Newbey question.

[pheenyx1]

This may be stupid, but I gotta ask. I have my days broken down into body parts. 1 chest, 2 back, 3shoulders, 4 arms/legs. Question is, on the days that I am not working a body part, should I stay away from it entirely, or can I do a few light sets to warm it up and get a little pump? I am trying to gain a little size and strength and to cut. I am 170lbs/5'7"/41yrs. I work out 7 days a week. Diet is very clean. currently 15% bf down from 16.5% 3 wks ago.

[pheenyx1]

Nothin? C'mon guys, help the new guy out.

[SlimmerMe]

Welcome...gotta be patient~

[FireGuy]

Stay away from it entirely would be my advice.

[|2ogue]

As FireGuy said. Your muscles need rest to grow. They can't grow when they're being worked.
Also arms with legs ?? I'd put your arms with your shoulders. Legs are a very big musle group, shoulders aren't.

[gthom47]

i even like giving arms their own day to really get a good workout in

[jenneva]

yep I agree stay away to let them heal and rest.

I like to get my cardio and abs in on the off days.

[TOkidd]

Rest days are just as important as workout days. Your muscles need time to heal. Instead of doing a little workout on your off-days, try to focus your attention on diet, eating as much high-protein food as possible to give your muscles the fuel they need to recover and grow.

If you don't have at least two good rest days per week, you will overtrain, which means you'll stop gaining and your strength will plateau. This has happened to me.

I'm not sure what others here do, but my workout week looks something like this:

Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Back
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Biceps / Triceps
Saturday: Shoulders
Sunday: Rest

[pheenyx1]

Is it ok to do abs on rest days? I took a rest day Friday. I know you guys are right, but not going to the gym made me feel like a HUGE slacker. Would it be alright to go in and just do some abs and cardio?

[Windex]

Is it ok to do abs on rest days? I took a rest day Friday. I know you guys are right, but not going to the gym made me feel like a HUGE slacker. Would it be alright to go in and just do some abs and cardio?

No, you can add ab exercises to "lighter" days. You NEED rest. If you give 100% on the days you do workout there is no reason to go in extra. Add cardio to your days that you lift, either in the morning (Fasted cardio) or right after lifting. You may be able to do light cardio on a second "rest" day with 1 day being doing nothing, but honestly for now it would be better to get into the mentality that you need complete rest. When I first started I use to train 6x/week, then I felt good so I upped it to 7x/week, then I burnt out. Rest,rest ,rest. Also, chest and shoulder routine should be as spaced out as possible because many chest exercises utilize the delts as a secondary muscle group so you don't want to overtrain shoulders by having chest + shoulder close together.

[pheenyx1]

Thanx, bruthas (and sisters). Good info.