YAWT: Possible to make gains only working out 2x/week?

[bignateyk]

Hypothetical workout:

Day 1:
Squats
Flat Bench Press
Incline Bench Press
Dips
Chest Flys
Skull Crushers
Abs
*Front Raises

Day 2:
Squats
Back Row
Lat Pulldown
Pullups
Bicep Curls
Obliques
*Shrugs

-------------------------------------------------
Basically, instead of having a separate day for legs/shoulders, I got rid of military press, and split the rest of the shoulder stuff over both days. For legs, is just doing squats enough?

 

[shortspanishguy]

It is possible, maybe not the best. Make sure your diet is in order.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Overall fitness (ie, weight loss)...sure, with a good diet
Strength or weight gains only....probably not much

I've read somewhere that it's possible to maintain strength by only lifting 2 times per week, but I don't know how accurate that is.

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
Overall fitness (ie, weight loss)...sure, with a good diet
Strength or weight gains only....probably not much

I've read somewhere that it's possible to maintain strength by only lifting 2 times per week, but I don't know how accurate that is.

I am looking to still be able to make weight/strength gains. My diet is in order to do so, but I just started working full time, and it will be harder to make it to the gym as often.

 

[slimrhcp]

I would not advice going hard on your legs twice a week.

 

[purbeast0]

Why are you doing legs on both days in squat format, and not doing anything for your shoulders?

In all honesty your workout routine looks pretty bad.

 

[krunchykrome]

Take cell tech and you'll gain 850% more mass than you would without it.

 

[Koing]

You can make plenty of gains doing what your doing for 2x a week. Of course 3-4x a week is better but you make do with what you can.

You can maintain strength only going once a week. You will get a bit stronger over longer period of time but the results will be be slow with 1x a week.

Koing

 

[SearchMaster]

Probably more maintain than gain. I am lucky to have time to do a light workout once a week, sometimes it's maybe twice a month, and I've been able to maintain muscle mass failrly well. I've also had modest weight loss which has helped amplify the effect. I have not, however, been able to get stronger.

 

[Deeko]

Is it possible to make gains working out twice a week? Yes. With your routine? Probably not.

 

[CalvinHobbs]

well i trained twice a week for almost 9 months, i gained a lot of strength, well i train alone at home so i gotta go slowly with the weight, but still i did see strength gains and then slowly weight increased as well, but iwas doing compound exercises only, i mean one for each major body part. it should work. the seasoned trainers should be able to tell

 

[Koing]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
Why are you doing legs on both days in squat format, and not doing anything for your shoulders?

In all honesty your workout routine looks pretty bad.

Squats 2x a week will GIVE HIM THE BEST RESULTS.

Work legs = big legs = body produces more testerone (fact) = body produces more muscle = get bigger overall faster

Do legs 2x a week. You can 'fine tune' and do other exercises later.

I hardly do any arm or chest work and I've gotten fairly big. I do a hell of a lot of legs.

You can do squats in one session and add in deadlifts for the other session if you want also.

Front raises are pretty much a sh!te exercise...

Koing

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
Why are you doing legs on both days in squat format, and not doing anything for your shoulders?

I thought the same thing. You're doing front raises for shoulders but all that does is isolate and work the front deltoid. Why not do military presses and work the entire shoulder?

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: Deeko
Is it possible to make gains working out twice a week? Yes. With your routine? Probably not.

suggest an alternative? Right now I work out 3-4x a week, and have it split up alot more. The one I posted above is just hypothetical.. ive never actually done it.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: Koing

Originally posted by: purbeast0
Why are you doing legs on both days in squat format, and not doing anything for your shoulders?

In all honesty your workout routine looks pretty bad.

Squats 2x a week will GIVE HIM THE BEST RESULTS.

Work legs = big legs = body produces more testerone (fact) = body produces more muscle = get bigger overall faster

Do legs 2x a week. You can 'fine tune' and do other exercises later.

I hardly do any arm or chest work and I've gotten fairly big. I do a hell of a lot of legs.

You can do squats in one session and add in deadlifts for the other session if you want also.

Front raises are pretty much a sh!te exercise...

Koing

Yea, I would recommend substituting the other squat for deadlifts. You might be able to squat 2x per week, but if you are putting max efforts into both it could hinder recovery.

 

[CalvinHobbs]

what is the difference between front raise and military press?? in both the bar is in front of you?? so what's t he difference, i'm a bit confused here
sorry instead i should say difference between shoulder press and military press, guess this is what happens when you're on ATOT at 23hrs30

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: Koing

Originally posted by: purbeast0
Why are you doing legs on both days in squat format, and not doing anything for your shoulders?

In all honesty your workout routine looks pretty bad.

Squats 2x a week will GIVE HIM THE BEST RESULTS.

Work legs = big legs = body produces more testerone (fact) = body produces more muscle = get bigger overall faster

Do legs 2x a week. You can 'fine tune' and do other exercises later.

I hardly do any arm or chest work and I've gotten fairly big. I do a hell of a lot of legs.

You can do squats in one session and add in deadlifts for the other session if you want also.

Front raises are pretty much a sh!te exercise...

Koing

I dunno, I would assume if this guy is working twice a week he would want to work all areas of his body pretty evenly in those 2 days, which is why I was wondering why he would do em 2 times a week.

I don't even think I could do squats 2 times a week on a regular basis. My legs hurt for like 4-5 days until they are fully recovered after I squat heh.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbs
what is the difference between front raise and military press?? in both the bar is in front of you?? so what's t he difference, i'm a bit confused here

front raises are where you hold dumbels infront of you with your arms dangling, one in each hand, and then you keep your arm straight and raise your arm up until your hand is basically infront of your eyes so that you've raised it up 90 degrees.

Military presses are when you are pushing the weight up over your head while your body is sitting/standing vertical.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbs
what is the difference between front raise and military press?? in both the bar is in front of you?? so what's t he difference, i'm a bit confused here

The shoulder is divided into three main muscles:

front deltoid
medial deltoid (?)
rear deltoid

The front raises mainly works the front delt. Military press will work all three muscles.

 

[SirChadwick]

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbs
what is the difference between front raise and military press?? in both the bar is in front of you?? so what's t he difference, i'm a bit confused here

Front raises are lifting the bar or usually dumbbells in front of you up to your shoulders (palms in, arms straight), usually significantly less weight than you can do w/ military press (pushing the bar above your head).

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: SonnyDaze

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbs
what is the difference between front raise and military press?? in both the bar is in front of you?? so what's t he difference, i'm a bit confused here

The shoulder is divided into three main muscles:

front deltoid
medial deltoid (?)
rear deltoid

The front raises mainly works the front delt. Military press will work all three muscles.

Would I be overworking my triceps if I did military press in addition to all the chest stuff? If I were to do military press on that day, should I ditch the skull crushers?

 

[CalvinHobbs]

man why dont you work out all body parts with compound since you gonna be training for two days only. mine was like this
starting: bench press, deadlifts, military press, barbell curl, overhead lying triceps extension, squats, calf raise. train on monday and thursday.

 

[purbeast0]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: SonnyDaze

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbs
what is the difference between front raise and military press?? in both the bar is in front of you?? so what's t he difference, i'm a bit confused here

The shoulder is divided into three main muscles:

front deltoid
medial deltoid (?)
rear deltoid

The front raises mainly works the front delt. Military press will work all three muscles.

Would I be overworking my triceps if I did military press in addition to all the chest stuff? If I were to do military press on that day, should I ditch the skull crushers?

I wouldn't recommend doing shoulders and chest in the same day. you use some shoulder muscles when doing some chest exercises.

I tried doing it a few times, chest first then shoulders, and it just was painfully hard and I wasn't getting my all out of my shoulders.

also your triceps will be beat before you even do tricep specific exercises if you do chest then shoulders.

 

[TheNinja]

IF I was going 2x a week, I'd probably do:

1 day:
Bench with Bar
Incline/Decline with Dumbells
Dips
Deadlift
Lat Pulldowns / Pullups
Triceps - 4 sets or so - won't need much as they'll be beat from all the chest exercises


2 day:
Squats
Leg Extensions
Military
Possibly Side Raises/Shrugs
Biceps - 5 sets or so
Abs/Obliques


Basically do large compound exercises. Forget things like Flys, Front raises, and bicep/tricep "isolation" exercises.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: bignateyk
Would I be overworking my triceps if I did military press in addition to all the chest stuff? If I were to do military press on that day, should I ditch the skull crushers?

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbs
man why dont you work out all body parts with compound since you gonna be training for two days only. mine was like this
starting: bench press, deadlifts, military press, barbell curl, overhead lying triceps extension, squats, calf raise. train on monday and thursday.

CalvinHobbs brings up a good point. Rather than using isolation exercises, try to use compound moves as he suggested. The smaller muscles (bicep, tricep, shoulders) will all get a little bit of work and than when you go to work the smaller muscles they'll be warmed up already and you won't need to work them as much. As for the question on the skull crushers, you could keep them in your routine with the military presses. The tricep would be used a little in the milpress.