Training program for 2 times a week: are such training complexes effective?

Regular exercise strengthens the body, improves muscle condition and makes a person’s figure more attractive.

Due to busyness, not all people have the opportunity to train, performing effective fitness techniques, every day.

If you organize 2 workouts per week, you can achieve good results. In order for 2 days of training a week to be effective, you need to know how to properly build a training program for gaining muscle mass and shaping the relief.

Is it effective to exercise only a couple of days out of seven?

People involved in sports know that daily visits to the gym and intense exercise only lead to fatigue and joint problems. Also, excessive enthusiasm for sports training leads to a rapid loss of motivation.

To develop muscles, burn fat tissue and form a beautiful body shape, you don’t need to exercise every day. Due to anatomical features, a person’s muscles increase in volume not during exercise, but during rest. Therefore, training without rest for several days is ineffective.

Bodybuilding experts recommend modeling a beautiful body 3 days a week with equal intervals between workouts. But not everyone who wants to join fitness has the opportunity to organize 3 workouts a day.

Be sure to check out: Split program: training to pump up muscles with proven effectiveness Monthly training program: rules for drawing up a plan and sets of exercises Detailed training program with your own weight at home Effective training program for gaining muscle mass 3 times a week

Program for men

The volume of training, measured in the number of approaches and repetitions, is quite large. Therefore, choose moderate loads (working weights). As you work through the program, pay attention to the possible occurrence of symptoms of overtraining and overexertion. If they begin to appear, then slow down, if necessary, adjust your training program by removing duplicate exercises, reducing the number of repetitions, and extend the rest period for one or two days.

Day 1

Exercises for the pectoral muscles :

• Incline Bench Press 3 sets x 8 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Press 1 set x 12 reps
• Dumbbell flyes 1 set x 12 reps

Shoulder exercises:

• Standing Barbell Press 3 sets x 8 reps (watch your back)
• Wide grip barbell rows 1 set x 12 reps

Biceps exercises:

• Barbell curls 2 sets x 10 reps
• Hammer 2 sets x 12 reps

Triceps exercises:

• Close grip bench press 2 sets x 10 reps
• French press 1 set x 10 reps

Day 2

Back exercises:

• Pull-ups 2 sets x as many as you can
• Bent-over barbell rows 2 sets x 8 reps
• Lat Pulldown 1 set x 12 reps
• Lat Pulldown 1 set x 12 reps

Leg exercises:

• Barbell Squats 3 sets x 8 reps
• Machine leg press 2 sets x 10 reps
• Lunges 1 set x 12 reps

Ab exercises:

• Roman chair crunches 2 sets x 15 reps

Optimal intervals between trips to the gym

A properly organized training program 2 times a week will allow you to achieve good results, but only if the training is at equal intervals. The ideal option is the first workout on Monday, the second on Thursday.

On days off from training, you need to organize half-hour cardio exercises, which include:

• jogging;
• dancing;
• cycling;
• walking at a moderate pace.

These types of activities help maintain normal metabolic rates for the combustion process.

Important! For two-day workouts to be effective, they need to be combined with proper nutrition.

How many times a week should men exercise?

One of the best training options for men is a split program. It consists of breaking the entire training plan into parts with the goal of working one or two muscle groups in one workout. This allows you to concentrate your strength on specific parts of the body.

If you train according to a split program, 3-4 strength training sessions per week will be enough for you, otherwise the muscles will not have time to recover and your workouts will not bring the desired results. Depending on your goals, you can add 1-2 cardio workouts or leave only strength training. The article Basic rules of split training will help you learn more about the features of split training.

If you are training in a full body program (this is a full body workout that is most often used by beginners, but also found in advanced athletes), then they should be done much less frequently, otherwise you will put your body into a state of overtraining. If you are working on gaining muscle, you should only consider a split training system.

What can be achieved with a two-day training regime

By exercising 2 days a week at equal intervals, you can gain muscle mass within 1.5 months, if you focus on doing strength exercises. Regular, but not daily, training prevents the appearance of fat deposits in problem areas of the body, thereby maintaining a slim figure.

If a person has significant excess body weight, then it is optimal for him to combine a visit to the gym with daily cardio exercises.

Is it possible to do less

Physical activity, organized only once a week, is suitable as a dynamic recreation, if we are talking about swimming, walking in the mountains, skiing, skating, cycling. If a person intends to visit the gym with the same frequency, then he will not be able to achieve pumping up muscles and modeling the athletic relief of the body. Between training sessions, we allow a break, the duration of which reaches 3 days, but no more.

Complexes of basic exercises

The specifics of the two-day training program depend on the goals the person is pursuing. Classes at intervals of 3 days should be structured so that it is possible to work all muscle groups. The duration of one training should not exceed 1 hour.

As a warm-up, it is recommended to do cardio exercises for 10 minutes, which will help warm up your muscles and speed up your metabolism.

For men on strength

If a man wants to increase physical endurance by increasing muscle volume, then he should focus on strength fitness techniques.

What the program will look like:

Day	Loads	Technique
First. Pay attention to the muscles of the limbs and back.	Warm-up	10 minutes are devoted to general warm-up for all muscle groups. A workout on a treadmill or exercise bike is suitable as exercise.
	Dumbbell Bench Press	You will need an incline sports bench. They lie on it so that the pelvis, back and back of the head are pressed against the bench. Your legs should rest your feet on the floor. The shells are picked up and placed on the knee joints. The limbs are extended so that a small angle is formed at the elbow joint. In this case, the shells must be at the same level. Afterwards, you can smoothly lower them down by inhaling. As you exhale, take the starting position. Repeat the fitness move up to 15 times in one approach.
	Hyperextension	The simulator is adjusted so that you can lie tightly on it with your thighs. From behind, your feet firmly rest on the roller of the unit, and your hands are placed behind the back of your head, fixing them in position. The body should form a straight line. Hands are placed behind the back of the head, and then lowered down, smoothly bending at the lumbar region. Having reached a right angle, you need to stay in this position for a second, and then smoothly lower down. Do 3 sets of 15 reps.
	Pull-ups of legs to buttocks with a dumbbell 2 kg	Hold the dumbbell with your feet while lying on the floor. As you exhale, bend your limbs at the knee joints, pulling your feet with the load towards your buttocks. Repeat 10 times for 4 sets.
Second. The workout has increasing intensity and allows you to work the most important muscle groups.	Cardio exercise lasting 10 minutes
	Facial thrust	Grab the handle of the machine and step back at arm's length. The limbs must be completely straight. Pull your hands towards your face so that your forearms take a vertical position at the peak point. As you inhale, smoothly take the starting position.
	Classic pull-ups on the bar	Do it according to the traditional scheme 15 times in 3 sets.
	Spring lunges with heavy dumbbells weighing 5 kg or more	Place your feet shoulder-width apart and straighten your posture. Bend the knee joint of the leg extended forward at a right angle. The second leg is pulled back in line with the other limb. You need to take dumbbells in your hands and straighten your limbs along the body. As you exhale, strain your thigh and sink down, lowering the knee of your abducted leg to the floor. As you inhale, you need to get into the starting position.
	Press	Spend 10 minutes doing straight and cross crunches for your abdominal muscles. Perform fitness techniques on a sports mat.

On the relief

To achieve beautiful relief by exercising only 2 days a week, you can take note of a sports program for drying the body.

First lesson:

• incline bench press – from 15 to 25 times in one set;
• craving for the chest - similar;
• crossover leg abduction – 15 times on each leg, 4 sets in total;
• lying crunches in the simulator - 15 times in 4 sets.

Second lesson:

• dynamic lunges – 25 repetitions in 3 sets;
• Incline dumbbell rows – 15 repetitions in 3 sets;
• hyperextension – 20 repetitions in 3 sets;
• squats with a barbell – 15 times in 3 sets.

Warming up before strength training is not excluded.

For weight loss

If a person needs to lose excess fat tissue, then during training the entire emphasis is on cardio. They need to be organized at the beginning of the complex. At each lesson, 10 minutes are devoted to exercise on a treadmill, bicycle or elliptical trainer.

The program includes:

1. First day:

• Incline dumbbell press – 15 times in 3 sets;
• arm extensions on a block - similar;
• body lifts (twisting) straight and oblique – 20 times in 3 sets of each type;
• buckles with skipping rope – 5 minutes.

1. Second day:

• pull-down of the upper block to the face – 15 times in 4 sets;
• hyperextension – similar;
• swinging legs and buttocks on a crossover – 20 times, 2 approaches.

To lose weight with two days a week, you need to lead an active lifestyle.

What does it mean that the load should not be volumetric?

This means that the amount of work done by the muscle group should not be large. The concept of “big” is very subjective, but with full-fledged work to failure, you can identify specific numbers that a number of methodologists adhere to. This is 4-6 working approaches per muscle group per workout. TOTAL, in total 4-6, and not in one of the exercises. I’m clarifying this specifically because misunderstandings always arise here. The more repetitions you plan to perform in an exercise, the fewer approaches there should be and vice versa. For example, for a range of 5-6 repetitions, you can perform 6 sets, for a range of 12-15, perform 4 sets. When working in basic multi-joint exercises that involve several muscle groups, consider one-to-one approaches only for the dominant group. That is, when performing, for example, squats, you expose the load to both the front and back surfaces of the thigh. However, few people get both of these muscle groups the same stimulus.

In most cases, the quadriceps receives the greatest stimulus, while the hamstrings are more likely to receive a toning, supporting load. Therefore, having done 4 sets of squats, you should take into account that these are 4 approaches specifically for the quadriceps, but the load on the hamstrings must be taken into account with a factor of 0.5. In this example, these are 2 approaches (0.5x4=2). That is, if in your leg training you planned to do 4 approaches each for the quadriceps and hamstrings, then having done, for example, 4 sets of squats, you will also need to do 2 approaches for the hamstrings and you can finish there. The situation is similar with other exercises. 4 basic exercises for the lats are 2 approaches for the biceps; after doing 4 exercises for the lats, you can “finish off” the biceps with two isolating approaches. In basic chest exercises (bench press, dips), having done 4 approaches, the triceps can be “finished off” with a couple of approaches and this will be enough. Many have long been practicing a similar approach to taking into account the volume of load in their training, based on the usual logic.

Main conclusions

1. Exercising twice a week will effectively help you get in shape and become the owner of an athletic body. However, a maximum of three days interval is required between classes.
2. The duration of the lesson is 40-60 minutes. Features of the selection of fitness techniques depend on the goals of the practitioner.
3. In addition to visiting the gym, you need a balanced diet and an active lifestyle.
4. People who want to gain noticeable muscle definition are recommended to focus on strength fitness techniques, and those who are losing weight, on cardio exercises.