Which way to gain mass?

maddhatter · 13-Mar-04, 05:42 PM

I am just starting a bulk, and I was doing every muscle twice a week. Would it be better to hit each muscle really hard once a week instead? Which way would I gain more mass?

13-Mar-04, 06:19 PM

All depends on your body. I don't gain on once a week workouts. Trial and error will tell you what will work best for you. Keep a detailed workout log so you can refer to it and gauge how well you are responding to any given work volume.

maddhatter · 14-Mar-04, 09:30 PM

how can I tell if im overtraining?

NateDogg · 14-Mar-04, 10:06 PM

Possible overtraining symptoms:

Fatigue
An acquired disdain for working out
stagnant weights (not increasing)
weights actually decreasing
sickness
restlessness
etc...

mesomorph · 14-Mar-04, 10:16 PM

Mate, rule of thumb only, as ironman said everyone is different. During your bulking phase ie to get bigger and stronger then lift heavy, moderate reps 6-8, 2-3 exercises per body part, on a 3-4-5 day split. Assuming you are following predominately a bb prog. Because of the weight increase and the higher intensity required to follow such a prog advise against repeating inside 6-7 days (could lead to probs associated with overtraining). During this phase, rest and diet becomes equally as important as intense exercise. Stick to intense one body part per week and no worries about overtraining.

maddhatter · 17-Mar-04, 04:30 PM

ok,
Im getting mixed opinions here so i haven't decided yet.

hmm what to do.. what to do..

so can I get any more opinions on whether i should do each muscle 1 or 2x a week?

**kungfu74** · 17-Mar-04, 04:49 PM

Like the others said, there is no 1 right way... my suggestion would be to start an 8 week program, say hit each muscle once a week track your progress then try another 8 week program hitting each muscle twice a week... you should be able to gauge then which works better for you... keep note of your overall volume of sets per muscle per week so you can truly guage what was better. for example if you work chest once a week and do 12 sets for chest then do chest twice a week but work only 6 sets per time (12 total for the week) your volume is the same over the week... have fun with it.

**jgriffith** · 17-Mar-04, 04:55 PM

I say just lift, follow a program for awhile, if it sucks ass for you and your diet has been good, then try something else. We keep going over this alll the time, nit picking about this and that, but when it comes down to it you just gotta do it and wait for the results, they'll come.

maddhatter · 17-Mar-04, 05:12 PM

ok i'll try that.

Other than not getting good enough results, are there any signs of undertraining?

DaRkAnGel · 17-Mar-04, 05:22 PM

No progress

.

**jgriffith** · 17-Mar-04, 05:22 PM

not really, i'd say something like no soreness, no fatigue, no doms, but the aches and pains of lifting have little to do w/ how much progress your making.

MonStar · 21-Mar-04, 07:15 PM

Overtraining your body IMO is much harder to do than most people think. I am not sure that I have ever overtrained since I started working out, and I have in the past trained up to 6 days per week. Eat often, sleep more than enough, and train hard.

Mr VW · 22-Mar-04, 02:02 AM

Allright maddhatter, well like kungfu was saying you should try to differentiate it see how it works out for you.