Working out different body parts during the week

[lauren11]

Hi there! I was wondering if it was best for women to work out one body part a day or if it was best to do it twice a week. I am trying to go to the gym 5 days a week doing cardio at least 5 if not 6 days a week. I am trying to lose weight, gain and tone up muscle and just feel good in the body God sent me down here with, because I am not too happy with it right now, I am slowly getting there though. I thank everyone for their support, talking on here and even just reading has really helped me out ALOT this week. Thanks and have a great night.

 

[vinylgroover]

Do you mean each bodypart once in a week?

That is preferred.

Working each bodypart twice a week with all that cardio you are doing will seriously overtrain you and deplete you. You don't have to devote one day to each bodypart. For example, you can do chest and arms Monday, back and shoulders Wednesday, legs Friday.......or you can use another day and split your bodyparts up even more.

Personally, i think it's best to keep your cardio and weights work separate if you can. You should be able to work your whole body with weights in three or four days.

5-6 days of cardio sounds like alot. Why not start with 3 sessions (say 20-30 minutes per session) and work up from there if you feel you need it.

Diet will be your main fat loss tool.....cardio essentially acts as a supplement to your diet as far as losing weight/fat is concerned.

If you can perform your cardio in the mornings before eating, even better.......this helps maximise the fat burning processes.

 

[Puddles]

Like VG said, diet is #1. But for working out your body parts, I hit each body part once a week, I do 3 or 4 exercises per body part, 3 sets of 8 - 12 reps. Your muscles need time to recover and heal in order to grow. If you're doing so much cardio, maybe your off days should be the day that you do legs AND the day after. The only body part I do more often is abs, twice a week. I'm not sure if this is really beneficial, but that's what I've seen a lot of people posting in their routines. I also like to mix things up from week to week. I keep my split the same, but my exercises and the order I do them in will change. It works for me.

 

[BronzedGoddess]

My opinion is you should give it time and try different things to see what works for YOUR body. Most people like to work each body part only once per week but I got better results when I work smaller muscle groups (arms & shoulders) 2xs per week. I also like to do cardio and weights on different days (if possible) so I can give it my all. Good luck!

 

[The Shadow]

well....I usually do a bodypart per day M-F....but.....I have adjusted to a 4 days routine but still workout m-f - that allows one body part to be worked twice a week and the rotation allows for a different bodypart to be hit each week in the rotaion.

 

[JJFigure]

Another approach is upper body vs. lower body splits; yet another is whole body 3xweek (focusing on compound movements, nat). I currently hit upper body twice/week and lower body twice/week, alternating between strength workouts and hypertrophy workouts. I like to experiment a little...it keeps the smile on my face when I'm lifting.

You also might want to check out Hypertrophy Specific Training (HST). Here's a link to the website:

http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/

 

[witkowsd]

what I find that works for me is:
M - Chest/Tris
T - Legs
W - cardio /Abs
T - Shoulders
F - Back/Bi
S/S - off

This split seems to let each bp rest for at least 3 days.

 

[spatts]

That one looks good!

 

[rez]

i find that swapping every 5 weeks or so is truely benefical.
at the moment i am training around my diet - ckd.
which means i train:

MON; heavy LEGS w cardio
TUES:heavy upperbody
WED; low-intensity cardio
THURS; rest
FRI:cardio
SAT:upper+lower bosy - high reps w cardio
SUN rest

The aim is to low carb during the week, carb-up on sunday to refill muscles, for heavy training monday.

I find this works really well for me, especially since im time deprived as its my final year of university

 

[BowlingForSoup]

I just wanted to give a quick shoutout to everyone. Lauren's my BAY BEE and wanted to thank ya'll for helping her!! You all kick ass (and I don't mean the weenie bony kind. I mean the big thick L.A. face with an Oakland booty....ass). And by the way...Lauren...DEAR...um, yeah...on your profile you say that you're fat. You are NOT in ANY way FAT! You are GORGEOUS and if you say that again I'm going to fart near you after eating beans, chili, cheeze, and a seafood buffet. That is all...good day.