Training bodyparts once per week vs twice per week

[flinstones1]

if you want to look like a champion train like one

if you want to look like layne norton train like him?


 

This is my philosophy, who the fuck would want to look like layne. Ronnie coleman's 2003 olympia routine is originally where the back and biceps in AM and delts in pm is actually came from. Of course there is always the question, could Ronnie have trained each bodypart once per week and looked the same?

who knows..

[flinstones1]

Ronnie Coleman Training Routine

Monday

Back
 Deadlifts, 4 sets – 6-12 reps
 Barbell rows, 3 sets – 10-12 reps
 T-bar rows, 3 sets – 10 – 12 reps
 One-arm dumbbell rows, 3 sets 10-12 reps

Biceps
 Barbell curls, 4 sets -12 reps
 Seated alternating dumbbell curls, 12 reps
 Preacher curls, 12 reps
 Cable curls, 12 reps

Shoulders
 Military presses, 4 sets – 10-12 reps
 Seated dumbbell press, 4 sets – 12 reps
 (superset with)
 Front dumbbell press, 4 sets – 12 reps

Tuesday

Legs
 Squats, 5-6 sets – 2-12 reps
 Leg presses, 4 sets – 12 reps
 Lunges, 2 sets – 100 yards
 Stiff-leg deadlifts, 3 sets – 12 reps
 Seated hamstring curls, 3 sets – 12 reps

Wednesday

Chest
 Bench press, 5 sets – 12 reps
 Incline barbell press, 3 sets – 12 reps
 Flat bench dumbbell press, 3 sets – 12 reps
 Flat bench flyes, 4 sets – 12 reps

Triceps
 Seated cambered-bar extensions, 3 sets – 12 reps
 Seated dumbbell extensions, 4 sets – 12 reps
 Close-grip bench press, 4 sets – 12 reps

Thursday

Back Barbell rows, 5 sets – 10 – 12 reps
 Low Pulley Rows, 4 sets – 10 – 12 reps
 Lat machine pulldowns, 3 sets – 10 – 12 reps
 Front lat pulldowns, 3 sets – 10 – 12 reps

Biceps
 Incline alternating dumbbell curls, 4 sets – 12 reps
 Machine curls, 3 sets – 12 reps
 (superset with)
 Standing cable curls, 4 sets – 12 reps

Shoulders
 Seated dumbbell press, 4 sets – 12 reps
 Front lateral dumbbell raises, 3 sets – 8 – 25 reps
 Machine raises, 3 sets – 8 – 25 reps

Friday

Legs
 Leg extensions, 4 sets – 30 reps
 Front squats, 4 sets – 12 – 15 reps
 Hack squats, 3 sets – 12 reps
 Standing leg curls, 3 sets – 12 – 15 reps
 Lying leg curls, 4 sets – 12 reps

Saturday

Chest
 Incline dumbbell press, 4 sets – 12 reps
 Decline barbell press, 3 sets – 12 reps
 Incline dumbbell flyes, 3 sets – 12 reps
 Decline dumbbell press, 3 sets – 12 reps

Triceps
 Skullcrushers, 4 sets – 12 reps
 (superset with)
 Machine pressdown dips, 4 sets – 12 reps
 (superset with)
 Seated tricep extensions, 4 sets – 12 reps

Calves
 Donkey raises, 4 sets – 12 reps
 Seated raises, 4 sets – 12 reps
 Crunches, 3 sets – failure

Sunday

[CT_Muscle]

day 1 Chest and biceps
day 2 Legs
day 3 off
day 4 shoulders and triceps
day 5 back and traps
day 6 off
day 7 off

[flinstones1]

day 1 Chest and biceps
day 2 Legs
day 3 off
day 4 shoulders and triceps
day 5 back and traps
day 6 off
day 7 off

so you only have  52 potential growth phases  for each bodypart per year, vs 104? If you only train a bodypart once per week muscle atrophy will take place by the time you reach the next workout for that bodypart. Of course Ronnie's program is a bit extreme, but I think DC is a nice compromise training the bodypart once every 5 days.

[galeniko]

if i had the time, id train 2 times a day.


each bodypart once weekly is ok though.

depends on how hard you hit it, when its not sore anymore, its ready to go again, but along with that, overal performance can be bit poor, say if shoulders still not recovered, and arms neither, and you do chest, training will not be sooo good.

but i believe in training more often,rather than training too little.

one thing i learned, the more often i train, the harder and more shredded im gonna look.

plaaning split routines i find bit unpractical, just hit the most imporatant part as much as possible, and-or go for whateveer muscle feels recovered on that day.

i never know what im gona train tomorow.always decide on same day.

if possible, always arms

[CT_Muscle]

so you only have  52 potential growth phases  for each bodypart per year, vs 104? If you only train a bodypart once per week muscle atrophy will take place by the time you reach the next workout for that bodypart. Of course Ronnie's program is a bit extreme, but I think DC is a nice compromise training the bodypart once every 5 days.

Do you think your body just continues to grow and grow forever? I think the rest is the better trade off and the joints will thank you in the future.

[hench]

definitely, in the end unless your going to juice up and jump on stage its all about refining and trying to improve muscle quality. My triceps are no worse from laying off the heavy tricep extensions that made my elbows so painful. I wish i'd packed them in earlier, i don't have continuous pain but it doesn't take long performing that movement now before my elbows feel really sensitive.

Do you think your body just continues to grow and grow forever? I think the rest is the better trade off and the joints will thank you in the future.

[CT_Muscle]

definitely, in the end unless your going to juice up and jump on stage its all about refining and trying to improve muscle quality. My triceps are no worse from laying off the heavy tricep extensions that made my elbows so painful. I wish i'd packed them in earlier, i don't have continuous pain but it doesn't take long performing that movement now before my elbows feel really sensitive.

Even if you juice up you will only grow so much. I have trained twice a week and once a week. Training once a week gives plenty of rest. And not just from chest workout to chest workout, hitting shoulders involves chest, hitting back involves biceps, chest involves triceps ect ect

[Big Chiro Flex]

This is my philosophy, who the fuck would want to look like layne.

Flint.....you're smarter than this dude.

That's like saying "why do I want to listen to George Farrah or Chris Aceto or chad Nichols? Just so I can look like them?"

I know NOBODY who has not grown from the PHAT program.

[flinstones1]

Flint.....you're smarter than this dude.

That's like saying "why do I want to listen to George Farrah or Chris Aceto or chad Nichols? Just so I can look like them?"

I know NOBODY who has not grown from the PHAT program.

I will look more into the program later chiro. All I know is this, a high level athlete (or any athlete wishing to achieve an elite level) does not have the capability or adaptive resources  to train for two things at one time. An American football player can not train for  Speed,strength,and muscle hypertrophy at the same time and expect to make the gains he would if he were to divide the training in different phases.

Layne's philosophy- you need to get bigger to get stronger at some point, you need to get stronger to get bigger at some point, so lets combine the two! But what he fails to realize is that Even world class Olympic  weightlifters, will go through an accumulation phase during certain parts of the years(which is largely geared towards hypertrophy of the muscles that will aid in the snatch and C and J. primarly the quads glutes..hamstrings..erec tors.traps.etc)

They do not do any training to increase maximal strength or explosive power during this phase. Yet layne has guys training for both. The PHAT program will lead to overtraining IMO very quickly and is just not optimal. Just because you have gotten gains from it does not mean your gains would of been even better on a different program. On the research we have,  I see reason to believe that DC is superior for hypertrophy purposes.

[oldtimer1]

I would say if you are using moderate weights twice a week is okay. If you are using what is heavy weight for you then once a week will work.

When you train once a week there is so much over lap for lack of a better description. Lets say you train chest and back on Monday. Wednesday is legs and Friday is delts/arms with weekends off. When you are doing chest and back you are working the bicep and triceps really hard with all  the pushing and pulling. Then Friday the bicep and tricep get hit hard directly. So that is twice a week. Here's another example. Legs are hit hard on Wednesday and they are hit hard again when you do dead lifts as part of your Monday back/chest day.  The bodybuilding model of body part training involves over lap. It's nearly impossible to isolate in a comprehensive bodybuilding routine. Your body works as a unit and not in isolation.

[musclecenter]

Twice per week !!!
I am 60, training over 40 years & training every muscle group twice per week (abs 4 or 5 times)

update pics prove it.

[syntaxmachine]

I used this for a few years back when I was still natty and made great progress with it 

Works even better on gear   

I'm sure Layne agrees with all of the above.

[galeniko]

Even if you juice up you will only grow so much. I have trained twice a week and once a week. Training once a week gives plenty of rest. And not just from chest workout to chest workout, hitting shoulders involves chest, hitting back involves biceps, chest involves triceps ect ect

yah even on gear,  there will be a limit, after a while training becomes a form of cardio, caring to not injure oneself, and maintaining what one has, this can be hard enough.

ppl think endless growth is possible, when infact, even maintaining a jacked physique required alot of work.


gaining only goes so far as you can get away with increasing dosage, some time the value of benefits from increasing dosage become questionable, some time later the sides kick in.

but this doesnt mean one cant or shouldnt train everything twice weekly, just be realistic what to expect from it.
im thankful if it help maintaining and has cardio efect.

esp for ppl on 1gramm or more weekly, dont see why they wouldnt get away with it.

[anabolichalo]

the smart thing howver is to achieve maximum results with minimal training


all that wear and tear adds up

[Shockwave]

day 1 Chest and biceps
day 2 Legs
day 3 off
day 4 shoulders and triceps
day 5 back and traps
day 6 off
day 7 off

similar to yates blood and guts routine.

[Henda]

I like

Mon - Chest + upper back

Wed - delts, deadlifts, traps

fri or sat - arms, legs

unusual split, tried many others but always return to this.

[SquatsRule]

I train the whole body in three sessions and start over on the fourth. If I feel good, I'll work out five days a week. Sometimes just four.

[local hero]

Twice per week !!!
I am 60, training over 40 years & training every muscle group twice per week (abs 4 or 5 times)

update pics prove it.

all dog meat and noodles...

[galeniko]

Twice per week !!!
I am 60, training over 40 years & training every muscle group twice per week (abs 4 or 5 times)

update pics prove it.

you look UNBELIEVABLY good for a natural and your age.

literaly unbelievable.

black 20year old male genetic in asian guy, you got very lucky

 

[Shockwave]

you look UNBELIEVABLY good for a natural and your age.

literaly unbelievable.

black 20year old male genetic in asian guy, you got very lucky

 

heh.

[a_pupil]

i tend to cycle between three routines

high volume nubret or arnold type, hitting everything twice a week

high frequency, low volume type. Phil hernon/bulgarian blast style hitting everything 3 times a week

when i am in recovery from burn out or off cycle, i like to just do 3 times a week full body at 50-60% effort.

I moved to 2-3x a week when I started doing DC a few years ago. I decided never to do DC again though as you nearly always sacrifice good form for beating the logbook. I was also constantly burnt out as well.

[jude2]

Twice per week !!!
I am 60, training over 40 years & training every muscle group twice per week (abs 4 or 5 times)

update pics prove it.

What is your split like?

[musclecenter]

What is your split like?

day 1, chest & back, abs
day 2, shoulders & arms, abs
day 3, legs,

training 6 consecutive days, then 1 day off.(no matter holidays or sunday...)

[The Ugly]

How can you possibly have the energy or interest in training anything twice per week? That would just burn me the f out, physically and mentally. Who cares that it maybe works better, if it makes the gym something you dread. Hit everything hard once and be done with it, and forget the overanalysis. Life's too short to spend overtime killing yourself in the gym.

Unless you just REALLY enjoy it, I guess.