One Muscle Group at a Time

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jordanduncan120
jordanduncan120 Posts: 8
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm confused. Can someone explain why some people exercise one muscle group at a time? Like some people have arms and back day, legs day, abs day, and so forth. When I exercise I try to hit each area equally, and do a lot of core and full body workouts. Am I missing something by not devoting each day to a different body part?
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  • socioseguro
    socioseguro Posts: 1,679 Member
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    Each person has to find their own way.

    I found what it works for me is:
    First day upper body, Second day lower body, third day core. Fourth day I have a session with a personal trainer. Fifth day is rest day ( Lower calorie intake day as well). Sixth day is Cardio and Pilates. Seventh day: Rest day (lower calorie intake).

    I only have 1 hour a day for exercise. this means around 45 minutes for workout. I have 7 minutes warm up at the beginning and 5 minutes stretch at the end. It is impossible for me to exercise every part of my body in 45 minutes.

    Good luck in your journey.
  • baptiste565
    baptiste565 Posts: 590 Member
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    whether u do full body or body splits workouts, both can be effective
  • vorgas
    vorgas Posts: 741 Member
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    It's all about goals and personal comfort.

    Generally speaking you don't want to work on muscles for more than an hour. After this point cortisol levels rise too high and gains you make are taken away. Diminishing returns.

    You also want to let a muscle repair for 48 hours or so before stressing them again. So after seriously working any muscle you need to not work it the next day.

    If you only lift weights 3x a week for general health and muscle gains, then work the whole body. Compound exercises like squats, bench press, bent over rows, deadlifts, etc are great for this.

    If you want to lift every day, or you're interested in sculpting particular parts of your body, then do iso style lifts. In this way you can hit all of your muscle groups over the week but still give them time to heal up. And because you're spending an hour working one section you can really go after sculpting it the way you want.
  • sexymuffintop
    sexymuffintop Posts: 636
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    I think if you are new to lifting you would be best lifting 3 days a week, full body workout based on compound lifts (bench press, squat, overhead press, deadlift) It's less stress on the body for a beginner.I found it much more tiring when I changed my routine to a 4 day split. If I hadn't had a good base doing strong lifts before changing I think it would have been too much for me.
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    I started with full body, then mov on to upper/lower, and now I'm on a lower/chest,back,shoulders/core/arms split.

    This happened because over time I started to need multiple moves per body part to really tear them up, and didn't want to work out for 3 hours at a time.
  • xstarxdustx
    xstarxdustx Posts: 591 Member
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    bump.
  • clover5
    clover5 Posts: 1,643 Member
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    You're supposed to rest between strength workouts. By working different muscle groups on different days, they can do strength workouts everyday. So if you work arms Monday, then on Tuesday, you can let your arms rest and work your legs.
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
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    Either way works and is more individual preference than anything else. I split mine but only because I don't want to spend 3 hours when I do my strength training. I split it up for time reasons.
  • ladyark
    ladyark Posts: 1,101 Member
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    I have tried all different options of lifting. from 3 X a week to 5 Xs a week from upper and lower to front and back or specific body parts. I like to change it up every couple of months to a different way to keep my body guessing. I prefer to do one body part a day and i do my abs every day ( those you can work out every day) because i like being in the gym 5 days a week and i like a mix up of activity. I get bored too easy if i am doing the same thing all the time. Really just a personal preference for what time you have to work with.
  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
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    The one muscle per. day was popularized by bodybuilders. IMO and the opinion of many others it's not an effective way to train for people who are natural. Yes you are giving time for the muscle to rest but it's too much time.
  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
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    I started with full body, then mov on to upper/lower, and now I'm on a lower/chest,back,shoulders/core/arms split.

    This happened because over time I started to need multiple moves per body part to really tear them up, and didn't want to work out for 3 hours at a time.
    You don't that many moves to tear a bodypart up.
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    I started with full body, then mov on to upper/lower, and now I'm on a lower/chest,back,shoulders/core/arms split.

    This happened because over time I started to need multiple moves per body part to really tear them up, and didn't want to work out for 3 hours at a time.
    You don't that many moves to tear a bodypart up.

    I find my rows are barely affected when I can't do any more pull-ups. Please explain. I switched it up from upper/lower after going on the road and switching to TRX as I have no gym.

    I also find I can do curls and triceps stuff two days after my back and chest workout, but not so much the same day. However on that day my chest and back are not yet ready to go.


    This is working well for me now.
  • tomcornhole
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
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    I think this answers your question:

    [url] http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/full_body_vs_split_training [/url]
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
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    When you're still new to lifting it's best to go with full body workouts. Once you have a little experience/strength and you're ready to move onto a hypertrophy program, a body part split can be more effective. Certain muscle groups are placed on the same day like chest and triceps because those muscle are often used together (bench press, dips, etc.). Hypertrophy programs typically have a higher volume load, too. I workout everyday for about an hour and there's no way I'd have enough energy to do all of my compounds and accessory work for my whole body on the same day. I wouldn't have the energy and I would end up spending like 4-5 hours a day in the gym.
  • rick_po
    rick_po Posts: 449 Member
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    I've also heard that one body part per day lets you rest that body part for 6 whole days before you hit it again. If you're working out very very hard, the extra rest might avoid over-training.
  • phjorg1
    phjorg1 Posts: 642 Member
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    I've also heard that one body part per day lets you rest that body part for 6 whole days before you hit it again. If you're working out very very hard, the extra rest might avoid over-training.
    it's true. but it's sub optimal.

    The body can take a LOT more volume than people think. Most any intermediate to advanced template from anyone with a clue for muscle building will hit all body parts 2-3x per week. (WSFSB or PHAT for example)
  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
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    I find my rows are barely affected when I can't do any more pull-ups. Please explain. I switched it up from upper/lower after going on the road and switching to TRX as I have no gym.

    I also find I can do curls and triceps stuff two days after my back and chest workout, but not so much the same day. However on that day my chest and back are not yet ready to go.


    This is working well for me now.
    I am not sure what you mean by your rows not affected when you can't do more pullups. Are you saying that you back doesn't feel worked enough by just doing pull-ups? Just doing pullups isn't enough go ahead and add rows. You want to stimulate the muscle group not annihilate. If your split works for you then keep at it.
  • grantdumas7
    grantdumas7 Posts: 802 Member
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    I've also heard that one body part per day lets you rest that body part for 6 whole days before you hit it again. If you're working out very very hard, the extra rest might avoid over-training.
    What phjorg is true. To add to this, after a workout protein synthesis returns back to normal in 48 hrs. That's not saying it's ideal to hit the body part again in 48 hrs but depending on volume and work load you could. The one body part per week works well for competitive bodybuilders as most of them are on the juice. Anabolic steroids allow protein synthesis to remain elevated for a longer period of time.
  • rick_po
    rick_po Posts: 449 Member
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    The body can take a LOT more volume than people think. Most any intermediate to advanced template from anyone with a clue for muscle building will hit all body parts 2-3x per week. (WSFSB or PHAT for example)

    Yeah, I agree. A 6 day rest seems like way too much rest. On the other hand, most people do a lot of compound lifts, so they're not getting a full 6 day rest on any particular muscle anyway, even though they're not hitting it at peak intensity.
  • pcastagner
    pcastagner Posts: 1,606 Member
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    I find my rows are barely affected when I can't do any more pull-ups. Please explain. I switched it up from upper/lower after going on the road and switching to TRX as I have no gym.

    I also find I can do curls and triceps stuff two days after my back and chest workout, but not so much the same day. However on that day my chest and back are not yet ready to go.


    This is working well for me now.
    I am not sure what you mean by your rows not affected when you can't do more pullups. Are you saying that you back doesn't feel worked enough by just doing pull-ups? Just doing pullups isn't enough go ahead and add rows. You want to stimulate the muscle group not annihilate. If your split works for you then keep at it.

    Idk. I just sort of go by soreness. Like I said until very recently I was just doing upper/lower with a rest (cardio) day, so basically hitting very muscle group every 3 days. Now I find I can do more, so I do more to feel satisfied, but if I do it all in one workout it takes too long. So I split it up. It wasnt planned really, it just started to happen, shortly after getting the TRX.


    Maybe if I get to go to the gym again I'll just go back? Idk. I don't really think of it as body parts so much as push/pull, fold/unfold. The bicep/tricep day is actually more a jump rope day with an arm workout.


    Now that you mention it I'm not quite happy with this split.

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