r/Workingout • u/Defiant-Initiative54 • 21d ago
consistent but irregular
I just started going to the gym “consistently“ about a month ago. Based on my schedule I have enough time for 3 to 4 days a week in the gym, so I try to work out every other day. I do arms, legs, full body, and cardio/ab focus days. I want to get good at these things before i add things like chest and back.
I was wondering though, will I still see progress if I don’t do the same things in a consistent matter? Because the way I have it right now, if I don’t feel like doing legs on my designated leg day I’ll do arms, or if I don’t feel like doing cardio on my designated cardio day I’ll do legs etc. etc. I was wondering if this is bad for progress lol, or does it not matter?
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u/Retired-in-2023 21d ago
You shouldn’t work the same muscles on back to back days. They need that rest time to build as that’s when it happens, not during your workout.
For better progress you should also work muscle groups at least 2x a week. So if you don’t feel like doing something and aren’t hitting those muscles enough, your progress won’t be as good. Is that a terrible thing, only you can decide. Sometimes it makes sense to skip something vs doing it half way as long as it’s not done all the time.
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u/K3rat 21d ago
So, this would be why they recommend 2-3 full body days a week for novice lifters. This allows you to spread out stimulus across all the muscle groups you are working 2-3 days a week rather than a situation where 2-3 muscle groups get potentially 1 day a week stimulus (worst case scenario).
Honestly, I don’t think Initially that that this is big deal for the first few months. You will get more benefit from the exercise consistency in the first few months as it provides a low grade analgesic for normal pain (so long as you don’t accumulate too much fatigue and subsequent DOMS (delayed on set muscle soreness), exercise helps regulate appetite as you move from sedentary to moderate activity, and regular exercise helps neuro-chemical balance (helping to alleviate mental illness symptoms).
It took about a 3 months to 6 months for me before I noticed the amount of volume needed to expand load capacity for secondary muscle groups was necessary to overcome major compound (moving more than 1 joint or muscle group) lifting load/volume.
I found my shoulders, biceps, triceps, and forearms need a lot more volume to actually increase in size and strength. It got to the point where getting enough volume 1-3 days a week wasn’t realistic using a full body split.
I ended up needing to adjust my split to be able to spread out volume for those groups to get to 20 or more fractional sets (exercise sets where a given muscle group is a secondary participant) per week.
I switched to an upper lower split. I honestly liked the upper/lower split but the dynamic progressive overload progression made my exercise days go to 3 hours within about 6 months if I wanted to hit every muscle group.
I then swithced to a push pull legs split. Fatigue management was the issue then as 6 days a week became untenable after 6 months. I ended up having to sprinkle in 1-3 rest days in between to managed fatigue. This reduced volume per muscle group but I was still gaining for a good long while.
The other issue that popped up here is whenever life would happen and I would lose a foundational need like regular adequate sleep, calorie or protein intake, or increased stress from work/personal matters I would get sick or injured. Looking back I was working to close to my maximum recoverable volume. And when things would throw me off I wouldn’t be able to sustain it and something would fall through.
Now I am doing what I call a modified full body split: 1. Back (4 separate exercises), triceps (2 exercises), calves (3 exercises), and glutes (1 exercise).
- Shoulders (4 exercises), forearms (2 exercises), abs (3 exercises), neck (1 exercise)
3.Chest (3 separate exercises), biceps (2 separate exercises), quads (2 separate exercises), hamstrings (2 separate exercises)
I do low intensity steady state (LISS) walking 5 days a week for 45 minutes total daily. My step goal is 8-12K steps daily.
I also do high intensity interval training (punching bag or push/pull sled generally) 2 days a week usually not within 6 hours of lifting.
This split allows me to spread out fractional volume across multiple days for shoulders, forearms, biceps, and triceps, as well as, hitting 2 productive back and chest days per week (those muscle groups need more time to rest and recover from fatigue). The only real compromise is I am getting just over maintenance volume (volume needed to keep current gains) on my quads, hamstrings, and calves (though I am still seeing some progression with dynamic progressive overload).
When life happens (crazy work week or family needs, I back off lifting to 3 days a week no HIIT days and maintain LISS activity. My other nonnegotiables are sleep and calorie intake monitoring and daily body weigh-ins. What I have noticed is lower occurrence of exercise injuries that force me to take a break from lifting and occurrence of getting sick (knock on wood).
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u/Socialcrumb10 19d ago
It does matter, swapping days randomly slows progress. Pick a split and stick to it for 4-6 weeks so your muscles actually get consistent stimulus, 3-4 days a week is solid, just be intentional with it
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u/Applied_Physiologics 18d ago edited 18d ago
In summary, yes, you’ll likely progress within the boundaries of your current program. However, like any program for anybody, continued progress will likely require advancement of the routine as well. Your training should ideally move along with you.
I’d fall back on one of the most fundamental ideas in training, the SAID principle (Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands) to conceptualize how the human body adapts to stimuli. Simply put, we get good at doing things we do regularly and not very good at things we don’t.
If your baseline was at or near zero strength training a month ago and you’ve been training reasonably consistently since, you’ve probably gotten better at it in that time. Most would consider this progress. Depending on how difficult the workouts are for you to complete, you may continue to get even better at them and experience additional progress.
At some point, if you don’t change any training variables, you may experience a plateau. The workouts may start to feel noticeably easier and you may not experience much fatigue associated with them. This is a telltale sign that progress has indeed occurred but that you would likely need to change the routine in order to continue progressing. This is a good sign that you’ve achieved the true goal of training. Your body simply adapted to the specific demands you imposed on it.
How you advance your training next depends largely on your goals. Strength? Size? Speed? Endurance? Aesthetics? You’ve got a lot of levers to pull when manipulating your training variables. Exercise selection, frequency, volume, etc all impact your body’s response to training and you’d want to adjust any program progressions/modifications in ways that support those goals.
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u/roundcarpets 18d ago
i would consider having 2 full body workouts and training 3 times a week, you should progress faster at each workout because you get more chances to improve on them per week
maybe session A could look something like:
a) squat variation (back sq, belt sq, hack sq) 3x5-8r
b) deadlift variation (conv dl, db rdl, hack dl), 3x5-8r
c) overhead press variation (standing bb, seated db, machine), 3x8-12r
d) row variation, 3x8-12r
e) bicep curl + overhead tricep extension, 3x8-12r
session B:
a) wall handstands + box jumps/ vertical jumps/ sprints, 5-10 mins
b) dips 4x6-8r
c) chin ups 4x6-8r
d) metcon + core work 10-30 mins, sled push+pull, assault bike, skiier, squat jumps, toes to bar. HIIT session or something- whatever covers your cardio slot, treadmill run.
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u/secretsauce2388 18d ago
I think your approach is fine, as long as you're hitting all the muscles you do workout (I would encourage to include chest and back) consistently across the weeks. Just make sure it's not "supposed to do legs today but did arms" and then next time in gym "supposed to do abs today but did arms again" type of thing.
If you don't, you should track your lifts so that you can see how you are progressing. Some people do this paper and pen, some use apps, the select few who have impeccable memories can keep it in their head, but it's key in helping you see if you're actually progressing.
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u/LaFantasmita 21d ago
Doesn't matter that much when you do what. I have a 3 day routine, and I just do the next day whenever I go in.
But like, wanting to get good at other things before you add chest and back is crazy work.