**Which is better? Daily single bodypart workouts, or 2 bodyparts 3 days per week?

[Burning_Inside]

**in reference to this thread: http://209.11.101.244/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37716**

WHICH IS BETTER? ONE BODYPART PER DAY, OR TWO?

So let me pan out for everyone my views on the bad and the good, and let's see what we all think about which is the better of the bad.

Training 2 bodyparts per day, 1 bodypart per week, 3 days per week:

**Let's take all of these points with a "supposedly" after each "fact", because it seems not everyone here agrees 100% with everyone else on anything, so as to avoid arguements, don't take what I write as gospel.**

If lifting for mass, the reccommended "mass phase" resting periods and set counts will undoubtedly push your workouts past the 45 minute mark, meaning the cortisol starts a pumping. Now if you try to stay under that 45-50 minutes, most likely you're not going to get in enough of the reccommended sets and rest per body part. 20 minutes per bodypart...If working back,or another big bodypart, that works out to be around 9 sets being able to be done if you take a 2 minute rest between each set and eash set takes 15 seconds. Now remember there's always the amount of time that it takes you to strip/add weights. That might reduce the time by a set or so. Is that enough rest/sets/time for those bigger groups?

Overview:
BAD: possibly ending up with dinky workouts to try and hit 2 muscles on one day so you don't workout for more than 45-50 minutes so the cortisol comes and rapes your muscles.

GOOD: well, as one person said, the muscles can be worked sooner because you work 2 per day, meaning you can get them in a little sooner than every 7 days if wanted, and like someone said, you give your CNS (central nervous system) a rest by not lifting every day.

Now, let's take the single bodypart per day routine:

You get to concentrate all your time on one (sometimes 2 smaller) bodypart/s in a 45 minute period. This lets you get sufficient rest between sets and also lets you do a lot of sets to emphasize different muscles within the group, meaning you won't have to skimp on your routine. And getting out before the cortisol comes is a great thing as well. However some say that the everyday thing doesn't give your CNS enough time to rest, and you won't make any gains this way.

Overview:
BAD: Supposeldy your CNS doesn't have time to rest enough doing daily single bodypart workouts, which will impede gains.

GOOD: Muscle group can be thoroughly bombarded within a 45 minute period of time, and your workout is completed before cortisol pumps through your system to eat your muscles away.

Now one more thing I want to bring up, is the recovery/food thing...In my opinion, it seems the body would be more efficient in supplying nutrients to only 1 damaged body part per day rather than always 2.

Now looking at this, if what everyone said is absolute truth, then it seems that both have their negative sides and it's just personal preference in the end. The 2 bodypart per day routine has a tendency to skimp your workouts if you want to be out of there in 45 minutes or so to avoid the cortisol outbreak.

The single bodypart daily routine skimps you on gains by not allowing your CNS to rest thoroughly.

OK, now it's your turn to give your feedback.

 

[Bobba]

Hmmm... Very interesting.

I've been doing one major bodypart per day 5 days a week for maybe a year now. I've had quite good result with it so far, but I must admit that I sometimes feel like shit after training several days in a row.

However I remember training forever doing 2-3 bodyparts per day 3 days a week. I really didn't have any energy at the end, and it was hard to get motivated for a session. Training as heavy as I do, I need at least 4 warmup sets for each muscle group, and 3 minutes rest between sets. So it's hard enough for me to train one bodypart in 50 minutes.

I usually take a whole week of every 8-9 weeks to give my system a break. If you eat well and get plenty of rest this week, I think it's a smart thing to do.

However this is just my personal experience, I would like to see more opinions on this matter.

 

[Cackerot69]

Well first off, that hormonal stuff about test levels dropping and cortisol increasing after 45 minutes is based on supposed Bulgarian research and has been parroted by Bulgarian strength coaches during seminars so much it's just become regarded as fact. This research was done on endurance athletes, and considering that during weight training we take 2-3 minute rests between sets and the total time under stress is really only 5-10 minutes this may or may not apply...so don't hold too much weight on that one. I've also seen studies that show otherwise, that hormonal levels are only modestly effected by intense exercise (with rest periods).

Besides this, training 2-3 bodyparts shouldn't take more than an hour maximum, try keeping large bodyparts to 4-8 (10 max) sets and small to 2-6 (8 max) and see what happens. Also, train synergists together (i.e. pushing muscles together, pulling together), this will reduce the amount of direct sets needed to stimulate the secondary muscles.

IMHO, a 3 day pull/push/legs split can't be beat for putting on muscle for most people most of the time, and don't go assuming you're the exception unless you give it a serious shot.

 

[Jeremy21]

Yeah, damn those kooky Bulgarians, they think they're so great. So they won a few Gold Medals at Olympic weight lifting and virtually dominated the sport in the late 80's-early 90's. What do they know about training??? Bah, it makes me laugh. Heck if we only had Arthur Jones as a U.S Olympic weight lifting coach we'd be taking home the gold with half a ton clean & jerks. Then again.. Jones stated in a seminar a few years back that Olympic weight lifting movements do nothing to increase strength, power or speed so I guess the members of the Bulgarian weight lifting team are routinely doing snatches with over 400 lbs just because of technique. IMNSHO anyone who makes such an idiotic statement should be immediately disregarded but oddly enougfh, Jones's out dated & oft criticized theories, while divorced from any semblance of training reality, seem to be strangely impervious to the light of truth.. at least in his followers minds anyway.

BTW there have been various studies done on the effects of cortisol and exercise duration, it wasn't just "one study in bulgaria done on endurance athletes" like you claim.. I'll be happy to list a few references..but what do I know... I'm just an idiot.

 

[Cackerot69]

I have nothing against Bulgarian weightlifters, argueable the best ever to lift. I just question that little tidbit of info of theirs, and you go ahead and reference those studies, would be interesting. And I agree that Jones isn;t the most reliable guy for BB advice, after all he created the whole one set to failure thing so he could get people in and out of the gym quicker hence making more money.

Just to show that I didn't just say "studies have shown -blah blah" and I actually do have the reference here you go:

"Title: Pituitary-adrenal-gonadal responses to high-intensity resistance exercise overtraining.
Author: Fry AC; Kraemer WJ; Ramsey LT
Source: J Appl Physiol, 85(6):2352-9 1998 Dec

Abstract

Weight-trained men [OT; n = 11; age = 22.0 +/- 0.9 (SE) yr] resistance trained daily at 100% one-repetition maximum (1-RM) intensity for 2 wk, resulting in 1-RM strength decrements and in an overtrained state. A control group (Con; n = 6; age = 23.7 +/- 2.4 yr) trained 1 day/wk at a low relative intensity (50% 1 RM). After 2 wk, the OT group exhibited slightly increased exercise-induced testosterone (preexercise = 26.5 +/- 1.3 nmol/l, postexercise = 29.1 +/- 5.9 nmol/l) and testosterone-to-cortisol ratio (preexercise = 0. 049 +/- 0.007 nmol/l, postexercise = 0.061 +/- 0.006 nmol/l) and decreased exercise-induced cortisol (preexercise = 656.1 +/- 98.1 nmol/l, postexercise = 503.1 +/- 39.7 nmol/l). Serum concentrations for growth hormone and plasma peptide F [preproenkephalin (107-140)] were similar for both groups throughout the overtraining period. This hormonal profile is distinctly different from what has been previously reported for other types of overtraining, indicating that high-relative-intensity resistance exercise overtraining may not be successfully monitered via circulating testosterone and cortisol. Unlike overtraining conditions with endurance athletes, altered resting concentrations of pituitary, adrenal, or gonadal hormones were not evident, and exercise-induced concentrations were only modestly affected.

Simply put, the findings of this study are that weight trainers and endurance athletes DO NOT exhibit the same hormonal states during overtraining of this duration. It is also stated that "...altered resting concentrations of pituitary, adrenal, or gonadal hormones were not evident, and exercise-induced concentrations were only modestly affected". Combine this with the fact that other recent studies have also suggested that the exercise-induced cortisol spikes decrease as exercise experience increases (in other words, the cortisol raising effects of exercise may be a factor only in beginners) and the catabolic hormone theory of limiting weight training time may begin to lose ground."