One muscle a day or two?

[ajaygill]

when I work out i usually just do one muscle a day for example
Mon-Chest
Tues-shoulders
Weds- tries
Thurs-Legs (only exception)
Fri-Back
Sat-Bies
sun-rest
but the more and more i read i see people doing 2muscle groups a day. when i workout out one muscle i go hard and make sure that i get the most out of the workout. I never have enough energy to do a second muscle. like say if i do chest theres no way after my chest workout i can do tries, and go 100%. any supplments you guys would reccomend for the extra energy boost, or is one muscle group a day suffcient enough. Right now im on no supplments, but thinking of a stack for the summer, creatine/glutamine/weightgainer.

 

[TheOak84]

When will people stop thinking muscle groups and start thinking multi-joint exercises.

 

[ajaygill]

could you give me some examples of multi-joint excerises
im fairly new to the bb world all help would be appreciated.

 

[TheOak84]

presses, rows, chins, squats, deads.

start with the madcow 5x5.

 

[Elementality]

Do 5x5 for a while just to build overall strength, flexibility and core intensity. Then change it up to leg day, back/arm day, chest/shoulder day or something like that but still implementing the jerks, squats n dead's. I did 5x5 for a while, now I do what the breakdown I just listed in the last sentence and I'm improving with no complaints at all and am very stoked on it.

 

[ajaygill]

i forgot to mention to you guys that im only 16, so i really don't know proper techinque to the jerks. today i was today my back and was doing deadlifts, a guy about in his 40's came and said that there's no need for me to be doing them at such a young age, because my back is strong enough yet. what you guys think bout all those excerise, clean and jerk, deadlift, squat ext.

 

[fortunatesun]

i forgot to mention to you guys that im only 16, so i really don't know proper techinque to the jerks. today i was today my back and was doing deadlifts, a guy about in his 40's came and said that there's no need for me to be doing them at such a young age, because my back is strong enough yet. what you guys think bout all those excerise, clean and jerk, deadlift, squat ext.

That type of thinking should have gone out with the stone ages. Do what the others suggested. You can't just start in the middle and expect to make progress. Bodypart splits are ok but first you have to lay a foundation. This will pack on some mass a lot faster than any supplements you can buy.

 

[highlander555]

First of all, there's nothing wrong with a 16 year old doing the bigger, compound lifts. How do you thing highschool athletes get strong enough to win college sports scholarships?

I agree that the bigger, compound movements are the way to go. While some of them can be pretty technical and intimidating at first, most are pretty simple and easy to learn. There's a great sticky in the power lifting forum on this site that has a nicely detailed post on the propper way to do both a deadlift and a squat. I highly reccomend checking it out. Powercleans aren't too tough to learn. They're basically just an explosive deadlift that you add a bit of a shrug/jump to, then dip a bit to position yourself to catch the bar. Nothing too tough to learn.

You also mentioned that you only work one muscle a day and by the time you're done you don't have anymore energy left. That makes me think you may be doing way to much for each muscle.

Take a your tri's for example. They are going to get tons, and I mean TONS of work from just your chest and shoulder routines. As a result, if you do choose to work them further on their own, I can't imagine you needing any more than 2-3 sets of 1-2 excersizes. That should be plenty.

Same goes for bi's. They're going to get a lot of work from just your back routine (regardless of how much you try to isolate your back and take you bi's out of the pulling effort). As a result, you shouldn't need to devote a whole hour long marathon session just to work them alone.

Then there's your chest. I see some people doing 5-6 different excersizes for they're chest, which is way overkill. If you're working with some good intensity, 2 or 3 excersizes should be plenty.

Also a good rule of thumb. No matter what you choose to go with, try to keep your workouts to under an hour. Anything more, and you run a risk of overtraining.

 

[ajaygill]

i undestand what your saying, but for some reason if i do not go for an hour isolating one muscle group, i don't get soar, isnt this the point of working out? i don't feel statisfied enough if i'm not soar the nest day.

 

[fortunatesun]

Give these programs a fair chance. It starts out easier to get you used to the work load. I've never heard anyone say after 3-4 weeks that they're not sore enough. Think about it- you'll be lifting heavier weights more often. If you're one of those people that can handle large amounts of work, you can always do some isolation stuff at the end of your workout.

 

[ajaygill]

so right now you guys are reccomending the 5x5. i've been looking into it and it seems simple enough and the result's i hear from people on this board are pretty convincing it works. do you guys got any video links to where it could show me proper techinque to preform squats,deadlifts rows, etc. because i somewhat know how to do them but im not 100%.

 

[highlander555]

First of all, while getting sore and muscle growth often go hand in hand, the two have little to do with each other. Getting sore simply comes from lactic acid buildup in the muscle. Sometimes when you give a muscle work it isn't used to doing, it builds up lactic acid. The lactic acid threshold (the point at which the body does produce lactic acid) is different for everybody. Some people barely produce it at all.

When you get to the top levels in any sport, the athletes have trained themselves to the point that they rarely, if ever get sore anymore. Does that mean that they aren't being productive and building muscle with their workouts? Of course not, they've simply raised the lactic acid threshold of their muscles.

So... while soreness and the tearing down of muscle fibers for the purpose of strength training often go hand in hand, the one is definately not dependant on the other.

 

[highlander555]

This link will take you to a pretty good page that has video examples of most of the 5x5 excersizes.

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/PowerExercises.html

 

[enigma4dub]

check the training vault at the top of the forum, theres madcow's site which is a must read and theres the og 5x5 thread. there isn;t a question you can possibly have if you actually read these.

 

[JLowe02]

16 is the perfect age to start compound excercise strength training. you have so much natural test you will blow up like nobody's business and will continue to do so for the next 5+ years. just remember to eat like a hog. a lot of buddies i got that are in high school are gaining much quicker than me and im on juice!

 

[ajaygill]

thanks guys, yah i've been offered aas before but turned them down because i know i have enough test in me to make good gains. what about the supplments part, which ones would be good at this age. unfortuntley i live in canada and won't get a chance to try out amplify02 but right now im thinking of taking creatine over the summer. im around 5-6ish and about 145, i don't know my bf%, because i really don't know where to go to get one done.

 

[JLowe02]

creatine is really all you need. maybe throw in some B-alinine and vitamins. and protein shakes but thats really all you need

 

[ajaygill]

im already taking a multi vitamin in the moring but its the regular grocery store one along with a calcium pill and omega 3-6-9 wut is b-aline?