Body Part One Day Per Week?

I’m 43 and have been thinking about doing each body part one day per week. Since I have been training ( 27 years ) I have done body parts two times per week on average.

I recover pretty well but was thinking one day per week may be of use for recovery since I am older.

What do you guys do if you miss a training day? Should I work that particular body part the following day?

Thanks.

I’m 44 and have been doing variations on half body splits for years. I decided to try a body part split routine mainly since it had been so long without doing one. I’m doing back/bi, legs, chest/tri, core/cardio, shoulders/traps/forearms. It’s a little weird sitting there resting instead of moving immediately to the antagonist muscle for a superset but I’m really starting to enjoy this split.

I’ve been hitting PRs on a regular basis mainly due to the ability to focus on a particular lift without being drained. It’s also far less confusing to add in some periodization when you’re just working a couple muscle groups in every workout.

Although my split is good for 5 days I don’t worry about missing a day. It just means that the next week the order will be shifted and I get work on different body parts earlier in the week when I’m fresher.

Recovery times will vary from person to person. I’m 48, and just started lifting again after a long layoff, but I’ve had good success with 2 days on, 1 day off (HIIT/Core day), as follows:

Day1: Chest/Tris/Front Delts (Heavy/Lower Reps)
Day2: Lats/Bis/Forearms (Heavy/Lower Reps)
Day3: 35min. HIIT/Core
Day4: Quads/Hams/Calves (Heavy/Lower Reps)
Day5: Traps/Lateral Delts/Neck (Heavy/Lower Reps)
Day6: 35min. HIIT/Core

Day7: Chest/Tris/Front Delts (Light/Higher Reps)
Day8: Lats/Bis/Forearms (Light/Higher Reps)
Day9: 35min. HIIT/Core
Day10: Quads/Hams/Calves (Light/Higher Reps)
Day11: Traps/Lateral Delts/Neck (Light/Higher Reps)
Day12: 35min. HIIT/Core

First 6-day cycle heavy, with lower reps (12-6 range), next cycle light, with higher reps (15-8 range). I also use different exercises or a different exercise order on light v. heavy days.

I’m actually hitting each muscle group twice every 7 days this way, but I’ve broken the groups, exercises, and loads down so that I’m fully recovered for the next cycle. The exceptions would be my rear delts and spinal erectors, but based on my current exercise selection, these get enough indirect work to not warrant additional exercises at this point.

-james

I think youre probably on the right lines, though i prefer to think in terms of pull / push than bodyparts and not to worry over a little cross over as all the best exercises tend to work many muscles anyway.

We have a saying in marketing, “Successful marketers test and frustrated marketers don’t.” So my advice is that if you have an idea of what you should do, test it and see if it works. Of course the only way you’ll know if it works is if you keep records and it sounds like you do so go for it and see what happens!

That having been said, I think you’re crazy! Train a muscle only once in eight days? What kind of volume is that? Shit, bro, I do whole body routines twice a day every other day and so I hit the same muscles 8 times a week and I’m constantly improving. Recovery isn’t simply the lack of training. It’s also a solid nutrition, supplementation and sleep program.

What does your nutrition program look like? How many hours a day of sleep are you getting? Are you careful about pre-during-and post workout nutrition? I also take two weeks off every 10 weeks, and that’s when I give my muscles a chance to grow.

Hey, everyone is different, but I’m making the best gains of my life at 55 by training like an animal, not by hitting a muscle once every eight days.

Just an added FYI although nobody may give a fuck but I switched to the following split 4 years ago when we had our first kid; I’ll turn 40 in a few months:

First of all I don’t have anything geared toward a particular day of the week; I have an order that I follow so when I have to miss a day (or 2) I just pick up where I left off. I’ve got some decent genetics in my legs so I don’t ever do calves (they’re too big already; lol) so if I am having trouble visiting the gym for a particular period of time I may cut out a leg day so that I don’t get sore going heavy on upper body parts which I found occurs with too much rest between body parts.

day 1 - chest/abs
day 2 - arms/abs
day 3 - glutes/hams
day 4 - delts/lats

I can typically get my workouts done in 45-60 minutes easily. I use abs for extra rest between supersetting my push/pull body parts. Just throwing in my 2 cents bc this has worked out great for me. My chest I do alone because it is stubborn and needs full attention;

don’t get me wrong, I am completely happy being able to put up 300 lbs at my age, but if I didn’t isolate it I would be putting up like 265 for one instead of 6. I reveal this because I want to be clear that if I had stubborn shoulders I would be isolating them - get my drift?

I absolutely love the pump I get from doing bi’s and tri’s together and my triceps have thrived allowing me a 1/2 dozen reps of 115 on my dip belt.

Anyway, I hope this helps somebody.
***also; I recommend finishing each body part with a drop set.

Again, this workout is just in the best interest of time for the family man…far from ideal, but I still make gains.