Which Muscles on Which night

M

matt_rugby

0
Hi,
I intend to join a gym as soon as i get my job, which will be next week, and i am jsut curous about wat to do each night.

will i get more progress by targeting every muscle group every night, or targeting a few groups every other night, if you get what i mean.

which one would give me better gains?
 
Most definitely not every muscle group every night, your body won't react well to that. A split focusing on different "groups" is popular and will work well if done correctly.
 
Yeah what AJP said is effective. You could also do full body workouts 2-3 days a week ( not on consecutive days). It is really your preference.
 
yeh, i'd also recommend that you split focus what areas of your body you want to workout. like for instance, do your upper body (chest, bicep, tricep) one day, and ur legs (hamstrings,quadriceps, glutes) the next day.

its not good to workout all your body in just in one day, u might injure yourself or like what AJP said.
 
Joey007 said:
yeh, i'd also recommend that you split focus what areas of your body you want to workout. like for instance, do your upper body (chest, bicep, tricep) one day, and ur legs (hamstrings,quadriceps, glutes) the next day.

its not good to workout all your body in just in one day, u might injure yourself or like what AJP said.
Click to expand...

Are you saying a full body workout is not good ??? Any proof of that ?? I'm always willing to learn.
 
jpc1058 said:
Are you saying a full body workout is not good ??? Any proof of that ?? I'm always willing to learn.
Click to expand...

lol no.

u mis-interpreted what i meant.

I meant to say that, he should breakdown his workouts, by days. not just "do it all" in like 1 day. lol, well, thats just me.

everyone has their own preferences. i'm just giving my 2 cents :p

but in the end, i will be working out my whole body. just as you would say a full body workout.
 
Joey007 said:
lol no.

u mis-interpreted what i meant.

I meant to say that, he should breakdown his workouts, by days. not just "do it all" in like 1 day. lol, well, thats just me.

everyone has their own preferences. i'm just giving my 2 cents :p

but in the end, i will be working out my whole body. just as you would say a full body workout.
Click to expand...
My body responds best to a split routine as well. I get a full 7 days of rest which is optimal for growth, especially when you have intense training sessions.
 
I dont' believe a full body workout in one day multiple times a week is very effective.

Working major muscle groups such as your chest requires up to almost a week to fully recover from if worked properly. Even working another muscle group such as legs say the next day can hinder its recovery since your body is still in a laboring for your chest. Imagine the strain on your body to recover when worked out on the same day! Also, total body workouts don't let you gain muscle as quickly and efficiently. Performing a good number of exercises, sets, and reps takes about 30 minutes per body part. You can spend 3-4 days a week at the gym for approximately an hour each session as opposed to 2 hours for a total body workout that's not even as effective. Check out this link for good routines.



I don't want to completely bash on total body workouts however. If you circuit train (doing different exercises with little to no rest in between), you increase your heart rate in a cardio-like system. Keep it up and this method will promote fat burn while providing an effort in maintaining muscle mass. Then again, let's not forget that gaining muscle also burns calories (approximately 50 calories per pound of muscle gained). Burning calories + a steady diet can help you burn fat as well.

I think it depends on what you're looking for on the day of your workout (circuit training or a muscle gaining workout). Check out this link for good information on routines. Personally, I definitely prefer the split routine.
 
Last edited:
So doing a full body workout a couple of times a week is not very effective ? I'll have to add that to my "to know" list. That's hilarious. And personally I do a split routine, but I know darn well full body workouts are quite effective.
 
It really comes down to how your body responds to the workout. I personally prefer a split because it leaves more time for your body to recover. I have at least 4 days of rest for each muscle group.

Some say 48 hours is the minimum but I noticed that i personally saw much better gains giving myself a longer rest period.

Essentially, just listen to your body. Everybody is different. Some people can recover faster than others.
 
Yes, I understand all about recovery, listening to your body and all that. And like I said I also do a split routine, not full body. The point I am making is just because someone doesn't do a particular routine, don't come on here and bash it, saying it isn't effective and you can gain muscle from it, that's BS.
 
jpc1058 said:
Yes, I understand all about recovery, listening to your body and all that. And like I said I also do a split routine, not full body. The point I am making is just because someone doesn't do a particular routine, don't come on here and bash it, saying it isn't effective and you can gain muscle from it, that's BS.
Click to expand...

I was responding to his criticism of the full body, not what you said
 
Joey007 said:
yeh, i'd also recommend that you split focus what areas of your body you want to workout. like for instance, do your upper body (chest, bicep, tricep) one day, and ur legs (hamstrings,quadriceps, glutes) the next day.

its not good to workout all your body in just in one day, u might injure yourself or like what AJP said.
Click to expand...

err.. full body routines 3 times a week is smashing :p, you just dont spend hours doing isolation bull****, you do squats, deads, rows, bench and military press and stuff like that ;)
though if you have any articles or anything like that saying fullbody routines are bad for you, gimme a link cuz id like to see it :)
If anything, id say going the old bodybuilder style Chest biceps day, Back triceps day would be the thing not to do.
I would do either a Push/pull split, fullbody or maybe upper/lower split
 
Last edited:
Well first off, I guess I should rephrase. Instead of being not very effective, it's obviously not as effective. I'm not bashing on full body workouts. That can be seen in my quote "I don't want to completely bash full body routines...it's good for etc etc." But if you're looking to build muscle, there's a reason why body builders (professionals) go with the split routine. It works better and saves you time. I mean you do split routines yourself. In what case would you use the total body workout?
 
Last edited:
and why is that?
you say you need a week to recover from a propper workout, thats not true, you can replace it with intensity and still get a good workout from it, bodybuilding routines where you work a muscle once a week and let it recover a week is kind of 70's, isent it? atleast thats what ive heard. and ofcource you dont work 2 days in a row.
and 30 minnutes per body part? point is, with full body routines you do compound movements which are better than doing lots of isolation, and the compound exersices allows you to cut down time in the gym.
 
Last edited:
A total body workout trains a body part for about 10-15 minutes if you want to keep the time spent at the gym under 2 hours. Such a workout doesn't require but 1-2 days of recovery, even at high intensity. Training at the same high intensity, a split routine offers 30-40 minutes per body part. This results in a workout that requires up to a week of recovery time. If your goal is to develop muscle mass, you want to shock your body into change. By devoting more time to particular muscle groups as opposed to the whole body, you can provide a stronger jolt to your body, if you will.

I'm not saying total body workouts are worthless. People may use them because they don't have many open days in their schedule or are looking to cut and maintain muscle mass. But if you truly want to achieve gains, the better routine would be the split routine because it allows you to really hit each body part hard.
 
big angry hippo said:
But if you truly want to achieve gains, the better routine would be the split routine because it allows you to really hit each body part hard.
Click to expand...

by this logic, wouldn't it also imply that a series of isolation excercises would be best?
 
Lemme throw out an example:

Chest/Triceps

So you do your incline, decline, flat bench presses as well as some pec flies or cable crossovers. By then, with proper training, your triceps should be worked as well (from pressing the barbell up with your arms). Next you train your triceps, which are already fatigued. In the midst of training your triceps, you do an exercise such as dips which also work your lower chest.

Split routines don't imply "one body part one day." Like I said, I'm not attacking. I'm simply stating my opinion of which one I prefer and why. In fact, I used to do total body workouts. But I have found that by doing split routines, I can push my body even further. It may not be the same for you.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top