All right t-men, i need help. here is my situation. i am taking a weightlifting PE class in highschool in the morning monday through friday. the coach knows that i allready workout every day so he told me that i could do whatever i want during this classs as long as i am lifting weights. the class is only 50 minutes long though which means about 35 minutes or so of lifting. this is not enough for me to get a full workout done and i would still like to go to the gym in the afternoons. i am working on a schedule right now and just wanted to know what you guys think would be the best way of splitting it up. right now i have one day where i do chest in the morning and back in the afternoon, another day where i do shoulders and lats in morning and bis/tris in afternoon. is there a problem splitting it up this way or should i do the same body part in morning and afternoon. Thanks a lot for the help - Nic
No, not unless your gym is at the top of a elevatorless 20 story building so that your legs actually recieve some attention.
Dude. I’ve been working twice-day/ weekday routines for quite a while,and find them great for me.
I have weekends & Wednesday nights off, leaving me Monday & Tuesday AM/PM, Wednesday PM, Thursday & Friday AM/PM divided into the following routines, each not lasting more than 45-55 minutes:
Monday AM: Chest & Abs
Monday PM: Back
Tuesday AM: Quads
Tuesday PM: Hams
Wednesday AM:Bi’s & Tri’s
Wednesday PM: OFF
Thursday AM: Delts/traps
Thursday PM: Calfs/Abs
Friday Repeat Mondays
Weekend: OFF
Note the above format is a constant rolling system that in the course of 4 weeks, allows no less than 3 days & no more than 5 days rest.
Grab a pen, list down the left hand margin weeks 1 to 4 and along the top days Monday - Friday (weekends rest)and find out for yourself, how well “I think” the rest patterns fall.
Your call bro, though combined with the anabolic/Opus/T-dog diet & 8-10 hours sleep, with good supplements a great "natural"result is most achievable.
Matt, i actually have 3 leg days a week scheduled, but i was just wondering if it was allright to break the upper body up into different parts in am and pm. i was just using the chest in morning back in afternoon as an example. i wasnt saying that this is all my workout schedule would consist of. the reason i was asking this is because i read in a previous article here that doing the same body part in am and pm is very effective (chest in morning, chest at night). i figured that by doing opposing parts (chest/back) on same day at different times would also be effective, but i was not sure. i would like to get the most from my twice a day workouts and i just wanted to run this by you guys to make sure this is ok to do and that i am not wasting my time. if anyone has more opinions on this matter please let me know. thanks again for the help - Nic
Nic,
Using two workouts a day is nothing new and does have its benefits.
The biggest thing to watchout for is overtraining. If you are going to try this, I think you should try to keep your total workout duration (time in the gym) to less than or equal to 30 minutes. This was recommended by Poliquin and Duchaine in the old Muscle Media when twice-a-days were getting some attention.
Another thing to consider is the split. Poliquin wrote about training the same muscle group in the am and pm. He suggested trying high intensity (low reps and heavy loads) in the morning and low intensity (high reps) in the pm.
Another approach would be to train just one bodypart per session (ie Biceps-monday am, triceps-monday pm, etc).
The final and very important thing to think about is nutrition. Make sure you take some kind of shake with you to school so you can get a quality post-workout meal (high GI carbs, such as maltodextrin or glucose and quality protein such as whey or casinate).
Just don’t push your self too hard.
Nic, I think you’d find that 35 minutes of actual lifting, four times a week will be plenty for you. Given that your still in high school, you probably have a lot of other stresses in your life and I would guess aren’t eating quite optimally either. This would put you in a less than average recovery situation. Remember, as Ian King said in his book, “Get Buffed,” nothing works if it exceeds your ability to recover from it. Try the four times a week, 35 minutes per session. If you keep your total volume per workout around 10 or 12 sets, you should have no problem accomplishing this.
Thanks, I appreciate your concern. I am pretty confident that i am giving my body plenty of time to recover and if not i will adjust my schedule accordingly. i usually spend about an hour and a half in the gym almost everyday right now (i usually rest on 4th day). i have been lifting for about 3 years now and although i am physically only 17 i assure you that i am not your ordinary teenager when it comes to my technique, attitude, and knowledge of the matter. I finished 10th in my state for my weight class in powerlifting last year and this year i am determined to place first even though i plan on competing in the next weight class. I have done lots of research on bodybuilding/weightlifting, and nutrition (mostly t-mag, but also from various other magazines, talking to professionals, etc…). As far as my diet is concerned i don’t think there will be a problem there either. My diet consists of 3 scoops Grow! with fruit in morning, met-rx food bar for snack, another Grow! shake a little later (i have a cooler in my car and have access to it during school), lunch consisting of usually a tuna or pb&j sandwhich , a banana, etc. , i then have a prework out shake, a post workout shake with Udos Choice later in afternoon, dinner consisting of meat and vegetables (usually chicken salad), and then another shake before bed time. I also take a multivitamin and am currently getting ready to start a cycle of creatine. Now that I cleared that up, back to the original question. Any more opinions/advice is appreciated, - Nic
If you have trouble with available time, I would reccomend checking out Testosterone’s sister site ClassicX.com. Then look for the “Big Routine.” It is in the first issue.
This is a super slow routine that only requires half an hour three days a week, but it is total hell to go through.
I started this workout Monday, and after two workouts, I have gained a pound, and I think I have lost some fat so my gain could be higher.
This is intended to be only a 6 week workout, so after that you could be prepared to try a Charles Poliquin workout, or even an Ian King workout.
Try it and you won’t be sorry.
In my opinion you should work the SAME muscle group in the morn. and in the afternoon. Morning should be HEAVY-LOW REPS<VERY LOW VOLUME. AFTERNOON-HIGH REPS< HIGH VOLUME AND AN EXERCISE OR TWO MORE THAN THE MORNING. I did this type of workout & blasted through the plateau I was stuck on!! WARNING- unless your geneticlly gifted or are “ON” you will surely overtrain if you go much past the 2 weeks.