Body part once per week - help

[Grant]

I thought I would give this a try and see how it works since I'm in my 40's and recovery is more of an issue. I lift 4-5 timks per week and was thinking of something like this:

Day 1 - Shoulder, lats and traps

Day 2 quads and lower back / hamstrings

Day 3 Chest and side delts

Day 4 Tris, biceps and light lat/upper back- probably mostly bench shrugs

I feel that my side delts can still be worked two times per week. I would probably hit them hard with chest day. Day one would be an overall delt day with alot opr overhead pressing.

I can't do heavy deads anymore so I would probably do some extra back work on arm day to compensate.

I can't train heavy legs so heavy leg press and squats are out ( I have a total hip replacement) . I can do heavy leg ext and leg curls. I also do various cardio machines that seem to help with leg shape.

I figure 14-18 sets for large body parts and 10-13 for smaller.

Once a week is new for me so any suggestions and critics would be welcomed! Thanks

[mrky03]

I've used the once a week approach for years with good results. Right now I am using and highly recommend P/RR/S training by Eric Broser (Bodyfx).

You can pretty much use what ever split that suits your needs but I wouldn't worry about doubling up on any of the body parts especially shoulders since they get stressed from practically any upper body exercise that you do.

Also the sets you're doing are pretty high, but to each his own. I recommend more intensity with less volume. Personally I never go over about 8 working sets for any body part usually 5-6 for smaller body parts.

If you can't go heavy on legs try pre-exhausting them with leg extensions immediately followed by leg press. You won't need much weight on the leg presses and go for fairly high reps. You can also vary the rep speed and tempo to increase intensity, where theres a will theres a way! Hope this helps.

[Intensity]

I believe that training each bodypart only once a week is productive for people who train with high intensity! If you train to failure or do a lot of intensification technics your body NEEDS time to recorver and progress. So my advice would be GO FAILURE.

As far as shoulders go, you maybe feel that they can be worked twice a week... but I would tell you that even if they are'nt sore they also need rest. Even more than the other muscles if we consider that they are involved a lot in many, many upper body exercises! So I would hit them very hard, but not more often then the other muscles!

Hope it helps!

Mo

[Grant]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'll experiment with side delts as far as freqeuncy and intensity.

I'll cut down on my sets if I use a intensity techniques such as drops sets, pre-exhaust, etc. Alot of my sets with be straights sets with moderate to hign volume.

mrky03 - I'll give the rep speed a go on my legs. thanks

[RUBICON19]

INTENSITY is the key!

[Grant]

rubicon19 said:

INTENSITY is the key!

I find that for limit strength, straights sets are best for me. I do like drop sets and other intensity techniques for size.

[Tim Wescott]

I tried twice a week on bodyparts earlier this year...hadn`t done it in eons.

Felt good but it really bothered my knees a lot.

Grant,give it a shot,and just adsjust things if/as needed according to your bodys feedback.

[masterschamp]

Grant,
Just for what it's worth, and to show that there is NO cookie cutter routine that fits all.... I have NEVER done less than 20 sets a BP and often times train twice a day....even the SAME BP twice in one day. AND there is NOTHING that is NOT intense about my training. Intensity can become a catch phrase..........find what works for YOU. Some say you can't train hard AND long....I say maybe that's true for most but for those that can, it makes for some workouts that are as " intense" as ANYTHING I have ever seen anyone do in the gym. That said, if you have trained with higher volume and frequency over the years, and now have health issue that are restrictive, I would try the once per week deal to see how you react.

[Grant]

Thanks again for the adivce. I have been looking at the various training logs of some of you guys to get some ideas. Good stuff.

[RUBICON19]

grant said:

Thanks again for the adivce. I have been looking at the various training logs of some of you guys to get some ideas. Good stuff.

A good place to start would be P/RR/S.. It will give you a bunch of ideas and will also allow you to see how your bod reacts to different styles of training.... Or you could get PHSYCO and just do it RAMO style and never look back.