Advice on strength training

pbajwally

Is there anything wrong with lifting daily? My trainer says at least 2x a week. However, I could get used to doing it 4-5x week. I am using the Hoist circuit system and really like it - although I have come to realize that I have incredible leg strength and ZERO upper body strength. My arms feel like jelly right now. I am very anxious to work on my upper body strength and I am really new to the whole strength training idea so any advice would be very helpful! Thanks!

stephanie1133

While you do need time for recovery, 4 or 5 times a week would probably be fine as long as you are not doing same muscles back to back days.

britcurl

Well, from what I have researched, your muscles need time off between lifting days. When you lift you are making tiny tears and your body needs time to repair them. Thats what makes your muscles bigger. So the next time you can lift more and the cycle continues. I put at least a day in between lifting days

theartichoke

Hey girlie! A week doesn't have to be 7 days...it could be a 10 day "week" as far as your training program goes. A lot of that not working the same muscle group 2 days in a row thing depends on how much you're actually working those muscles. How heavy are you lifting?

kdiamond

I think the perfect amount is 4 times. I do 2 days of legs (spread out 3 days and different leg muscles), 1 day of shoulders and abs, and 1 day of back, chest and abs. My personal opinion is that I could not do more than that the way I lift. Sometimes it is even hard to get the 4 days in, if I'm sore.

missikay1970

i do arms one day, then skip two days, then do arms again. same for legs. alternate and you'll be fine.

waldo56

You should work the same muscle no more than 3x a week and never back to back.

If you can do more than that you need to work harder and/or better because your workouts aren't very effective.

pbajwally

I don't think I'm lifting very heavy - but I can certainly feel the reps. I'm doing 3 sets of 10 reps each. But the system I'm doing (Hoist) is the total circuit (16 machines) that uses some weight combined with your own body weight as resistance... so there is no actual way to figure how much weight you're actually lifting (unless you are a 150 lb person. And I am NOT... YET. :laugh: )... I mean, I could do just the leg machines 2 days, then arms 2 days, etc. But I prefer doing the entire circuit... maybe I'll just stick to every other day & in the meantime maybe do free weights for my arms. I really want to send the "old lady flab" packing!!

jdploki70

Without time to repair, though, you won't get any benefit from added lifting. If you want to see results, you need to lift alternating days, at a maximum, and you want to give your body lots of time to rebuild the muscle tissue. Legs are different than arms, as well. I can work my legs every day and see results, because legs are used to the constant strain of moving you around, climbing stairs, running, working, etc. So the definition of "heavy" weights is completely different in scale to upper body exercises. Also you should probably, from what I've read, work the free weights with your arms anyway. What most machines do is offer stability to the exercise to work the larger muscles. What they don't do is force you to stabilize yourself and work the small muscles.

Lil_MiSsSunshiNe

I used to do 5-6 days a week. I have backed down to 4-5 just to give myself a few extra rest days to spend with the fam.