# times/week



## iron12345 (May 27, 2010)

im quite new to weightlifting, how many times should each muscle group be exercised per week for optimal muscle hypertrophy? I read that although the muscle can repair within about 48 hours it takes the CNS a lot longer hence the reason a lot of people abdicate training each muscle once per week? Drug free btw, i know diet is a huge part of weight lifting but that aside imagining you have a great diet how many times is optimal? anyone got any studies etc thanks


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## davegmb (May 27, 2010)

Good question, im interested in this one too, hope you get some good replies. I was always under the impression once a week was best with a rep range of 6-10, but it doesnt seem to be that simple and alot of theories out there that leave my head mashed mate.


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## Gazhole (May 27, 2010)

3-4 times a week, depending on your split, is usually optimal for most people.


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## davegmb (May 27, 2010)

Gazhole said:


> 3-4 times a week, depending on your split, is usually optimal for most people.


 
Do you mean workout 3-4 times a week or hit each muscle group 3-4 times a week????????


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## Gazhole (May 27, 2010)

davegmb said:


> Do you mean workout 3-4 times a week or hit each muscle group 3-4 times a week????????



Train 3-4 times a week in total. Don't think in terms of muscle groups, your body works in planes of motion like push/pull.


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## iron12345 (May 27, 2010)

im only asking about a specific muscle group not how many workouts in total. I read somewhere it can take your CNS a full 7 days to recover after a heavy session so if you do your biceps back on day 1 the muscles will be recovered by day 3 but the nerve routes that activate these muscles will take a full 7 days to recover? On the days inbetween you would exercise other muscle groups


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## FMJ (May 27, 2010)

I do three full body workouts per week. But I rotate the intensity, Start with a heavy day, then a lighter, high rep day, then another heavy.
Rest and eat enough and listen to your own body. There's no hard number because some people can take more than others before overtraining sets in. As for body parts, Gaz is right on. Don't think of muscle groups because most compunds work a variety of muscles. For example, if you do heavy bench pressing on one day and think you'll give yourself a break the next day by working your shoulders and triceps, you'll soon realize that your benching pretty much wasted your shoulders and triceps already.


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## iron12345 (May 27, 2010)

yeah i was going to do push/pull/legs but in effect that still ends up being each muscle group directly trained once per week


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## Gazhole (May 27, 2010)

Whatever you do, you probably won't be completely recovered anyway. Over the course of a program you continually make inroads into your recovery and get further away from a fully rested state. It's this stress which causes your body to adapt and get bigger/stronger etc to this constant stimulus. Taking a week or two off every 6-12 weeks takes care of that, so you're back to fully recovered before your next program.

3-4 days of rest a week is enough for most programs, whatever your training split is. Don't think too much about how long it takes for particular muscle groups to recover because in all probability you won't figure it out.

Push/Pull/Legs is an okay split, but ends up with you training upper body more than lower body. Unless you do double the volume on legs day - so you could do 3 exercises on push and pull day, and 6 on legs day. Best to put legs in the middle aswell.


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## iron12345 (May 29, 2010)

so i was doing similar to

day 1 
weighted pushups 3 sets
db fly 3 sets
military press 3 sets
french press 3 sets

rest

day 2
deadlift 3 sets
pull ups 3 sets
bb row 3 sets
hammer curl 3 sets

rest

day 3
squats 3 sets
lunges 3 sets
calf raises 3 sets
some ab work


thing is on day 1 i struggle to do many french press cos my triceps are trashed?


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## DaBeast25 (May 29, 2010)

iron12345 said:


> so i was doing similar to
> 
> day 1
> weighted pushups 3 sets
> ...


 
That's a fairly low volume program if you're looking for hypertrophy.  I do like to see you're not trying to do 20 sets per bodypart, but you could probably add a few sets or exercises in each workout.

If you want size I'd skip out on most single joint movements and focus on the compound moves.  No problem to add an arm exercise at the end of your workout but I wouldn't worry too much about being fatigued going into your arm exercise since 90% of your energy should go towards the big lifts anyway.  (Fyi... Deads are more of a leg exercise than anything else).

I'm a big fan of push, pull, legs but I'd go something like this...

Push-
DB or BB Flat Bench 
DB or BB Incline
Military Press
Lateral Raise
Dips

Pull-
BB Row or T-bar Row
Pull-ups or Pull down
DB Row or Cable Row
Reverse Fly (on incline bench)
Hammer Curls

Legs-
Front Squat or Back Sqaut
RDL
Reverse Lunge or Step-up
Prone Leg Curl
Calves(if it's that important to you)
Core Work

my rate's $100/hour I'll send you the bill


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## DaBeast25 (May 29, 2010)

Just saw you asked about studies...science says each muscle group 2x/week for hypertrophy in which case you'd be better off with an upper/lower/OFF/upper/lower split monday through friday.  Bro-science and most bodybuilders will hit each muscle once per week.  With that said I still like the push/pull/legs split and you could easily do 4 workouts/week like this to increase your frequency.


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## CaptainNapalm (May 29, 2010)

iron12345 said:


> im quite new to weightlifting, how many times should each muscle group be exercised per week for optimal muscle hypertrophy? I read that although the muscle can repair within about 48 hours it takes the CNS a lot longer hence the reason a lot of people abdicate training each muscle once per week? Drug free btw, i know diet is a huge part of weight lifting but that aside imagining you have a great diet how many times is optimal? anyone got any studies etc thanks



The people who train each muscle group once a week still end up in the gym usually 5 times a week which would be more stress on your CNS if you did each major muscle group 2 per week and only trained 4 times a week.  As a beginner you can benefit well from a full body workout three times a week using compound exercises with correct form.  For me, what I find works best is upper body one day and lower body the next day with one day's rest in between.  This gives your CNS plenty of time to recover, trains each muscle group almost twice a week and 3 days will go by until you hit that same muscle group again which is optimum in my opinion for muscle recovery.


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## GregW (May 29, 2010)

3 times a week when you're first starting is good advice


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## iron12345 (May 30, 2010)

Was thinking of doing upper rest lower rest repeAt so it will be twice every 8 days? Can someone with some experience please post a workout for this if they know one? Thanks


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