Why Do Lifting Routines Assume A 7 Day Week?

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pic: Do exercise routines have to use a 7-day week?

Sounds like a silly question, right?  I mean, a “real” week is 7 days, so shouldn’t our routines be based on “reality”?

Actually, after years of lifting and running, I’m starting to come to the conclusion that in many cases, our bodies don’t care about “real weeks”.  Our bodies care about the balance between stimulation and recovery.

The goal for every serious fitness buff is to kick your own butt just enough to get progress, but not too much that your body can’t recover.  This applies to lifting weights, running, skiing, biking, etc.

Why 7?

So we’re all stuck on “x days per week” and we assume that a week means 7 days. (And to be fair, it usually does mean 7 days.)

But what if the key to getting in the right amount of work means you have to shift your paradigm from 7 days a week to something different…?

What about a 6-day week?

What about an 8-day week? (Please, no Beatle quotes…)

In my newest lifting program, Hypertrofreak, I include two different programs.

And guess what?  I’m using an 8-day week.

I have you working out 6 days a week, but there are 8 days in my week.  That means you are getting 2 recovery days each cycle.

Here’s a cut and paste from part of the program:

Day 1 = Day 1
Day 2 = Day 2
Day 3 = Day 3
Day 4 = recovery
Day 5 = Day 5
Day 6 = Day 6
Day 7 = Day 7
Day 8 = recovery
Day 9 = Day 1
Day 10 = Day 2
Day 11 = Day 3
Day 12 = recovery
Day 13 = Day 5
Day 14 = Day 6
Day 15 = Day 7
Day 16 = recovery

At first, this is hard to get your head around and can be a little confusing.  But if you learned to tie your own shoes, then you can learn this.

I’m also experimenting right now with (more…)

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