An often made training mistake

[iron addict]

Many lifters do programs that use back to back training days. IMO this is a mistake for MOST lifters and aside from Olympic lifters, most of the programs with the highest success rates have a day off between sessions, or only one session done back to back. Having said that many lifters will still structure their routines with back to back days out of desire or need.

One of the ways to make this work as well as possible is to ensure there are no lower body days followed by upper body days. Trying to get a good chest workout the day after doing heavy legs is a recipe for failure as an example. Why? CNS will usually be dampened from the heavy leg work. So if you must do back to backs, do the light stuff followed by the heavy leg/back work. A chest/arm day will not impact a leg workout much the following day, but doing legs and then looking to recruit muscles optimally the next day is making things way more difficult than need be.

Iron Addict

[DADAWG]

i agree 100%
the majority of people cycle overtraining with poor results followed by giveing up and not training at all . more isnt always better .

[Ching]

Good post

[elbrandone]

i hate all the little fuckers on my boat who run to the gym everyday and say "lets do burn outs today fuck yea". All the newbies out there, who think its ok to do advanced techniques (when in fact the have only been working out for a year or 2) are jackess. imo

on the split training theorys im trying to find out if the 4 day split is more effective then the 3.

sun-chest/arms
tue- back/shoulders
thur- chest/arms
fri- legs

vs

sun- chest/arms
tue- back/shoulders
thur- legs

[goin4275]

This is a great post.. Ive leanred this about my body, aswell.. Ideally for me 1 one 1 off seems to work great.. it keeps me fresh.. the problem is, like most here, im addicted to training, so ill go 2 on 1 off until my body tells me to back off, i do train westside though, so the program is pretty taxing

[liftsiron]

I think it depends on the person and goals, I know very few bodybuilders who could take eod off and compete.

[goin4275]

True, like issaid, i would say ideally, for training westside for my body anway, 1 on 1 off would work,becase on westside too you may hit 3 BDPTS in one day i normally do 2 on 1 off.. remember im natural too... well, 80% natural lol

[liftsiron]

True, like issaid, i would say ideally, for training westside for my body anway, 1 on 1 off would work,becase on westside too you may hit 3 BDPTS in one day i normally do 2 on 1 off.. remember im natural too... well, 80% natural lol

Mentioning that you train natural makes a very valid point, I think that we sometime forget that gear speeds recovery.

[Deacon]

who uses gear?

[White Knight 96]

I like going back to back, i think i get more out of it and stay more motivated with my weekends off for recovery.

Split
Mon-legs
tues-chest
wed-back
thur-delts
fri-arms

[KC Lifter]

I'm going to throw my 2 cents in. I really think it depends on your training style. I know trainers that have their clients lift 5-6 days a week. They are doing very low volume where they can recover within a few days.

[iron addict]

CNS and muscle recovery are two different things. AND as importantly context needs to be given and taken. Most of my posts are aimed at those that need it most. Beginners and intrmediates. And no, you can't fit EOD into the calender week and make it work, but you can do it the way westside lays it out and the only back to back days are legs after an upper body day. You get 4 days in the gym and until you are ready to compete, 4 days is enough for most everyone even though the obsseive compulsive BB crowd will say no way. I respect a lot of BB'ing and strength coaches, and Charles Poliquin while not perfect understands BB'ing hypertrophy and strength training at a level few come close to, and his statement that unless you have no job, responsibilties, or other time and energy consuming activities in your life four days a week is enough training for anyone except for the most genetically elite. That has been my experience after trying 5-6 day a week schedules on some very talented lifters.

Iron Addict

[Slingshot]

I agree whole heartedly with Iron Addict. I beleive another serious issue is people trying to train legs 1 day after training lower back/legs with dead-lifts.

[Shawty]

I agree with it being individual......the way I train, I have a day off in between M.E. Squat/Deads and M.E. bench(monday). Then I do D.E. squats/deads(wednesday) the day after M.E. bench(thursday), shoulders and traps(friday), D.E. Bench (saturday)....... on my bench days I do quite a few sets, but I only do 3 lifts, so it works fine.

[Tatyana]

I think it depends on the person and goals, I know very few bodybuilders who could take eod off and compete.

So true, in comp season, I am in the gym basically every day.


I do train intuitively, so I listen to my body. If I am tired, or know that my muscles are sore, I might do the 'bits' like forearms, calves, some abs and cardio, work on my routine, or just take a day off.

Being a woman, training some things are a bit different for me, for example chest......

I do train my entire chest, never do decline stuff, focus on incline.

Most of my chest is covered with breast and bikini on stage, so really, only needs to be strong and look good, not massive pecs (not that they grow massive anyway )