Trouble on how often should you lift for building muscle?

[surlesc]

I am a fairly skinny guy just to inform you, but this is from experience of what happens to me. From what I have learned I have been told to take on mass you have to stay consistant and allow the muscles to heal. I have heard you should take at least 48 hours to heal. The problem with me is that whenever I am sore muscles take much longer than that. From another source I have heard that it is good to let your muscles heal completely so that you start fresh when you go back to lifting heavy weights. I have not been so faithful about lifting now because of this. I feel like I have gained some strength but not as much as I could have If I knew the correct answer on when to start back up to lifting heavy weights. It would be very appreciated if I got a bunch of different oppinions.

[CrisPBacon]

hey, i know how you feel because i was once like you. what works best for me is to work parts of your body one day the the other part. for example, Monday i would work arms and chest, and Tuesday i would work back and abs then Wednesday i would have off to let body recover then start again Thursday. i usually have the weekend off to. so really you are having 2 days rest for the parts you trained. you also have to watch the exercises that you do so you don't double up on muscle groups you don't want to work. also to help with the healing process you should increase your protein intake, now im not say go out and buy expensive protein powders and shit like that, just have a handful of nuts or kidney beans or even egg whites.

[surlesc]

Thanks for the advice i'll try that. But What Im still kind of confused about is if I am still sore should I lift anyways or wait till I recover(which might take longer than 2 days possibly)?

[Bigboi118]

if your new to lifting or havent lifted weights in a while i think its natural to feel sore untill your body adjusts to all the exercising. Make sure to eat to repair/recharge your muscles and get good rest in between sessions, If you wanna get serious into it look into the sorts of things you should be eating, and also find a decent routine/warm up and stretch properly.

As for how often to lift I would say that it depends on your schedule. If you wanted to do a full body routine your should leave 1 day in between sessions (so say M,W,F)
If you went for an upper lower split you could work 2 days in a row as you are alternating muscle groups used (so M,T,T,F with wednesday being the day off)
there are other splits etc you could do like the above poster mentioned. On 1 or two of your 'off' days you can add in some cardio/ab work.

Im sure you know you grow when you rest so these off days are important.

On another note i have heard people weight training twice in one day on some sort of high frequency program but they must be eating a shit load of food.

personal oppinion and many other agree, a full body routine is a great starting point.

[surlesc]

Thanks for the advice Guys ill see how it goes.

[nelson712]

put some tempo for example like this it should take you 2 seconds to lift it pause at the for 1 second and when lowering it should take you about 3-4 seconds or 4-5 seconds , just wondering if you could post up your working out routine maybe we could help you out more

[lens_d]

Even though you feel sore you should still work that muscle again after 48 hours. You might want to use a lighter weight if your still sore. working the muscle again is good for it. Are you doing splits or full body workouts?

[nelson712]

Even though you feel sore you should still work that muscle again after 48 hours. You might want to use a lighter weight if your still sore. working the muscle again is good for it. Are you doing splits or full body workouts?

yes if you do this it can speed up recovery because of the blood flow that goes through your muscles

[surlesc]

What I usually have done in the past is go to the gym monday,wednesday, and friday. workouts start off with a few pushups and situps to warmup. Then I go do some dumbell presses or chest press machine(sometimes I do both the same day because I feel like I will not get sore the day after).Then I move over to do some preacher curls or barbell curls(again sometimes I do both cause I feel like I wont be sore the next day). Then I move over to do lat pull downs sometimes or I go do this one tricep machine(not really sure what its called) or some other upper body workout. Then I sometimes do leg press, but not alot because I kinda neglect thighs and glutes sadly. Then I do calves toward the end with this calve raise machine which I feel like every time i do I am always sore the next day but not for some other muscle groups. And thats pretty much what I do throughout the week. If theres any pointers that you can give me for better and faster muscle development I'd really appreciate it. And thanks for all the advice so far its really helpful!

[Packard]

At age 18 recovery times are going to be very short so you can train 3 times a week, hitting all your body parts each time, or a 4 day split routine hitting all your body parts twice a week (with an upper body/lower body split).

One primary exercise plus one or two secondary exercises per body part is a good start.

You should train all your body parts with equal intensity to achieve a balanced physique that not only looks good, but functions well too.

At 18 your metabolism rates are going to be fairly high so building enormous mass is going to be difficult, and not necessarily beneficial.

Your initial goals should be good shape to the muscles, good tone, and balance.

[surlesc]

main goal is to get a little bit of mass not to be huge. I weigh in at 135lbs. and am 5 foot 8 which I feel is a little below average. I just want to weigh in to be around 150 or so and then id be happy. I just think that im a little on the skrony side. Thank you for all the advice so far guys its been great.

[lens_d]

If you want to gain weight your going to have to eat like a pig! everything in site. lifting weights is not going to help you get mass in less you eat more.

Food is the Key.

[Packard]

If you want to gain weight your going to have to eat like a pig! everything in site. lifting weights is not going to help you get mass in less you eat more.

Food is the Key.

When I entered college I weighed 148 pounds (at 5' 8"). When graduated I weighed 166 pounds. Lots of icecream, peanut butter and jelly, and pizza.

You won't gain unless you eat. The only issue is once you get used to eating a lot it is hard to cut back--and as your metabolism slows down you will need to cut back.

[lens_d]

True enough it can be hard. When I started college I weighed in at 180. After two years of daily beer drinking and fast food I was 220 when I finished. 20 pounds a year. After school I went right to work took me about a year to lose all that fat. I started lifting weights half way through last year of school which helped a lot. I wish I knew then what I know now. I would be a lot further ahead today.

[surlesc]

I know that I should eat more and that protein is needed to rebuld the muscle. But by eating ice cream and pizza i dont see that really helping building muscle. I know that you should have a good protein and carb source throughout the day to rebuild the muscle at least that is what I have gathered from different sources throughout the internet. Ive heard that it is good to have 5 small meals also but im not sure if that is for weight lifting or losing fat, maybe for both. I am actually going to start lifting tomorow using some of the advice that has been given to me through this thread. I was planning on doing the (M,T,rest,T,F)routine and see how it goes for a few weeks. I hope to see results and thank you for all the advice given so far.