Are short periods of training as beneficial as long ones?

T

thewatcher

0
Hi,

By "period of training" I mean the number of weeks spent going to the gym regularly. I'm talking about bodybuilding - exercising 3 times a week (never 2 days in a row), doing split workouts and small sets (5 - 8 reps), eating big and supplementing protein. Is the rate of muscle gain as much at the start of the peroid as after a few weeks, or is it inefficient to bodybuild for, say two weeks, with a couple of weeks CV training before coming back to bodybuilding because you'd be switching away from bodybuilding before the main benefits occur?

In short, I'd like to start a routine of bodybuilding for a couple of weeks, then doing some CV traning for a couple of weeks, but I'd like to know if that's a daft idea.

Some background for those who are interested. I'm 41, male and a "hard gainer". Since the start of July I've been bodybuilding most of the time, but I've been going for a long endurance walk about once every 3 weeks. This week I felt like running again so I've been for a couple of runs. I've enjoyed it and want to do more CV work. But I'd also like to continue to increase my muscle mass.

I'd appreciate any wisdom anyone can impart on me.

TIA,

The Watcher
 
Its a daft idea. You need continuous training to keep growing. 3 weeks is barely enough time to start bulking, and then you wouldn't lift for a while. You'd make craptastic gains.

periodization is more about changing rep schemes, set schemes as well as the exercises done every couple months to 'trick' the body into continuosly trying to adapt to the workload by never keeping it the same too long.
 
For bodybuilding you want to swap between the following set/rep systems...
5x5
4x10
3x15

You should do 5-6weeks training, then have a good 5-7days rest to heal.
 
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