How much cardio and strength training should you include per week? How many times a week should you exercise? Should I do yoga or go to the pool? What if it's too little or too much? How does the frequency of classes depend on the level of training and your goals? Fedya Tikhonov deals with all this.

Before talking about how many times a week to train, you should answer a few questions. What are your goals? How many hours per week are you willing to spend on training? How ready are you to devote yourself to the training process in order to achieve your goal? And most importantly - what is your level of training?

First level

Let's say you just started doing fitness or have already gone out for a short run a couple of times, but so far you have little idea how much you need to train. Believe me three times per week (distributed by Monday-Wednesday-Friday or Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday/Sunday) will be enough. That is, you should not practice every day, on the contrary - let your body rest. If you keep this training schedule stable for a long time, the result will not be long in coming, you will really become stronger and more resilient.

If you have a lot of time and a desire to achieve your goal as quickly as possible, alternate power and cyclic loads by day. That is, let's say on Monday you do strength training in the gym, and on Wednesday - light cardio training, no more than 30 minutes. Against the background of a light aerobic load, the result from strength or speed strength training grows great. Main point- (however, this applies to all levels of training). And never be shy about a little extra weight or low intensity. Remember, your goal for the first time is constancy.

Do not forget to monitor the state of the pulse every day, sometimes this is the only indicator that can tell you about your real well-being.

Average level

Many of us sometimes become quite desperate to approach the training process simply because we want to achieve results as quickly as possible. But believe me, daily workouts of 2-3 hours will not be effective. So do not neglect the rest - even professional athletes need time to recover.

If you are already used to training three times a week and want to take part in a competition or race, make a training plan with 4-5 training days in Week. For example Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Saturday-Sunday. It turns out that the week consists of two microcycles of two and three days.

Experiment with intensity during workouts, don't be afraid to go into an anaerobic mode, watch your heart rate. Do anaerobic workouts no more than twice a week, for example, in the middle of the week and at the end, be sure to alternate them with low-intensity days or rest days. It is multi-tempo training that will help to achieve success.

Advanced level

If you are already an experienced athlete with many years of experience and participate in competitions or are just in a great physical form, you are unlikely to learn something new about the training process. But on high level training does not change the most important thing is the ability to monitor your feelings and state, especially when you have to take part in competitions. Moreover, pulse rates can be normal, and extra training can be harmful. This happens when there is some lethargy and unwillingness to leave the house. On such days it is really better to sit at home and relax properly.

The training plan may include 5-6 training days per week during periods of intensive training and 3-5 days - in the mode of keeping fit.

When you are in competitive form or close to it, high-intensity training in anaerobic mode should make up about 15-20% of all your activities. The remaining 80% are very calm classes (if you have a heart rate monitor, do your workout in 1-2 of its zones). This means you don't have to kill yourself every day in hard training. It is enough to correctly perform them and listen to the body.

Here are a few more tips to help you create the right training plan.

1. You should not go to a workout if you feel weak or unwell due to a cold or general fatigue. And do not confuse this state with laziness and unwillingness to engage. In this case, you do not need to overcome yourself, rest a couple of days until the desire to exercise returns.
2. If you are just too lazy to do something, there can be only one piece of advice. Defeat this laziness!
3. Eat right and sleep well enough time (7-8 hours a day) - and you will stop looking for ways to cheer up.
4. Always in good health play" at speed running/riding/exercising. A sharp, but short shake is very useful and does not allow the body to get used to the monotonous load. As a result, you become stronger and more resilient. The closest analogy that proves effectiveness is a contrast shower.
5. If, for example, you work until 10 p.m. and think that there is no chance of getting in shape with such a schedule, then know that this is not so. Train, but low-intensity and not for long. It's better to go out for a light workout at 10pm than not go out at all. You won't stop working, but take care of yourself.
6. No matter how trained you are, be realistic and do not write yourself a weekly training plan with seven full and intense training days without rest. Make the most of your opportunities, considering work, travel, family, other leisure activities and, of course, recovery time.
7. Focus on the 7-day microcycle, at first it's the easiest way.

If you decide to start an active lifestyle, it is important to know how many times a week you need to exercise. Right choice loads will allow the muscles to get the necessary rest with sufficient training efficiency.

Factors affecting the choice of intensity of training

The answer to the question of how many times a week you need to do fitness depends on the following parameters:

• body type;
• types of exercises;
• goal set;
• schedule;
• the opportunity to devote time to sports.

It is important to consider the following. If you do not practice enough time, you may not achieve the desired result. And if you choose too high an intensity of training, there is a risk of overstraining the body.

This is dangerous enough, because by doing too much, you will not only nullify all your efforts, but you can also get some pretty serious health problems.

It is very important to correctly determine how often you should exercise.

Determine body type

Scientists distinguish three types of physique:

• ectomorph - a tall and thin person;
• mesomorph - a person of athletic build;
• endomorph - a short person with a certain degree of fatness.

At the same time, it is rarely possible to meet a clear representative of one type of physique. Most often, two options are combined in a person, and in some cases all three. As a rule, one type is always more pronounced.

So, for an ectomorph, 2-3 classes per week are enough. Each of them should last at least 1 hour a day. Mesomorph shows 4-5 workouts for 7 days. Their duration should be at least 1.5 hours. And finally, the endomorph needs to be practiced almost every day. The number of workouts should not be less than 6. Their duration can be up to 2 hours.

At the same time, regardless of the type of physique, you can reduce the training time, while increasing the frequency of the exercise.

Types of exercises

There are three training groups:

• respiratory (cardio or aerobic);
• power;
• stretching.

In the first case, the best option would be classes 2-3 times a week. With this amount you will get desired result without muscle strain.

You can do strength exercises up to 4 times a week. At the same time, training must be built in such a way that 2 of them are aimed at pumping up the muscles of one group, and the rest - the other.

Stretching can be practiced daily, without restrictions, but it is still advisable to take daily breaks between classes.

Lesson goals

Most of the training is aimed at weight loss. So, how much do you need to exercise, both to lose weight and to strengthen muscles?

Main Rule effective loss extra pounds– alternation strength exercises with respiratory.

So, a week you can take from 2 to 4 days for the first types of training, and devote the rest of the time to cardio exercises. In addition, each lesson should consist of certain parts:

• warm-ups - 10-15 minutes;
• the main complex - 35-40 minutes;
• jogging - 15-20 minutes;
• stretching - 5-10 minutes.

If you are just starting out in sports, it is recommended to start with two workouts per week and gradually increase their number to at least 4.

It is also effective to breathing exercises, alternating them with power ones. The class schedule might look something like this:

• day 1 - aerobic exercise;
• day 2 - break;
• day 3 - break;
• day 4 - strength exercises;
• day 5 - break;
• day 6 - aerobic exercise;
• day 7 - break.

If you wish, you can add another strength training, but only if you are not a beginner.

Thus, doing fitness to lose weight can be done in different ways. Much depends on your preparedness, desire and amount of free time.

How to correctly determine the required number of approaches per lesson?

In addition to the number of workouts per week, it is also necessary to determine the optimal number of approaches. Here you should know that in order to maximize the effectiveness of the lesson, you need to achieve a certain hormonal release. This implies performing the exercise until the moment when the peak of mental stress occurs.

For example, if a person lifts a barbell, he can do 10 squats. With each of them, his mental stress will increase, reaching its maximum at the last one. It is at this moment that hormones are released into the blood, and desired effect from training. There cannot be too many of them. The number of such emissions is up to 9 per session.

If the goal of training is recovery, 2-3 approaches will suffice with reaching a peak of tension. The main thing is to achieve the release of hormones, which, once in the blood, will begin the process of healing the vessels.

When it comes to building muscle or improving physical training, the number of approaches is 4-9.

It should be borne in mind that regardless of whether it is aerobics or strength training, each new approach will reduce the possibility of hormonal release. When it reaches zero, the body must get a long rest to restore the endocrine system.

Where to practice?

It is possible to achieve high training efficiency in both gym, as well as at home. It all depends on your mood and desire.

So, while exercising in a fitness club, you have the opportunity to act under the guidance of a qualified specialist who will build classes in such a way as to give an optimal load on all muscle groups. In addition, in the gym you will be in a group of like-minded people, which will become an additional motivation for regular exercise.

At home, strict self-control is necessary. It’s easier to find excuses for an unplanned vacation at home than with a paid gym membership. Therefore, it is very important to have a firm determination to achieve the goal, thanks to which you will practice systematically.

At home, it is possible to train at any convenient time, without the need to adjust to the schedule of the fitness club. In addition, this is the best choice for those who do not like to exercise in public. Despite the lack of sports equipment, you can train at home just as effectively as in the gym. The main thing is to choose the right training program and strictly follow it.

Thus, everyone can independently choose where exactly to play sports. Each of the options has both advantages and disadvantages.

Regardless of the chosen place of training, you need to train regularly. Consistency is the key to efficiency. In addition, when starting training, do not forget about proper nutrition, which will help not only to get the maximum result, but also to consolidate it. No need to starve and completely exclude some foods from your diet. The correct ratio of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and systematic food intake are the basis of a healthy diet. It is also important to remember to eat breakfast. Morning meal sets the body to work properly throughout the day.

Thus, when deciding to seriously engage in sports, it is important to take into account many details on which the level of effectiveness of training depends. Their successful combination will allow you to achieve the desired result quickly enough.

you spend in gym every day for several hours, you know all the inventory and feel at home among the tons of "iron". But do you know how often you really need to? The answer may surprise you! Find out your optimal training frequency to make new growth.

You probably already guessed that the main mistake is with the wrong frequency. The most common variant of the training schedule is "three days a week": you work out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If this is your case, the good news is that you can do much, much better!

Even if everything is going great for you - the number of repetitions and approaches, optimal weight, rest between sets, and doing the exercises properly can all be useless if you're not training at the right frequency.

The right frequency of strength training

Here's a little secret to success. A fixed workout schedule, like three days a week, is absurd. He may fail you in the end. And here's why: as you progress, your workouts will be more exhausting and take longer to recover.

Recovery after physical activity demands a lot from most organs of the body, such as the liver, kidneys, and pancreas. If you are doing light workout it's unlikely to affect you in any way. Your recovery will be swift. But when you do grueling workouts with heavy weights and high intensity overload, it can take several days to fully recover.

An essential key to increasing the effectiveness of strength training is, therefore, to find a way to train properly. This will increase the intensity of each workout and give your body more time to recover.

The effectiveness of split training

Why "split" workouts won't help you avoid overtraining? There is a practice of "separating" workouts, for example: Monday - top part bodies, environment - Bottom part body. And while this is a reliable tactic, it alone will not solve the problem of a fixed training schedule. The reason is that every day is kidney day.

It doesn’t matter if you are working on your chest, arms, or today, there is not the slightest difference for the kidneys. They still need to filter all the metabolic waste coming from the blood so you can fully recover. And remember - until your body has fully recovered, you will not grow new muscles. This is the law of physiology. Thus, separation reduces the amount of work that the kidneys and other organs have to do, but as you get stronger and lift more weight, it will take the kidneys even longer to do their job.

The most correct training frequency

Once you truly understand how often you need to train, your results will increase. Here is an example from life.

After the coach and the bodybuilder discussed training and the lack of progress - in particular, in - it was decided to take a break from training for three weeks. The bodybuilder said that he could not give up going to the gym for such a long period of time. This is a common problem for all serious bodybuilders. Psychologically, if you want to make progress, it is very difficult to do what seems to be "doing nothing". After all, in the absence of training, you seem to admit defeat. But in fact, your body needs time to recover. And this is the most ideal time to consider how often to train further, and make new plan classes. Time without training is not wasted, it is critical to the growth process. It took a lot of arguments to convince him, and he took a three-week break.

Two months later, he called the coach and told about the results, which shocked everyone. His strength increased in all parts of the body, and the strength of his shoulders increased. The first workout after the break was his personal record. Now he trains once every nine days: between workouts of the same part of the body, 9 days pass. This schedule is used when separating upper/lower body workouts. Prior to this adjustment in training frequency, the bodybuilder only trained four times in nine days. Look at the numbers, they clearly illustrate the example.

The bodybuilder did not include the time he benched, so his power factor or power index is not known, but his total bench weight went from 6940kg per workout to 11460kg after he did nothing for three weeks. When you have last time was such a productive three-week break?

Think about it. Three weeks without training at all! Our hero has only been at home for three weeks, but his progress is ahead of everyone he has trained with! His companions couldn't believe their eyes. The same person who found 180kg 20 reps “very difficult” is now lifting 230kg in 16 reps - after doing the exercise with 200kg and 20 reps! The next time he presses in the gym is already 270 kg. And let his goon buddies be concerned that he "missed" the last 20 workouts! There is something to think about, right? Maybe it's time to rethink your training frequency?

How to properly and often exercise for weight loss

The frequency of training when burning fat mass obeys a slightly different law than the frequency for muscle growth. To lose fat and train every day, the main thing is to prevent the development of overtraining. The high frequency of training dictates the need for the use of anti-catabolics to protect muscle tissue from destruction. In this case, bodybuilders are advised to reduce the number of strength training sessions to 2 per week, and devote the rest of the time to aerobic training.

How to avoid overtraining

To avoid overtraining and find your optimal training frequency, you need to carefully monitor the progress that you make with each exercise of the program. Look for any signs of slowing or stopping progress. Lack of change in one exercise is a warning sign. And the lack of progress in two or more exercises is a danger signal, which means you need to take a break.

3 signs of overtraining and how to deal with them

• The weight used in each exercise does not increase
• Strength training is primarily associated with progressive loading. This means that you should return to the gym in a fully recovered state and lift the weight slightly heavier than you lifted during your last workout.
• The number of repetitions or static hold time in each exercise does not increase

If your weight in the exercise has not increased (see above), then the number of repetitions or the time of the static hold should increase. Recent studies show that increasing the duration of a static hold to 12 seconds is less beneficial than increasing weight with more short time retention.

Reception will help you increase strength indicators sports supplements- creatine, arginine, intratraining, bcaa amino acids and pre-workout supplements. This sports nutrition is specifically designed to improve sports and fitness performance for men and women. Just add it to your diet and go to conquer new heights!

Supplements for Proper Workouts

Professional

Base

Professional

MAXLER | Vitamen?

3 tablets per day

German company known in the world market sports nutrition for more than one year, has released a balanced complex of vitamins and minerals in one package - Maxler USA Vitamen

MAXLER | Mega gainer?

With the choice of Maxler USA Special Mass Gainer with us, everyone can provide their body with the necessary elements for sports development and subsequent accumulation of high-grade energy.

BSN | N.O.- XPLODE 2.0 ADVANCED STRENGTH ?

On non-training days, consume 1 serving once a day on an empty stomach.
stomach.

Superbly balanced pre-workout complex BSN N.O.-XPLODE 2.0 is focused on the most effective increase in endurance and strength performance.

BSN | Cellmass 2.0

Post-workout complexes

Mix one measuring spoon with 120-170 ml cold water or any drink.

BSN Cellmass 2.0 is an advanced concentrated formulation designed to quick recovery athlete's body after intensive physical activity.

BSN | TRUE-MASS 1200 ?

Take 2-4 times a day, one serving - immediately after training! The rest -
between meals.

Mix 3 scoops (145 g) of product with 400 ml of cold water or
skimmed milk. The amount of liquid can be varied to achieve
individually pleasing texture.

BSN TRUE-MASS is a balanced gainer designed for people who need a quality set muscle mass, or additional calories (usually due to an accelerated metabolism).

BSN | Nitrix 2.0?

NO (nitric oxide)-boosters

The product is taken in 1 serving (three tablets) three times a day for 30-45 minutes
before meals, or two hours after. If you weigh more than 90 kg, you can increase the one-time
dose up to 4 tablets.

BSN Nitrix is ​​a nitric oxide booster, which is aimed at a comprehensive increase in the capabilities of an athlete's body: it promotes high-quality pumping, dilates blood vessels and improves muscle nutrition.

It took you longer to complete the same workout.

Progress is determined by the intensity of muscle output. The intensity is a function of time. So, even if you are doing the same workout today that you did three days ago, but you managed to do it in less time, then your intensity has increased. But the opposite is also true, so keep an eye on the extra time it takes to complete the same workout. Low intensity will not help build new muscles, keep this factor in mind when deciding how often and how to train correctly.

Try it on your next workout

For each exercise, multiply the number of reps by the weight you're doing those reps with. For example, in you lift 80 kg 12 times, in the end you will get the number 960. The next time you bench press, see if this number has increased. If not, then you haven't fully recovered, which means you need more rest between workouts.

How long have you been exercising at the same frequency? Look for warning signs indicating that your training frequency is not optimal. Throw in an extra one and you can turn stale and boring workouts into fantastic mass gains and bursts of strength.

The program was provided by Alexei Hernandez Ortega, an instructor at the Ant Gym (World Junior Powerlifting Champion 2005, European and World Champion 2006, Russian Men's Champion 2008)

Understanding how much you need to work out in the gym allows you to build an effective training plan, which will certainly affect the results.

Some athletes believe that training to failure is the best option, so their visit to the gym is delayed by 1.5-2 hours.

Imagine their surprise when they find colleagues who have achieved the same effect, but do no more than 1 hour. You can find the "golden mean" only by understanding the physiology training process.

A bit of theory: research on the duration and frequency of training

Frequency and duration are key factors in improving the results of any training session. Until recently, athletes believed that one long workout once every 7 days on any muscle group gives the greatest effect.

However latest research showed that an increase in the number of classes is more productive, and this is primarily due to the process of muscle protein synthesis.

During training, the muscles are subjected to stress, as a result of which, at the end of training, muscle protein synthesized most actively.

And here it is worth mentioning key moment, namely the preparedness of athletes.

The fact is that the period of association of amino acids into protein in experienced athletes and beginners is significantly different. For the former, it takes 16-18 hours, but for the latter, it can last up to 2 days.

Important! The frequency of training is directly related to the experience of the athlete. For beginners, for active growth of muscle mass, 1-2 visits to the gym are enough; for trained athletes, it will be more difficult to achieve hypertrophy with such a frequency of visits.

As for the duration of the training, it is directly related to the change in hormonal levels during the period of sports. It has been proven that after 45 minutes intense training V human body the level of cortisol rises, which provokes the onset of catabolic processes that destroy muscle tissue. Therefore, trainings that last 40-45 minutes are considered the most productive and safe. The maximum possible time is 1 hour.

Be sure to check out:

Gallery image with caption: Gallery image with caption: Gallery image with caption: Gallery image with caption:

How often do you need to go to the gym - the optimal number of times a week to get results

The frequency of sports activities is determined by goals. In most cases, they are formulated as:

• weight loss
• strengthening muscles and endurance;
• muscle building.

Cardio workouts aimed at burning body fat can be done 3 to 5 times a week, as they are quite easy and do not require a lot of recovery time. Another thing is strength training. It is not recommended to carry it out more than 3 times a week, while it is necessary to ensure that after each load the muscle group “rests” for at least 72 hours.

Important! It is worth considering the individual characteristics and type of constitution. So, in mesomorphs with a high recovery rate and strength susceptibility, the increase in muscle mass will be faster, while in ectomorphs and endomorphs, the recovery process will take longer.

Is it possible to exercise every day

Until recently, daily workouts for different muscle groups for many athletes were considered the norm. However, practice has shown that muscle, nor nervous system unable to cope with stress. As a result, the productivity of the training process decreased, and the effect of overtraining appeared.

The time it takes to recover depends on several indicators:

• athlete experience (a beginner needs more, a professional needs less);
• type of muscles (small ones recover faster, large ones slower);
• muscle groups (biceps and triceps can be trained more often, legs less often).

The following recommendations have resulted from research and practical experience:

1. Beginner athletes - 3 times a week.
2. Experienced athletes - from 4 to 5.

At the same time, it is not worth loading the same muscle groups more often than 2 times a week.

Best hours for sports: morning, afternoon, evening

Physiology and human activity is associated with the phenomenon of circadian rhythms. At their core, these are fluctuations in natural biological processes, for example, body temperature, hormone levels, and blood pressure. Human activity, including motor activity, depends on these indicators.

The answer to the question of when it is better to go to the gym: in the morning or in the evening, is closely related to the type of training. So, in the morning there is a significant production of cortisol, which is responsible not only for quick waking up, but also for the mobilization of forces during physical exertion. The best option for training at this time is cardio training. Due to cortisol, metabolism is accelerated, and energy expenditure is significantly increased.

Some athletes prefer to go to the gym in the afternoon. And this is also facilitated by circadian rhythms. In the period from 16.00 to 18.00, most people experience a slight increase in body temperature. As a result, the muscles are warmer, more elastic and ready to work. At this time, anaerobic exercise will be effective, including due to increased endurance and reduced risk of injury.

In the evening, do not resort to heavy exercise for pumping muscles or intense aerobic exercise. This will affect the quality of sleep and disorders in the immune system. Most often, it is at this time that people do relaxing yoga or breathing exercises.

How long should the workout last

The question of when is the best time to go to the gym is related to the question of how long you can exercise. Here it is worth turning again to physiology. In the process of physical activity, the body produces 2 types of steroid hormones: catabolic and anabolic. The former are represented by testosterone, somatotropin and insulin. Their mission is to restore muscle fibers and construction of new muscle tissue cells.

The second group is cortisol and glycogen, which increase blood glucose levels and “boost” metabolism. Glycogen, in its essence, is a store of glucose, it is found both in the muscles and in the liver. The first 20 minutes the body takes it from the muscle tissue, and then begins to "extract" it from the liver.

Important! After 40-45 minutes of active training, cortisol levels increase, which in excess is more harmful than beneficial. It reaches its maximum values ​​at 55-60 minutes of training. At the same time, it starts to rise. arterial pressure, immunity deteriorates. Intensive production of cortisol for more than 60 minutes has the opposite effect, as muscle tissue begins to break down.

Therefore, experts from sports and medicine strongly advise not to overtrain and not work in the gym for more than 45-60 minutes.

How long does it take to see results after starting?

Sports are not plastic surgery, where immediately after the operation a visual result is visible. Visual Summary regular classes will become noticeable only after 10-12 weeks of training. At the same time, you need to train at least 3 times a week in order for the result to become noticeable.

If the goal is to lose weight, then it makes sense to alternate cardio with moderate power loads. In the case of gaining muscle mass, it is necessary to draw up a plan taking into account the muscle recovery period, which should not be less than 72 hours.

In both cases, it will be necessary to organize balanced diet that meets the objectives of the lesson.

What results can be realistically achieved

Although the most obvious results can only be summed up after 3 months, intermediate results can be tracked much earlier.

So, after two days, an organism unprepared for sports will make itself felt with unpleasant muscle pain. To minimize pain, you should not forget about the warm-up, which reduces the risk of injury to beginner athletes, and the final stretch, aimed at facilitating the process of muscle tissue recovery.

These pain sensations are disturbing after the first 2-3 sessions, after a couple of weeks, the whole muscle pain will leave. The main thing is not to stop training during this period.

Physical well-being will improve significantly, 4 weeks after the start of visiting the hall. It will become easier to get up in the morning, shortness of breath will disappear, the muscles will be better stretched, and most exercises will be easy to perform. During this period, burned visceral fat, which is located near internal organs. After it, the turn will reach the subcutaneous.

After 2 months, the body will gradually begin to change shape, the risk of heart disease will decrease, as well as blood sugar levels, which will significantly reduce the possibility of developing diabetes.

After 3 months, it will be possible to visually evaluate the results achieved. They will be visible to others. The relief of muscles will appear or improve, part of the fatty subcutaneous tissue will go away. The silhouette will become more slender, toned and beautiful.

Ekaterina Usmanova, current champion of Russia in bikini fitness, video blogger

Denis Borisov, video blogger, author of articles on bodybuilding, one of the creators of the Fit4life.ru project

Denis recommends that beginners who are tuned in to the process of gaining muscle mass do no more than 3 times a week, at least 1-1.5 years. In addition, the duration of training, depending on the plan, should vary from 30 to 60 minutes.

Ilya Timko, fitness trainer, creator of Tvoytrener.ru website

“The more often you train, the shorter the sessions should be,” says Ilya. So, for example, if the training was 2 times a week at 1.30, and then the athlete switched to 4 sessions a week, then the training time should be reduced by about 30%, that is, up to 60-70 minutes maximum.

Useful video

Main conclusions

The frequency and duration of training directly depends on the physiology of a person and his goals:

1. The optimal number of trips to the gym: no more than 3 times for beginners and no more than 5 for professionals.
2. The duration of sports activities should not exceed 1 hour.
3. Daily training is harmful to both the muscular and nervous systems.
4. The first results of work on yourself will become noticeable in 10-12 weeks.

The effectiveness of training depends not only on the efforts made, but also on a balanced, well-chosen diet.

If you want to know what the science says about how often you need to train to build muscle, read this article.

You will also be interested to know for better growth muscles.

Key points

1. The researchers wanted to see if it was possible to increase more muscle by increasing the number of workouts per week for each muscle group.
2. When analyzing the best studies, they found that people who exercise three times a week often build more muscle than those who exercise once or twice. Although the difference in results is quite small.
3. If you want to develop a lagging muscle group, you will get faster results by training it twice or thrice a week instead of once.

There are several ways to screw up a training program.

Underweight work.

Avoidance of heavy basic exercises.

Too short rest between sets.

And finally, exercising too much or too little.

The last mistake is the most controversial.

Old school bodybuilding logic says to properly load each muscle group with the maximum number of sets and reps once a week and rest 6 days before the next workout.

Others say that you need to work each muscle group 2, 3 and 4 times a week, but with less training volume.

Both methods are backed by countless success stories, so who do you believe?

In a recent study, a group of scientists led by Brad Schoenfeld from Lehman College tried to find the answer to this question.

Let's see what they found out.

What did the researchers do?

A good dozen studies have been devoted to studying the effect of more frequent or infrequent training on muscle growth.

Most of them did not give results, not finding differences between different groups of subjects.

So these scientists decided to take a step back, look at all the data on this topic, and try to figure out what the body of evidence points to.

This type of research is known as a meta-analysis because it looks at a problem from a "meta" or higher point of view.

The main advantage of meta-analysis is that combining the results of many studies makes it possible to detect trends that might not appear in small studies with a small number of subjects.

In this meta-analysis, the researchers narrowed down the studies to those that:

• They included training programs that directly compared different weekly training frequencies without changing too many variables like volume, intensity, and exercise choice.
• Conducted on healthy people instead of laboratory animals.
• Lasted at least 4 weeks to give the subjects time to build up enough muscle tissue.
• Muscle growth was measured in several ways to obtain more accurate data.
• We used basic exercises, thanks to which the training programs duplicated the exercises in the gym.

After going through all the studies, the scientists found 10 that meet these criteria. In each case, both groups of subjects performed the same exercises with equal training volume, number of repetitions, and rest periods between repetitions.

The only difference was that according to the program of some people this training volume was broken down into more days per week, while others - into less.

Then, scientists (including our Science Advisory Board member and statistician James Krieger) ran these studies through all sorts of equations to make sure the results were accurate.

What conclusions did the study come to?

People who spread their training volume over 3 days per week built more muscle than those who split their weekly volume over 1-2 days per week.

On average, training a muscle group 3 times a week allows you to increase the volume of muscle growth by 3.1% compared with one- and two-day training (6.8 vs. 3.7%).

After 8 weeks of training in this mode, a beginner in strength training will be able to build up about 5 g of muscle more.

Over time, this figure will grow, but the difference is not so great.

Here is what the results of the study look like when the subjects are divided into several groups:

You can look at this in two ways:

1. You can build more muscle in the same amount of time by simply hitting each muscle group more frequently. Why not take advantage of this? Forward!
2. More frequent training of each muscle group makes only a tiny difference in muscle growth, so why bother?

A closer examination of the findings reveals a couple of pitfalls that make the results of the study even more ambiguous.

1. Five of the studies were conducted on people who hadn't lifted weights for at least a year. Two of them involved middle-aged people (30-49), and the other two were older women (50+). Although strength training in general equally affect people, these results are only valid for those who fall into one of these categories.
2. Research has used the most different frequency training, which makes it difficult to determine the "best". Some compared one and two days of training, others two and three days, and still others one and three days.

With such a slight difference in progress, it cannot be said that frequent training will guarantee muscle growth.

But here's some food for thought:

All groups of subjects performed the same training volume.

On the one hand, this proves that the difference in muscle growth is not due to the fact that one group performed more volume than the other.

On the other hand, the main reason why people advocate frequent training is because it allows you to squeeze more training volume into one week.

It is known that doing more sets per week usually results in more muscle gains. So if frequent training allows you to increase training volume, then we can safely say that this should help build more muscle.

For example, you currently do 6 sets of bench press once a week. By the fourth, fifth and sixth approach, you are probably exhausted in order. You may even have to change the weight to a lighter one.

But what if you break these 6 sets into two workouts per week?

Then in one workout you will do 3 sets, and, most likely, you will be able to press more weight in each set.

In other words, it's not just more training that helps you build more muscle, but more frequent training, which allows you to perform more training volume, which ensures greater progress.

Anyway, this is just a theory, which the study did not pay attention to.

It is also worth considering that all of these studies, including the meta-analysis cited, initially did not see any benefit from frequent training. But when all the results were combined, a statistically confirmed difference in muscle growth was evident.

This is a frequent topic for scientific research.

Small studies don't see any benefit, but when dealing with larger data, a clear winner can be identified that proves there are "hidden" benefits.

In conclusion, the scientists noted:

It can be assumed that major muscle groups should be trained at least twice a week for maximum muscle growth. Due to the lack of data, it is not known whether training more than 3 times a week can improve the hypertrophic response of the muscles.

What does it give you?

Working each muscle group twice a week will help you build more muscle compared to training once a week.

Before abandoning your current training program, please note the following:

1. Probably training more often is better, but not so. It's only a couple percent. Of course, the difference will increase over time, but this is not a reason to change the current training plan if it is producing results.
2. The main advantage of frequent training is associated with the ability to perform a greater training volume. If you decide to hit each muscle group more often, try adding a couple of extra sets of basic exercises for maximum muscle building benefits.
3. In the presence of a lagging muscle group (for guys, these are often arms, shoulders and chest, and for girls - legs and buttocks), think about working them out three times a week.

In terms of construction training program this does not mean that for each muscle group you need to make separate workouts. Instead, you can dedicate one workout to a major muscle group and then work the same muscle group on another day after training other muscles.