Weight lifting and consecutive days

tlmclennan
tlmclennan Posts: 26 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi, new to weight lifting and have a couple questions. When I do my weights I do a whole body workout. I have been told by people that I shouldn't do this everyday and should wait at least a full day in between. I have also been told by others that it doesn't matter. Which is correct?

Also in doing reps I usually was doing say 20 reps, then increase the weight and do 12, then increase and do 6. Is this correct or could I just do as many reps as I can with the heaviest weight I can lift and then increase weight as it gets easier?

Replies

  • erinsueburns
    erinsueburns Posts: 865 Member
    If you are doing full body I wouldn't do it every day. As for rep range, 20 is more like cardio. There are lots of different specific programs out there. Check out strong lifts and starting strength. Personally, my go to rep range is 3x8. When I can do that, I increase the weight the next work out.
  • tlmclennan
    tlmclennan Posts: 26 Member
    Great, thank you!
  • ashesannes
    ashesannes Posts: 11
    I agree. Doing 20 reps in too much. I was doing that as well in the beginning and not seeing the results I wanted. Now I do 8 reps x 3 sets. By the 8th rep, I can barely get the weight up. Now I am seeing GREAT results and watching the fat shed every week. I do upper body one day, legs the next but still do 20 minutes of cardio every day. Good luck!
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
    For the first few weeks of lifting you can get away with doing this simply because your weights are quite light and don't require much recovery time. You wouldn't want to squat four plate every day but you could do something light like one plate every day and be fine.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    Once you really get into lifting seriously, you won't have time to do a full body workout everyday unless you plan on spending 4 or 5 hours in the gym. You want to break the workouts into body groups so you can really hit the muscles hard with multiple exercises. I'm on a 5 day split right now: Legs, Back, Chest, Arms, Shoulders. I do one body group every weekday and take the weekends off from lifting, so each body group has a full week to rest.
  • madtownjeremy
    madtownjeremy Posts: 249
    I've got three upper and three lower routines...on Monday I'll do the first Upper, Wednesday the first lower, Friday the second Upper, etc. etc. I do 2x12 of everything and increase by 5 pounds consistently by the next time that workout comes around.

    I do cardio (usually HIIT) every day I lift, but make sure it's not a running HIIT on lower days (I'll go swim or do the elliptical or something). On the days in between the weights I do steady state cardio, maybe 3-4 miles at a jogging pace.

    Doing the above with a 2000 cal/day diet my weight is literally falling through the floor (about 3.5lbs a week) and my strength (and muscle definition for that matter) is increasing exponentially. It's working great so far!

    SO yeah, all that said I'd skip days on weights. Recovery's a pretty important thing and with the kinds of routines we're all throwing out there it's so easy to overtrain.

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