Hitting a muscle once a week vs. Twice a week

I heard that hitting a muscle hard once a week is generally reserved for advanced lifters. I just want to know if this method is more effective than hitting it twice a week, maybe with half the intensity to prevent overtraining. I see Scooby trains one group once weekly. I'm just looking for a better routine.

I use biceps (1hr), triceps(30 mins), deltoids (don't do it as often as I should =[), traps (every 2 days in between workouts), and abs (30 mins) everyday. I also do 30 mins cardio daily. Monday to Friday. I tried not doing any bicep exercise for 2 days to see what would happen. Contrary to what the Internet says, my bicep become a little bit weaker and not as "always pumped" as I had it before..

Some people call it overtraining but I don't think I'm because otherwise I wouldn't have gained any results over the past 2 years and a half... but it's obvious that I've. As my deltoids fill shirts (you see that delt curv ^.^), biceps are awesome, and I'm working on that unflexed horseshoe (currently at flexed).

Sadly, I'm only able to have the usual 3 meals a day... due to living at home and high school. I try to make the best of it, tho.

Folks always want to get there twice as Fast.

Lose the Weight Faster.  Take a Pill.  The Hollywood Diet.  The Adkins Diet!

Get 6 Pack Abs with out Abdominal Workouts.  Use the Belly Buster!


Two Intense Workouts a Week of the Same Bodypart = OVERTRAINING!

Countless amount of people have told me that the way I'm doing it is wrong, incorrect, overtraining, "you're not going to get results", ect ect. If the term overtraining were to be true, I would have not made any gains over the past 2 years whatsoever. But, guess what? I've made gains. Even if it is overtraining, I don't care. The biceps, traps, triceps, delts, and abs can go f* themselves. They are goign to rebuild because I tell them to, end of story. I provide the protein, calories, vitamins, and nutrients they need.

I've been donig my little ab workout for around 1 or 2 months now (along with 30 mins cardio mon-thurs) and it does work because of various reasons. (1) I can see the bridge/ridge between my middle and upper abs, (2) I can easily see my middle abs and a little bit of upper abs if I pull my skin down, (3) when I touch my abs, it's easy to feel around.

- protein rebuilds muscle
- 8hours of sleep required
- plateau effect = muscle adjusted to routine placed upon it, thus such routine is no longer a challenge. henceforth the muscle does not grow
- you sweat because your body is cooling itself down (body temp exceeded 98.7). sweating only looses water weight, and it's not an indicator of how many calories you're burning
- calories that are not used are stored away in the body as fat
- the first place the body stores fat is the last place the body removes fat from
- ect -.-

perhaps rarez is one of those people he responds to slightly higher volume training. regardless of that, no one should ever be training biceps for double the amount of time they train triceps. if you want big arms, if anything you should be more concerned with triceps as they make up 2/3 of the arm - that's just common sense. an hour for a bodypart such as biceps is way too long. you could train both biceps and triceps in an hour. also if you do respond to higher volume training, you could just train them 2 times per week and get results. also abs everyday, you may be making gains, but you won't be making gains as fast as you would if you did them 3 times a week. obviously you're going to make gains regardless of overtraining in your teens, because your body can naturally bust through plateaus as you're growing. i can assure you though that had you reduced the volume, your gains would have been more prominent and still can be. regardless of what you say, you are overtraining. there's no way you can be doing that much an not overtraining. unless you have the genetics of arnold, then you'll never be able to work a muscle so frequently or even every day. arnold didn't even work his muscles this frequently and you are no arnold. i'd even go as far as saying go and try a more convential program set up with a more reasonable amount of sets and frequency. you'll be able to lift more weight and you'll make further progress. you only need a certain amount of time to stimulate your muscles to grow, why spend extra time working them and then even working them day after day after day. c'mon man this is common sense.

I have to disagree there.

I don't believe 2 workouts a week would be overtraining, but it really depends on what your doing. eg, I do full body workouts, (bench, rows, deadlifts etc) 3 x a week and I still see results, because I don't kill my muscles each workout. I never feel tired (overtrained), or get a lot of pump (unfortunately), but its still a good way to go. and by the way OP, scooby works out once a week because he's only maintaining what he's got, not try to get bigger.
I don't think killing a muscle 1 x a week is as efficient as 2 - 3 workouts per week, with less intensity.

Wow, nothing personal but there are a lot of misinformed people on this thread. OP, you are over training my friend. To the person who said they do full body workouts 3 times a week and are not over training….you shot yourself in the foot when you said you don’t “kill” your muscles in each workout. The goal of an advanced workout IS to “kill” your muscle each workout and then with proper nutrition and rest time (often a week) you see results.

All of us start out as beginners. When you are new to lifting you should work the muscle several times a week. This is NOT because it is the most efficient way to do it. It’s because when you’re starting out your muscle are not ready for such an intense once a week work out. You must condition them first. As we progress through bodybuilding or whatever you’re working out for, you hopefully become more efficient at working a muscle group more intensely, with less time.  If you can master the pump, focus on the muscle being worked, range of motion, intensity….and so on, then you can completely exhaust a muscle in a work out. If you can do that…you need a week to recover. Mastering this takes time, which is why beginners don’t do it.  If you can’t do it, you’re not advanced. 

Its all about finding what works for you, it does'nt matter what other people say.

If you do Full Bodyworkouts 3 times a week and find that you are increasing your strength and getting gains then why change your workout routine?
Or, alternatively if your find you are not getting good gains in stength or muscle then yes, maybe you should try something different!

Personally, I have been doing Full Body Workouts for almost 6 months, but I made very little progress and also started suffering from overtraining (I am a beginner too so 'technically' this was the best approach).
So I changed to a 3 day split and now my gains have been supercharged!
So that must mean my body copes better with intense infrequent exercise rather than less intensive frequent exercise.

You just need to find what works for you and thats why its important to keep a track of your progress.