# Once a week?



## Long (Apr 21, 2019)

Any thoughts on the effectiveness of once a week per bodypart for someone who is natural? 
I'm finding the boxing workload is where I need my focus, my high volume old school thinking multiple times a week just will not fit into my goals. There seems to be some suggestion on various lifing websites that once a week is popular for one group and may not be as effective a setup for a natural lifter, I am interested in opinions.


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## maxmuscle1 (Apr 21, 2019)

Long said:


> Any thoughts on the effectiveness of once a week per bodypart for someone who is natural?
> I'm finding the boxing workload is where I need my focus, my high volume old school thinking multiple times a week just will not fit into my goals. There seems to be some suggestion on various lifing websites that once a week is popular for one group and may not be as effective a setup for a natural lifter, I am interested in opinions.



Seems like a 3-4day a week compound exercises program would workout better for natural but that is an opinion.  I think being consistent is the key, really.


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## Spongy (Apr 21, 2019)

hitting a muscle group once per week makes no sense to me.  I cant think of a single scenario, natural or not, where I need an entire week to recover any single muscle group.  That being said, if you're a boxer and your goal isn't to compete in PL or BB, then do whatever your coach tells you.

Read this extremely well written post and give it some thought.  

https://www.ugbodybuilding.com/threads/21852-The-Bro-Split-why-it-sucks-better-alternatives


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## snake (Apr 21, 2019)

Spongy said:


> hitting a muscle group once per week makes no sense to me.  I cant think of a single scenario, natural or not, where I need an entire week to recover any single muscle group.


I beg to differ. Did a single body part for 25+ years and even with hindsight I would have not changed a thing.


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## MrRippedZilla (Apr 21, 2019)

Spongy said:


> hitting a muscle group once per week makes no sense to me.  I cant think of a single scenario, natural or not, where I need an entire week to recover any single muscle group.  That being said, if you're a boxer and your goal isn't to compete in PL or BB, then do whatever your coach tells you.
> 
> Read this extremely well written post and give it some thought.
> https://www.ugbodybuilding.com/threads/21852-The-Bro-Split-why-it-sucks-better-alternatives


Not to mention the very simple fact that the "anabolic window" is, at best, 72 hours long, which makes the bro split borderline stupid for naturals. In 7 years of coaching a whole bunch of elite natties, I can't think of a single man or woman who responded better to that vs alternative, better splits. Not 1. 

And you're right. That is a quite excellent post


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## Seeker (Apr 22, 2019)

if you're mostly concerned about moving up in boxing I'm not sure  if weightlifting  should play any importance in your goals.  I could be wrong but I've not heard of it


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## Viduus (Apr 22, 2019)

There’s a few that would work but PPL is good and you’ll hit things 2x. Lower the volume and increase the intensity of time is a concern. 

Especially if your focus isn’t BBing you can insert compound movements and drop odds and ends like calves.


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## snake (Apr 22, 2019)

MrRippedZilla said:


> Not to mention the very simple fact that the "anabolic window" is, at best, 48 hours long, which makes the bro split borderline stupid for naturals. In 7 years of coaching a whole bunch of elite natties, I can't think of a single man or woman who responded better to that vs alternative, better splits. Not 1.
> 
> And you're right. That is a quite excellent post



You need to elaborate on this for me.


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## Long (Apr 22, 2019)

Seeker said:


> if you're mostly concerned about moving up in boxing I'm not sure  if weightlifting  should play any importance in your goals.  I could be wrong but I've not heard of it



Boxing is taking precedence but not lifting at all is not acceptable to me.


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## Grizzly911 (Apr 22, 2019)

Long said:


> Boxing is taking precedence but not lifting at all is not acceptable to me.



Do you have a title fight coming up? Didn't Holyfield lift weights more than once a week when he was training for the heavyweight class?


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## Long (Apr 22, 2019)

Grizzly911 said:


> Do you have a title fight coming up? Didn't Holyfield lift weights more than once a week when he was training for the heavyweight class?



No title fight. Just looking to box masters (35+)@199lbs. I'm down from 244.8 to 228.8. 
Hollyfield did lift, Tyson didn't. At least not pre prison. Old school boxers were against lifting. I think the new school of thought is some sort of fast movement low rep lifts mixed with higher rep endurance style. I am out of my element with that kind of stuff.
I have a lifetime of putting weight on the bar and lifting it 6-10 reps, 4 or 5 sets relatively high volume till I start to grow. Change up the exercises, take some time off repeat. I can probably thank genetics for some of my size, hard work and pound my head into the wall until it moves mentality for the rest.
But, at this age 41, and with my boxing goals (time consuming work) and weightlifting goals, (keeping strength, filling the arms, chest and neck of a tee shirt) I am honestly finding what has always worked is too much to be able to achieve my other goals.


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## Long (Apr 22, 2019)

So what I keep coming down to is one a day.
Where I only do about 4 or five sets for a specific group and just blast the hell out of it once a week.
Or I do some modified type of 5x5 style program where I do 4 or five basic lifts relatively heavy three times a week to work the entire body three times a week but leave some parts to lag.
Or something I haven't thought of.


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## snake (Apr 22, 2019)

Long said:


> So what I keep coming down to is one a day.
> Where I only do about 4 or five sets for a specific group and just blast the hell out of it once a week.
> Or I do some modified type of 5x5 style program where I do 4 or five basic lifts relatively heavy three times a week to work the entire body three times a week but leave some parts to lag.
> Or something I haven't thought of.



You're really asking for your body to serve two masters here in my opinion. I think lifting can enhance your boxing, something I know nothing about inside the ring, but to what level is hard to say. Too much will have a negative effect on your goals. Damn you got the heart of a lion for wanting to be good at both, I'll give you that. 

I think we would all be able to help you a bit more if you could lay out a full week routine of training and include all you do. Remember, the advice you get here will be coming from people who put lifting above most other endeavors so temper those responses with that knowledge. I'm concerned about over training and injury on your behalf.


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## Long (Apr 22, 2019)

snake said:


> You're really asking for your body to serve two masters here in my opinion. I think lifting can enhance your boxing, something I know nothing about inside the ring, but to what level is hard to say. Too much will have a negative effect on your goals. Damn you got the heart of a lion for wanting to be good at both, I'll give you that.
> 
> I think we would all be able to help you a bit more if you could lay out a full week routine of training and include all you do. Remember, the advice you get here will be coming from people who put lifting above most other endeavors so temper those responses with that knowledge. I'm concerned about over training and injury on your behalf.



Am wake up
A couple hours of organizational nonsense, nothing physical 

Every day around 8-9 (mon-fri)
Stretch 
Hop twists 30 (face one direction in fighting stance jump 180 land in balanced fighting stance)
Jump rope 3 min(weighted rope, bare foot, on carpet)
Sit ups(number increases weekly)
Shrugs (5 sets of 20 relatively light weight 135lbs)
Rear bridges (increasing volume weekly)
Weighted front neck curls(increasing volume weekly)
jump rope 3 min

My daily boxing workout involves a mix of sessions done in 3 min rounds followed by 1 min rest.
Usually 4 or 5 of the following a day
Shadow boxing
Slip rope
Maize bag
Mitt work
Heavy bag
Speed bag
I try to do 12 rounds or more in total of a mix if the above. Speed bag is the only exception to the 3 min time. I do 10min, even 20min rounds of the speed bag. (Keeping your hands up and still punching with fatigue is very important)

Cardio (2 to 3 times a week)
Often a one hour run, sometimes broken into 15 min run, three min activity (stairs, jump rope) 15 min run.

Those are the things I need to do for boxing at least 5 days a week. My other obligations are not very demanding and I can arrange them as i want. 

That is roughly my weekly work load without lifting.

I take creatine and whey protein in the am
I eat about 2500 calories in 400 calorie chunks (fish, Turkey, rice, vegetables, whole grain bread)
With fruit snacks, trail mix, bran cereals)
I eat a larger calorie 600 supper that varies. 
I drink filtered whey every night before bed and eat an orange. 

I cheat often on my diet, and try to adjust it as I go so I am getting enough, but still dropping until I level out around 199lbs.


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## DieYoungStrong (Apr 22, 2019)

When I boxed I didn’t really lift.  High rep and plyo type stuff yes, but pure strength training - nope. 

If youre just using boxing to stay in shape, do whatever you want.


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## Straight30weight (Apr 22, 2019)

Spongy said:


> hitting a muscle group once per week makes no sense to me.  I cant think of a single scenario, natural or not, where I need an entire week to recover any single muscle group.  That being said, if you're a boxer and your goal isn't to compete in PL or BB, then do whatever your coach tells you.
> 
> Read this extremely well written post and give it some thought.
> 
> https://www.ugbodybuilding.com/threads/21852-The-Bro-Split-why-it-sucks-better-alternatives


Thanks for this


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## DieYoungStrong (Apr 22, 2019)

DieYoungStrong said:


> When I boxed I didn’t really lift.  High rep and plyo type stuff yes, but pure strength training - nope.
> 
> If youre just using boxing to stay in shape, do whatever you want.



Also, fwiw, 185lb boxing DYS would have kicked the ever loving shit out of 230 lb PLing DYS.


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## Long (Apr 22, 2019)

DieYoungStrong said:


> Also, fwiw, 185lb boxing DYS would have kicked the ever loving shit out of 230 lb PLing DYS.



I'm pretty sure you are beating yourself up here:32 (17):
I would love to fight young me. "Fight IQ" vs bull in a China closet. It would be bloody no doubt, I think old me could weather the storm and win a smart fight.


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## MrRippedZilla (Apr 22, 2019)

snake said:


> You need to elaborate on this for me.


I corrected my original post (72, not 48 hours) but beyond that, and I what I wrote in the original article, there is nothing left to really elaborate on unless you have a specific question


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## Texan69 (Apr 22, 2019)

I wrestled for many years and I continued to lift during season but like DYS said not pure strength training.
i did 2-3x full body lifts a week not a lot of volume either and I backed the intensity off 
mainly did it to add to my conditioning and to maintain my strength as much as I could. But my workouts were so intense that I didn’t want to over stress my body especially when a tournament was coming up. Deep in the season I would focus on bodyweight stuff for a half hour after practice. But like the others said it’s gonna be hard to master lifting and boxing. Just be careful and listen to your body 
don’t overtrain and injure yourself 

i know bixing and wrestling aren’t the same but i imagine your boxing sessions are very intense like any other type of fighting sport


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## DieYoungStrong (Apr 22, 2019)

Texan69 said:


> I wrestled for many years and I continued to lift during season but like DYS said not pure strength training.
> i did 2-3x full body lifts a week not a lot of volume either and I backed the intensity off
> mainly did it to add to my conditioning and to maintain my strength as much as I could. But my workouts were so intense that I didn’t want to over stress my body especially when a tournament was coming up. Deep in the season I would focus on bodyweight stuff for a half hour after practice. But like the others said it’s gonna be hard to master lifting and boxing. Just be careful and listen to your body
> don’t overtrain and injure yourself
> ...



Pretty much every sport that is not a true strength sport like PLing, Oly lifting and strongman are the same like that. Raw strength is not the end all, be all in most sports, but it always help.

Take a football offseason program - generally broken into 4 training blocks leading into the next pre-season. All aspects of training are covered in every block, but every block has a focus. Recovery (immediately after season ends), hypertrophy, strength, and conditioning - then into the next pre-season/season where all you can do is maintain.

You can't serve multiple masters unless you're a crossfitter haha. Then you can be average at everything.


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## hulksmash (Apr 22, 2019)

Long said:


> Am wake up
> A couple hours of organizational nonsense, nothing physical
> 
> Every day around 8-9 (mon-fri)
> ...



I might be the only one here that did amateur circuit; I've never talked boxing details with anyone here. Maybe I can help.

1. I need to know your time schedule for each thing. So far you only listed 8-9am.

2. Keep your weight lifting after bag work/footwork/slip drills/mitt work. You don't want to compromise those, unless you wanna lose.

3. Cardio should be done 5x/week minimum. You shouldn't put stairs/jump rope in between a run. Run the whole distance/time.

4. Put your neck exercises and shrugs into the weight training instead of being stuck with calisthenics.

5. Where's the slip bag work?

6. Keep cheating on your diet=keep cheating yourself. You'll **** over the weigh-in and your match. You kmow that.

*Top priority=your COACH and his orders. Any good coach will say the same things I did above. Listen to your coach unless he's an idiot, then get a new one.*


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## hulksmash (Apr 22, 2019)

DieYoungStrong said:


> When I boxed I didn’t really lift.  High rep and plyo type stuff yes, but pure strength training - nope.
> 
> If youre just using boxing to stay in shape, do whatever you want.



All this time and I didn't know you boxed.

Even crazier, an hour ago I thought "*Damn, I need to do my boxing training. I'm a freakin' rustbucket..I bet I'd look a fool if I had to fight right now*". Then I see this thread. 

My wife is 100% against me ever goin into a ring again. Especially with my back now. I miss it.


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## Long (Apr 22, 2019)

Texan69 said:


> I wrestled for many years and I continued to lift during season but like DYS said not pure strength training.
> i did 2-3x full body lifts a week not a lot of volume either and I backed the intensity off
> mainly did it to add to my conditioning and to maintain my strength as much as I could. But my workouts were so intense that I didn’t want to over stress my body especially when a tournament was coming up. Deep in the season I would focus on bodyweight stuff for a half hour after practice. But like the others said it’s gonna be hard to master lifting and boxing. Just be careful and listen to your body
> don’t overtrain and injure yourself
> ...



I didn't lift when I wrestled either. Bodyweight stuff. There was no time or energy to do anything else back then. I did lift for football, and baseball. I boxed in the army and garage (club) when I was younger so it wasn't my main focus.


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## DieYoungStrong (Apr 22, 2019)

hulksmash said:


> All this time and I didn't know you boxed.
> 
> Even crazier, an hour ago I thought "*Damn, I need to do my boxing training. I'm a freakin' rustbucket..I bet I'd look a fool if I had to fight right now*". Then I see this thread.
> 
> My wife is 100% against me ever goin into a ring again. Especially with my back now. I miss it.



I wouldn't call myself a boxer. I had 10 amateur fights as a teenager, and was a tomato can lol. I boxed to stay in shape for other sports.


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## Long (Apr 22, 2019)

hulksmash said:


> I might be the only one here that did amateur circuit; I've never talked boxing details with anyone here. Maybe I can help.
> 
> 1. I need to know your time schedule for each thing. So far you only listed 8-9am.
> 
> ...



Maize bag, double end bag, slip rope and shadow all get worked in on rotation. The Atlanta open is in 4 months. If I can hit 199 by then that is the goal. It is masters so 3 3 min rounds tournament style.


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## snake (Apr 23, 2019)

MrRippedZilla said:


> I corrected my original post (72, not 48 hours) but beyond that, and I what I wrote in the original article, there is nothing left to really elaborate on unless you have a specific question



The time that you corrected was more in line of what I have read, even up to 7 days but I don't find 7 days to be accurate for myself. The problem I have run into with hitting a muscle more then once a week is recovery. We really are hitting some muscles more then we realize when we do the "One body part a week" A good example is our shoulders and back. I think lifters are not paying attention to how much they get used in compound movements. 

I agree in a vacuum you could hit each body part every 3 days but it's hard to not hit them again within that time span. It's the reason when I was competing in PLing I found it better to squat and DL on the same day. There are other factors that go into what I do and don't do as well as timing but once a week per body part is optimal for my training.

As for the OP, his back will take a massive amount of pounding doing more than a body part a week.


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## hulksmash (Apr 23, 2019)

Long said:


> Maize bag, double end bag, slip rope and shadow all get worked in on rotation. The Atlanta open is in 4 months. If I can hit 199 by then that is the goal. It is masters so 3 3 min rounds tournament style.



Are they going to stream it this year? I'll definitely cheer for you if so.

It'll be better than the BS Heavyweight cards we get nowadays. I'm so sick of Wilder and his braggadocio; like bitch, the stock you fought won't give you the right to call yourself the "greatest"!

Back to you, since it's triple 3-min rounds, you already know:

you could get by with only 2-3 mile uninterrupted runs
you'd easily get to 199 with no cheating in diet
you'll win easy by having the best footwork

BTW, where is the damn footwork training?

Place the weight training in their own days and you'll drop 'em like flies.


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## maxmuscle1 (Apr 23, 2019)

Lomachenkos fun to watch!! Terrence Crawford and Keith Thurman as well.

Max


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## hulksmash (Apr 23, 2019)

snake said:


> The time that you corrected was more in line of what I have read, even up to 7 days but I don't find 7 days to be accurate for myself. The problem I have run into with hitting a muscle more then once a week is recovery. We really are hitting some muscles more then we realize when we do the "One body part a week" A good example is our shoulders and back. I think lifters are not paying attention to how much they get used in compound movements.
> 
> I agree in a vacuum you could hit each body part every 3 days but it's hard to not hit them again within that time span. It's the reason when I was competing in PLing I found it better to squat and DL on the same day. There are other factors that go into what I do and don't do as well as timing but once a week per body part is optimal for my training.
> 
> As for the OP, his back will take a massive amount of pounding doing more than a body part a week.



Yea, the OP better not do Zilla's tips, only because of boxing.

The problem is *most people* 1. Don't use mind-muscle connection through the whole session, and 2. never turn on that lightbulb and figure out what their body needs.

Zilla's method is the complete opposite of what I need. Hell, my body does best with mostly 1-4 rep range weight, and *we all see how many do that*. I can't do more than 1x a week because of my intensity. Reason #2 is what you said, snake. My intensity means I never truly work parts 1x a week.

Still, thank you Zilla for giving a second view of things. You gave what i fight for around here-a differing opinion.


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## hulksmash (Apr 23, 2019)

maxmuscle1 said:


> Lomachenkos fun to watch!! Terrence Crawford and Keith Thurman as well.
> 
> Max



Bruh, Lomachenko=footwork king. It's AWESOME how he slips and switches without skipping a beat.

The other slip god=Mike Tyson using "peek-a-boo" style.

PAB style originated with Floyd Patterson and José Torres. Go on Youtube and enjoy.


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## maxmuscle1 (Apr 23, 2019)

hulksmash said:


> Bruh, Lomachenko=footwork king. It's AWESOME how he slips and switches without skipping a beat.
> 
> The other slip god=Mike Tyson using "peek-a-boo" style.
> 
> PAB style originated with Floyd Patterson and José Torres. Go on Youtube and enjoy.



Patterson!!


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