3-days training a week vs 4-days

[Tommy Smith]

Was just wondering whether people think a 3-day a week weight training routine can be just as effective as 4-days a week?

Ive been training 4 days a week for just over a year now and have managed to go from 77kg to 88kg; but work is making it increasingly difficult to maintain a routine that involves going 4 days a week.

So given that such an enormous part of weight training is related to an effective diet, would you still be able to build up just as effectively doing something like the following?

Day 1 - Chest and Back
Day 2 - Legs and Abs
Day 4 - Shoulders and Arms

 

[simostorm]

You can still make gains with a 3 day routine..

 

[adamkungl]

I was doing 4 but was finding by day 4 I lacked the time/motivation and would end up skipping it far too often. Dropped back to 3 with one extra 'big' exercise per day to make up for it:

Day 1 - chest, shoulders, abs
Day 2 - back, biceps
Day 3 - legs, chest, abs

Seems to be working better for me, although at the moment I don't have the diet to gain weight.

 

[Mark Rudd]

Sqaut, Press and Pull 3 days and week and you'll be bigger and stronger then 75% of people in every gym in the country.


Training 4 days per week and having big arms, big chest but a pathetic back and no legs is embarrassing.

 

[Shorty]

I think there's actually an argument for over-training with 4 days, I think you'd be fine with 3....do you do any stuff like supersets, drop sets etc?
I am doing a week on and week off with exercise atm and noticing size differences already (mind you this is temporary and an experiment but I've heard of guys doing it when they are struggling to get bigger).

 

[Tommy Smith]

Yeah i do supersets, and occasionaly mix some drop sets into my programs.

On 3 days a week my program to start with is probably going to look like this:

Day 1 Chest and Back

5 x 5 Dumbbell Press
4 x 8 Incline Press
A1: 4 x 8 Floor Press
A2: 4 x 8 Floor Flies
5 x 5 Deadlifts
B1: 4 x 8 Lateral Pulldown
B2: 4 x 8 Seated Row
4 x 8 1-arm Rows

Day 2 Legs and Abs

5 x 5 Squats
A1: 4 x 6 Box Squats
A2: 4 x 6 Lunges
B1: Leg Curls
B2: Stiff-legged Deadlifts
4 x 10 Calf raises
3 x any 2 Abs exercise

Day 3 Shoulders and Arms

5 x 5 Push Press
4 x 10 Seated Shoulder Press
A1: 4 x 6 Upright rows
A2: 4 x 6 Lateral raises
4 x 6 Rear delt flies
B1: 3 x 8 Dips
B2: 3 x 8 Pull ups
A couple of bicep and tricep exercises

Is that overkill? I figured with the supersets i could be done in at most 90min all three days.

 

[Cliffhanger]

That's not overkill at all tbh.

I would reccomend a Stronglift program at 3 days a week though, especially if you're struggling to find enough time to train.

As long as you have a surplus of calories you'll get bigger and you will get much stronger too. You'll set new PBs in no time.

http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/

 

[abpanther]

Excuse the noob but what do you guys mean by supersets?

I'm looking to get back into weights training in the near future, when I was into it initially I was told to work opposite muscles on the same day (e.g. Biceps/Triceps), then I was told to train same muscles on the same day (e.g. Back/Biceps). Just wondering what the theory is these days?

 

[RHCP]

Excuse the noob but what do you guys mean by supersets?

I'm looking to get back into weights training in the near future, when I was into it initially I was told to work opposite muscles on the same day (e.g. Biceps/Triceps), then I was told to train same muscles on the same day (e.g. Back/Biceps). Just wondering what the theory is these days?

Completing a set of one exercise, then moving straight onto the next one without a rest.

The logic behind that theory is that smaller muscle groups are used in compound lifts for large muscle groups eg. triceps are hit during chest exercises and biceps are hit during back exercises. So after you've done your back workout your biceps have already been worked to a degree, so it allows you to continue with it rather than have them fatigued when it comes to your bicep workout.

That's the way I like to work out, but as long as there is an adequate rest for the muscles to recover, eg. chest/back on monday, arms on thursday it's okay in my books. But I think Back/Bis and Chest/Tris is ideal.

I think 3 days a week can be just as effective. I've actually been getting much better results working three days. What I would maybe suggest is a Push/Pull/Legs split, so that all the big muscle groups (Chest, Back and Legs) have their own individual days and get a good workout. Imo, if you deadlift to your full capacity (which is probably a lot more than you might think) then you aren't going to have sufficient energy to do a good chest workout. Going off the exercises you listed, a little bit of changes and re-arranging I think could improve it:

Day 1 - Pull

Deadlift
Bent Over Rows (Pendlay, Yates, some kind of barbell row)
Wide Grip Pullups
Seated Row
Barbell Curl
Hammer Curls

Day 2 - Push

Incline Bench
Dumbbell Press
Push Press
Lateral Raises
Back Delt Raises
Dips

Day 3 - Legs
Squats
SLDL
Lunges
Calf Raises
Ab exercises - whatever you choose remember that the key is progression, not endless crunches

Just my two cents, hope it helped it some way. Remember that the best way to gauge what works for you isn't what any of us says, it what your body says.

And whatever decision you make, food and progression. You could have the perfect workout but your gains will be minimal without progression and a good diet.

I am doing a week on and week off with exercise atm and noticing size differences already (mind you this is temporary and an experiment but I've heard of guys doing it when they are struggling to get bigger).

Care to elaborate? I am intrigued.

 

[Tommy Smith]

Thanks for the advice and info people. Much appreciated

 

[Noa]

I do 3x a week, couldnt imagine doing 4 and getting the same benefits. Imo doing 3 a week (2 upper, 1 lower, alternate next week) allows me to hard twice a week and be recovered sufficiently to do so.

 

[spider]

Was just wondering whether people think a 3-day a week weight training routine can be just as effective as 4-days a week?

most people only train a muslce group once a week anyway - they just spread the groups over multiple days - therfore recovery time is no different unless you're working off a rolling rotation

if you have the time to combine 4 days into 3 days i cant see the difference - only loss is the extra day of training from an intensity perspective

 

[Shorty]

Care to elaborate? I am intrigued.

Yeah, it's obviously not a long term thing but for building muscle for people with super fast metabolisms who are quite active already the rest can help the muscle development and be beneficial for the process.
The thing is the week on is very intense and deliberately this way.

Mostly I said it because over training is quite common, especially with certain muscle groups (I was actually pondering about this in the NRL with pecs).

Edit: Here's a link which talks about it further down the list, actually, it's a really interesting link as it talks about a lot of stuff with weight training.

http://www.bodybuildingweb.net/blog/category/workout-routines/

 

[Noa]

most people only train a muslce group once a week anyway - they just spread the groups over multiple days - therfore recovery time is no different unless you're working off a rolling rotation


if you have the time to combine 4 days into 3 days i cant see the difference - only loss is the extra day of training from an intensity perspective

Thing is though it is almost impossible to use one muscle group at the exclusion of the others. So if your not going too hard, using lighter weights and looking to maintain I see no problems with 4 days a week and splitting the body groups up, but imo if you want to gain more even more size and strength 3 days with more rest is the way to go.

 

[S.S.T.I.D]

Sqaut, Press and Pull 3 days and week and you'll be bigger and stronger then 75% of people in every gym in the country.

This. I use a method that essentially requires me to train 4 days per week, but I have used a pretty basic linear periodization program that can be adapted so that you only need to train 3 days per week.

Squat, press and pull is all you need to base the program on. Squat (and variations), press (and variations) and deadlift (and variations) form the bulk of the program with accessory exercises added. No one with the exception of elite level bodybuilders need to train arms. It is a complete waste of time.

And, most importantly, it isn't the number of times you train per week that will drive your progress, but the what you do in the gym. I'm stronger now than I have ever been and I'm probably training less (still 4 a week). Mind you, my training is strictly strength based. No bodybuilding bullshit.

 

[bazza]

No one with the exception of elite level bodybuilders need to train arms.

... and people that need to go to the disco

but yeah - squat, dead and bench means you can get by on 3 days per week. Whatever suits your lifestyle is the answer