgot to put how many sets.
1set 15s
2sets 10s
3sets 5s
use this to start of stop 1rep short of faliure untill you get to the 2nd wk of the 5s then go to faliure,you will have a wk free of weights after that so no problemo
 
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