One Body Part Per Day

[b063063]

I am looking at changing up my workout routine to stay out of a rut. I was wondering if anyone does the "one body part per day" workout. If you do...let me know how it is working and advice you might have for me.

Bob

Do you mean something along the lines of "max OT". Or even more extreme...OLAD?

Personally, I've done a few one part per day routines before and they did work wonderfully. The body part got trashed, got a week to rest and recover, then got trashed again. And yeah, it worked. I lost fat and gained muscle.

That being said however, I've found that for myself I get better results doing "full body" workouts. Things along the lines of 5x5 and HST work best for me. If I train my whole body as a unit not as a collection of parts, then I get better overall results.

[steve7]

I agree with V.

Anything 'works' but the one body part per day stuff isn't optimal and that's what I care most about. Frequency is important in relation to hypertrophy.

[Dan C]

Originally Posted by .V.

If I train my whole body as a unit not as a collection of parts, then I get better overall results.

That's a great way to look at it. We are not a collection of bodyparts and therefor should not train that way. The body know movements, not "parts".

[C Mass]

Originally Posted by steve7

I agree with V.

Anything 'works' but the one body part per day stuff isn't optimal and that's what I care most about. Frequency is important in relation to hypertrophy.

Nice.

As i work away 3 days in a week i only get 4 days to train and i have been using 1 body part per day training.
For me i works well, and i think it actually stops me over training.
I have increased power and size

[mrss]

I also have to agree with V, muscles work in synergy and in my mind they should be worked out that way.

Even so, if you enjoy doing a body part per session and it's going to keep you motivated then go for it. Just make sure you have some compound movements in there as well.

[steve7]

Originally Posted by bodyshop20

As i work away 3 days in a week i only get 4 days to train and i have been using 1 body part per day training.
For me i works well, and i think it actually stops me over training.
I have increased power and size

Works well compared to what? What else have you tried? Are you natural?

I'm not sure I understand how training one body part per day keeps you from overtraining?

Volume can be controlled easily with other protocols, it's just a matter of spreading it out over multiple training sessions instead of loading up all your volume on one given day.

You are looking at recovery and growth through the failings of what is known as the "Supercompensation Theory" (or single factor theory), which looks at each workout and the recovery cycle individually. It looks at the fact that certain fuels (glycogen and protein, basically) are spent during a workout, so the body will not be prepared to perform optimally if full recovery isn't achieved after every workout. The problem is, this is a very simplistic way to look at recovery cycles. The "Dual Factor Theory" is more complex, and looks at the training effect through periods of fitness and fatigue, which shows us that increasing strength and muscle size happens along a continuum of stressors and adaptations over time. You can take a look here for a nice article that talks about that, because I'd be here forever trying to explain it myself:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kelly16.htm

Look at this model for example: Let's say that you are doing a standard "bodybuilder" split, where you perform 4 leg exercises: you NEED to squat and deadlift) and then wait an entire week before doing them again. Now, let's say that I am doing a full body workout 3x per week, with 1 leg exercise each time. At the end of the week, you will have performed 4 exercises to my 3, which is very similar; however, by waiting an entire week, you have lost adaptations where I have not. Further, in a full year (we'll take that as 50 weeks for simplicity), you have worked out 50 times to my 150! Who do you think will have seen better gains in that time?

Steve i have trained every way poss, i was just telling advice to asker about 1 part per day.

[steve7]

Haha, okay.

But this is a forum. Ya know... where things are discussed. Making a statement or two is fine but you can't expect to not be questioned after posting.

[Arith]

What about doing Chest/Shoulders/Tri on Monday....Back and Bi on Wedesday and Legs on Friday? Is this an ok split? Specially if i want to gain strength?

^^^
Yes, that will work too. That's more of a bodybuilding split than a strength routine, but yes...it will make you stronger.

Pretty much you do that involves picking up heavy things and putting them down again, repeating as needed, increasing the weight used as often as possible (safely of course), and with enough frequency to stimulate muscle growth is going to make you bigger AND stronger.

It's just that some ways are more effective for specific goals than other ways are.

[dustin]

I am doing Max OT which is 1-2 body parts per day, 5 days a week and I am liking it. Even though I am a beginner, I am in week 6 and liking it alot. I love going to the gym or working out at home as a hobby so lifting weights almost every day is great.

I am doing the first routine outlined in Max ot which is: Legs, Shoulders/Traps, Back, Chest, and Arms (not in that order but w/e).

Although I cannot offer the advice of an experienced lifter as this is the only real program I have followed and am only 6 weeks in, I do enjoy it and am seeing results.

As I said in my first post to this thread, it works. Espcially with MAX-OT. However, with max ot, if you aren't busting your a$$ EVERY TIME in the gym, giving it everything you've got...in the end you won't gain and will be wasting time.

Hence the name, "Max"-OT. Maximum Overload Training. It does work wonderfully...if you give it your all. Myself, I'm to old and like my light days. That's why I love my 5x5 routine. More results from less effort.

[arbit]

Isnt going full out and going to failure in general considered a bad thing in resistance training ?

I found I got better results when I trained bodyparts more often than once a week, and also when I did not go to failure (or went to failure once in 3 weeks on one set).