wildcard996

Hiya,

First post on here. Lost of damn good info tho.

I've been training on and off for several years (weights, cycling, and martial arts) but decided to kick it up a notch in April when I gave up the dreaded fags.

Problem is I work shifts on an 8 day pattern (2days, 2 nights, 4 off - 7am to 7pm or 7pm to 7am) so I can't train most of the normal splits i've seen on the web.

This what I've come up with:

Day 1 - Day shift - rest - Have to leave home at 4am to drive to work
Day 2 - Day Shift - Cardio - Run 40 mins before work
Day 3 - Nights - Gym - Legs
Day 4 - Nights - Cardio - 40 min run before work
Day 5 - Off (i drive back from lond on this day - sleep until lunchtime) - Gym - Chest
Day 6 - Off - Back + 30 min Cardio (Treadmill)
Day 7 - Off - Shoulders
Day 8 - Off - Arms + 30 min Cardio (Treadmill)

Since April I have seen some good progress. I was 17stone and now weigh in at aroung 15 1/2 stone. I can see the improvements in my upper body too although the spare tyre is still there!

I try to stick to a pretty clean diet with plenty of protein. I cook for the days while i'm away at work so i can stay away from takeaways and junk.

Apart from the protein (CNP Peptide) the only other supplement i take is creatine.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

mickus

Talk about classic case of overtraining lad, 8 days a week is way over doing it.

3 or 4 day split at most for weights each week...

Something like

Mon: Chest and Tri
Tues: Legs
Wed: Rest
Thurs: Back and bi's
Fri: Delts and traps
Sat: Rest
Sun: Rest

That is the most you should be lifting each week but most get better gains from a 3 day split

Mon: Chest, Tri, Delts
Tues: Rest
Weds: Legs
Thurs: Rest
Fri: Back, Traps, Bi's
Sat: Rest
Sun: Rest

Either of these programs would be better suited to gaines that the one you are currently running.

Unless you are a gifted athlete and recovery unbelievably quick you aint giving you muscle any time to grow training them 8 days a week.

Muscles dont grow wheny ou train its when they rest the growth starts!

All the best dig

Slamdog

working that shift I would suspect that you worked for Coca Cola MK (p14)

i'm on 4 on 4 off perm nights and i only do 2 days at the gym, but full body compounds both days.

__________________
I'd like to see it your way but I can't get my head that far up my own ar$e

ParaManiac

I also work shifts and know how difficult it can be trying to fit sessions in,sometimes having to train 2 or 3 days in a row,which is far from ideal.

Id stick to cardio on shift days and weights when your off.

Use a 3 day routine.something along the lines of

day 1 - chest/shoulders

day 2 - rest

day 3 - legs

day 4 - back/arms

The only other supps id add are fish oils and a multivit.

lukey

according to his schedule he isnt training 8 days a week, hes doing 4 sessions every 7 days which shouldnt be a problem depending on the makeup of each of his training sessions.

If your training regime works for you and your lifts are increasing over time then continue, once you stall then maybes look to change.

Personally I wouldnt do arms separately but if you find it better that way then so be it.

the only negative thing i could say is that your routine has you doing 4 continuous sessions for the 4 days running which means you may not be able to recover sufficiently for each day, having said that your routine is push/pull/push/pull,....just try it and see.

mickus

Lukey can you count bud LOL its 5 weight sessions a week there.... Plus all the cardio on top...

lukey

yes sure i can count but he does five sessions over the first eight days not a week, in fourteen days (which is two weeks he has done eight sessions) he has trained each body part twice.....which equates to once a week, the only problem i can see is that he does four continuous sessions on days 5,6,7,8.

days 1 to 8 five sessions
days 9 to 14 three sessions

in reality he is only training each body part every every 8 days where as convention ( if there is such a thing!) normally says that once every 7 days would suffice, so in this case is he actually training enough::confused:
it depends on when you count day one,

wildcard996

Thanks all for your comments.

I guess my question has been deciphered by Lukey. Am i leaving it oo long between sessions. For example if i train chest and tris on day 6 it will then be 8 days until i train chest again. Is this too long for growth.

I have tried to combine body parts before but wih the 8 day shift pattern i evenutall end up doing chest and tris with 24hrs of delts and my arms have just not had enouh recovery time.

So is 8 days too long to leave between workouts

wildcard996

Would this work then

Day 1 - Day shift - rest - Have to leave home at 4am to drive to work
Day 2 - Day Shift - Cardio - Run 40 mins before work
Day 3 - Nights - Gym during the day - Delts and Traps
Day 4 - Nights - Cardio - 40 min run before work
Day 5 - Off (i drive back from lond on this day - sleep until lunchtime) - Rest
Day 6 - Off - Chest and Tris
Day 7 - Off - Cardio - 40 min run
Day 8 - Off - Legs & Bis

Or am I leaving too long between bodyparts?

lukey

Well your goals are obviously to lose some fat and its clearly working from what you say in your posts as your weight has gone down

For me, your routine would not work as its not frequent enough but at the end of the day give it a try and if it works (your lifts increasing and your body changing) then stick with it for a while.

People react differently to various training patterns and a number of different factors come into play such as diet and rest etc. what works for one person will not work for another.

Legs and Bi,s...I would question this combination, why?, because it seems unusual particularly when your doing traps a different day which will also provide bicep stimulation

wildcard996

ooops for got me back

would back and Bi's work better - Most back training use biceps??

gonna have to think about it a little harder.

Tried Chest and Tri's this morning. My triceps are still burning! Must be a good sign

ParaManiac

Yes.

wildcard996

Yeah Lukey - Fat loss initially is the name of the game.

I used to kick box (trained 6 days per week), then i had some minor surgery and couldn't train for six months. An acute case of 'bonues Idleus' set in and i piled on the weight.

Now i want to get back into a shape where when i walk out of the sea it is lke the scene from the last bond movie and not a scene from free willy