How Much Training Do You Need?

[RazorCuts]

How Much Training Do You Need?
by Bruce Page

As bodybuilding progresses and theories conflict, it becomes a puzzle to bodybuilders as t just how much training would be best to fit their individual needs. Where does sufficient training and overworking of the muscles begin? How often should one train? How many repetitions? Should it be heavy or light or even medium weights that are employed?

These very questions are in the minds of bodybuilders years ago and they remain prevalent today. There is always a search going on for the fastest, surest method of developing big muscles with a minimum of effort. Why with a minimum of effort? Let's face it, man is primarily lazy and does no more than he has to in order to succeed at his work or whatever goal he has set for himself. If it were possible to eat or drink a certain food and, presto, come up with 20" arms and a 55" chest with a bare minimum of effort, we would all be eating or drinking that food. However, it is not that simple and one must work and work hard for what he gets in bodybuilding and the lazy one derive mush less for their efforts than the energetic, zealous types. But here again arises the question, how much is best?

In order to come to a suitable conclusion one must first take a personal inventory of his natural attributes. What type of bone structure do you have? Do you have reasonably high energy levels? Are you an easy gainer or is it difficult for you to gain? Let's take these questions one at a time. First the bone structure. If you are small boned you really have your work cut out for you. This does not mean that you cannot succeed and build a very good physique, but don't expect to gain like your heavy boned brother will. If you are stocky with a heavy bone structure chances are you will gain readily with a reasonable amount of hard work.

Secondly, the question of energy. This is most necessary for if you run out of gas, so to speak, just as you are hitting your stride during each workout it is obvious your gains will be minimal simply because you won't have the energy to continue putting your best into your training.

Thirdly, the question of easy gainers. Usually it is the big boned boys who gain most rapidly and the slender types are slow to respond, buy even the slim ones occasionally gain rather fast. It all boils down to how you train, eat and rest.

Today we have hit a trend in bodybuilding that seems to bring satisfactory gains to all whether they be heavy boned or small boned and more and more bodybuilders are climbing onto the band wagon. It all seems to have had its beginnings with the great physiques of Bill Pearl, Larry Scott, Freddy Oritz and so on. The method used is a moderately heavy weight load combined with many sets and reps set at eight or ten. Another factor, and perhaps the most important is the time taken to rest between sets. This is very short and many who first try this method of training find it mos t difficult to accomplish much until the muscles become accustomed to this type of work. The exercise is performed quite strict and slowly so that the muscles involved must do all the work with no assistance from adjacent muscle groups.

Now this is the trend today and I must admit it certainly appears to be working well with a multitude of weight men. now this question still arises, how much should one do?

If you are the hard gaining type it is obvious you must work hard and yet not overdo your training, otherwise you will be burning up far more energy than you hope to replace during your resting period. You will have to eat far more than you ever have before but not starchy carbohydrates, instead eat all the good protein foods that you can stow away. Eggs, milk, meat, nuts, fish, cheese, wheat germ, yogurt, etc. These will not only replenish your protein stores but also keep your blood sugar high so that you do not become tired and listless fn your workouts. It might be a good idea, since most bodybuilders do this, to train six days a week on a split routine instead of trying to work the entire body three or four times a week.

The easy gainer doesn't need much advice because he will find that as long as he trains regularly, eats well and gets a reasonable amount of rest and sleep he will progress well. The hard gainer, on the other hand, must make sure that he doesn't over train and must always be sure that he gets at at least eight to nine hours sleep per night and he will find that he needs this much if he is to succeed


In closing, let me say this: The bodybuilder has to more of less guide himself when it comes to his workouts. Only he will know when he has done enough. when he has showered and dressed he should not feel like he's been hit by a truck but rather he should feel refreshed and on top of the world and if he has that run down feeling perhaps he has been doing too much in which case he could be retarding his own progress.

Many times I have said that sets and reps are a matter of personal choice and I still feel that I cannot say what is best in this respect because what suits one does not suit another. I stated earlier that many of the name bodybuilders like to use from eight to ten reps but then this may not be for you. You will have to determine what suits you best.

How much training should you do? You can be the best judge of this. If you train too often and too hard your progress will slow down and you will feel edgy and nervous so cut your workouts until you feel good after training. East well and rest plenty and if you couple this with hard but sensible training you will succeed.

[jmcbride]

I train six days a week usually. 3 sets per body part thats it maybe 5 for back. Was hesitant on it at first, but it is a great workout.

[LATS]

aaahh. i see a phil hernon trainer lol.. i have followed that routine type since the beginning.. well almost .. hit everything twice a week.. people are reluctant to do it at first.. but, works wonders.. no need for me to change now.. lol

[Big Bapper]

Great post........I was training flat out 4-5 times EW for months training every body part onced every 7 days. Taking every working set to failure with heavy weights and even futher with drop sets, forced reps ect and just hit a sticking point, so I changed to DC training, but just trained to failure with mordate weights. You might not believe this because i found it hard to believe myself but I gained 6lb of good weight the first week. I would like to point out that when I started my DC 3 day a week training I also started my first run of IGFLR3 witch could of been part of the gain but I believe it was mostly the training.

[HSBulker]

LATS, would your routine happen to be posted anywhere?

[leapfrog]

i get the most acomplished in the least amount of time.if you can't do what you need to do training eod,i say re-evaluate.most people overtrain and don't even realize it.

leap

[Lichsk69]

Bump that!

I used to run the old Arnie classic of 6 on 1 off.

Every body part 2-3 times a week. All i did was lift. It was great but VAST VAST overtraining. Some people respond very well to that type of gross overtraining. I call these people "chemically enhanced" lol. But really the recovery process is much longer than previously thought. But i shouldnt bash classic systems because they worked for me.