Train hard enough to do a week's worth of damage...

[frorider6]

... is the training philosophy I've been using since I went back on a 1 bodypart per week routine. It seems to be a good philosophy because, even though I've been training very consistently, I'm sore for a couple of days after I train each bodypart (so this isn't newbie soreness).

My legs are just now feeling strong again after I worked them last Wed. My triceps are still sore from Friday. Lats, chest and shoulders are a little harder to get that kind of soreness out of.

So, when you train 1 bodypart per week, are you really trying to do enough damage that it should take 4-6 days before the muscle is "healed"?

 

[Y_lifter]

I don't know if I would say I'm TRYING, but that also seems to be the way it works out.
1-2 days before I'm due for Legs they are finally feeling good.
Same with Tri/Chest..

For me the hard one to get really sore is my Back.
I guess I'm not doing something right. I think I'll try wide grip pullups.

 

[frorider6]

I don't know if I would say I'm TRYING, but that also seems to be the way it works out.
1-2 days before I'm due for Legs they are finally feeling good.
Same with Tri/Chest..

For me the hard one to get really sore is my Back.
I guess I'm not doing something right. I think I'll try wide grip pullups.

The hardest thing for me to get "sore" is lats and chest. Possibly calves and biceps too.

 

[gymtime]

I don't really look at it that way. First of all, I think if you're still sore six days after a workout, you're probably overdoing it a bit. I just think you need to train intensely, no matter what your schedule is.

I believe in working your muscles to exhaustion, not from a lot of volume, but from very heavy weight. If you accomplish that in your weekly workouts, you'll be plenty sore and you will have done plenty of work for that week.

 

[frorider6]

I think there are a couple of factors as to why I've been sore lately.

1) Fina cycle ended about 2 weeks ago
2) Switched workout routines
3) Switched from low reps/heavy weight to high reps/lower weight (not low weight as I still work to failure, but failure at the 12th rep).

 

[Doktor Bollix]

Surely soreness in itself doesn't mean much though? I think your saying that if your sore it proves you did a good job and that gives you satisfaction. That's fair enough, but I could take some pink dumbells and do a thousand shrugs and be sore as hell and not achieve anything. For me working legs = major DOMS, lats hardly ever complain. When I have worked one bodypart a week the soreness sticks around, on a full body or strength oriented program where body parts are hit every other day, the body adapts and there isn't as much pain. You should try some active recovery.

 

[Vortexx]

Doing a weeks worth damage

I think for most people muscles need 4 days to recover before you hit them again, but if you train really hard but not chemically assisted, 5 or 6 days is even better (due to long term whole body recovery times / general overtraining)

If I want to do a week worth damage i either choose:
- Heavy duty training : i.e. 8 reps leg extentions + 3 forced reps + 3 negatives immediately followed by 20 reps "breathing squats" + forced reps
2 or 3 exercises and only 2 sets per exercise , go home and grow, provided you did go all out and beyond that!

- German Volume Training (but even with higher volume!)

A typical german volume pec workout would like:
- 10 * 10 flat benchpress
- 12-10-8 incline dumbell flyes

I keep this kind of volume for delts biceps and triceps if I do GVT but for larger muscle groups, especially with different attachments/angles i do:

PEC
10 * 10 incline dumbell press
10 * 10 flat or decline dumbell press

UPPERBACK
10 * 10 pulldown/chin medium grip or close parallel grip or close reverse grip or dumbell row
10 * 10 barbell row or reverse grip barbell row or T-bar row

TRAP
10 * 10 dumbell shrugs (upper traps)
10 * 10 face pulls (lower traps)

BICEPS
10 * 10 barbell curl
12-10-8 scott curl

TRICEPS
10 * 10 lyng french press
12-10-8 weigted dip

HAMSTRINGS
10 * 10 stldl
10 * 10 leg curl

CALVEs
10 * 15 standing calves raise
10 * 15 seated calve raise

QUADS
10 * 10 front squat / hack squat / leg press
10 * 10 leg extension or lunge


It's crazy volume ( and I really have to worry not to grow SSalexSS overtraining (tm) reputation here) but if you have slightly more red fibers , it's good to exhaust them in the first 6 sets so that you can attack the white fibers in the last 4 sets when you go all out to failure. Offcoarse for this routine i do for 4 to 6 weeks tops and go back to a more conventional routine, to allow my schocked recovery system to cool down before i reach the point of diminisching returns.