Why Training One Bodypart Per Week is Flat Out Dumb

Question:

I don’t seem to be getting results with my current routine and i have noticed articles online and real life friends only work 1 muscle group a day. Like theyll do biceps monday, chest tuesday, triceps wednesday, back thursday and legs friday and abs everyday at the end of the workout. It just seems fishy to me because your only doing one group per 6 days. Im used to doing every muscle group 2 times a week. So instead of doing 1 muscle a day i did like biceps and back one day then chest and shoulders the next etc etc. what do you guys think? iv been going up in weight and eating more and i still havent seen results.

Answer:

You’re definitely on the right track in noticing that doing only one muscle group every 6 days is “fishy”.

It really only takes about 48-72 hours for your body to recovery from a typical strength session, so why wait 6 days? It makes no sense.

Also, your friend has to lift 5 days a week. It sounds like you might not have that kind of time..

With a 2 day a week program, you’re on the right track in that you’re training your entire body on both training days.

But instead of taking the mentality of hitting each “muscle group”, you need to think more about what MOVEMENTS will get you the most results.

If you’ve ever heard of the 80/20 rule, often applied to business, it means that 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts.

Well, this principle can be applied to strength training as well..

You’ll see many people in the gym doing “bodypart” exercises like bicep curls, triceps extensions, hamstring curls, and leg extensions.

These are what I would call the 20% exercises. They have their place at times, but if you want results, you need to focus on the 80% that will get you results.

Key Exercises -Deadlift variations (total body) -Squats (hamstrings, quads, glutes, core) -Bench Press (Chest, arms, even some legs) -Pull-ups (Lats, traps) -Rows (Traps, rhomboids, biceps) -Single leg movements (lunges, stepups, pistols)

If you’re going to train total body, stick to these lifts. The other thing that is important for you to actually see results is lift HEAVIER weights.

I’m not sure what kind of intensity you’re lifting at, but make sure that once you get the form figured out and are confident in these movements, that you progress with more weight.

As in 3-5 sets of 1-6 rep max.

If you’re more novice or if hypertrophy (building mass) is more important, using 5-10 rep max weights with only 2-4 sets may be a better option.

I’d also consider bumping it up to three days a week.

A three day per week split would look something like this:

Monday: Total Body–Hit a little bit of everything

Wednesday: Primarily Upper body with a few leg exercises

Friday: Primarily Lower body with a few upper body exercises.

Since the lower body tends to take longer to recover than the upper body, it is placed on Friday, give you two recover days.

I hope this helps, and if you have any more questions, hit me up!

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