I am always wondering and overcomplicating things in life and I have been posting quite a lot of questions here lately because I am just more confused the more I read.

I came to the conclusion that I absolutely might not need a rest day if I have the energy and motivation to go to the gym.

But I also can just quit going to the gym if I need more rest as well instead of just one rest day.

I have a few exercises that I know I can execute with a decent form. Probably not perfect but fine enough to not break me in the future so I just do them.

I feel like I have the best results in this kind of a mixed routine.

One week I do for example Push Legs Pull while moving Triceps from Push to Pull day and Biceps from Pull to Push day. This just feels way better than Chest + Triceps cause I have to lower weight for triceps exercises by almost 50% once I get to the exercise on chest day. Same goes for Biceps. Why biceps on pull day if I could just throw in a rest day after pull day and repeat again or heck, I can still go Push again with a bit lighter weight if I figure I don’t need it.

So right now my routine is more like this: Monday: Chest + Biceps Tuesday: Legs (light) and bouldering (climbing) Wednesday: Back + Triceps Thursday: Cardio Friday: Upper Body (2 Chest, 2 Back, 1 Triceps 1 Biceps exercise) Saturday: Legs heavy Sunday rest.

But sometimes I don’t feel the need to rest and I just add an arm day and after that I rest again.

It feels like I don’t have a real routine but I am just juggling with the exercises I know and when to do them with the goal to hit most muscles 2-3 times a week.

After a pull day it sometimes feels wrong to not go to the gym the next day and just go for 4 biceps exercises so I just do that and call it a day.

I’m totally not sure about recovery in general but it might be taxing on my CNS but I just throw in a rest day here, a rest there and sometimes two days or heck even three days and go full into it again. Correct me if I am wrong but I think it could be a better idea to just listen to your body and not to a routine?

I just did Upper Lower + PPL (5 days) and tomorrow is sunday. Why should I stay at home tomorrow if I feel I can go hard on push tomorrow? If I go hard on push tomorrow I could still rest on monday and continue with legs and pull on tuesday and wednesday?

I don’t look like Doc Mike, Chris Heria, Chris Bumstead and whoever is out there. But I also will never go as heavy as they go so it feels like that this whole recovery story on social media is more for the people who are really deep in the game but not for people who have so many sessions. Don’t understand me wrong. Recovery is important and thats why I don’t go to the gym every day. But sometimes it feels like working out chest and back twice is a week is perfect but my arms could actually need 3-4 workouts. Sometimes it feels like my legs only need one workout and I am dead the whole week so I won’t do them twice. Just as an example…

I think waking up in the morning and doing whatever doesnt feel exhausted (worstcase soor) should be worked out. If I do chest monday and wednesday I feel like its fresh - why not just do Push again and move the pull to the next day?

But same goes the other way: Why should I go into my leg day if I am tired and exhausted from a heavy push day? Yeah my legs are fine but holy if my CNS is fried why?

  • Grogon@lemmy.worldOP
    2·
    5 days ago

    Thanks man for your words.

    Maybe my feelings towards routine are completly invalid because I work as a nurse many different shifts.

    I can sometimes go 7 times a week and the next week only 4 times.

    For me atleast it helped having a PPL and Upper/ Lower Split ready I can just use anytime I need it.

    I dunno though but it also feels like most of my muscles don’t have this 24 to 48 hour window. Some muscles I think can be used like the next day again while the bigger muscles really do need recovery. Like if someone says Push monday for chest shoulders triceps. What if I do that and the next day I feel my triceps has enough energy even though I went to failure on monday with my last iso exercises? Why would it be wrong to train them on tuesday after legs? Should I really wait til thursday?

    Feels like I am missing out on potential if I wouldnt just throw them in before thursday but wednesday being a bad idea because of the push day on thursday.

    I hope you know what I am trying to say. But other times I know and feel I shouldnt do triceps again. Or sometimes after PPLPPL - Rest. Really start with Push if you are still not feeling it monday while knowing your back and biceps feel more ready?

    • howrar
      1·
      3 days ago

      Recovery time can vary a lot depending on the person, the particular muscle group how much volume you do, how hard you push, quality of your sleep, and a bunch of other factors. It’s not wild to have arms that recover faster than average.

      It’s perfectly valid to have a fluctuating schedule too. It’s not ideal, but life rarely cooperates to give us ideal conditions. I’d say that if changing it to a fixed schedule is too complicated or makes it less enjoyable and harder to adhere to, then don’t do it. Based on what you’ve written, it seems like you do have a pretty well thought out plan on how to autoregulate and adapt to whatever your work schedule throws at you. That is in itself a rigorous plan. Not everything has to align with our seven day calendars.