Is it more benificial to go one day on one day off?

wixfjord

As the title says, Im a bit of a novice and was wondering could some of you guys tell me, is it more benificial to for example focus on arms for one day, then do a bit of swimming and running the next day, giving your upper body a rest period? or is a couple of reps every morning and night more benificial?

Thanks

unreggd

Swimming is hardly a rest for your upper body :P

You're only meant to work each body part once a week

which is why a Split is most popular

dave80

unreggd wrote: »

You're only meant to work each body part once a week

says who?

AARRRGH

Forgetting about the benefits of giving your muscles a chance to grow, I think one day on/one day off is good for minimising injuries. For example, I have an old shouder injury which I try to rest as much as possible. If that sometimes means having two or three days off, I'll do that.

Hanley

dave80 wrote: »

says who?

I was wondering that too...

madmik

unreggd wrote: »

Swimming is hardly a rest for your upper body :P

You're only meant to work each body part once a week

which is why a Split is most popular

basically youre supposed to allow a muscle some recovery time

u must be training really hard though for that to take a full week

or your diet could be lacking

generally the larger the muscle group the longer it takes to recover with squatts taking the longest for me personally

WolfForager

unreggd wrote: »

You're only meant to work each body part once a week

Wha??

If you were gonna go down that root you could only go to the gym twice, possibly three times a week?

agent_smith

My best mate is a doctor. I've often heard him tell me that when im exercising im ripping muscle fibres, and should at least allow a day between exercising weights.
I suppose it makes sense, especially when you are using free weights, typically while you will mainly target a specific muscle group , you will indirectly include lots of other muscle groups which should be recovering.

rubadub

Depends on the muscle too. I think smaller muscles like the forearms can be worked soon after each other, compared to say large leg muscles.

If I am going to be out of action for say a week I would do negatives and only be recovered from DOMs maybe 4-5 days after.

I saw an old guy about 65 doing just one workout per week, just one single day with 1 set per exercise, and he was pretty big.

If you look up "bartendaz" on youtube you will find lots of videos. One guy from the group said they workout everyday or every other day, doing ridiculous volumes.

BARTENDAZ

there are different styles of training.
some of us love to train everyday, I can show you the workout schedules we use:

one is 45 sets of 10 pull ups, 15 dips and 20 push ups every day or every other day.
the other is more comlicated and is spread throughout the week.

Monday 1000 pushups, 500 squats, 1000 toe raises and 200 pullups and stretching
Tuesday 1000 pushups, 500 dips, situps and stretching
Wednesday 1000 pushups, 200 pullups, situps, squats and stretching
Thursday 1000 pushups, 300 pullups, situps, dips and stretching
Friday 1000 pushups, 400 pullups, situps, dips and stretching
Saturday all day stretching

as you can see, our workouts involve a lot of bw exercise with very high numbers. to improve, I'd suggest to set a goal like 300-500 pushups and do more sets like 100 x 3-5 and then improve over the time to the goal of 20 x 50.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMjFN-m2VOM

BobbyOLeary

Personally I found 3 on 1 off 2 on 1 off to be the best for me when it came to recovery and progress. Though that only applies to when I'm doing CrossFit style metcon stuff. When I'm on pure heavy lifting I work out Mon, Wed and Fri with wrestling on Tues and Thurs with Crossfit on Sat with Sunday being left to no exercise whatsoever.

Swimming should be fine on your off days as long as you don't find yourself struggling to recover.

You're only meant to work each body part once a week

Good to know I'm the exception that proves the rule so....