just curious if this is true?

[fighting13]

i read somewhere that doing intense, heavy lifting with a particular muscle group one day and then doing less intense lifting the 2nd and third day with the same muscle group, and then resting 2 days will put on more mass than say, working out the muscle once a week. something about the decreased testosterone levels from the continual working out will cause testosterone levels to shoot up on the rest days.



a sample would be like this

Monday- work forearms and biceps with heavy weights
tuesday- work forearms and biceps with lighter weight(bout 2/3 mondays weight)
Wednesday- same as tuesday
Thursday- rest
Friday-rest


is there any truth to this. it sounds reasonable assuming your getting the proper nutrition. after all, marines workout every day and they have crazy levels of strength.

[Shiro Kuma]

It doesn't sound like a great idea to me. The more intense a workout is, the longer it takes to recover. I would think it increases your chance of injury. Also, depending on your recovery ability, you may not even be able to do 2/3 of a workout done the day before. Even if you can, it will not feel like a light workout.

If continually working out decreases testosterone, why does it matter what body part you work?

You may want to check with a few personal trainers before you try this, especially if you are new to weight training.

[Colucci]

i read somewhere that doing intense, heavy lifting with a particular muscle group one day and then doing less intense lifting the 2nd and third day with the same muscle group, and then resting 2 days will put on more mass than say, working out the muscle once a week ... a sample would be like this

Monday- work forearms and biceps with heavy weights
tuesday- work forearms and biceps with lighter weight(bout 2/3 mondays weight)
Wednesday- same as tuesday
Thursday- rest
Friday-rest
You're sort of describing (though not exactly) Chad Waterbury's High Frequency Training. (http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=06-017-training) It's great for hypertrophy (muscle growth), and not necessarily the best choice for strength (you'd have to play around with the exercises, sets, and reps quite a bit.)

...it sounds reasonable assuming your getting the proper nutrition. after all, marines workout every day and they have crazy levels of strength.
It's not that the Marines have crazy levels of strength...they have crazy levels of strength endurance; the ability to maintain a given amount of strength for an extended period of time. If you're talking about raw strength (as in, lifting the heaviest weight), elite-level Westside powerlifters train the same exercise only twice a week. Once very heavy with low reps, and once just moderately-heavy (55-65% 1RM) for low reps with great speed. So, it's a matter of goals.

...something about the decreased testosterone levels from the continual working out will cause testosterone levels to shoot up on the rest days.

Um, yeah, if you could find a source for that info, I'd like to take a look at it. Doesn't sound true in the least, unless you're talking about a depressed immune system and hormone response, but that only happens in cases of extreme overtraining (which training hard one day and light two days shouldn't really elicit.)

[cxw]

Hormonal responses to training are at best a tiny factor in how you should train.

A few years ago Fleck or Kraemer got really excited about high reps causing an increase in Growth Hormone. However, I think they got really carried away as the increase was for a very short time.

Unless if you've got yourself to an excellent level of strength (say bench + squat + deadlift >= 6 times bodyweight), I don't think there's much to be gained from complicating things too much, its ultimately about varying frequency, volume and intensity (with food) to gain strength over time (patience is required).

[fighting13]

thanks for your input guys. i went ahead and tried it anyway with some forearm and grip work to test it out and i got some considerable increases in strength and even gained about a half inch-3/4 inch on my upper forearms(but my forearms were kinda skinny anyway) not to mention my punching has seemed to get benefit as well. i've yet to try it with a bigger muscle group but thats what i got in the week-2weeks that i tried it.

[harhar]

Crazy strong marines? First time I ever heard that.