Right now the recipe calls for splits of ub/lb on tuesday, thursday, saturday. So in effect, each body part is having THREE days off before being worked again. What would you think if I moved the reps to:

Mon: UB
Tues: LB
Weds: UB
THurs: LB
Fri: UB

and then start the next week again,
Mon: LB
Tues: UB
Weds: LB
Thurs: UB
Fri: LB


Would I see results faster, or would there really be no difference? Do I get a better effect by spacing out my recovery days more like the program calls for? I could see burnout as a risk, but honestly, after having done lower body yesterday, I can't see the point of not doing it again until Monday. Seems like times-a-wastin'!

??? Thanks!

Now, I think, and I'm NOT the resident expert, and depending on your level of fitness, you would set yourself up for injury and burn out... If this is your first BFL challenge, do it basically by the book...

If you did a full BFL workout to failure, you'd be exhausted, overtrained, and probably see less results than if you followed the plan as written. Being a chronic over-achiever type, I tried that when I did my first BFL challenge. I lasted 6 weeks doing that.

If you really want to lift more frequently and see more dramatic results, here's the change I'd suggest: break Upper Body into 2 days so that You are really lifting a 3 day split and do cardio on all days except lower Body and rest day.

Here are a couple of possibilities:
Week 1
Day1 (Upper): Chest and Shoulders
Day2 (Upper): Back, biceps, triceps
Day3 (Lower): Legs and abs
Day4 (Upper): same as day 1
Day5 (Upper): same as day 2)
Day 6 : Cardio only - or put day 6 between day 3 and 4
Day 7: rest

Week 2
Day 1(Lower): Legs and abs
Day 2 (Upper): Chest and Shoulders
Day 3 (Upper): Back, biceps, triceps
Day 4: cardio only or use as day 6
Day 5(Lower): Legs and abs
Day 6:cardio only

Upper can be split a couple of ways-1)back and shoulders, 2) chest, bi's tri's
3) push-pull : chest, tri's and shoulders (push), back and bi's (pull).

It's still a lot of lifting. If you do this, I'd suggest changing to a lighter workout week somewhere near week 8-10 and do maybe 3 full body workouts, then go back to your regularly scheduled split

Or as Ilene suggested, finish out as written, and see how it goes. A lot of people really don't see the kind of results they were expecting until at least weeks 8-10. Give yourself some time

Mel

That's a great workout Mel!! I just may try that...

Thanks for that wonderful plan Mel, I will be printing that out!

I think I have answered my own question by day 2 post lower body.

OWWWWW.

That's all I can say. It's to the point where if I drop something, I'm begging the kids to pick it up for me. I dread having to get down on the floor and look for anything under the couch or coffee table - it just ain't gonna happen.

I have never felt such soreness in my front thighs.. Oy. I would shoot myself if I had to work them again already today. I'm considering popping some ibuprofen just to make it thru the day. The kids are asking me if I feel ok, that's how grouchy I've been!

Oh My!! Don't be grouchy feel happy that you have worked those muscles and they are burning fat and are going to look pretty damn awesome and sexy in a few months... I, and I know many others, thrive on that pain

Oh boy do I remember that first couple of weeks of BfL - I had days when I thought I'd never be able to get out of bed!

That's exactly it Sara - the pain involved in rolling over and getting up out of bed. That's why I get so cranky, I can't even get out of bed and yet I have to deal with immediately getting b'fast on the table and making hot lunches for school. Feeling my abs now too. I did crunches on the ball (old news for me) and flat on back, knees bent to side crunches. I think that's what I'm feeling - all that side work.

I’ve been doing basically a 3 day split lately, UB, LB, and Core. I think working each group just once a week has actually done me more good than harm! I will probably want to change that up in a another month or so, but I was surprised how much more I could do when I let my muscles recover for a whole week. I guess what I’m saying is you shouldn’t be afraid of a little recovery time. I may give one of Mel’s plans a try when I’m ready to spend that many days of the week in the gym. That’s a lot of lifting!

I need to restate my intended position on the split I proposed: I still think it's too much! I do a five day split, but never work a particular body part more than once a week except unweighted abs unless you count demo'ing exercises a zillion times with lighter weights that I use for my own workouts

But the split I proposed above, MORE OR LESS follows the BLF layout. I think doing it longterm would result in burnout rather than increased improvement.

Mel

I think it took me a couple of weeks plus quite a lot of Ibrufen before I started to feel a bit better. I do my BfL stuff first thing in the morning and I started doing a stretch routine before even thinking about warming up / working out so perhaps a stretch routine might work for you. I used to wake up in the morning and go through a roll-call of which bits of me were hurting most that day then do a few gentle stretches while I was still actually in bed, just so that I was able to get out of it!

This whole process kind of reminds me of room makeovers- you go through a period of turmoil when everything is a mess before getting to the 'putting the paint on the wall' stage when your room starts to look okay, then - as time progresses - you get the basics in place and slowly find the finishing touches and eventually your room looks like you had pictured it would be in your mind.

I'm just starting week 6 and I think I've finished the period of turmoil and am in the early stages of putting the paint on the wall. I still get aches and pains but they aren't quite as incapacitating as they were in the first couple of weeks.

Hey Mel-

I have a question for you about the weightlifting schedule you proposed. You said it was too much but I really enjoy weightlifting more than 3 days a week. Can you give me an example of what your five day split looks like? I'm looking for something that will allow me to weightlift 5 days a week. I'm definitely a gym rat!

I am not Mel but here is a good 4 day split for a 5 day split you could work legs on two separate days working ham and glutes one day and quads the next leg day...

I like a 4 day split myself, but I do go to the gym almost every day to do something either weights and cardio or just weights or just cardio... I'm a gym rat too welcome to our world ...

I know Mel will come along with some excellent wisdom ...

Hi
My split is pretty simple:
Monday: Legs (Quads and Hams)
Tuesday: Chest
Wednesday: Shoulders and abs, calves (not much)
Thursday: Back
Friday or Saturday: Biceps, triceps, more abs

I also throw in a set or two of various ab exercises between sets on other days, and do a lot of abs with clients and demo'ing.

My only rules for devising a split is that I never work back and legs on back-to-back days because 1) hamstrings get recruited depending on what type of lower back exercises you are doing and 2) they are both huge muscle groups and I just get too fatigued if I put them close together.

Mel

Thank you ladies for responding!

I'm sorry to pester you Mel, but I have another question. On another post, you recommended not doing cardio on leg lifting days and a rest day, is that the same for this schedule?

And another one- I've been researching about how many exercises, sets, and reps to do and I'm getting conflicting information. So let's say it's a chest day, would it be fine to do 3-4 different exercises with 3 sets of 12 reps?

Thanks for your time!