Hey guys,

How many muscle groups should you work on a day, because at the moment, I'm doing 2 muscle groups per day. But the problem I have is that I'm not entirely sure which groups to do with eachother. At present I don't have a "set" workout routine which I follow - e.g. Chest and biceps, legs and triceps as it differs now and then. This is only an example.

I'm on a 5day workout per week and resting on Saterday and Sunday. With 3 days of ab exercises to work on it more than the other muscles. There's a bit of fat on my belly and obliques, but would it also be a good idea to go for overall muscle gain rather than losing fat on my belly and obliques?

 (I see the threads name is a bit confusing xD - Grouping muscles per day)

Jack,

It's always best to plan your workouts as this way you are prepared. This is my split for muscle hypertrophy as I find it works best for me:

• Chest and triceps
• Back and biceps
• Shoulders
• Legs

Usually I will get two rest days in a week and I like to do abs on my rest days. My workouts only tend to last for 1 hour max. What bodyfat percentage are you? Do you have your meal plan in check as you will not make significant gains if not.

Hey Daniel, thanks for the reply!

At the moment, I'm not sure of my exact body fat % as different sites differ with results. Some say I'm at 21 - 22% and others say 16%, so I'm really not sure which may be correct.

As for my meal plan, I'm a bit in a "struggle" to get enough protein in a day for decent gains. As I don't know how I can imagine to get over 200g of protein per day when in my own mealplan which has a lot of food in a day gets me under 100g of protein. Al though the totals of my meal plan is without supplements I don't really know how to get those amounts.

Also I'll try the muscle group split-up and see how it goes.

Jack, you need someone to MEASURE your bodyfat %.  A website can't tell you this accurately at all.  Your gym should be able to do it.

As far as protein.  Eating 200grams is easy.  Here are some good choices:

1. Meat (fish, chicken, steak)
2. Greek Yogurt (23grams per CUP!)
3. Eggs
4. Egg whites
5. BSN SYNTHA-6 ISOLATE (My favorite)

I see you are using the SHF meal planner.  Are you entering your food in there?  It automatically adds all the macros and calories for you.

Jack,

Daniel has a great breakdown here.  You can also do Bi's with Chest and Tri's with Shoulders to allow you a day just to do back since it is a large muscle group.  Tri's with Shoulders as you can focus on them better as they get worked if you do them with Chest.  Either way, both our suggestions are one's to consider :-)

John

Hey,

Thanks for the replies!

I am using the meal planner, but what I've done it to try and include food which gives all the minerals, vitamins and the other macros. So in that way I reduced the amount of protein per day.

I'm busy setting up another Meal plan with way more protein in it, I'll see how it goes and post it here. It's a bummer that I don't live in the US, then I could've bought the same supplements, but I'll try to get a replica of those you have on your page :p

Also, I'll ask around in the gym, if they could measure my BF%.

Hey John,

I'll try both of those in the next 2 weeks and see which one I would prefer.

Hey John,

I am not sure about something you said. 

"I am using the meal planner, but what I've done it to try and include food which gives all the minerals, vitamins and the other macros. So in that way I reduced the amount of protein per day."

Did you mean you are trying to get all your protein from "food" as opposed to  supplement?

Hey Scott,

What I meant by that was; I was trying to get enough protein while also getting in enough minerals and vitamins in a day. But I wasn't able to have a balance with all of those, while still trying to get 200g of protein per day. As I was refering to this chart below. Which I tried to get most of them A's (even though protein says A)

So, I was able to balance them, but protein intake was low. With your suggestions, I'm trying to change my meal plan, while still getting a few other minerals and vitamins into my system but with higher amounts of protein.

Oh ok Jack I see what you mean. 

If I were you I would make the protein goal your main priority.  Everything else will fall into place especially if you are taking things like a fish oil pill and a multivitamin ontop of eating lots of regular food.

The easiest way is with a protein shake.  If this is your meal plan and your protein, carbs, and fat are low, go with a BSN SYNTHA-6 or SYNTHA-6 ISOLATE depending on how much you need.  The ISOLATE has less carbs, fat, and calories.

You are doing a really great job though!  I am proud of you man!

I'll put up the new meal plan, once I've sorted out on what I'm going to eat and my macros.

At the moment, I'm using this Whey protein + fish oil pills and multivitamin in the morning.

I've another question though - How long should my cardio be and how many days in a week? As I'm going to the gym 5days a week. Also, thanks for everyone that helped so far, as I'm making more progess now.

For muscle gain I would only do 20-30minutes 3 - 4 times a week AFTER your workouts. :)