Two days off - I feel so bad!

[quicksy]

Well, i'll just say i've had a rough weekend so far and have not worked out for two days..

I started 7 weeks ago, basically working out every day ,with the odd one day off and i am pleased with my progress with gains and impressive bulking rofl

But with these two days off my muscles feel so "flabby" and weak, and i'm not happy or proud of my self <

As a 'newbe' i would like to know whether two days off would effect my gains or not...?


Cheers, and what a great forum it is!

D.

 

[dee3186]

What do you mean by working out everyday do you mean upper and lower everyday or can you give me an example right now i do upper twice a week and lower twice a week including cardio.

 

[quicksy]

I'm working on upper body 2 days on 1 day off.

 

[9cyclops9]

Yikes! No lower body at all? Why?

You should only work out 4 days per week if you're doing a split, 5 at the absolute most. If you're doing full-body workouts then 3 days is great (MWF). But you shouldn't be doing only upper body, that's stupid.

 

[TimBo755]

I see that only upper body workouts is more common the more I visit the gym, sad really. Ah well, I'll never have chicken legs!

 

[Shafty]

Quicksy, if your muscles feel flabby or flat on your off days, it's nothing more than glycogen depletion. Try doing some dynamic stretching and/or cardio, and scarf down those carbs. That should help get you looking pumped up even on the days when you aren't lifting. You may also experience loss in water volume in the muscles if you're experiencing an electrolyte imbalance, which can in fact be brought on by overly strenuous exercise coupled with excessive water drinking.

About working out 7 days a week: that is definitely a no-no. Like cyclops said, you shouldn't work out more than 4-5 days a week on a split program, or 3 days on a full body cycle. 2 days off will not hinder your progress in any way. As a part of my bodybuilding program, HST (hypertrophy specific training), I recently took 12 days off to let my muscles 'decondition', causing them to respong to growth stimuli better once I started hitting the weights again. I got sick at the end of my strategic deconditioning period, which prolonged it to 16 days. During that time, it seemed as if though my muscles had inflated and I had packed on some fat to boot. Of course, this was simply due to the bulk of the water weight in my muscles draining out into the surrounding tissues, causing me to look fatter and less muscular, from not being able to work out or even move around much (I had a nasty infection which went from my ears to my throat, and finally to my eyes... I was pretty much out of it). It didn't take me long to regain that muscular and hard look after I got better and was able to resume lifting again, though.
You should definitely incorporate lower body training into your lifting regime, btw. If you can't think of any other reason to do so, try this: the muscles of your legs contain a lot of bulk, and you can add on a lot of general muscle weight by building them up. After all, is it not a big part of the whole bodybuilding game to be able to brag about how much you weigh? That, and scawny legs look incredibly ridiculous if coupled with a beefy torso.

 

[quicksy]

Thanks Shafty great post.

I'm starting a one on one off routine for both upper and lower body now. Its interesting about excessive water drinking because i was making sure that i would drink at least 3 litres a day.. I think i'll cut that.

As i'm bulking i'm making sure i have plenty of carbs also.

 

[Shafty]

No problem. 3 litres of water a day is a good amount, though. Just as long as you get your electrolytes from somewhere. All in all, it's generally not a concern. There have to be several factors that contribute to the electrolyte imbalance before it gets to the point where you start losing water weight in the muscles.

 

[9cyclops9]

I'm starting a one on one off routine for both upper and lower body now.

You won't regret it. Post your routine here so we can take a look at/critique it. Let me recommend two, just for you to take a look at (or even use if you like them, they're both great).

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459533
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;jsessionid=A79E21A1C24CE9EB98523DC85ED11A0C.hydra?id=459341

 

[quicksy]

Thanks cyclops..

For now i'm starting with this:

Upper Body:

Barbell bench press:
3 Sets 10 reps

Dumbbell Shoulder press:
3 Sets 10 reps

Barbell Curls:
3 Sets 10 reps

Tricep Extensions:
3 Sets 10 reps

Lower Body:

Barbell Squats:
3 sets 8 reps

dumbbell deadlift:
3 sets 8 reps

decline bench sit-ups:
3 sets 8 reps

Calf raises:
3 sets 8 reps