When to lift weights

Jessicaruby

I have heard it is good to lift four days in a row and then take three days off, i have heard it is good to do full body every other day, and i have heard it is good to break your lifting routine down to different muscles and rotate. Right now i am doing full body for about 65 min mon. wed. and fri. but am wondering if this is the best option. are there benifits to lifting certain days? or doing full body vs. different muscle groups? what do you do? ( i am bulking and looking to for optimum results)

JansterL

I'm not a trainer or a doctor but ultimately.....I think you need to find a routine or a schedule of your own that you can stick to. If you don't stick with it....it's not going to do anything for you. Making a routine become a HABIT (per say).

If you do a lot of strength training - I think its IMPORTANT to have rest days. Your muscles need to heal up before you an push them again.

There are soooo many variables that can change how YOU do your workouts versus someone else.

I work out 3X a week. One day...upper body, shoulders, back, arms.... and 30 minutes of cardio. Rest day. Another day...lower body, legs and abs and 30 minutes of cardio. Rest day. On the 3rd day - usually no strength training at all, but a double dose of cardio. Different machines.....I like to change up depending on how I feel. My weekends are usually too busy to do any workouts (and I work weekends too sometimes).

llovegrove

I was curious the same thing. I do full body Mond/Wed/Thurs! Struggling with gaining muscle in some spots though (Upper back Lats and Abs) I know the abs is eating style so I am working on that. I notice though I gain great muscle, then lose it, gain, then lose. I change up my routine a lot.
Would like to know the best way to lift! Also, when I lift I go heavy two sets till failure.

BigDaddy822

I really don't know to much about you or if you have the time. What works best from my experience and for my clients is lifting 3 days on and 1 day off. However at first they usually lift 1 day on and 1day off until they get used to it and my workouts are as follows: Mon Biceps, Back, and abs. Tues Legs and Shoulders. Wednesday Chest, Triceps, and Abs. Each is 3 sets 8 reps for the first 4 weeks then it goes up to 4 sets 12 reps for 4 weeks. It is a really good 8 week Program. If you are interested I can send you the info for the 8 week program.

addisondisease

here is what am doing, lifting for strength, don't really care about hypertrophy

Monday: Dead-lifts and assiting muscles
Tuesday: Bench and assiting
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Squats and assiting
Friday: Overhead Press
Saturday: Dyno, Oly, and Vanity
Sunday: Rest.

SergeantSunshine_reused

I do upper/lower split monday/tuesday
wednesday rest
upper/lower split thursday/friday
rest all weekend

engineman312

in the beginning you will get a lot of benefit from a full body circuit, 3 days a week, say M-W-F. you can do cardio on off days, Tu-Th-Sa

as you start getting stronger, you can start focusing on one body area a day, like some others have posted, but that'll take time.

teagin2002

Bump for later :flowerforyou:

llovegrove

could you send it to me please?

llovegrove

That was for Bigdaddy

taso42

I am currently of the belief that one should do full-body workouts using the major compound lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press, press) - until progress is basically maxed out. And at that point (if ever), move on to more isolated work.

engineman312

I am currently of the belief that one should do full-body workouts using the major compound lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press, press) - until progress is basically maxed out. And at that point (if ever), move on to more isolated work.

yup

damonmath

I am currently of the belief that one should do full-body workouts using the major compound lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press, press) - until progress is basically maxed out. And at that point (if ever), move on to more isolated work.

I agree with the major lifts part. I try to split it up into pushes and pulls, upper and lower... 4 days in a row or 2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off.

mon - pushes chest and triceps
Tues- pulls back and biceps
wed - pushes squats, leg extensions, calves
thur- pulls leg curl, ABS!!!

Something like that... But I also do cardio first thing to get my heart rate up super high for a good 25-30 minutes. Then it stays high throughout my heavy weights workout.

I can burn between 600-1250 per hour this way depending on my mood that day. The reason I split it up is to maximize my efforts for each muscle group.

Aperture_Science

I am currently of the belief that one should do full-body workouts using the major compound lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press, press) - until progress is basically maxed out. And at that point (if ever), move on to more isolated work.

Well said that man!

gloria84

bump

Jessicaruby

right now i do full body including deadlifts, squats, bench press and leg presses. then i do isolation movements with dumbells and machines. i also do some assisted pullups to get my heart rate up (i am working towards being able to do them on my own ). i do this mon, wed, fri like i said and then do cardio 30-45 min tues, thur, sat. rest on sunday

Jessicaruby

thank you all for the help and input! much appreciated!