BODY BUILDER TRAINING RUTINE

The Training Routine

My training routine is completed once per week and consists of 5 different workouts and 2 rest days:

• Monday: chest, abdominals, forearms
• Tuesday: shoulders, upper trapezius, triceps
• Wednesday: rest
• Thursday: upper and middle back, biceps
• Friday: hamstrings, lower back, calves
• Saturday: quadriceps, inner and outer thighs
• Sunday: rest

The frequency by which you train each muscle is very important. Basically you want to give the muscle just enough time to recover and to grow before you train it again.

If you train too often or not frequently enough, you risk to injure your muscles and tendons, or not to grow at all. How frequently you have to train each muscle depends on how fast your muscles recover, which largely depends on the intensity of your workouts. People using anabolic steroids recover much faster than true natural bodybuilders. For advanced true natural bodybuilders I advise to train each muscle group once per week. Beginners, whose workouts are less intense, could start with training each muscle twice per week.

Another very important aspect of the training routine is the order in which you train each muscle group. For example, you should not train your triceps the day before you train your chest, because you need fresh and strong triceps to do heavy bench and dumbbell presses for your chest. 

You also need fresh and strong biceps to do your upper back workout, so don't train biceps the day before your upper back.

My workouts usually take no longer than 1 hour. During each workout I train 2 or maximum 3 muscle groups. It's best to start with the biggest muscle group that requires most energy. If you train chest and triceps on the same day, you start with chest. If you train upper back and biceps on the same day, you start with upper back. If you train biceps and triceps on the same day, you should start with the muscle that needs to grow most. Before I start to train my 2nd or 3rd muscle group of the workout, I take a rest of about 3 minutes so that I feel strong and energetic enough to continue.

It is very important never to miss a workout. Whenever you do miss a workout, try to catch it up the next day if possible. There exists also something like over-training, which can occur if you train too frequently and/or do to many exercises and sets. When you are over-trained, your muscles will not grow and you may easily get injured. I recommend you to take 2 or 3 weeks off after every 6 months of training in order to give yourself a chance to recharge mentally and to let your body fully recover from any physical stress accumulated during the past 6 months of heavy training.