catching up

[LambdaCalc]

What's the word on playing catch-up at the gym? I do a 5-day split M-F, working: bis-tris,shoulders,back, legs, chest, in no particular order. I missed 3 days this week, and would like to catch up. What I planned to do for today is work shoulders in the morning(already done) and bis-tris this evening. Tomorrow morning I will work chest, and saturday I will work back...I'm skipping legs this week...knees feeling a bit shaky.

Thanks,
LC

 

[9cyclops9]

Wouldn't it be much more efficient to do 3 full-body workouts or 4 days with two being upper and two being lower? As it is, you have only 1 day for your lower body and 4 for your upper body. And you have one day devoted just to arms (small muscle group), one day devoted to shoulders (another small muscle group) and one devoted to chest (yet another small group). Then you have your two largest muscle groups, also with one day each. This split doesn't make very much sense at all. What could you possibly do on arms day that couldn't be combined into chest, shoulders, or back day? A more sensible split might be:

M: Upper body, vertical push/pull
T: Lower body, quad focus
TH: Upper body, horizontal push/pull
F: Lower body, posterior chain focus

This way, you'll also have fewer days to miss, and you won't have to worry about "catching up."

 

[LambdaCalc]

I've had good results with this split and I enjoy going to the gym each day. I'm sure we could go back and forth on what split is the 'best', but in the end you do what works best for you. This split allows me to focus on one muscle group per day devoting all of my time, energy and focus to properly fatiguing that muscle group. It allows me to have short, intense workouts; I'm usually out of the gym in 30-45 minutes. I've tried splits similar to the one you mentioned, but in the end this has been my favorite and most productive.

 

[sikdogg]

Don't try to "catch up" any missed workouts... just continue with your routine as planned for the days that you're in the gym. The idea is to not miss any workouts but if you must, then forget about it and move on. A workout day missed here and there is no big deal in the grand scheme of things.

 

[9cyclops9]

Well, I'm not sure why you'd only want to work each muscle group once in a week, or why you'd want to "properly fatigue" your muscles, but whatever. Your choice, your results.

 

[sikdogg]

There are alot of workout routines that only work each muscle once a week. They typically train each muscle to failure and beyond using lots of sets and exercizes, then allow a full week for recovery before working it again. Just one of many ways to train... some people gain from this type of training while others don't.

 

[LambdaCalc]

Well, working your muscles fatigues them and you should strive to do so properly ie avoid overtraining, pulling muscles, injuring your neck bone...At this point, working a muscle group twice in one week would be overkill, as it takes about 2-3 days to recover. I'm not opposed to your suggestion, it's just not for me at this time.

 

[swolejah]

I do a 6-day split normally, but now I am shocking my body by doing a 4-5 day split.

Always space out your chest, tri's, and delts a couple or so days apart. same thing with back and biceps.