Anyone done PPL once a week with success?

[darksoul999]

Used to it few years ago for about a year and was really consistent, gains were okay-ish. Never met anyone who had done this only 3 days a week so just wondering if anyone here has and what their experience was?

Possibly thinking about going back to it as recovery was really good.

 

[jess1]

@darksoul999 I’ve done it before for a decent amount of time and it worked well. I think most people would do better doing it 3 times a week instead of 6 which is common on here. Normally when I do PPL i don’t have a set amount of days I’ll train and probably averages from 4 to 4.5 sessions a week.

 

[oncemore]

@jess1 I'm in this position right now... 6 days a week is tough to be consistent with, but I love the pump I get with a PPL workout. Have been struggling with whether I should blend my two PP days a bit more for more of an Upper-Lower set up if all I can really bank on is averaging 4-ish days a week.

Are you still doing PPL 4-4.5 days a week, or have you moved on to something else?

 

[jess1]

@oncemore I’m still doing PPL as I like the flexibility. I’m 40 and work long hours and it’s easy to fit in around my life and adjust when I need more recovery.

Very few people actually manage to train six days a week for a long time, train hard and achieve what I would consider good results. I’m sure it happens, but it’s normally young beginners who think doing more means faster progress and can recover from a lot. It becomes much harder when you’re stronger and older. My joints wouldn’t handle it now.

People often focus on doing more and not actually getting better.

 

[jennifer1990]

@jess1 I understand the joints & recovery thing. I used to make fun of “older” guys but now I’m an “older” guy and I totally get it. Can I fit in more sets or sessions? Sure, but I might not be able to get up tomorrow morning and chase my kids.

 

[oncemore]

@jess1 Got it. I appreciated the response.

 

[unbridledwild]

@jess1 Injuring myself a few times this year has definitely humbled me and made me consider my routine and habits more carefully.

 

[kayheartsong]

@oncemore I do what I call rolling ppl 6 days. I just keep going until I feel I need a day off or I'm too busy one day.
Then I just pick it up the day after and carry on.

I think that's more beneficial than skipping body parts just because you were unable to train one particular day.

 

[oncemore]

@kayheartsong That's more or less how I've been approaching it, but I end up averaging just under 4 days a week. Can't decide if I should shorten my workouts to make it easier to be more frequent, or lean into the current frequency and just do a little more work (combine the more essential push/pull exercises) on my workdays.

 

[kayheartsong]

@oncemore Mine are quite short. 2 exercises for chest, 2 for shoulders, 1 for triceps. That's my push day.
Other days fairly similar. I've always made progress that way.
Don't think I've got a long workout in me anymore haha.

 

[oncemore]

@kayheartsong Yeah, I think I answered my question shortly after my last response. I think a lot of my reduced frequency is due to 75+ minute workouts being too taxing and time-consuming. Just don't always have that in me.

Have been dropping a few exercises from sessions to get closer to 15 sets per workout the last few days and finding that I quite like that amount of volume, and should be able to increase my frequency some.

 

[mj1999]

@kayheartsong Same. This works for me well.

 

[giamfreeg]

@oncemore Im in this exact position too. I can guarantee 4 days. I think I’d struggle to fit enough volume into 4 sessions without training for 1.5 hours or ending up with junk volume if I kept it at 1 hour.

 

[oncemore]

@giamfreeg Yeah, its a tough balance. I've decided to try keeping my sessions to around 15 sets, hopefully less than an hour, and hope that reducing volume from 25± sets per session will make it easy enough for me to average 5-ish days a week.

 

[darksoul999]

@jess1 This is my thinking. I've also never understood the concept that's naturals need to train more often with more frequency than non natties which is pushed around a lot here, we need more recovery not less lol. Gains are so slow for me now anyways jumping to 5-6 days would just outweigh any positives.

 

[freedominjesusname]

@darksoul999 Highly recommend these 2 videos:

"Why You Should Train MORE Than The Pros"

tl:dr

• pros tend to have more fast twitch fiber which needs less stimulation
• pros tend to be way stronger and have way more muscle which results in longer recovery periods
• drugs don't make that much of a difference, especially when pros get stronger and get more muscular, see above
• on average, pros train less than they actually say they do
• it's usually frequency that pros can't handle that much, including joints hurting

Also: frequency, volume, intensity and intensivness need to be regulated, meaning that if you trained your chest for 10 sets a week now, and you up frequency 2x, you'd start with still 10 sets per week which results in 5 sets per session, and leaving intensity and intensiveness where they are.

edit: oh, and obviously it differs from person to person and muscle to muscle, see video below as well

" Best Bodybuilding Split For Growing Muscle"

tl:dr

• comparison between PPL, Upper-Lower, Whole Body

 

[tay796]

@freedominjesusname First point he pulled out of his ass. How the fuck can you make the assumption that pros have more fast twitch fibers.

 

[myalhussaini]

@freedominjesusname A lot of this shit is bs. Two of the strongest biggest dudes (not natty) I met, and a lot of the old strong old school lifters told me before that nattys should only be working a muscle group once per week, albeit you are working it hard that session, think mentzer or Yates style to failure. I train bjj a couple of times too, and sometimes it'll be 10 to 12 days before a muscle group gets hit again, and this timing is perfect for gains and recovery I've always found. That whole needing more frequency as a natty thing is total bs lol

 

[mendedfromashes]

@freedominjesusname that guy is the ceo of broscience

 

[freedominjesusname]

@mendedfromashes What's one or two of the main flaws he's talking about? Trying to learn.