Hi Davey,

I’ve recently gotten heavily into working out, and your blog has been a great source of information. I go to the gym five days a week and have broken up the days into two kinds of workouts - biceps/back/legs on one day and chest/triceps/shoulders on another. This was a good way for me to start, and while it’s toning my muscles, I’m not seeing the growth that I would like to see. With that said, what sort of regime would you suggest and how should I break up the muscle groups throughout the week?

From,
Jack

Dear Jack,

A few things.

First things first. To target muscle growth (rather than toning and definition), ensure that you are training in a way that encourages actual muscle growth. This would require:

1. Doing weighted exercises (i.e., using dumbbells, barbells, body weight or anything else that applies resistance)
2. Performing a low number of reps at heavy weights (you should be fatigued in 10 reps or less)
3. Experiencing muscle failure on your last rep (you should be unable to do one additional rep - if you can do another rep, then you should increase the resistance)
4. Pushing yourself to higher levels of resistance (i.e., constantly progressing to heavier weights, etc.) and trying new things - like the P90x workout.
5. Following a proper, high-protein diet
6. Allowing your body sufficient rest (and never training a muscle that is still sore from a previous workout)

After following the above guidelines, you may wish to restructure your workout. Currently, you have two different types of workout days - and on each day, you are training three different muscle groups. Since we know that shorter workouts are wiser (strength training workouts that exceed 45 - 60 minutes are to be avoided), the result is that you are hitting all three muscle groups lightly. You have a lot of muscles to train in a little amount of time. If, instead, you focused in on one or two muscle groups per workout, you could really fatigue and work those muscles at a much deeper and more effective level.

While you currently have two different types of workout days, I have found that four different types of workout days is the most effective training experience for me. I do chest/forearms on on day, then biceps on another, then shoulders/back and then legs/triceps on my fourth day. I pepper my ab workouts in between. I’d encourage you to restructure your workout along those lines for enhanced results.

Love,
Davey