Currently, I'm exercising 3 days a week (every other day), each day doing 2-3 muscle groups. Currently, my goal is to increase muscle mass. My question is, given my exercise goal, is it better to really stress a given muscle group for a single day and then "ignore" it until next week, or to work out all groups each day, but to a lesser extent?
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The answer to your question is yes. Yes, you can do a 2/3/4/5 day split each week. And, yes, you can do a full body workout 2-3 times a week. In fact, I would suggest doing both - just not at the same time. Most people who go to a gym will do a split routine. Usually a 3 day split involves:
You can also add in core muscles on any or all of those days. Alternately, you can do a full body work out. A workout of this type will involve exercises that engage most of the muscles in your body:
You cannot do both these routines at the same time, it would be way too much. You can alternate them however. Do a 3 days split for a couple months, then switch to a full body routine for a while, then back again. This will challenge your body in different ways and will keep you from getting use to your exercises and plateauing. |
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Your muscles increase in size during their recovery, not during the exercise itself. Therefore, you should not be working muscle groups on consecutive days. I generally find 2-3 times a week is ideal, on non-consecutive days. |
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