You\u2019ve seen them in the gym: the grinders. They don\u2019t just work their muscles \u2014 they pound them, set after set, laying waste to every fiber with any tool they can find, from barbells and dumbbells to\u00a0bands\u00a0and\u00a0bodyweight. Instead of working the whole body 3 or 4 days a week, they follow a 5-day workout split, annihilating each body part just once or twice every 7 days.<\/p>\n
Madness? Maybe.\u00a0Sagi Kalev, the bodybuilder and Super Trainer behind Beachbody\u2019s 5-day workout routine\u00a0A Week of Hard Labor (AWOHL) is certainly no fan of moderation.<\/p>\n
But there are advantages to going off the reservation now and then. And if bigger muscles are your primary goal, a \u201csplit system\u201d approach \u2014 the technical term for working just one or two muscle groups per workout \u2014 can be a powerful weapon in your mass-building arsenal.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aside from an overabundance of free time and a fondness for\u00a0post-workout soreness, why might you want to become a grinder \u2014 at least temporarily?<\/p>\n
As we\u2019ve covered\u00a0elsewhere,\u00a0muscle growth, or\u00a0hypertrophy,\u00a0is caused\u00a0by three factors: muscle tension, metabolic stress, and muscle damage. To make a muscle grow, science tells us you need to:<\/p>\n
A 5-day workout routine does all these things. Here\u2019s how:<\/p>\n
Consider the weekly workout volume (number of sets per muscle group) of a full-body program and a 5-day program.<\/p>\n
The total-body exerciser might hit his chest with 3 sets of bench presses on Monday, 4 sets of incline dumbbell presses Wednesday, and 2 sets of pushups on Friday. That would put his weekly volume of chest work at 9 sets.<\/p>\n
The split-routine exerciser, on the other hand, might do 15 or more sets for chest in a single day. If he includes an additional full-body workout 1 day a week (as is the case in\u00a0A Week of Hard Labor), he\u2019ll squeeze in another 3 or 4 sets, bringing his weekly volume up to a whopping 19 sets \u2014 more than twice that of the total-body exerciser.<\/p>\n
Additional volume means more tension, more stress, more damage \u2014 more of all the factors that lead to muscle growth.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t want to dive into an advanced program like\u00a0AWOHL\u00a0without at least a few months of training behind you. But assuming you\u2019re not a\u00a0complete beginner, and that your\u00a0rest\u00a0and\u00a0nutrition\u00a0are on point, all that additional stimulus can translate into greater growth.<\/p>\n
One side effect of higher-volume training, particularly when you perform 10 or more reps per set, is that large amounts of blood rush into your working muscles to supply them with oxygen. This does more than make you look momentarily buff-er; it\u2019s also a powerful stimulus for growth.<\/p>\n
What gym rats call \u201cthe pump\u201d is known to researchers as cellular swelling, and it happens because muscular contraction prevents blood from flowing out of your muscles while your arteries continue to pump it in. The effect is like damming up a rushing river: liquid pools in one spot without a place to go.<\/p>\n
Studies have shown that engorging a muscle with blood in this way\u00a0stimulates protein synthesis\u00a0(muscle growth) while inhibiting muscle breakdown \u2014 the perfect recipe when you\u2019re looking to build more muscle.<\/p>\n
It sounds like an oxymoron: How could a program with five workouts a week afford you\u00a0more\u00a0rest than a more conventional 3- or 4-day-a-week regimen?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the key to the split approach: Although workout frequency is high, and each workout is involved and intense, you still get at least 2 days\u2019 rest between workouts for a given muscle group.<\/p>\n
Taking\u00a0A Week of Hard Labor\u00a0as an example, you work your legs by themselves on day 2 and don\u2019t hit them again until day 5. That gives them 2 full days to recover before you hit them again, then 3 more days after that before you repeat leg day. That\u2019s substantially more rest than you get for each muscle group in a full-body program, in which you might hit each muscle group three to four times a week with only about a day between sessions.<\/p>\n
When your goal is hypertrophy, sometimes it\u2019s valuable to hone in on that goal at the expense of all others (e.g., strength, power, muscular endurance, etc.).<\/p>\n
A 5-day workout split is perfect for that: You don\u2019t need to squeeze in a cardio workout on your off days. You won\u2019t be too tired from working your legs to train you arms (you\u2019ll train them on different days). You won\u2019t worry about burning a ton of fat or maintaining your speed in the 40-yard-dash. Instead, you\u2019ll bring all your physical and mental energy to hammering your muscles and forcing them to grow like crazy.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The most obvious factor to consider when building a 5-day workout routine is your schedule. If your Wednesday is busy and stressful, make it a rest day. If Fridays are low-stress for you, schedule a longer, tougher workout.<\/p>\n
In general, you\u2019ll want to work out for 3 days before your first rest day, then 2 more days before your second one (so if Monday is your \u201cday 1,\u201d Thursday and Sunday are rest days). This isn\u2019t set in stone; some weeks, life will force you to rest on different days \u2014 and that\u2019s OK. Since you aren\u2019t working the same muscle groups 2 days in a row, you\u2019ll still get all of the rest you need.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
For \u201cantagonistic\u201d muscles \u2014 those that perform opposing actions, like chest vs. back, biceps vs. triceps, quads vs. hamstrings \u2014 it makes sense to train them on the same day. But you can also effectively train your \u201cpulling\u201d muscles (back and biceps) on one day and your \u201cpushing\u201d muscles (chest and triceps) on another, since these muscle groups usually work together anyway.\u00a0AWOHL\u00a0treats the core like any other muscle group, assigning it its own day rather than making it an \u201cadd-on\u201d somewhere else.<\/p>\n
One of the more innovative aspects of Kalev\u2019s program is its inclusion of one total-body day \u2014 a workout in which you hit every major muscle group. The result, says Trevor Thieme, C.S.C.S., is that you work each body part twice a week instead of once.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn so doing,\u201d he says, \u201cyou double the frequency of the growth stimulus to each muscle group each week. And because of how the workouts are arranged, you do that without negatively impacting your recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some options:<\/p>\n
\nOption 1*<\/h3>\n<\/td>\nOption 2<\/h3>\n<\/td>\nOption 3<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\nDay 1:\u00a0Chest, back<\/td>\n | Day 1:\u00a0Chest, shoulders, triceps<\/td>\n | Day 1:\u00a0Back, hamstrings, glutes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Day 2:\u00a0Legs<\/td>\n | Day 2:\u00a0Legs<\/td>\n | Day 2:\u00a0Core<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Day 3:\u00a0Core<\/td>\n | Day 3:\u00a0Back, biceps<\/td>\n | Day 3:\u00a0Chest, quads<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Day 4:\u00a0Shoulders, biceps\/triceps<\/td>\n | Day 4:\u00a0Core<\/td>\n | Day 4:\u00a0Shoulders, biceps\/triceps<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Day 5:\u00a0Full body<\/td>\n | Day 5:\u00a0Full body<\/td>\n | Day 5:\u00a0Full body<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n | *This schedule is used on AWOL.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 7 Essential Ingredients of a Split Workout<\/h2>\nThe sessions in your 5-day workout routine will be intense, but relatively short. All of the workouts in Kalev\u2019s program average less than 45 minutes, warm-up included. The goal: to work each muscle safely but intensely, using the most challenging weights that allow you to complete all of your reps and sets with good form.<\/p>\n In\u00a0AWOHL, \u201cThe workouts feature lifting techniques that increase your training density and your muscles\u2019 time under tension, as well as allow you to more completely fatigue your muscles,\u201d says Thieme. \u201cAs a result, they optimize your training stimulus, helping you build bigger, stronger muscles faster.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of those techniques include:<\/p>\n 1. Varied set\/rep schemes<\/h3>\nMuscles are comprised primarily of two kinds of fibers: type I and type II, which, broadly speaking, are responsible for high-rep, low-resistance movements and low-rep, high-resistance ones, respectively. To force your muscles to grow optimally,\u00a0AWOHL\u00a0includes higher-rep moves (like push-ups performed for 3 sets of 15 reps) to hit your type I fibers and lower-rep moves (like heavy dumbbell presses, performed for 4 sets of 6), to hit your type IIs.<\/p>\n 2. Compound movements<\/h3>\nMoves like lunges, squats, and\u00a0pull-ups involve the movement of multiple joints and thus work multiple muscles, allowing you to lift heavier weights, generate more tension, and generally get more bang for your muscle-building buck.<\/p>\n 3. Isolation exercises<\/h3>\nDumbbell curls, triceps extensions, lateral raises, and other single-joint movements help you target smaller muscles, allowing you to focus more intensely on muscles that usually play a supporting role.<\/p>\n 4. Supersets<\/h3>\nThis term refers to performing back-to-back sets of two different exercises. You can alternate between exercises that target opposing muscle groups (e.g., bench press and bent-over row), non-competing muscle groups (e.g., overhead press and deadlift), or, more diabolically, the same muscle group (e.g., squats\u00a0and\u00a0lunges). If you add a third exercise (e.g., bench press, row, and lunge), it\u2019s called a tri-set.<\/p>\n 5. Circuit sets<\/h3>\nThese typically involve back-to-back sets of four or more exercises with minimal rest between them (usually, just the time it takes you to transition from one to another). By extending the duration of uninterrupted work, you\u2019ll\u00a0fatigue your muscles\u00a0even faster and more completely.<\/p>\n 6. Drop sets<\/h3>\nIn this set scheme, you perform 3 or 4 sets of an exercise without rest, using a slightly lighter weight for each one. Also called descending or strip sets, they can also be performed by switching a heavier weight for a lighter one at the end of a set to squeeze out a few more reps.<\/p>\n 7. Eccentric training<\/h3>\nResearch shows that focusing on the lowering phase of an exercise (i.e., by performing it more slowly than the lifting phase) can help maximize muscle growth. But prepare to be sore: This technique also increases muscle damage (don\u2019t worry \u2014 that\u2019s a good thing in the context of muscle building).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n One to Grow (Muscle) On<\/h2>\nWith so much volume, so many different moves, and so many advanced techniques coming at them, your muscles will have no choice but to grow like crazy. Want to build some size? Grinding through a 5-day workout split may be just the methodical madness you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You\u2019ve seen them in the gym: the grinders. They don\u2019t just work their muscles \u2014 they pound them, set after set, laying waste to every fiber with any tool they can find, from barbells and dumbbells to\u00a0bands\u00a0and\u00a0bodyweight. Instead of working the whole body 3 or 4 days a week, they follow a 5-day workout split, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ozhelp.org.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |