“Should I stay or should I grow?”
Step 3. Selecting the proper training split
a) If you train each muscle group once per week
Second option:
Third option:
b) If you train each muscle group twice per week
Second option:
c) If you train each muscle group three times per week
First option:
The take-home message
The important thing to remember is that the optimal training volume in a single session will vary depending on how many times you train each muscle group per week. If you train it once the volume per session must be very high to prevent involution. On the opposite side, if you train each muscle group three times per week the volume must be very low to prevent overtraining.
When properly planned, each type of frequency will yield great results. But beware of the pitfalls that wait to stop your progress dead in its track!
“Two of a kind: How to make twice-a-day workouts work for you”
I have a confession to make: I don’t really like being in the gym. That’s right, despite the constant attention from the many vixens there and my love for the iron game, I just can’t wait to get out of there! That’s why I personally love to train twice a day. Wait a minute, you just said that you hated being in the gym, then why train two times in one day? Well, using twice-a-day workouts allow me to use very short sessions each time. I prefer to do the same amount of work (or only slightly more) in two short sessions than in one big workout. There are several advantages to this:1. It’s harder to loose motivation, being in the gym for only 25-30 minutes doesn’t give you time to get bored!
2. Your overall work quality is much higher. By splitting your workload in two daily sessions you are fresher for the second half of the workout, which means greater gains. 3. You burn more calories. A recent study by Almuzaini et al. (1998) found that when the same volume of work is divided into two sessions, the total amount of calories burned is greater (mostly due to a higher, more sustained post-exercise oxygen consumption). So for individuals wanting to gain a lot of muscle, this will make it possible to eat more good food without gaining as much fat. And for individuals looking to get ripped, well, the advantage is self-evident!
4. When you perform the same amount of work divided into two sessions you can recover faster from the workload and thus progress at a more rapid pace.
5. Fast-twitch individuals and peoples with an efficient nervous system seem to respond much better to split training than to one, longer session.
6. You can see twice as many vixens in the same day!
Now, twice-a-day sessions seem to be the Holy Grail and in some sense it can be. However it’s easy to abuse such a method. Many peoples will make the mistake of actually doubling their workload, doing two big sessions instead of two small ones. This is one of the fastest ways to stagnation. When doing twice-a-day sessions the first workout should be no longer than 30-40 minutes and the second one between 20 and 30 minutes in length.
Another classic mistake is to work on the same physiological facet in both sessions. To make the most out of twice-a-day sessions you should vary the type of demand you place on your body. I found that having a functional emphasis in the morning session and a structural emphasis in the evening session to be the best way to train.
A final mistake that peoples make is to work different body parts on each of the two sessions of a same day. This is a mistake. All it does is actually reduce the recovery time
that each muscle group receives (each muscle’s turn comes back faster). Furthermore, since you only use a very low volume of work at each session, doing different body parts on each session will actually reduce the training effect.
So how can I make it work for me?
If you respect the following guidelines you should benefit greatly from twice-a-day sessions, if you do not respect them, well, train at your own peril! :
1. Train for no more than 30-40 minutes in the first session and no more than 20-30 minutes in the second.
2. Train the same muscle in both daily sessions.
3. Include more functional-oriented training in the first session of the day. This means heavier weights, more acceleration or more complex exercises.
4. Include more structural-oriented training in the second session of the day. This means more volume, less weight and a slower tempo.
5. Use a good post-workout drink after every session. The best product available is Surge for this purpose.
6. Train each muscle only once a week. You can pair muscles groups and train 4 days per week or only work one muscle per day and train 6 days per week.
A sample program
This is an example on how you can structure twice-a-day training for maximum muscle mass gains. This routine will be effective for 4 weeks, after which you should change the exercises around.
Day 1: Upper back