how many days

[theoperator]

a week can most naturals train? i havent really discovered what works for me best. i was doing a 3 on 2 off thing and it was going ok but im not sure if i really needed both days off. would i be able to train 6 days a week meaning every bodypart twice a week??? if i did would i do one heavy day and one light day???

[smaul]

as a beginner I made good gains hitting each body part twice a week.  When progress slowed I went for once a week and I made progress again.  I'll leave it up to you to decide whether I would have made even more progress at first had I only hit each body part once a week.

They say you can recover quicker at first because you're not lifting as heavy poundages.

[Your MAAAAaaaa]

Once a week is fine but I think you need to determine it for yourself try different protocols, and if something does not work avoid it!

I'm just going through various ideas at the moment and some will suit some people and some not, see what you body says and go from there.

ta ta

[Nathan]

I do 5 days a week no problem but I keep the sesions to 30-50min and only train 1 big or 2 small groups in one work out. The trick is though go all out for 30min and eat EVERY 2-3hrs.

[Stubborn]

I did well on a 5 day routine when I started. I also had my nutrition down solid. I ate about 350 grams of protein and 300 grams of carbs a day at 200+lbs. All clean food. I think thats what I can most attribute my success to....EATING!

[AVBG]

What type of frequency do the natural trainers recommend.. train bodyparts once per week or more?

[Stubborn]

I went with once a week per group (still do). Prioritized workouts to what needs most work. Changed movements every 4-5 weeks. Took a week off every 10-12 weeks.

[War-Horse]

You can only train a bodypart twice a week for a short time before you overtrain.   Youll get great rsults from once a week if you can mentally keep yourself away from the gym.
Powerlifting will give great foundation of muscle to shape later with bodybuilding.

[mar10s]

I agree with War-Horse.  I trained on a 6 say split for 3 months, each bodypart twice a week.  I got some good results from it, however close to the end of the 3rd month, I was starting to hit the wall.  As long as you eat, rest, and lift hard, you'll get good results going in 3 to 4 times a week.  Good luck!

[cauthon]

I train on a four day split, four days on one day off. Every thing gets hit three times in two weeks. A trained muscle will heal faster then an untrained muscle. The longer you have been training, the faster you recover, the more volume you can handle.

[AVBG]

I train on a four day split, four days on one day off. Every thing gets hit three times in two weeks. A trained muscle will heal faster then an untrained muscle. The longer you have been training, the faster you recover, the more volume you can handle.

Show me an example of your split?

[cauthon]

Show me an example of your split?

Chest/tris
right now I am trying to thicken up my chest so I am doing a powerlifting chest routine.
workout one:
eight sets of flat bench triples.
four sets  of incline dumbell pressing
four sets of dips
four sets of two arm tri extensions
four sets of single arm pressdowns

workout two:
eight sets of speed benchig triples (I just started using bands for these)
eight sets of lockouts (floor pressing or doing lockouts in the power cage)
four sets of two arm tri extensions
four sets of one arm tri pressdowns

Legs:
Eight sets of squats ass to the grass
four sets of lunges
four sets leg extensions
four sets of hamstring curls

back:
Deadlifts, couple sets of warm up and then four or five sets of trips
wide grip chins, untill I cant get six reps in a set
cable rows four sets
one arm lat pulls four sets
one arm rows

bi's/delts:
warm up with four sets of side laterals
four sets of arnold presses
four sets of machiene laterals
four sets of rear delts on the peck deck
four sets of cable laterals
warm up with a few sets of dumbell curls
preacher curls three sets
hammer curls three sets
one arm concertration curls three sets

I work calfs every day (four sets of raises) and abs every day or two depending on motivation(three sets)
The only reason I do so little pressing on sholder day is my front delts are biger then my side/rear delts so I try not to do much to work them.

[AVBG]

Chest/tris
right now I am trying to thicken up my chest so I am doing a powerlifting chest routine.
workout one:
eight sets of flat bench triples.
four sets  of incline dumbell pressing
four sets of dips
four sets of two arm tri extensions
four sets of single arm pressdowns

workout two:
eight sets of speed benchig triples (I just started using bands for these)
eight sets of lockouts (floor pressing or doing lockouts in the power cage)
four sets of two arm tri extensions
four sets of one arm tri pressdowns

Legs:
Eight sets of squats ass to the grass
four sets of lunges
four sets leg extensions
four sets of hamstring curls

back:
Deadlifts, couple sets of warm up and then four or five sets of trips
wide grip chins, untill I cant get six reps in a set
cable rows four sets
one arm lat pulls four sets
one arm rows

bi's/delts:
warm up with four sets of side laterals
four sets of arnold presses
four sets of machiene laterals
four sets of rear delts on the peck deck
four sets of cable laterals
warm up with a few sets of dumbell curls
preacher curls three sets
hammer curls three sets
one arm concertration curls three sets

I work calfs every day (four sets of raises) and abs every day or two depending on motivation(three sets)
The only reason I do so little pressing on sholder day is my front delts are biger then my side/rear delts so I try not to do much to work them.

Thanks Cauthon. I might try something similar once my current split gets tired (4 weeks).

[GET_BIGGER]

I train mon-fri, a muscle group once a week, except for arms I hit them twice.  I would love to do a 3-2 split but that one day during the week I cant sit still if I dont work out......drives me fricken crazy. 

[blondmusclhunk]

Hit each muscle once a week HEAVY

[War-Horse]

Hit each muscle once a week HEAVY

Some people have more white or red fibers in certain muscles.    Sometimes guys get huge just pumping the weights and others like me have to lift heavy...(sprinter vs cross country runner)

Its good to have a heavy week 6-8 reps    and a med 10-12 reps and alternate.  To activate all possible fibers.