How often are you training a muscle group?
Training frequency refers to the number of training sessions completed within a specific period. For the general population, we would consider the time period to be a week. For beginners, 3 times per week is sufficient, allowing for optimal rest days in between for recovery. As you become more advanced, you should consider increasing your training frequency to 4,5 or 6 days per week. To maximise your training days, without over-training, while allowing our bodies to recover from a specific muscle group, we can do this by implementing a split workout routine. This just means to train different muscle groups on different days.
Training ability | Training frequency per week |
Beginner | 2-3 |
Intermediate | 3-4 |
Advanced | 4-6 |
The old bodybuilding classic was to train one muscle group per session, then allow a week for that muscle to recover. The problem with this is muscles don't take 7 days to recover, meaning you can increase your training frequency! The latest research papers shows muscles recover in under 72 hours, meaning you can train a specific muscle every 3 days!
'Schoenfeld et al.2' research paper showed that over a 6-12 week period, people who trained a muscle group twice per week increased muscle growth by 6.8%, whereas the participants who trained a muscle group once per week only increased by 3.7%. You can see how over a years period how having the higher training frequency will equate to a significantly larger gain in muscle growth.
That being said, let's look at some of my recommended split workout routines
Training 3 times per week, Full body workouts
Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Full body | Rest | Full body | Rest | Full body | Rest | Rest |
Training 4 times per week, Upper body/ Lower body split
Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Rest | Upper body | Lower Body | Rest | Upper body | Lower Body | Rest |
Training 5 times per week, Push, pull, legs
* Day 1 the week after would start with legs, as last training day of that week was pull*
Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Push | Pull | Legs | Rest | Push | Pull | Rest |
Training 6 times per week, Chest & Back, Shoulders & arms, Legs & abs
Day 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
Chest & Back | Shoulders & arms | Legs & abs | Rest | Chest & Back | Shoulders & arms | Legs & abs |
What muscle split are you doing? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!