Off and On days in the gym

[Hard_Body]

Anybody else finding some days in the week the intensity and drive in the gym is just not there? There are some days where I just feel like a monster in the gym, then usually a couple days in the week where I'm just feeling good/average. My week sort of goes like this, one extremely strong powerful workout, one very good workout, one average, then maby one mediocre. I am still natural and obviously cant absolutely destroy my self in the gym every workout of the week. I don't know if im burning my self out to early in the week, using to many advanced techniques and going to failure to much. I think its almost essential to take at least 1 day of rest after a hard leg workout because whenever I train the day after legs i just feel like the drive is not there. Iv though constantly about variables that cause to bad workouts but one thing that i keep thinking about is the timing of the workouts. When i was in high school I usually trained at around the exact same time after 3 meals and i felt ready to kill it every single day, focus was always there. For the past 5 months or so I have still been going in the evenings usually around 7-9 pm depending on training partners schedule. Some days its just like I feel so good in the gym then others its not there. I know some people might say sleep or diet is the issue, but im getting 8-10 hours of sleep, diet is always spot on, hardly ever cheat. Now that my training partner has left my gym i think its time to start going at the EXACT same time every day, because I think there was a switch inside my body that used to go off at the exact same time saying, its gym time. Can anybody else relate to this?

[Khazima]

Stats? are you dieting or bulking? what does your routine look like?

I like to place the most difficult workouts at the start of the week/after a rest day. Atm i'm doing rest/legs/push/pull but on a split ill do something like Bench/back/strength, lower/strength, Shoulders/strength/arms, rest, upper power/hypertrophy, lower power/hypertrophy.

[Hard_Body]

im trying to add lean mass right now, my almost 6ft in the 184-18 range body fat right around 10. A old split I was on for awhile went like this, Monday, Chest/arms, Tuesday,Legs, Wednesday, OFF, Thursday delts triceps, bit of chest maby, then Friday id go in hit back, dead lifts, some more biceps/forearms, weekends I took off. This split worked out very nice because it allowed a day of rest after legs and 2 days after a heavy dead lift session. but this also works both ways. What I started doing was, back with dead lifts Monday since it allowed me to do dead lifts 100 percent rested. then a push day Tuesday followed by rest Wednesday, Thursday a leg session hitting legs after a day of rest seemed to work well, then Friday another push day. I ve been experimenting with different routines for awhile trying to hit chest and back twice a week, legs only once. I tried doing 2 back workouts a week, a thickness back day and width back day, did not seem to workout intensity wasn't there 2nd day. ive tried training 5 days a week , mon, tues, thurs,fri,sat. The last 3 days one of those workouts was always kind of shitty, one very good, and one average. I got sick of resting 2 days in a row so added Saturday in for a bit. Im going run a split like this next week and see how it goes, monday,.back,forearms, tuesday push day, Wednesday off, thursday, legs, Friday off, saturday, another push day, sunday off. one of these push days might be more shoulder focused though.

[Khazima]

Those adjustments sounds pretty good, give it a go and see how it works for you.

You could try a 3 or 4 day split for example.

Monday - Upper body
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Lower body
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Upper body
Saturday - Rest
Suunday - Rest

or

Monday - Upper
Tuesday - Lower
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Upper
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Lower
Sunday - Rest

Second one could be great if it's later in the week you tend to burn out.

Work and other things like stress could also be attributing to this.

[Hard_Body]

The thing with upper/lower is hitting the whole upper body in one day is way to many muscles to focus on each day for me as a bodybuilder, and also there would not really be a good day to deadlifts either. Plus hitting the whole upper body the day before a leg workout would be extremely taxing. the three day split is simply not enough time in the gym a week for me I need at least 4 days. I tried to do a modified doggcrapp split awhile back which consisted of 4 days {meant for advanced only} and it didn't really workout, doggcrapp is originally meant to be run , mon, wed, fri for intermediates. Yeah i do not have much stress to worry about that is definitely not the problem, going to college right now and and the workload is not that bad.

[AllKindsOGains]

The thing with upper/lower is hitting the whole upper body in one day is way to many muscles to focus on each day for me as a bodybuilder, and also there would not really be a good day to deadlifts either. Plus hitting the whole upper body the day before a leg workout would be extremely taxing. the three day split is simply not enough time in the gym a week for me I need at least 4 days. I tried to do a modified doggcrapp split awhile back which consisted of 4 days {meant for advanced only} and it didn't really workout, doggcrapp is originally meant to be run , mon, wed, fri for intermediates. Yeah i do not have much stress to worry about that is definitely not the problem, going to college right now and and the workload is not that bad.

This is highly debated over these forums (and everywhere), but I 100% believe that you need to be hitting each muscle group twice a week. Your protein synthesis will be heightened, especially being your a natty, and you will be stimulating growth twice as often. For most people, 48 hours is enough recovery time. As far as relating to your intensity situation, I agree that going at the same time of day is very important, as your body is stronger at different points. For me, I can go an hour after I wake up and feel great, or after work and I feel great. But for me it's a passion, an obsession, and my favorite time of day.

Back, bis, abs
Legs, calves, shoulders
Chest Tris
Rest/Repeat

This is what I do, but I honestly never take that rest day, and my drive is always the same. Find that within yourself. I go until I can't go any more on every set, and I give it everything I have. It's the most important thing in my life, and I give it what it deserves: all of me.

Like I said, a lot will disagree with this method, but it works for me and without my time in the gym I'd be irritable and pissy all day.

[Kozmo]

You're not in high school now so add more rest days

[Hard_Body]

This is highly debated over these forums (and everywhere), but I 100% believe that you need to be hitting each muscle group twice a week. Your protein synthesis will be heightened, especially being your a natty, and you will be stimulating growth twice as often. For most people, 48 hours is enough recovery time. As far as relating to your intensity situation, I agree that going at the same time of day is very important, as your body is stronger at different points. For me, I can go an hour after I wake up and feel great, or after work and I feel great. But for me it's a passion, an obsession, and my favorite time of day.

Back, bis, abs
Legs, calves, shoulders
Chest Tris
Rest/Repeat

This is what I do, but I honestly never take that rest day, and my drive is always the same. Find that within yourself. I go until I can't go any more on every set, and I give it everything I have. It's the most important thing in my life, and I give it what it deserves: all of me.

Like I said, a lot will disagree with this method, but it works for me and without my time in the gym I'd be irritable and pissy all day.

Rest is everything man you grow outside the gym not in it, how can you expect your body to repair and grow if you just kill it every day, i do not see any reason to hit legs twice a week ,one intense leg day to the death a week should be enough , and one heavy deadlift session. Back i have tried hitting twice a week but just found it to be to much, ive tried training 5 days a week and it just doesnt work ,

[Buster Brown]

Rest is everything man you grow outside the gym not in it, how can you expect your body to repair and grow if you just kill it every day, i do not see any reason to hit legs twice a week ,one intense leg day to the death a week should be enough , and one heavy deadlift session. Back i have tried hitting twice a week but just found it to be to much, ive tried training 5 days a week and it just doesnt work ,

Smaller guys can train more often because there muscles are smaller and repair quicker. Age also plays a role in this as well as genetics! Some guys soak it up while others can only manage one body part a week. Everyone needs to find this out on there own and there is some trial and error. Don't worry about what others think or do..... They are not you. Train as hard as YOU can and compete with YOU! Learn from your own mistakes and you will just keep improving.

[Rida5d]

Those adjustments sounds pretty good, give it a go and see how it works for you.

You could try a 3 or 4 day split for example.

Monday - Upper body
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Lower body
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Upper body
Saturday - Rest
Suunday - Rest

or

Monday - Upper
Tuesday - Lower
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Upper
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Lower
Sunday - Rest

Second one could be great if it's later in the week you tend to burn out.

Work and other things like stress could also be attributing to this.

Lyle McDonald???

[Hard_Body]

Smaller guys can train more often because there muscles are smaller and repair quicker. Age also plays a role in this as well as genetics! Some guys soak it up while others can only manage one body part a week. Everyone needs to find this out on there own and there is some trial and error. Don't worry about what others think or do..... They are not you. Train as hard as YOU can and compete with YOU! Learn from your own mistakes and you will just keep improving.

Yes,my new split has 2 push days, if I was to TRY and hit everything 2x a week my split would go like this, push, pull,legs ,repeat, or pull,push, legs repeat, but i think a rest day is almost mandatory after the 3rd workout. I never liked the push,pull,legs repeat, cause dead lifts and leg day tend to interfere with each other, I do not feel like adequate rest is provided between workouts, The split I am on this week is this, Monday, back,biceps,forearms, Tuesday, power clean day followed by hypertrophy for chest,delts,tris, Wednesday rest, Thursday, squat and SLD day [legs], Friday rest, Saturday another push day with more rear delt focus. Sunday rest,

[Buster Brown]

Yes,my new split has 2 push days, if I was to TRY and hit everything 2x a week my split would go like this, push, pull,legs ,repeat, or pull,push, legs repeat, but i think a rest day is almost mandatory after the 3rd workout. I never liked the push,pull,legs repeat, cause dead lifts and leg day tend to interfere with each other, I do not feel like adequate rest is provided between workouts, The split I am on this week is this, Monday, back,biceps,forearms, Tuesday, power clean day followed by hypertrophy for chest,delts,tris, Wednesday rest, Thursday, squat and SLD day [legs], Friday rest, Saturday another push day with more rear delt focus. Sunday rest,

Looks good, give it a go. There is no perfect workout and they can always be tweaked.

[Hard_Body]

Looks good, give it a go. There is no perfect workout and they can always be tweaked.

exactly this week has been great so far, my biggest mistake by far was ditching the dead lift for like 4 months, to do the stupid ego lift rack pull above the knees, lost a ton of strength I couldnt even deadlift 275 without my back rounding it was pathetic, i think that's why I had a shiity summer in the gym, dead lifts just add so much strength to my frame and Im back to pulling 2x my BW raw pretty cleanly, goal is to hit 405 for reps in new year which should not be a problem the way Im training now. Also I wasn't squatting raw I used a stupid bench for the longest time and abused it ,didn't pause for a 1-2 second count like your supposed to, i used to just do a semi bounce on it which does **** all, last week however I threw in some box squats with only 225 and did a 2 second pause , high reps, 20-25 -failure. Squat felt very explosive at the bottom tonight, main purpose of box squats, to pause to build more explosiveness, cleans have been helping tremendously as well, pulled 225 for a single Tuesday which was stupid cus it was a 30 pound jump from my last clean session, should of went up to 205 Max,

[Docd187123]

Rest is everything man you grow outside the gym not in it, how can you expect your body to repair and grow if you just kill it every day, i do not see any reason to hit legs twice a week ,one intense leg day to the death a week should be enough , and one heavy deadlift session. Back i have tried hitting twice a week but just found it to be to much, ive tried training 5 days a week and it just doesnt work ,

As you progress in your lifting you'll find that the more advanced you get the more work you'll need to force a disruption in equilibrium or adaptation. You'll need to work more bc it will take more work to stimulate your muscles to grow. An elite lifter cannot force adaptation in a single workout. It takes several weeks of working out with increasing intensity to cause enough stress to drive adaptation.

There are many advanced lifters who lift 5-7days a week and some do twice a day. You can't just jump into working out that frequently though you'd need to build up to it.

[Hard_Body]

obviously I can see how this could be true for lifters with at least 5 years of experience, Dorian only needed 45 min in the gym 4 x a week,everyone responds differently. I have tried 5 days but it just seems to be to much, I go in there and try to train to the death every time, 4x a week an hour is enough for now, I notice my intensity starts to drop near that hour mark so i dont see the point in doing those 2 hour marathon workouts if your bodybuilding, makes no sense.

[kelkel]

You're not in high school now so add more rest days

Now that's funny.

[Khazima]

Lyle McDonald???

Nah lol I haven't read much of his stuff it was just a general suggestion.

[Hard_Body]

UPDATE: Last week was fantastic , every workout was strong including today's dead lift session, strength is definitely up. pulled 385 for about 7 or 8 but lost grip on one side. Did a light box squat session after deads just to build more power for main squat day thursday and get the habit of squatting twice a week.Will be sticking to this routine for awhile recovery has been well except last the last workout of the week {Saturday} I wasn't feeling as hyped up but still killed shit, was battling for every rep on clean and press and felt great after. heavy clean session tomorrow, will be working up to 205 for at least 4 or 5 reps, hit 205 for a double last week after a maxed out with 225 [stupid] , still got the rep but right leg isnt up to strength with leg, jerks. Probably doing a moderate bench session tomorrow as well after my clean are done.

[Docd187123]

UPDATE: Last week was fantastic , every workout was strong including today's dead lift session, strength is definitely up. pulled 385 for about 7 or 8 but lost grip on one side. Did a light box squat session after deads just to build more power for main squat day thursday and get the habit of squatting twice a week.Will be sticking to this routine for awhile recovery has been well except last the last workout of the week {Saturday} I wasn't feeling as hyped up but still killed shit, was battling for every rep on clean and press and felt great after. heavy clean session tomorrow, will be working up to 205 for at least 4 or 5 reps, hit 205 for a double last week after a maxed out with 225 [stupid] , still got the rep but right leg isnt up to strength with leg, jerks. Probably doing a moderate bench session tomorrow as well after my clean are done.

If you're using light box squats to develop more power for squat day you should try working in the 60-70% of your 1 rep max range and work on dynamic effort. Do 6-10 sets of doubles as fast as you can possibly do them to develop power. Also, cleans begin to lose their benefit after 5 reps or so. Don't do them for reps. Best to keep the sets for triples or less but sets of 5 are ok from time to time.

[Hard_Body]

If you're using light box squats to develop more power for squat day you should try working in the 60-70% of your 1 rep max range and work on dynamic effort. Do 6-10 sets of doubles as fast as you can possibly do them to develop power. Also, cleans begin to lose their benefit after 5 reps or so. Don't do them for reps. Best to keep the sets for triples or less but sets of 5 are ok from time to time.

I never said I was doing cleans for more then 5 reps, i stick to like 6 reps max with my working sets, all my cleans are kept low reps from the ground. I might just do 135 for like 10 reps just to get my heart rate up and get my mind right and form down for working sets but thats it, and I was for box squats I just went 135, 185,225 , all light non to failure, 2-3 second pause at bottom,

[hawk14dl]

Also, why limit everything to the week? Instead of giving each exercise a day, try giving a rest day (or cardio) between each. If you have 4 lifting sessions, that's an 8 day schedule. Also gives you ample redt time

[Hard_Body]

Also, why limit everything to the week? Instead of giving each exercise a day, try giving a rest day (or cardio) between each. If you have 4 lifting sessions, that's an 8 day schedule. Also gives you ample redt time

what are you saying man? Yeah 4 lifting days 3 rest days. Giving each exercise a day allows me to put maximum force and intensity to it. my split is Monday back,biceps, Tuesday push day, Wednesday rest, Thursday, legs, Friday rest, Saturday push day, Sunday rest. doing these big lifts heavy requires rest in between workouts man,

[hawk14dl]

No, 4 lift days and 4 off days.

If you train chest on Monday, your next chest day is next Tuesday.

Why schedule lifts around a calender?

[Hard_Body]

ok so your saying train 4 days in a row then 4 off days? if you are that is the stupidest advice ever,deadlifts,squats,cleans, clean press, plus some bench thrown in there, squats twice a week, maby some SLD as well 4 days in a row? how could i possibly be able to recover, all 4 of these main lifts involve lower body so id essentially be hitting that 4 days in a row, this just makes no sense at all man, my back would be destroyed, if you read what ive stated earlier in the post you'll see training more then 2 days in a row has not really worked out for me. by the 3rd and 4th workouts i would be destroyed. I have never heard someone doing a 4 days off 4 days on split that has to be the worst thing ever. I know some advanced like to do the 4 days on ,rest, repeat which is a suitable split because it allows muscles to be hit more frequently which is what they need. but taking 4 days of rest in a row make s no sense

[hawk14dl]

Are you retarded or just can't read? My first post said a rest day between each lift day.

[Buster Brown]

Are you retarded or just can't read? My first post said a rest day between each lift day.

Unless OP has a problem with recovery that what you described is more of a conditioning routine. MOST guys find that after some trial and error that for BB hitting everything hard once a week works the best and for PL a 4 day split fits MOST guys. Younger guys and lighter guys (around 160) can train more often. Micro managing your split gets to be as unproductive as micro managing a diet.

[Hard_Body]

Are you retarded or just can't read? My first post said a rest day between each lift day.

Yeah man thats not typically how bodybuilding routines are scheduled out training one day resting the next, I am sorry i just misunderstood your first post then you said 4 on days 4 off so i meant 4 days on 4 days off

[tsarrast]

You're not in high school now so add more rest days

lol - love this quote...
great advice in thread thanks!

[bigrich4]

I know im hopping in late here. But hardbody, you need to know sometimes training sucks. Doesnt matter wen or where. Times dont matter as much as people say, its just something you have to deal with.
If that was the case then, i work at the same time every night (i stock shelves at safeway) then id be a beast every night, but im not. Sometimes im just normal and sometimes i work so fast people say slow down.
You can take it as advice or say im stupid but try a new routine once every 6-8 weeks to change things up. I do that and it works for me to always have fun training. I do it at work too... do an aisle everyday for awhile the tell my manager im doing something different, just to keep it fresh.
Look into new things just to keep your muscles and brain stimulated.
Just a thought.

[Frenchy93]

Those adjustments sounds pretty good, give it a go and see how it works for you.

You could try a 3 or 4 day split for example.

Monday - Upper body
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - Lower body
Thursday - Rest
Friday - Upper body
Saturday - Rest
Suunday - Rest

or

Monday - Upper
Tuesday - Lower
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - Upper
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Lower
Sunday - Rest

Second one could be great if it's later in the week you tend to burn out.

Work and other things like stress could also be attributing to this.

Great post, 3-4 day splits are perfect for a busy person. I work on a 3-5 day split depending on how busy my week is. Trying to maintain a consistent workout schedule is unneeded added stress.

Usually I will do the following in no particular order. If something pops up and I absolutely HAVE to miss a workout it is shoulders.

Chest, Bi
Back, Tri
Shoulders, Back
Legs

I often mix these up from week to week, like doing back and chest together and and arm day, also I try not to worry about which day of the week I do my workouts on, it's all based on my out of gym schedule, if I have to workout 4 days in a row and rest for 3 straight, that is fine with me.

This is highly debated over these forums (and everywhere), but I 100% believe that you need to be hitting each muscle group twice a week. Your protein synthesis will be heightened, especially being your a natty, and you will be stimulating growth twice as often. For most people, 48 hours is enough recovery time. As far as relating to your intensity situation, I agree that going at the same time of day is very important, as your body is stronger at different points. For me, I can go an hour after I wake up and feel great, or after work and I feel great. But for me it's a passion, an obsession, and my favorite time of day.

Back, bis, abs
Legs, calves, shoulders
Chest Tris
Rest/Repeat

This is what I do, but I honestly never take that rest day, and my drive is always the same. Find that within yourself. I go until I can't go any more on every set, and I give it everything I have. It's the most important thing in my life, and I give it what it deserves: all of me.

Like I said, a lot will disagree with this method, but it works for me and without my time in the gym I'd be irritable and pissy all day.

This is terrible advice.