5 day a week strength training programme?

obsidianwings

Right now I am doing New Rules of Lifting for women, which is 3 days a week, full body workouts so you take a rest day in between each workout. When I have finished this I want to move up to 5 days a week strength training, so I guess I would need to alternate upper and lower body for recovery, anybody know of a good programme like this that I can start? Thanks

obsidianwings

Bump.
Can't afford a pt so just looking for a tried and true book program or similar.

Plates559

5/3/1 - Jim Wendler

erickirb

5/3/1 - Jim Wendler

Isn't that program intended for 3 days/week?

rachelrb85

The only 5+ day a week strength training program I know of is Body for Life. But you are only strength training on 3 days a week which is the norm. You need to give your muscles time to recover since that is the time your muscles are "growing". NROLFW states this fact as well.

McBully4

5/3/1 - Jim Wendler

Isn't that program intended for 3 days/week?

4 is how I do it, there are different structures for it

homeyjosey

lifting heavy 3 days a week is all you need...no need for anymore

californiagirl2012

Right now I am doing New Rules of Lifting for women, which is 3 days a week, full body workouts so you take a rest day in between each workout. When I have finished this I want to move up to 5 days a week strength training, so I guess I would need to alternate upper and lower body for recovery, anybody know of a good programme like this that I can start? Thanks

I do all body workouts designed for women 5-6 days a week. You don't have to do splits and you don't have to rest every other day. I go with how I feel. I change up everything all the time. My running is sometimes long easy runs, sometimes HIIT, sometimes shorter medium pace runs. My weight routine changes each day, each week, light circuits, heavy low rep sets, pyramids, a little bit of splits, constantly changing it up. I mostly do a lot of full body workouts with a lot of leg work. In addition to DL's and Squats I do Bulgarian Split Squats, Lunges, Reverse lunges, Curtsey lunges, Step Ups, Crossover Bench Step Ups, and a Lunge Matrix. And then I constantly change up the routine with Circuits, Intermittent Super Sets, Fibonacci Pyramids, X-sets, Progress Venus Pyramids, and some splits, everything a variety of Strength, Hypertrophy, and Endurance.

I rest whenever I need to. Some routines I'm fatigued after 3 days so I rest. Others I can go for two weeks straight, but I typically take one day off. Once in a while I do just weights for a day or just cardio. It is all based on listening to what my body needs. Sometimes I can tell I need something different from the "plan". Every day, 7 days a week is an opportunity to give my body what it needs, hard work, moderate, light, cardio, or rest.

obsidianwings

The only 5+ day a week strength training program I know of is Body for Life. But you are only strength training on 3 days a week which is the norm. You need to give your muscles time to recover since that is the time your muscles are "growing". NROLFW states this fact as well.

I know, thats why I was thinking I could split upper and lower body so each half of my body gets a rest day before being worked again, thanks for the info though, and thanks to everyone else as well, will look into mentioned programs asap.

JNick77

Yes, 5/3/1 can be done at 4 days, 3 days, or even 2 days. Honestly, you could add a 5th day with 5/3/1 by making the main lift some kind of Barbell Row but 5 days does get harder to recover from in doing this.

If you're already working out 4 and assuming your using more compound lifts than isolation lifts, you can easily add a 5th and 6th day by making those days "weak-point" days. A lower body day can be two or three exercises that focus on lower back, hamstrings, and maybe quads if you feel those are weaker but you're only doing like 3 to 4 sets of 8-10 reps. Same thing for upper body, you could do some DB Bench Presses, some kind rowing or chin-ups, a tricep exercise, ab's, and call it a day. Right now I've been playing with extra workouts that look like this,
- Power Cleans from the Hang - work up to a 3 rep max
- Bodyweight Dips 3 to 4 sets max reps (my regular upper body days are Bodyweight Dips + weight)
- Chin-ups 3 to 4 sets @ max reps
- DB Swings x 100 reps
- Light Ab work

The Power Cleans can be heavy but they just don't seem to affect my CNS like other maximal effort work does.

obsidianwings

Thanks for that JNick, thats really helpful info. I am mostly doing compound lifts, my lower body is much stronger that my upper, might be an idea to add in some weak point days, I am going to do some more research on this.

FitandFab33

Right now I am doing New Rules of Lifting for women, which is 3 days a week, full body workouts so you take a rest day in between each workout. When I have finished this I want to move up to 5 days a week strength training, so I guess I would need to alternate upper and lower body for recovery, anybody know of a good programme like this that I can start? Thanks

I do all body workouts designed for women 5-6 days a week. You don't have to do splits and you don't have to rest every other day. I go with how I feel. I change up everything all the time. My running is sometimes long easy runs, sometimes HIIT, sometimes shorter medium pace runs. My weight routine changes each day, each week, light circuits, heavy low rep sets, pyramids, a little bit of splits, constantly changing it up. I mostly do a lot of full body workouts with a lot of leg work. In addition to DL's and Squats I do Bulgarian Split Squats, Lunges, Reverse lunges, Curtsey lunges, Step Ups, Crossover Bench Step Ups, and a Lunge Matrix. And then I constantly change up the routine with Circuits, Intermittent Super Sets, Fibonacci Pyramids, X-sets, Progress Venus Pyramids, and some splits, everything a variety of Strength, Hypertrophy, and Endurance.

I rest whenever I need to. Some routines I'm fatigued after 3 days so I rest. Others I can go for two weeks straight, but I typically take one day off. Once in a while I do just weights for a day or just cardio. It is all based on listening to what my body needs. Sometimes I can tell I need something different from the "plan". Every day, 7 days a week is an opportunity to give my body what it needs, hard work, moderate, light, cardio, or rest.

Wow. Just wow. I'm going to spend tomorrow morning looking up/studying what you just said and the next 6 months learning how to do it. :-)

JNick77

Thanks for that JNick, thats really helpful info. I am mostly doing compound lifts, my lower body is much stronger that my upper, might be an idea to add in some weak point days, I am going to do some more research on this.

Do a look-up for Neural Charge training too. It's a pretty interesting concept that really does work too.

obsidianwings

Thanks, will look up what thats about tonight.

rachelrb85

Actually, I just saw this on another thread and thought it might interest you...

http://www.simplyshredded.com/andreia-brazier.html

obsidianwings

Thanks for that, thats a good read. I have lots of options to think about now, thanks everyone