Working Muscles Once or Twice Weekly?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Over 35 Lifter
1

So I’ve been working out 14 years and rarely have deviated from training muscles more than once a week. Most of the programs I see online, etc. prescribe the 4 workout split, large muscle groups once weekly. I’ve read some good articles recently that have got me rethinking my status quo.

Have y’all experimented with both and prefer one over the other?

2

Hey man … I’m no expert, but I am over 35 (45), lol

Also did the “one body part a week” thing for years … About 5 years ago started to break things up so I’m hitting each body part twice per week, but the total number of sets during each workout is reduced. I’ve also experimented with pull ups every day, push ups every day, and currently doing delt side raises 3 x per week to work more shoulders in. All of that extra work is high reps and never to failure.

For example:

M- legs (squats, LP, hacks) 10-12 sets

  • hammies 3 sets of whatever
  • back (BB rows, cable rows) 8-10 sets
  • bi’s (barbell curls, concentration curls) 8 sets
    • side laterals, 3 x 15-30 *

T - chest (FB, incline hammer) 10-12 sets

  • Tri’s ( dips, machine extensions, push downs ) 10-12 sets

W- Delts (OHP, BNP) 10-12 sets

  • hammer shrugs 3 x 20-30
    • side laterals, 3 x 15-30

TH - legs (squats only, higher reps and light) 5 sets
- back (DL, pull-ups, hammer rows) 10-15 sets
- hammies, 3 sets of whatever

F - tri’s ( CGBP, dips) 10 sets

  • chest (decline BP, 3 sets 10-15 reps)
  • bi’s (hammer curl, machine preacher) 8 sets
    • side laterals, 3 x 15-30 *

This set up isn’t ideal … I don’t like working delts after chest and tris, and don’t like hitting biceps after back day, but it keeps me from hitting the gym on the weekends, which is more important for me at the moment.

Just an idea of how you can structure in extra workouts for each body part … Try to take advantage of the “bleed over” from similar work … For example, CGBP hits chest as well as tris, so I do that on Fridays workout rather than Tuesdays to hit a little more chest.

At the end of the day you’re halving a 15-20 set one body part day into 2 workouts within a seven day period (or longer if your schedule permits)

Clear as mud? Lol

3

Morphing From Blobby Bodybuilder to Bad Ass
by Jackson Yee

This article a few years ago was a breath of fresh air. At 35yr I’d been training the same way my whole life. Now atleast once a year I try somthing different, even for a couple months

4

[quote]OCD Guy wrote:
So I’ve been working out 14 years and rarely have deviated from training muscles more than once a week. Most of the programs I see online, etc. prescribe the 4 workout split, large muscle groups once weekly. I’ve read some good articles recently that have got me rethinking my status quo.

Have y’all experimented with both and prefer one over the other?[/quote]

I made my best progress on a 3 on, 1 off split.

5

I could’ve sworn a long reply. Weird. I’ll keep it short. I like the sets/reps/rest methodology in this article. I’m just going to tweak the layout:

I’ll do 3 workouts weekly alternating:
Upper. Off. Lower. Off. Upper
Following week: lower. Off Upper. Off. Lower

6

I could’ve sworn i submitted a long reply. Weird. I’ll keep it short. I like the sets/reps/rest methodology in this article. I’m just going to tweak the layout:

I’ll do 3 workouts weekly alternating:
Upper. Off. Lower. Off. Upper
Following week: lower. Off Upper. Off. Lower

Thanks for the feedback :>)