How often do you strength train?

Mike

How often do you strength train and how much recovery time do you allow between workouts? Some books I have read have recommended 7 to 10 days off between intense workouts, but seems like a lot.

LikuiD

I workout 3 to 4 times a week
I rest one day between every strength workout, and sometimes in that resting day I do some light cardio workouts
I try as much as possible to give every muscle group 8 days rest before I train it again

So my workout usually looks something similar to that:

Sunday: Shoulders & Triceps
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Biceps & Back
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Chest and Abs
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Legs
Sunday: Rest

Monday: Shoulders
.........
And so on

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Shorty

A week between workouts is absolutely ridiculous, no matter how intense it may be. If you have to wait that long to recover, you're either lifting dangerously too heavy weights for yourself, or your diet and or supplements are poor.

I'm on a personal variation of Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength program myself, so I just wait 2 days between each workout. I'm not advanced enough to need to do a split like LikuiD may be, nor do I have the time...!

limainfinita

I have a gym at home and my rutien is:

Monday: Legs
Tuesday: Chest and Abs
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Biceps & Back
Friday: legs
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Shoulders & Triceps

Kara

I have been told by a trainer to strength train at least there days a week with a rest day in between. Basically you don't want to train the same areas on successive days. Going a week between workouts? That's not very effective at all.

Mackenzie23

I only work out about 2 days a week with weights and I try and do 2 days of cardio

Bull

The 7 to 10 days time span means the body needs to recover from training a particular body part. If you train legs to total failure, you should wait a week before hitting them again. You still can train pecs, delts, etc. within that week.
I train about five days a week currently. Four days weights and light cardio, one day special boxing training.

fearow

i train 5 days in week and at weekend have rest. if you want train strenght do exercises slow and with hight weights

bizwiz

I rarely workout anymore due to lack of time from work and browsing away through the internet. But I am planning to start again soon since I am noticing the bulge around my stomach.

tyciol

I don't do an organized program, I have a chin bar in my door and just hang from it a lot and chin now and then.

Donald

Your goal in the gym should be to train with the minimum amount of volume needed to yield an adaptive response, and not a thing more.

Once you have pushed your muscles beyond their present capacity and have triggered your inner "alarm system", you have done your job. Any further stress to the body will simply increase your recovery time.

Most people train way too often and with far more sets than they really need to. High intensity weight training is much more stressful to the body than most people think. The majority of people structure their workout programs in a manner that actually hinders their gains and prevents them from making the progress that they deserve.

Here are 3 basic guidelines that you should follow if you want to achieve maximum gains:

1) Train no more than 3 days per week.
2) Do not let your workouts last for longer then 1 hour.
3) Perform anywhere from about 4-8 sets for large muscle groups (chest, back, thighs) and 3-4 sets for smaller muscle groups (shoulders, biceps, triceps, calves, abs).

If you truly train hard and are consistent, training more often or any longer than this will be counterproductive to your gains.

It really is surprising just how misguided the majority of the population is in the gym.

Donald
Muscle Building Program | Bodybuilding | Gain Muscle Mass

waltky

Sometimes Uncle Ferd uses a dull butter knife to open the envelope with his retirement check in it.