[jmezz]

I posted this on another board but I wanted to get some opinions from this board as well.

I used to work 1 muscle group a day. My routine was:

Monday - Chest
Tuesday - Bi's
Wednesday - Shoulders
Thursday - Tri's
Friday - Back
Saturday - Legs

I'm 2 weeks into a new routine where i work 2 muscle groups a day, 2 times a week. It looks like this.:

Chest/tris
Back/bi's
Shoulders/legs
Off/abs
repeat

For chest/tri day I do:
Flat bench - 4 sets of 8
Incline Bench - 4 sets of 8
Cable flys - 3 sets of 8
Skullcrushers 4 sets of 8
Dips - 3 sets of 8
One hand reverse tricep pushdowns - 4 sets of 8
Tricep pushdowns - 4 sets of 8

On back/bi's day i do:
Widegrip pull ups - 4 sets till failure
T-Bar rows - 4 sets of 8
Deadlifts - 4 sets of 5
Bent over rows - 4 sets of 8
Seated rows - 4 sets of 8
Barbell curls - 3 sets of 8
Incline dumbell curls - 4 sets of 8
Standing hammer curls - 4 sets of 8

On Shoulder/Leg day i do:
Squats - 4 sets of 5
Leg press - 3 sets of 8
Standing calf raises - 3 sets till failure
Leg extensions - 4 sets of 8
Dumbell military press - 4 sets of 8
Upright rows - 3 sets of 8
Rear delt flys - 3 sets of 8
Face pulls - 4 sets till failure
Shrugs - 4 sets till failure

Since I started working muscle groups 2 times a week, I've noticed a lot of progress in my traps, where they were lagging behind with the old routine.

The only thing that I can complain about is that after i get home from the gym and make my protein shake and eat dinner, I am pretty tired for the rest of the night. Is this normal, or am i overtraining?

This post turned out longer than i had hoped, but if anyone can help me out that would be great. Maybe i need to start eating more, or drinking more water, but i already do enough of those. Should I move my off/abs day? Or maybe i need to take it down a notch and work muscle groups just once a week?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Q80_MuscleHed]

Hey man .. why don't u train Arms in one day .. i don't see there is an improtance to isolate them

[philosopher]

imo.. it is a bit much.

try to listen to youre body.
here are some symptoms of overtraining:

Performance

Decreased performance (strength, power, muscle endurance, cardiovascular endurance)
Decreased training tolerance and increased recovery requirements
Decreased motor coordination
Increased technical faults
Physiology

Altered resting heart rate (HR), blood pressure and respiration patterns
Decreased body fat and post-exercise body weight
Increased VO2, VE , and HR during submaximal work
Decreased lactate response
Increased basal metabolic rate
Chronic fatigue
Sleep and eating disorders
Menstrual disruptions
Headaches, gastrointestinal distress
Muscle soreness and damage
Joint aches and pains
Psychological

Depression and apathy
Decreased self-esteem
Decreased ability to concentrate
Decreased self-efficacy
Sensitive to stress
Immunological

Increased occurrence of illness
Decreased rate of healing
Impaired immune function (neutrophils, lymphocytes, mitogen responses, eosinophils)
Biochemical

Hypothalamic dysfunction
Increased serum cortisol and SHBG
Decreased serum total and free testosterone, testosterone/cortisol ratio
Decreased muscle glycogen
Decreased serum hemoglobin, iron, and ferritin
Negative N2 balance

[big bg]

way to much.. up the intensity+more days off=GROWTH

[jornT]

Do you really think that your body is gonna grow more when you've done 20 sets for biceps than 15? I mean, you would think your body get's the point that it needs to grow.

If you want to train that many sets, cut your sessions in two and have a pm and am session.

And split training is

[jornT]

Originally Posted by big bg

way to much.. up the intensity+more days off=GROWTH

Don't agree.

[jmezz]

Originally Posted by jornT

Do you really think that your body is gonna grow more when you've done 20 sets for biceps than 15? I mean, you would think your body get's the point that it needs to grow.

If you want to train that many sets, cut your sessions in two and have a pm and am session.

And split training is

Hmm, so are you saying I should go back to my old routine? The main reason I switched routines was because I felt I hit a plateau for a while, and then I happend to stumble upon this article:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=685166

4) Training a bodypart once per week (and one bodypart per day) is one of the worst ways to train. It will create a rut in your training that you can’t dig out of.

Training a bodypart twice per week has always been shown to be superior to once per week training of a muscle. The problem is with the influx of "Weider Principles" and other bodybuilding trash that's posted in the magazines, the masses have been stuck in the one-bodypart-per-day-per-week rut for years.

No strength athletes train a bodypart once per week. Most olympic lifters, powerlifters, and strongman train their backs at least four times per week, and last time I checked, they weren't lacking in back width.

The simple fact is that training using an upper/lower split or a push/pull split or 3 full body days will provide double or triple the training stimulus than training a muscle once per week and thus, if done correctly will lead to much, much greater growth and strength gains.

Also, with my old routine I had a full day dedicated to biceps and I read that they are a small muscle and they're easy to overtrain, so you shouldn't do that much isolation. That's why on my back/bi day i only have 3 isolation exercises.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

[jornT]

Originally Posted by jmezz

Hmm, so are you saying I should go back to my old routine? The main reason I switched routines was because I felt I hit a plateau for a while, and then I happend to stumble upon this article:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=685166



Also, with my old routine I had a full day dedicated to biceps and I read that they are a small muscle and they're easy to overtrain, so you shouldn't do that much isolation. That's why on my back/bi day i only have 3 isolation exercises.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

I'm gonna get some food and after that I'll take a look at that article and your routine.

[big bg]

dont care

[JaKKd up]

Originally Posted by big bg

way to much.. up the intensity+more days off=GROWTH

yep, less is more!

Only work out 4 days max!

M- Chest/Bi's
Tuesday-OFF
Wednesday- Back/Tri's
Thursday-OFF
Friday- Shoulders/Traps/Abs
Saturday- Legs
Sunday- OFF

On the off day you can do a little cardio if need be and some more abs as well then!

[big bg]

yes sir

[jornT]

Originally Posted by big bg

dont care

Don't care what? I don't know what you're talking about, but I don't like your tone.

@ JaKKd up, dude, you need to read that article. For example the point about working your muscles out once a week, like I said, split training is

I don't think I get what you're saying jmzz?

Your new routine is better because you work your muscles twice. But don't split it like that and drop some of the volume. I think three days in a row is too much.

About overtraining. Overtraining doesn't often happen to a muscle, but to your CNS. If you give 100% very time for 5 weeks it's to demanding and your brain is gonna protect itself against intensity. How to prevent this? This is the periodisation he talk about. Every 4th week for example, take a 'rest' week in which your reduce volume and possible reduce intensity a bit.

[jornT]

Originally Posted by jornT

Don't care what? I don't know what you're talking about, but I don't like your tone.

Oh I get it, your the intensity guy