I read this from an article: “discusses a German study that confirms what many of us have noted on our own: the legs need at least 72 hours to fully recover from a bodybuilding-style workout, while the chest is ready to rock just 48 hours later.”
Does that mean it would be wise to train the chest, every 2.5 days? Also considering i’m a teen?.. I’ve read alot of stuff on t-mag.com but this caught my eye, because I lag BIG time in chest
Well, it depends on what muscle group you want to give priority to during a given period. I usually do a four-day split, one body part per six-day period, balancing my workout for my entire body. But there’s always a part that’s lagging behind. Presently, my legs are very well developed due to finishing the Ian King leg program. So now I’m training them for maintenance and focusing more on my back and chest, training them about twice a week. Usually these muscle groups grow slower for me so training them more frequently speeds 'em up. In the near future, my chest and back will catch up and then I’ll probably train something else more frequently. So as you can see, if you choose to train your chest “every 2.5 days,” something will have to go (but then again you are a teenager so maybe not).
where did you read this? do you have a link to the article?
thanks
This is a very true statement. What I do is train upper bodyparts with a 2x week frequency and lower body at 1x week, except calves, which are also 2 x. Try it, you’ll love it. 1x a week upper body gets me nowhere, just running in a circle.
At you age, I would hit all bodyparts twice a week with 8 or so sets per bodypart and high intensity.
Blanket statements like this are stupid as hell. I did 5x5 for my chest last monday and was sore until friday. Now my math may be wrong but thats more than 72 hours and i dont even think i was recovered the following monday when i lifted again.
i agree with goldberg. “one-size-fits-all” training frequencies don’t make any sense to me. the best you can do is to try different protocols and see what works best for you. as for myself while on anabolics i can train each muscle group twice per week, but without any help the best i can do is once per week. prolly more like once every 6 days, but once a week is more convenient.
when you hear people make blanket statements about training frequency (or training in general) proceed with caution. kevo
I agree. I think that this kind of thing is pretty individualized. I train most body parts once per week and I haven’t stopped growing and getting stronger.
Check out “Power” by Fred Hatfield (Dr. Squat). He has a chart on body part training frequencies and how to adjust it for yourself. I have made some of my best progress following this system.
that is a dumb statement to make about recovery in 2 days. I’ve done chest workouts with deep negatives and i’ve been sore for days. Point being if the muscle is sore don’t work it out again. Maybe he was talking about a speedlifting type routine where there is a not a lot of focus on negatives. laters pk
Is that “Power” thing in the archives, i look, can you post a link??.. Thanks for your replies guys
No. It isn’t. He might have soemthing about it on his website. Search Dr. Squat or you can go to a chain book store and usual find it.
Best O’Luck.
I agree with Gold man on this one. I did a 5x5 also and my upper chest was still screaming 3 days later . I had to put off my light chest day. by 24 hrs. Try lifting heavier poundage.
If only a few sets (ie 6 or so) are performed and the intensity is not above 80-85%, you will probably recover in 48 hours as long as you stay shy of failure a few reps. IE if your max reps at 80% are 8, do 5 sets of 4 @80% three times a week and you will gain lots of strength and recover quickly. This is how a lot of eastern bloc training is done. If, however, you train to failure or do a lot of volume/high percentage of 1rm max/etc. then more than 48 hours are required to recover, IMO.