working out all day vs an hour

[James2133]

Why do people work out with in an hour or two?

Why not work out all day long with a few sets then a 30 minute break. Then maybe some more sets then an hour or whatever?

Wouldn't your muscle become more fatigued and grow bigger if you worked out all day long?

 

Also, why do people emphasis the importance of the last rep? Isn't the muscle filled with that lactic acid, so really your just fighting and putting so much stress through the acid build up? Why not do another set instead of killing your self every set.

[Spacebound]

not sure if serious or retarded

[Hu Gh]

Good questions br0. Doubt anyone even knows the answers. Some things just done a certain way because thats the way its always been done. Personally i hate 'traditions' etc and rather view all information available then question everything like you are doing and make up my own mind.

[HarryB]

Why do people work out with in an hour or two?

Why not work out all day long with a few sets then a 30 minute break. Then maybe some more sets then an hour or whatever?

Wouldn't your muscle become more fatigued and grow bigger if you worked out all day long?

Also, why do people emphasis the importance of the last rep? Isn't the muscle filled with that lactic acid, so really your just fighting and putting so much stress through the acid build up? Why not do another set instead of killing your self every set.

Good question. Serge Nubret and some other European bodybuilders of that Era used a system whereby they pretty much trained over the course of a day. Light weights loads of reps. Never did cardio always peeled. Of note is the fact that in the beginning Serge trained very heavy and didn't adapt to this higher rep long duration style until he was already an elite level bodybuilder. In his mass building days he was known to have benched 500 pounds but later in his career would rarely go over 225 but would do a lot of sets and reps. Nothing to failure but just getting and maintaining a pump. I suggest you try it James. Maybe make a log so I can follow it

[Leeroid]

Why do people work out with in an hour or two?

Why not work out all day long with a few sets then a 30 minute break. Then maybe some more sets then an hour or whatever?

Wouldn't your muscle become more fatigued and grow bigger if you worked out all day long?

 

 

Because most people can't/won't spend all day at the gym because they have work/studies/relationships/life to attend to.

 

But if you were a full time bodybuilder, it would be interesting to know what would be optimal. You could definitely fit in a lot more volume, which is proven to be a key factor in hypertrophy. A possible con would be that it would much easier to overtrain and get injured with things simply from repetitive stress, especially since you'd be doing so many more reps.

 

 

Also, why do people emphasis the importance of the last rep? Isn't the muscle filled with that lactic acid, so really your just fighting and putting so much stress through the acid build up? Why not do another set instead of killing your self every set.

You don't recruit all your muscles when you do the first rep. The body only recruits the minimum number of muscle fibers to be able to complete the rep. As your set progresses, your muscle fibers start to tire and more muscle fibers must be recruited to help out. On the last rep, when you're straining so hard your eyeballs are about to pop, every muscle fiber is contracting in order to complete the rep. So, if you never go to failure, you won't be stimulating the muscle cells that are in reserve. That's based on my understanding, I may be wrong. 

 

Also as a note of interest, powerlifters and weightlifters are able to recruit a higher percentage of muscle fibers right from the start relative to bodybuilders. So doing heavy work is advantageous in that regard too I think.

[FUBU]

Hey man,

 

If your working out all day, all your doing is fatiguing your muscle and that's when cortisol comes into play and starts eating away at your muscle. Your not giving your muscle time to grow. That's also why they recommend 7-8 hours sleep, because that's the best time for muscles to grow. Research shows that short and sweet is the key to gaining muscle, 45-60 minutes per session each day. 

[yeelang]

It's more optimal to train all day but it's not that much better.

 

there should be less emphasis on the last rep.

[Kalidane]

Hey man,

 

If your working out all day, all your doing is fatiguing your muscle and that's when cortisol comes into play and starts eating away at your muscle. Your not giving your muscle time to grow. That's also why they recommend 7-8 hours sleep, because that's the best time for muscles to grow. Research has shows that short and sweet is the key to gaining muscle, 45-60 minutes per session each day. 

 

 

Pls no

 

I'm guessing insulin is bad too? ffs

[HarryB]

Hey man,

If your working out all day, all your doing is fatiguing your muscle and that's when cortisol comes into play and starts eating away at your muscle. Your not giving your muscle time to grow. That's also why they recommend 7-8 hours sleep, because that's the best time for muscles to grow. Research has shows that short and sweet is the key to gaining muscle, 45-60 minutes per session each day.

Where are the real research guys when you need them? Riccardo?

Cos I'm gonna have to say... what research shows that 45 to 60 minutes is best? Why not 47 to 65? I feel like if you support whatever type of training you do with adequate rest and nutrition then you should be sweet. Absolutely no science to back this up... so just saying

[Realtalk]

Common sense pls. No research needed.

[HarryB]

Common sense pls. No research needed.

Pfffft... we always need research... now hand me my intra workout aminos and make sure I keep tension on my next set for 43 seconds

[crazyfacials]

We really need to start a myths busters thread somewhere lol

[Riccardo]

I guess the issue is that you want to create an environment in the muscle that is conducive to growth, working out at a lower intensity all day long would most likely result in great gains in muscular endurance but very little in the way of hypertrophy or strength. 

 

You don't grow in the gym, lifting is just a way of signalling your muscle to grow, you then need to rest and allow time for repair and growth. There is a threshold in terms of volume with respect to intensity you need to achieve in order to turn that signal on, working out all day in small bursts would not be enough to reach that threshold. there are three main pathways to hypertrophy:

 

1. Tension in the muscle

2. Metabolic stress 

2. Muscle damage

 

If you train as you're suggesting, it is likely that you will fall short in one if not all three of these areas.

 

As for emphasis on the last rep I don't know what you're getting at, training to concentric failure has been shown to be an important tool in training for hypertrophy. 

[HarryB]

I guess the issue is that you want to create an environment in the muscle that is conducive to growth, working out at a lower intensity all day long would most likely result in great gains in muscular endurance but very little in the way of hypertrophy or strength.

You don't grow in the gym, lifting is just a way of signalling your muscle to grow, you then need to rest and allow time for repair and growth. There is a threshold in terms of volume with respect to intensity you need to achieve in order to turn that signal on, working out all day in small bursts would not be enough to reach that threshold. there are three main pathways to hypertrophy:

1. Tension in the muscle

2. Metabolic stress

2. Muscle damage

If you train as you're suggesting, it is likely that you will fall short in one if not all three of these areas.

Bang... called out and help came. No graphs or stats though. Kinda disappointing... just sayin.

[Phedder]

Hey man,

 

If your working out all day, all your doing is fatiguing your muscle and that's when cortisol comes into play and starts eating away at your muscle. Your not giving your muscle time to grow. That's also why they recommend 7-8 hours sleep, because that's the best time for muscles to grow. Research shows that short and sweet is the key to gaining muscle, 45-60 minutes per session each day. 

Riccardo nailed it, but I'd just like to say stop demonizing cortisol and thinking of it negatively. It's a hormone, it has many functions through different metabolic pathways. We need that hormone and those functions, without them we'd die. Cortisol does not 'eat away' at your muscles, there's a lot more going on if that's ever the case. 

Acute increases in cortisol are normal and part of your circadian rhythm, prolonged chronic increases in cortisol are bad and signal deeper issues that need to be dealt with, from the psychological to the physical, Cushings Syndrome is a good example.  

[Riccardo]

Still got plenty of those, I'm all about that evidence based programming.

[Realtalk]

Still got plenty of those, I'm all about that evidence based programming.

What you been up to anyway? Updates on your training and stuff..

[Pseudonym]

1. Tension in the muscle

2. Metabolic stress 

2. Muscle damage

So wise, but can't count to three.

 

Seriously though, can you explain these points, please? They all seem to overlap a bit, so I'm interested in how you define them.

[FUBU]

 I'm not trying to paint cortisol as an evil monster. I get that cortisol is your bodies way of dealing with immense stress. I'm just stating a fact that cortisol eats away at muscle after about 45mins of intense training. That's why most elite marathon runners are just skin and bone. Running for over 1 hour is surely going to get the cortisol eating away at the muscle.

[FUBU]

Where are the real research guys when you need them? Riccardo?

Cos I'm gonna have to say... what research shows that 45 to 60 minutes is best? Why not 47 to 65? I feel like if you support whatever type of training you do with adequate rest and nutrition then you should be sweet. Absolutely no science to back this up... so just saying

 I remember reading it in a magazine, I think it was a Men's Health magazine, long time ago, I can't remember now. Anyhow, if you search it up on google a lot of sites say a 45 minute weight lifting workout is best amount of time for building muscle. 

 

This is an example site: http://www.marilyn.ca/HealthFitness/segments/Daily/May2013/05_29_2013/WorkoutOversight

I took the bit out of it and I posted it below, If you don't want to read the whole thing.

 

Workout Mistake #2: Pumping Iron for Hours at a Time

Unless you are an athlete training for a specific sport or event, workout sessions that last longer than 45 minutes are not necessary and may even be harmful. Although exercise is a wonderful long-term stress reliever, working out does put physical stress on your body in the short-term. So when you workout is too long, your cortisol goes up, up, up. Cortisol is destructive to muscle tissue, especially when it’s present without the muscle-protective hormones, growth hormone and testosterone. Keeping your workouts shorter, though still intense, will help prevent excessive cortisol release, which usually starts to happen after about 40 minutes or so of continuous exercise. Compacting your workout in this way will give you the best gains in the shortest amount of time. It also means less wear and tear and quicker recovery.

[FUBU]

Forgot to mention. If you are on roids those rules above don't really apply. You can train for as long as you like and you'll still get muscle. This only applies to natty people who aren't on roids.

[Kalidane]

 I'm not trying to paint cortisol as an evil monster. I get that cortisol is your bodies way of dealing with immense stress. I'm just stating a fact that cortisol eats away at muscle after about 45mins of intense training. That's why most elite marathon runners are just skin and bone. Running for over 1 hour is surely going to get the cortisol eating away at the muscle.

 

 

Literally cannot tell if trolling.

 

Science/fact/reality is not in agreement with you.  The above notions do, however, provide a great excuse to train briefly and make lacklustre gains.  Gonna need more supplements if you wanna make them gainz.

 

I'm sure you can find a magazine article saying full-body training 3x a week for 40 minutes and these 9 supplements are the recipe for success.  Thanks Gaspari!

 

Good luck.

[Phedder]

 I'm not trying to paint cortisol as an evil monster. I get that cortisol is your bodies way of dealing with immense stress. I'm just stating a fact that cortisol eats away at muscle after about 45mins of intense training. That's why most elite marathon runners are just skin and bone. Running for over 1 hour is surely going to get the cortisol eating away at the muscle.

:doh: 

Facts can be backed up by evidence and reasoning. Please provide yours, ideally with a discussion of the metabolic pathways which cortisol would take to 'eat away at muscle' and other mechanisms the body has in place to prevent such muscle wastage. 

^That will actually be good research/study for your PT course. 

Anecdotally, when training for PLing my sessions would regularly be 1.5-2 hours long. I also run for over an hour at least once most weeks. My muscles seem to be doing just fine  :think:

[maccaz]

Anecdotally, when training for PLing my sessions would regularly be 1.5-2 hours long. I also run for over an hour at least once most weeks. My muscles seem to be doing just fine  :think:

 

likewise

i have put the most muscle in my life doing pl style training, last 5 months most workouts have been 1.5 hours, more recently up to 2 hours.

if after the 45 min point my body started eating itself, i would be going backwards, complete bs

[HarryB]

I've never tried training all day nor do I know anyone who has so I have no idea how it would go. I think someone on here should have a go at it though and document it for the rest of us. Maybe one of you bums who doesn't have a job