How is 5 days/week better than 3?

[inacloudofchalk]

i dont understand what the difference is between one person who trains 5 days per week and has a split such as chest,arms,legs,shoulders,back compared to a 3 days per week (M/W/F workouts) trainee who does M: chest/tris, W: legs, F: shoulders/back/bis. All muscles groups are worked out every 7 days so how can a person say that people who train eod wont get as good of results as those who go 5 days per week if both are training with the same exact frequency per muscle group? please explain..

 

[warrenpeace]

I guess the theory is each muscle group gets the attention it deserves. If you've got triceps at the end of a 90 minute workout after a bunch of sets of chest/shoulders, I don't imagine your strength will be there on your tri exercises like it would on a day focused solely for them. That's the theory I guess? I'm against 5 straight days of training myself.

 

[Tom]

rest

3 days gives you 2 more rest days. rest equals growth.

 

[inacloudofchalk]

Well I dont believe anyone needs 90 minutes after chest and shoulders to not have any energy for tris. I cant see how one needs more than 20 on chest alone. And shoulders would be an overhead press and some side laterals, also cant see more than 20 on those. Also dont triceps get hit after bench and overhead presses anyway? I just think it would be a waste of time to have a day for triceps or even arms together when if you do heavy rows and heavy chins, i dont see how you can still hit your biceps after that. I am fried after those and any more direct bicep work would burn the muscle.

 

[toddcdozer]

A powerlifter (cloud of chalk hehehe) cool name) can easily get by on 3 days. Cuz really theres just 3 bodypart. A bodybuilder not so much. And I cant do my chest in 20 minutes. Even adhering to a yates style routine 20 minutes aint enough. 90 minutes is too much for me but I make the most of my time. Pl'er 3 days g2g. Most bb'ers 4-5 days g2g.

 

[AlphaMaleDawg]

I think 4 days is the sweet spot. 3 days seems like you would have to do too much in those 3 days.

I like 2 on, 1 off, repeat. but I take an extra day off if I feel I need to, which is usually every 1-2 weeks

 

[inacloudofchalk]

At this time I am shifting my routine a bit more for hypertrophy. 4 days does seem like the sweet spot. Lower,shoulders,rest,back,rest,chest,rest. I am wanting my shoulders to get bigger and always worry about workouts interfering with my recovery. I even think working back 2 days after shoulders would require shoulder work esp for chins and rows or rack pulls. Im also only on 100mg/week test. Sure if I took 1g/week with dbol and tren, I could probably get away with 5 days/week but I dont feel like doing that.

 

[AlphaMaleDawg]

At this time I am shifting my routine a bit more for hypertrophy. 4 days does seem like the sweet spot. Lower,shoulders,rest,back,rest,chest,rest. I am wanting my shoulders to get bigger and always worry about workouts interfering with my recovery. I even think working back 2 days after shoulders would require shoulder work esp for chins and rows or rack pulls. Im also only on 100mg/week test. Sure if I took 1g/week with dbol and tren, I could probably get away with 5 days/week but I dont feel like doing that.

I think people seem to overlook the effect weight training has on the central nervous system. I've read that it can take up to 48 hours for the CNS to recover from an intense workout. It's just easy for us to want to train all the time. Staying home is boring. I'd work out every day if it wasn't bad for me and I think most of us would say the same

 

[Ryan Humiston]

I personally like training 5 days a week. Although I do appreciate the rest I get from the 3x/week split, I don't get as excited about training when I know I will be in the gym for 2+ hours. I understand how your CNS works and how beneficial more rest is but for me 5x have always produced better results.

 

[275bills]

mon- chest tris
tues- back
wed- off
thur- shoulds bis
fri- legs
sat n sun off.

i feel the best doing this with carido here and there on a off day

 

[AJW91]

Well I dont believe anyone needs 90 minutes after chest and shoulders to not have any energy for tris. I cant see how one needs more than 20 on chest alone. And shoulders would be an overhead press and some side laterals, also cant see more than 20 on those. Also dont triceps get hit after bench and overhead presses anyway? I just think it would be a waste of time to have a day for triceps or even arms together when if you do heavy rows and heavy chins, i dont see how you can still hit your biceps after that. I am fried after those and any more direct bicep work would burn the muscle.

Not just a waste of time; I never understood how people recover from 5-6/week routines. I mean, when you hit your back, you're also gonna hit your biceps, forearms, delts, and possibly even upper pecs. When you do a delt workout, you're also gonna hit your triceps. When you hit your pecs, you're also gonna hit your delts and tris and vice versa. And when you hit your quads you're also gonna hit your hamstrings and vice versa.

Obviously, people do these routines and grow, but 4+ per week routines just don't seem optimal, I think eod would work better.

 

[terraj]

It depends on volume:lightbulb:

 

[kingpeon]

If you're able to recover from a 5-day routine you will grow faster than if you only train on a 3-day routine.

I like a 6-day a week routine. I am recovering very well with it.

High quality and quantity nutrition, high quality and quantity of rest/relaxation, high quality and quantity of amino acids and high quality and quantity of training equals the best results you can get, period!

 

[inacloudofchalk]

If you're able to recover from a 5-day routine you will grow faster than if you only train on a 3-day routine.

I like a 6-day a week routine. I am recovering very well with it.

High quality and quantity nutrition, high quality and quantity of rest/relaxation, high quality and quantity of amino acids and high quality and quantity of training equals the best results you can get, period!

How can you grow faster if both routines have chest every Monday? Even if you could "focus" on it better without having to do tris (although chest is first in both workouts), how is it possible that having less rest days will make you grow faster. These are the exact posts I want answers for. You mention high quality and quantity of rest/relaxation. You sure are resting alot training 6 days/week..

 

[Jarconis]

working out 3 days a week, all my tendinitis issues are gone, I'm broken through several str plateau's in different exercises, and I look nice and full in the mirror again. I think if you are working out 5-6 times a week, you are just addicted to going to the gym and ya need to learn to relax Less is more.

 

[jasper69]

I stick with the DC training routine. Its 3 days a week off cycle and I increase it to the four day a week routine when on cycle.

 

[kingpeon]

How can you grow faster if both routines have chest every Monday? Even if you could "focus" on it better without having to do tris (although chest is first in both workouts), how is it possible that having less rest days will make you grow faster. These are the exact posts I want answers for. You mention high quality and quantity of rest/relaxation. You sure are resting alot training 6 days/week..

If you are able to recover, you will grow faster training more.

So, how do you boost recovery?

Myself, I eat a lot and I sleep a lot and I take boatloads of amino acids. This allows me to train more frequently and still recover very well.

The only reason you would need more rest days is because you are falling short on one of these three, or more, recovery factors. I've just managed to find a perfect balance of training frequency and recovery effort to match this frequency.

 

[Adrenaline Rush]

i dont think you need to limit yourself to one or the other...you can train 3 days for a determined amount of time, then switch to 5 days..and just figure out whats best (maybe 4, as someone already mentioned)

 

[inacloudofchalk]

You're still training your chest every 7 days, right? Even if you recover by Wednesday if you hit it Monday and it takes me til the next Monday, how are you growing faster ? If you are training each part more frequently than 7 days, disregard my question.

If you are able to recover, you will grow faster training more.

So, how do you boost recovery?

Myself, I eat a lot and I sleep a lot and I take boatloads of amino acids. This allows me to train more frequently and still recover very well.

The only reason you would need more rest days is because you are falling short on one of these three, or more, recovery factors. I've just managed to find a perfect balance of training frequency and recovery effort to match this frequency.

 

[vonraider]

I agree with others here, 4 days is the right amount of training no matter the exact body part split.