Haven’t missed the gym since Christmas. Is it necessary to have rest days if I’m doing PPL?

[spreading_the_gospel]

@alchemist_jay If you train with high intensity PPL 3x a week is an extremely good split.

 

[alchemist_jay]

@spreading_the_gospel What do you mean by intensity? Isn’t that subjective?

 

[spreading_the_gospel]

@alchemist_jay To summarize it going to an RPE of 9/10 and 3x a week PPL will be great for you! Obviously don't go to an RPE of 10 on legpress and kill yourself lol.

Hunter Labrada, on the Olympia stage as an OPEN body builder using all PEDs available only did 5x a week PPL.

TBJP, the same, just not as successful on the stage, did PPL every 5 days.

Ben Howard WNBF World Championship Winner of 2018, Did PPL 3x a week.

Around here PPL 6x a week is the norm. With Advanced lifters it doesn't exist because it would be insane if you actually pushed yourself.

No one sees Jordan Peters work out and says he isn't intense. Same thing goes for Dorian Yates. People can squabble about mechanical, technical failure, bla bla bla, but working out hard is obvious to even beginners when they see it, that's why people can notice it or notice the lack of it.

 

[kate930]

@paigek91 I think you mean a 6 days PPL split, so a PPLPPL. I'll treat as if it is what you mean, if it isn't then I'm talking alone and should be ignored. Lol

The reason why I don't like PPLPPL, or more broadly a 6 days split, is specifically the rest days. You are right, that if you have a good program, you should be able to train the muscle again in 2 days, essentially making them rest days (but only for that muscle). The problem is that, while you are indeed resting those muscles, you are not resting you CNS. You are taking care of the local fatigue, but not the general fatigue. Like, I think we can all agree that the day after a heavy quad day is bound to no be the most optimal. That's why I don't like it very much.

Is it possible to do? Yes, it is, I just don't think it's optimal. If you like going to the gym, and don't care much about it, then go at it, but that's my view.

if you are talking about a 3 day PPL split, then it doesn't have a rest day problem, since you train every other day, it's plenty to recover.

 

[paigek91]

@kate930 What I mean is that when I’m doing legs my push and pull muscles are getting rest. I don’t mean 6 day ppl I mean ppl repeating since December 26th straight

 

[kate930]

@paigek91 I mean, yes? Suppose you do push on monday, pull on wednesday, legs on friday, it's perfect in terms of recovery. You will have 7 days of rest for each muscle, and a rest day between each gym day.

 

[paigek91]

@kate930 I think you’re missing what I’m saying or I’m missing what you’re saying. I have gone every day since December 26th. I have not taken a rest day and I want to know if that’s good or bad. If it’s good I’m going to continue going every day

 

[kate930]

@paigek91 You haven't rested even on saturdays or sundays? If that's the case, that's super bad, not even kidding.

If you trained with intensity (which is how you should be training) you must be cooked by now. If you aren't, then you aren't training with intensity, and someone going 4 days a week training with intensity is probably getting better results than you, even though he goes 3 days less than you.

 

[paigek91]

@kate930 Getting mixed results here from “that’s super bad” to “that’s absolutely normal”

I’m most certainly training with intensity. I fell on Monday after leg day and I take at least one set of every exercise to failure

 

[kate930]

@paigek91 My answer is the following. Training 16 days straight is bad, you need to have a rest day AT LEAST once a week, or once every 6 days, so you should have had at least 2 rest days. And even that I think it’s bad, I wouldn’t train with less than 2 rest days a week.

 

[edgmar]

@kate930 what do you think for upper - lower - p - p - l?

 

[kate930]

@edgmar It's what I'm currently doing, I love it. It's Upper Lower rest Pull Push Legs rest

 

[edgmar]

@kate930 exactly what i do. im not experienced like you tho. mind u sharing your plan?

 

[kate930]

@edgmar Something like this. Everything 3 sets.

Incline Machine Bench Press, Lat Pulldown, Cable Crossover, Low Neutral Single-Arm Pulley Row, Dumbbell Lateral Raises, Barbell Ez Bar Curl, Triceps Rope Pulldown + Lower Abdominal Exercises

Barbell Squat, Hack Squat, Leg Curl Machine, Leg Extension Machine, Seated Leg Curl, Calf Raise

Bent Over Barbell Row, Triangle Lat Pulldown, Rope Pulldown, Low Supinated Single-Arm Pulley Row, Machine Bicep Curl, Dumbbell Hammer Curls, Upper Abdominal Exercises

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press, Machine Chest Fly, Machine Flat Bench Press, Machine Shoulder Press, Dumbbell Lateral Raises, Unilateral Forehead Triceps Extension, Curved Bar Triceps Pushdown + Lower Abdominal Exercises

Seated Leg Curl, Barbell Stiff-Legged Deadlift, Leg Press, V-Machine Squat, Abductor Machine, Calf Raises

 

[kpmasonry]

@paigek91 He's correct in that your muscles are already rested for 2 days. I would say if you have energy and drive, there's no binding need to take a day off. Listen to your body. If you feel very sore, then take a day off.

 

[lybrah]

@paigek91 When I started back, I lifted everyday for a month, then took two rest days. Now I I’ll go about 9 days, two rest days. If you’re young, you can probably handle a lot of volume and recover day by day. If you’re on the older side, you may want atleast one rest day a week.

 

[geo1981]

@paigek91 If you're training hard, you will probably start burning out a little after a month or so and (hopefully) feel compelled to take rests. You can start proactively taking rest days, or if you're feeling good, keep going, but pay attention to how you're feeling and how the weights are moving. Either way could work. No one can really answer this question for you because we don't know what your training looks like, how you're progressing, how you're feeling, etc.

I've had whole months where I never skipped a day and did very well, but if you're going pretty hard, you can't keep that up indefinitely.

 

[eighty]

@paigek91 are you gonna end your streak bro? don’t think so

 

[notsure17]

@paigek91 Is it necessary? Obviously not.

Is it helpful? Definitely.

 

[adman123]

@paigek91 I’m a type 1 diabetic as well, and I’ve been doing the exact same thing funnily enough. What I’ve found is overall doing a repeating push pull legs sequence with no scheduled rest days works great, however, it’s essential that you track your lifts. And it’s essential that your eating a lot of nutrient dense food and sleeping well to support the heavy work load. As long as your getting stronger and you don’t have any hurting joints or strains, keep running it. As soon as you notice your progress slow and your struggling to add weight or reps in your workouts, take a rest day and just do some cardio. Or, if you come back around to your push day for instance, and your still feeling some chest and tricep soreness from the last push day, take a rest day and perform the push day on the following day.

Essentially run the PPL on repeat but as soon as you notice your not fully recovered in time for that specific workout, or you notice your progress stalling, take the rest day and don’t try to just “tough it out”. After all we’re working out to get stronger and make gains, so if the strength isn’t increasing at all, then we need to listen to our body and adapt by giving it an extra rest day whenever necessary. Hope that helps a little!