days of rest between full upper body workouts

Options
marlin304
marlin304 Posts: 1 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
How many days of rest are needed between full upper body workout? I'm currently lifting day 1 then rest day 2 and 3 then repeat. I do legs about every 4 days on non upper body days. Thinking about trying to decrease rest and lift upper body every other day. Anyone else doing this? I'm on a bulk currently. I'm a healthy 39 year old.

Replies

  • mom22dogs
    mom22dogs Posts: 470 Member
    Options
    Work out upper body every other day, legs can go on the days between. I lift every other day, and work my entire body. It is what works for me because it's a 20 mile drive to the gym. Need to make it count.
  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
    Options
    It depends on training intensity, training volume, number of years you've been lifting, your age, and how much time you as an individual need to recover.

    A good starting point is to do 2 upper days a week and 2 lower days, and go from there.

    That said, if you're just starting out then you need to find a quality program and carefully follow it. There are a number of good programs out there designed by people with the education and experience to write them. Starting Strength, Stronglifts, Strong Curves, and 5/3/1 are some for you to look at.
  • miss_aims
    miss_aims Posts: 64 Member
    Options
    I do whole body on the same day, and give myself 2 rest days between. If I'm feeling really antsy, I'll go on a long walk or do additional ab exercises. It works for me!
  • Schwopzi
    Schwopzi Posts: 1 Member
    Options
    sunnybeaches105 wrote: »
    It depends on training intensity, training volume, number of years you've been lifting, your age, and how much time you as an individual need to recover.

    A good starting point is to do 2 upper days a week and 2 lower days, and go from there.

    That said, if you're just starting out then you need to find a quality program and carefully follow it. There are a number of good programs out there designed by people with the education and experience to write them. Starting Strength, Stronglifts, Strong Curves, and 5/3/1 are some for you to look at.

    I strongly recommend compound focussed training when you're on a bulk. Then it all depends on how progressed you are. Like SS/SL focus on 3 times per week whole body, which is insane progress when you're lifting relatively light weight (you can look here http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html to get a general idea) but you can't tax your body like that when you're lifting heavier. So you progress to more split routines (like 5/3/1 which is basically a 2 upper 2 lower day split)

  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
    edited April 2016
    Options
    Schwopzi wrote: »
    sunnybeaches105 wrote: »
    It depends on training intensity, training volume, number of years you've been lifting, your age, and how much time you as an individual need to recover.

    A good starting point is to do 2 upper days a week and 2 lower days, and go from there.

    That said, if you're just starting out then you need to find a quality program and carefully follow it. There are a number of good programs out there designed by people with the education and experience to write them. Starting Strength, Stronglifts, Strong Curves, and 5/3/1 are some for you to look at.

    I strongly recommend compound focussed training when you're on a bulk. Then it all depends on how progressed you are. Like SS/SL focus on 3 times per week whole body, which is insane progress when you're lifting relatively light weight (you can look here http://www.exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html to get a general idea) but you can't tax your body like that when you're lifting heavier. So you progress to more split routines (like 5/3/1 which is basically a 2 upper 2 lower day split)

    OP - also consider that overtraining is a seriously overused concept and you may not need as much rest as you think. There is a thread on here that follows a poster's progression through a 30 day squat everyday program and he packed on the strength gains. Not sure I can find it again but I'll try to post it with an edit here.

    There is also this: https://www.t-nation.com/training/100-day-squat-challenge

    Edit: Thread is here. Keep in mind OP is 24 though. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10361808/squat-everyday/p1
  • diverroboz
    diverroboz Posts: 61 Member
    Options
    Try pushup, Pullup and Situp 3 by Supersets before EVERY WORK OUT, try to get more reps!
    No cheating, strict form only. Check form by researching best practice for these movements.
    This is your every day workout, and a warm up on gym days!
    Keep going until you hit a plateaux, at this point change!
    Depending on your nutrition and rest outside the gym you can gain serious power this way!
    Try it, let your Bench Press weight be the judge of effectiveness, we often see 20% more poundage in as little as 12 weeks using this technique.

    Don't listen to anyone but your own body, go with precision and feel the muscle working. Take photos and measurements to gauge progress.
    This is a hard core method used by most military units around the world, just do it!
  • FabianRodriguez94
    FabianRodriguez94 Posts: 221 Member
    Options
    If you have a good enough experience with lifting, which I assume you do, I'd look into something similar to PPL by Coolcicada.

    You can run it as PPL-rest-PPL or PPLPPL-rest

    After being on such a long cut (2 years), I was afraid of the high volume but my body surprised me by how much it could handle on a bulk.

    Starting numbers and current numbers for compounds after about 1 month:

    21 years old - 5'7" - 140 lbs
    Bench 135 - 150 (current)
    OHP 90 -100 (current)
    Deadlift 225 - 255 (current)
    Squat 185 - 205 (current)

Categories