Wow is it chilly, its cold today, -11 brrrrr. So I have taken time get caught up on a few things here at home. Both spare bedrooms sorted and cleaned, computer desk is organized and I even spent some time downstairs wrapping again. I also ordered some of the gift cards I will need for Australia. I finished the Christmas cards and have them ready to put in the post office this week and I ordered a Mickey Mouse calendar for our Grandson in Australia and a little tikes pirate ship. Nearly finished shopping.
I went to the gym this morning and did 80 minutes on the elliptical machine, tomorrow I will do my weight routine, trying to change things up a bit, see if it makes a difference.
I just enjoyed some spaghetti squash spaghetti for lunch, it was yummy.
Now back to last weeks weight training discussion.
Who Is A 3-Times-Per-Week Frequency BEST
Suited For?
Training
each muscle group 3 times per week tends to work best for the following people:
- Beginners with any goal.
- Anyone with the primary goal of increasing strength.
It’s not
a coincidence that every single intelligently designed beginner’s program tends
to be some version of the classic 3 day full body split that I showed earlier. This
is what has been proven to work best for beginners.
The
higher frequency allows them to improve motor learning at a much quicker rate.
It’s kind of like a baby learning something for the first time. How would they
learn faster… doing something once a week, or doing it three times a week?
And, for
all intents and purposes, a beginner is basically a weight training “baby.” It’s
all brand new to their body, and that means they will be able to soak it all up
and progress at a faster rate than non-beginners.
It just
so happens that a 3-times-per-week training frequency is the most conducive to
allowing this to occur.
In fact,
this reason is also a big part of why this frequency is extremely effective for
non-beginners whose primary goal is strength related.
Meaning,
if you’re past the beginner’s stage and your main goal is getting stronger, a
3-times-per-week frequency is a very proven option for you, too.
This is
why many of the most popular strength oriented programs around use this same
frequency (along with that same 3 day full body split from before).
Being
able to train each important movement as frequently as 3 times per week is a
very good environment for consistent strength gains to be made. So if that’s
your goal, this frequency can definitely be effective.
I highly
recommend it in both of these cases.
Who Is A 3-Times-Per-Week Frequency LEAST
Suited For?
Honestly,
probably everyone not mentioned above.
Now,
don’t misunderstand me here. Training each muscle group 3 times per week CAN
in fact work for pretty much everyone with any goal and at every experience
level.
No doubt
about it.
However,
what we’re talking about now is what works best and what doesn’t. For the
people I mentioned above (beginners with any goal and anyone mostly interested
in strength), this frequency fits the “what works best” description.
For the
rest of the population at other experience levels and/or with other goals, it
fits the “what doesn’t” description.
Yes, it
can (and does) work, it’s just usually not what works best in these
cases.
Well Then, What Workout Frequency Is Best In Those
Cases?
Damn good
question. Let’s get straight to the answer…
Training Each Muscle Group
With A Twice Per Week Workout Frequency
Weight
training frequency can typically be divided up into 3 groups.
First,
there’s low frequency, which would most often mean training each muscle group
just once per week. On the opposite end, we have
high frequency training, which most commonly refers to training each muscle
group 3 times per week.
The final
workout frequency is the one that lies right in the middle of those two
extremes: training each muscle group twice per week.
The
question is… is this the frequency that will work best for you?
To answer
that, let’s first look at the most common example of this frequency in action:
Example Split
- Monday: Upper Body
- Tuesday: Lower Body
- Wednesday: off
- Thursday: Upper Body
- Friday: Lower Body
- Saturday: off
- Sunday: off
Above is
an example of the classic 4 day upper/lower
split, which
is the split most commonly used with this frequency. As you can see, each
muscle group and body part is trained 2 times per week.
This
means that each muscle group gets trained once every 3rd or 4th day,
which makes this a moderate frequency form of weight training.
This is
especially true when compared to the previously mentioned once per week frequency where each muscle
group gets trained only once every 7th day, and the previously mentioned 3 times per week frequency where each muscle
group gets trained every 2nd or 3rd day.
But Wait, There’s More!
Before we
can continue, there’s a very important point that needs to be made first.
You see,
because this frequency is in the middle of the other two, there’s actually another
way it can be set up where the frequency STILL remains higher than the
first and lower than the second.
It’s a
frequency where you end up training each muscle group about two
times per week rather than exactly two times per week like in the
example split shown above.
Today's Quote:
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