Training frequency is a critical factor in organizing volume and intensity. It refers to how often a muscle or muscle group is trained per week. Optimally distributing the training load throughout the week can improve the balance between exertion and recovery, ensuring that no single training session becomes overly strenuous.
Why Spreading Out Your Workouts is Important:
Attempting to complete your entire training volume in one day can degrade the quality of your exercises as you become physically and mentally fatigued over time. The training stimulus diminishes as the workout progresses, which can compromise the efficiency of strength development and muscle growth.
At the other extreme, if you have six sets to complete per week and only do one set per day, you miss the opportunity to adequately stimulate your muscles, spot mistakes, and make corrections. If your sole set is performed poorly, there are no additional sets immediately available to correct it. Even if executed perfectly, the opportunity to repeat and internalize the movement is lost until at least the next day.
Training Frequency Recommendations
The organization of your training is crucial. It's possible to cram too much volume into a single session. Therefore, MyFitCoach optimally distributes your training volume across your available training days and times.
Some people have ample time on certain days and could train for up to three hours if necessary. Others might only have 45 minutes per day but can train six days a week. MyFitCoach tailors your training volume to fit your schedule.
Generally, 3-6 training sessions per week are suitable for muscle building or strength goals (twice per week may work well for time-constrained beginners). This schedule determines how often each muscle group or movement is trained.
Progress and Adaptation:
As you progress (becoming stronger, larger, and more advanced), you require more volume to generate sufficient stimulus and force your body to adapt. Generally, this means you will need more training days or longer training sessions to accommodate the increased volume.
For maximum muscle growth (hypertrophy), there are several established principles from exercise science that can guide your choice of training days and frequency
Number of Training Days:
2-6 days per week: Most hypertrophy training programs fall within this range. The exact number of days depends on your experience level, recovery capacity, and lifestyle. Advanced athletes may benefit from 5-6 training days per week, while beginners often make good progress with 2-3 days.
Benefits of Higher Frequency:
Increased protein synthesis: Muscle protein synthesis is elevated for about 24-48 hours after a training session. More frequent training per muscle group stimulates protein synthesis more often.
Better training distribution: Higher frequency allows for better volume distribution, leading to improved recovery and less fatigue within a single training session.
Improved motor skills: Frequent training also aids in enhancing motor skills and technique, which is especially important for complex exercises.
These principles can help you design your training regimen to achieve maximum muscle growth while avoiding injuries and optimizing recovery.
Note: For steroid users, these dynamics are significantly more complex. This is one reason why the training philosophy of training each muscle group just once per week is mistakenly so prevalent.
References:
Schoenfeld, B.J., et al. (2016). Effects of resistance training frequency on measures of muscle hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Med, 46(11): 1689–97.
Schoenfeld, B.J., et al. (2015). Influence of Resistance Training Frequency on Muscular Adaptations in Well-Trained Men. J Strength Cond Res, 29(7): 1821–9.
Grgic, J., et al. (2018). Effect of resistance training frequency on gains in muscular strength: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Med, 48(5): 1207–20.
Ralston, G.W., et al. (2018). Weekly Training Frequency Effects on Strength Gain: A Meta-Analysis. Sports Medicine-Open, 4(1): 36.
Nuckols, Greg. (2018). "Training Frequency for Muscle Growth: What the Data Say." Accessed June 21, 2024. https://www.strongerbyscience.com/training-frequency/
Nuckols, Greg. (2018). "Training Frequency for Strength Development: What the Data Say." Accessed June 21, 2024. https://www.strongerbyscience.com/training-frequency/
Mac Dougall, J Ducan, et al. (1995). The time course for elevated muscle protein synthesis following heavy resistance exercise. Canadian journal of applied physiology, 20(4): 480-486.