Overworking Muscles?

I go to the gym about 6 days a week.
The first day is back and bis, the second day is chest and tris, and the third day is legs and shoulders. Then I take one day of rest, and repeat.
Is this too much for my muscles? Should I have a break between each workout day, or does this work?

You aren’t working the same muscle groups two days in a row so you should be good but that all depends on how fast your body heals

You should be fine, I prefer to do chest and tri’s one day, then back and bi’s, and then legs and shoulders. Shoulders get worked quite a bit during chest workouts so I like to have that extra break in the middle. Not a huge deal but just a suggestion

Thanks guys. I think I will switch my schedule so I can do chest and tris the first day, then back and bis, thanks for the suggestion.

good suggestion, i m going to try this aswell

No prob, also if you take the weekends off like I do, you get that much needed 2 day break to rest the legs before starting over again on monday.

You may also be working some of the rear shoulders during your back day as well. But there really isn’t a “right way” to do everything (except with the fact of working the same muscle group two consecutive days). Plus, I seemingly got my best results when I would mix it up in ways I never thought of. Like anterior and posterior shoulders, biceps and triceps, biceps and hamstrings, triceps and quads, etc. Again, as long as there isn’t back to back some muscle group days, there’s no reason to not experiment.

if your trying to bulk up try this:

chest, tri’s on Monday
Back, Bi’s on Tuesday
Shoulders and Legs on Weds
chest, tri’s on Thurs.
Back, Bi’s on Friday
Take off the weekend or cardio

worked for me in college. Put on tons of weight and size without supplements

First off, it’s not that simple and don’t let anybody tell you yes or no based on this little information.

Their are so many factors that play into recovery, but most importantly: Listen to your body!! If you feel sluggish and beat up, take an extra day of rest. The notion that you must wait for a bodypart to heal completely before hitting it again is misleading at best, if not disproven by recent science. It’s not necessarily your muscles that need to be healed, but your central nervous system! Your body will let you know when it needs a break. Check out something called Hypertrophy Specific Training. I don’t personally like the weight training routine much myself, but the ideas/theories/science behind it are backed by pure science.

Are you getting at LEAST 7 hours of sleep per night?

Are you eating enough protein for your body to heal properly?

How intense are these workouts? Heavy weight? High volume? As a general rule, the heavier you lift the more time off you should take.

Believe it or not, more (time in the gym) is not always better.

Brazen has it right. I’ve read the recent science about resting the body. The body is quite capable of adapting to any stress we put on it. You just need to be sure you’re giving it enough fuel to continue building, and enough sleep at night for recovery. I lift weights about six days a week. If I’m feeling worn down for any reason, I’ll take an extra day or two off. Look up “Huge In A Hurry” by Chad Waterbury. Its a good read.

Many good points. The fact is it really depends on your current level of fitness. If you are already muscular and have a low body fat, then, as stated above, you are probably capable of a quick recovery so as long as you listen to your body and don’t overdo it, then you’re probably fine. Just make sure you don’t workout tired and risk hurting yourself.

Seth

Well everything works different for different people. What i find best is what i do now i dont split body parts i do everything in one day then the next day i totally rest from everything.
Then next day workout hard again this way i can go all out and really push myself and have a whole day in between to recover and build muscle doing this i have turned my workouts from 2hrs to 5hrs and got my bench from 143lbs to 203lbs in like a month or so.
But generaly everybodys different you need to listen to your body and find what works for you.

Chris, good work but are your spending 5 hours a day working out, every other day? I don’t think most people can afford that amount of time for working out.

@Chris: Not to dispute your results, but what I’ve heard from several trainers is that you have around 1h of good “explosive” energy in your body per day. This is the energy that you use for body building, and after it’s spent, your workout is much less rewarding.

This energy reserve is also the reason why most experts say that during aerobic exercise you only start burning fat after around 30 minutes — until then you’re only using those reserves. If you schedule your aerobic training after weight lifting, you get the best of both worlds.

Also, with a 5h workout you might be missing the post-workout “anabolic window” (0-45 minutes after training) where your body is much more receptive to protein intake.

Again, I don’t want to dispute your results, since it obviously works for you, but others might want to inform themselves before following this advice.