Days off?

[GoneForever]

Whats everyone's opinion on how many days per week you should take off when BULKING? Does it matter what bodytype you are? I read somewhere that ectomorphs need more time off to grow, but what about endo's and meso's? Im around a %60/%40 Meso/endo mix if I had to guess, and I want to add as much muscle as possible on my next round. What do you suggest. 3on/2off, 3on/1off, 6on/1off,etc...?

 

[Shelby]

Ecto/Meso/Endo is more dealt with via diet (and maybe cardio). I personally like training 4 days per week in the offseason, but there is no magic number. I've trained 3 days per week, and 6-7 days per week. I just like 4 because it gives me time for other pursuits (gf, school, work, etc.).

 

[km2000]

you will get varied responses on this topic,

I have tried every split known to man with limited sucess, I now go by how my body is reacting to training and diet. I dont belive in mon/chest tue/legs and so on, the body dosent know what day is what. You have a lot of limiting factors, you may have been stressed at work and missed a meal and but you decide to go train legs anyway, chances are you will not be able to perform at your best, I personally would take the day off rest,eat and hit it the next day.

Every routine i have tried that is set in stone has led me to overtrain especially during contest prep, My thought is it is better to be 10% undertrained then 10% overtrained! Granted you will have some days you need to motivate yourself to get to the gym but they should be few and far between. I remember reading Dorian Yates book, in it he says he would get to the gym and do a set or 2 and if he didnt feel like he could perform to his abilities he would walk out of the gym with no guilt what so ever and return the next day with a chip on his shoulder and train even harder! This made a lot of sense to me when i read it and have done it many times.

hope this helps

 

[GoneForever]

Your right. I really like your philosophy on this. For example if my day off was supposed to be friday, but I feel like shit thurs, just switch em up. Who cares if it throws everything off. And maybe one day i'll just feel amazing, and thats when i'll hit legs, back or maybe 2 bodyparts that day. Im gonna give this a shot.

 

[tflexxin]

I agree with not training if you feel like total crap, BUT you must remember that if you don't train a muscle again within a certain time frame, the gains from the last workout will diminish. (keeping in mind many bodyparts get ancillary work when training others, i.e. chest (tris) back (bis))
If I feel like crap, I usually still train, but tend to goof off while working out more. I train lighter, take longer between sets, but I still train the muscle to preserve the gains.
Forgot who posted about, but what really matters is what works for YOU.

 

[ALLEX]

I'm like 80% endo 20% meso and I like 2on 1off. Light cardio when off.

 

[phoenix13]

I agree with km2000's post.

I love to train and have always had the tendency to over-do it. I finally got it through my thick skull that if I can't have a progressive workout, or at least on par with the previous workout for that bodypart, I was doing myself a bigger favor to get out of the gym. Ever since I started approaching it like that, I've made much better progress and feel better overall. The days that I abort a workout (rare occurance) only fuel greater intensity to train that much harder the next day. :srt-smi

 

[happy]

five days on two days off works best for me.