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Workout throughout day vs. one big workout

post #1 of 17
6/20/09 at 3:47am
Thread Starter 
So say I wake up and do 22 pushups. Then again later around lunch I do 20 more. Then in the afternoon more, and then a couple times before bed. That's about 100 pushups. Add in a few sets of chin-ups and pull-ups throughout the day when I walk past the doorway with the chinup bar. Maybe some curls and a 20-min bike ride in the evening. (This is a home workout, btw. With limited equipment.)

How does this compare to me fatiguing my muscles with trying to get this all done within a one hour timeframe?

Is it necessary to workout all at one time, or can I just be active throughout the day? I know the muscle fibres have to break and then rest to rebuild stronger and bigger. Do they not do this if I work out at different times? If the answer is no, then what can be the benefit to the active lifestyle (with the same amount of reps as one big workout)? Weights becoming only a form of light cardio then?
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post #2 of 17
6/20/09 at 3:59am
If your muscles aren't being worked until fatigue, why would they respond with growth?
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post #3 of 17
6/20/09 at 10:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eason View Post
If your muscles aren't being worked until fatigue, why would they respond with growth?

Because fatigue isn't a stimulus per se.
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post #4 of 17
6/20/09 at 11:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by why View Post
Because fatigue isn't a stimulus per se.

Do you know the physiological processes of muscle growth? If not, don't speak.

To achieve "growth," you need to work them to their maximum capacity in, approximately, a fairly intense 1-hour session.
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post #5 of 17
6/20/09 at 11:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by AB01 View Post
So say I wake up and do 22 pushups. Then again later around lunch I do 20 more. Then in the afternoon more, and then a couple times before bed. That's about 100 pushups. Add in a few sets of chin-ups and pull-ups throughout the day when I walk past the doorway with the chinup bar. Maybe some curls and a 20-min bike ride in the evening. (This is a home workout, btw. With limited equipment.)

How does this compare to me fatiguing my muscles with trying to get this all done within a one hour timeframe?

Is it necessary to workout all at one time, or can I just be active throughout the day? I know the muscle fibres have to break and then rest to rebuild stronger and bigger. Do they not do this if I work out at different times? If the answer is no, then what can be the benefit to the active lifestyle (with the same amount of reps as one big workout)? Weights becoming only a form of light cardio then?

To answer your question, when done properly, moderate resistance exercise will have little causal effect on muscle growth. However, as long as used sparingly (to prevent overtraining), it can aid in strength and thus increase your capacity for higher volume, larger weight, or for a more intense session, which will spur muscle growth.

Stick to tearing up those muscle fibers in 1 session though. Look up some 3 day, 4 day, or even 5 day splits.
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post #6 of 17
6/20/09 at 11:40am
Oh great...here we go. Another new guy know-it-all versus our resident know-it all. How why manages to attract these people, I'll never know.
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post #7 of 17
6/20/09 at 11:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by IUtoSLU View Post
Oh great...here we go. Another new guy know-it-all versus our resident know-it all. How why manages to attract these people, I'll never know.

I'm new to these forums, but not to what I'm speaking on.
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post #8 of 17
6/20/09 at 1:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fossil8412 View Post
Do you know the physiological processes of muscle growth? If not, don't speak.

To achieve "growth," you need to work them to their maximum capacity in, approximately, a fairly intense 1-hour session.

This isn't always the case. Some people get their best gains when dividing their volume over two sessions a day as opposed to one.
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post #9 of 17
6/20/09 at 1:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by why View Post
Because fatigue isn't a stimulus per se.

eh... but we all agree that fatigue correlates with intensity. intensity = demand on muscles, you have demand on the body and the body adapts. Oh and don't say correlation =/ causation, PSYCH!
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post #10 of 17
6/20/09 at 1:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by fossil8412 View Post

To achieve "growth," you need to work them to their maximum capacity in, approximately, a fairly intense 1-hour session.

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post #11 of 17
6/20/09 at 2:01pm
just do pushups until fatigue 3x a day. blumpkin.
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post #12 of 17
6/20/09 at 4:13pm
Thread Starter 
I'll try it today. I'll do sets of 20 until I can't do more (or should these be sets of 12?). Then I'll do pushups again at night. I used to have a gym membership where I only had an hour to work out. I'd drive there and drive back only one time per day. Now that I don't have a gym membership, I have resorted to working out at home, which means I can work out around meals and so on. Perhaps I could do pushups now until fatigue. Then curls until fatigue another part of the day. Then pullups another part of the day. Or do I have to squeeze all the different workouts/muslce-groups into the same hour too?
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post #13 of 17
6/20/09 at 4:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by AB01 View Post
I'll try it today. I'll do sets of 20 until I can't do more (or should these be sets of 12?). Then I'll do pushups again at night.

I used to have a gym membership where I only had an hour to work out. I'd drive there and drive back only one time per day.
Now that I don't have a gym membership, I have resorted to working out at home, which means I can work out around meals and so on.

Perhaps I could do pushups now until fatigue. Then curls until fatigue another part of the day. Then pullups another part of the day. Or do I have to squeeze all the different workouts/muslce-groups into the same hour too?

ditch the curls. Do you have a pullup bar at home? An easy way to get better at pullups is to simply do five pullups every time you walk past it.
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post #14 of 17
6/20/09 at 5:50pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, I've installed a pullup bar through the doorway, so that's what I've been doing. Only wide enough for shoulder width apart though. I used to have huge biceps last year, but lost them. That's why I am doing the curls.
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post #15 of 17
6/20/09 at 6:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by robertorex View Post
This isn't always the case. Some people get their best gains when dividing their volume over two sessions a day as opposed to one.

Those guys tend to be elite athletes, not homeboy here doing bodyweight pushups.

Just do a single session, as has been advised already. It's more efficient, you'll get it out of the way, and you won't be sweating all the time.
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