The Calendar
Everyone wants to have structure in their workouts to provide continuity and a sense of order. It’s nice to know that on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (or whatever your schedule looks like) you will be in the gym and the remaining days of the week are rest days and you can thus plan your weekly activities around this schedule. While this sure is convenient and helps make the day-to-day things that we call life all fit into the calendar week it can be disastrous from a standpoint of how well your weight training program works for you.
During the golden years of bodybuilding, from the 40’s- 60’s a three-day a week schedule was the norm. Then came the 70’s and especially during the heyday of Arnold where more was somehow associated with better, and things really got out of control. 5-6 days a week workouts were popularized and twice a week per body-part workouts were hailed as the fastest way to get huge. While it may have done wonders for Arnold, most people including genetic superiors grossly over-train hitting body-parts hard twice a week.
Without spending a bunch of time discussing what I feel is the correct number of days of week to train, I’ll just make mention that the one commonality of most all training routine schedules is that they are based on a 7 day week. Twice a week per body-part training has largely fell from favor as it doesn’t take long to find out it just doesn’t work that well for most people. As a whole, including a large percentage of the “pro’s”, once a week per body-part has pretty much become standard. While once every seven days works extremely well for most trainees, especially if the volume is low enough, for MANY trainees it’s simply too much.
If the most genetically elite pro’s doing WAY more gear than you ever dreamed of find once a week the correct frequency, why does Joe average figure it’s perfect for him also? If once a week is too much for some people, what is the correct frequency for those already doing low volume and not gaining fast enough? That’s a big question and one that can’t be answered with a blanket response. The two approaches I have seen work best are 3 times in nine days, or simply starting at once a week and inserting rest days regardless of the type of schedule one is doing. And just so you have some reference point, I NEVER recommend training more than three times in 7 days unless someone is a genetic freak recovery wise. I have had well over a hundred trainees doing a three times in 9-day routine. Of all these I have NEVER had a trainee fail to make awesome progress. Yes, some people do better on a once a week frequency but MOST genetically typical people actually do better on once every 8-10 days.
Before you dismiss this and figure it’s just not enough training and you will progress too slowly here is what usually occurs when training say once every 9 days as opposed to once every 7. As an example, at the end of thirty days and 4 workouts per body-part the trainee gains 20 lbs on his big lifts, while when he does a once in nine days he may add 25 lbs. Of about 30 people I am currently training approximately 50% are doing a once in 9-day split and all are making great progress. No, not everyone needs to train this infrequently but if you are not satisfied with your results it’s DEFINITELY worth giving a try. Many people swear they will never go back to a once in 7 schedules after trying less frequent training. If your doing what was a twice in 7 day routine like SB or myself have discussed and aren’t making the type of progress you think possible, simply insert rest days until you find your ‘sweet-spot”. Remember, if you are training within your bodies ability to recover you WILL add weight or reps or both to about every lift, every session. Mentzer advocated once in 12-16 days and I can say it works beyond all shadow of a doubt, although many find the size gains to not correspond to the strength gains on this type of schedule. The big downside to these types of schedules is that they don’t fit nicely into the work week and one week you will be in the gym on Monday, the next Tuesday, and end up having to hit the gym on the weekends some weeks also.
While it is absolutely true that the more frequently you can train a body-part and recover and grow the faster you will achieve your goals it’s TOTALLY USELESS to train before you have recovered. If you could train a body-part four times a week and grow you’d achieve your goal 75% faster than only hitting them once a week. Regardless, you cannot make your body do something impossible for it, and for many, full recovery does take longer than 7 days. Give it a shot and see how it goes. You will probably be surprised at just how much faster you make progress.
Iron Addict
Everyone wants to have structure in their workouts to provide continuity and a sense of order. It’s nice to know that on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (or whatever your schedule looks like) you will be in the gym and the remaining days of the week are rest days and you can thus plan your weekly activities around this schedule. While this sure is convenient and helps make the day-to-day things that we call life all fit into the calendar week it can be disastrous from a standpoint of how well your weight training program works for you.
During the golden years of bodybuilding, from the 40’s- 60’s a three-day a week schedule was the norm. Then came the 70’s and especially during the heyday of Arnold where more was somehow associated with better, and things really got out of control. 5-6 days a week workouts were popularized and twice a week per body-part workouts were hailed as the fastest way to get huge. While it may have done wonders for Arnold, most people including genetic superiors grossly over-train hitting body-parts hard twice a week.
Without spending a bunch of time discussing what I feel is the correct number of days of week to train, I’ll just make mention that the one commonality of most all training routine schedules is that they are based on a 7 day week. Twice a week per body-part training has largely fell from favor as it doesn’t take long to find out it just doesn’t work that well for most people. As a whole, including a large percentage of the “pro’s”, once a week per body-part has pretty much become standard. While once every seven days works extremely well for most trainees, especially if the volume is low enough, for MANY trainees it’s simply too much.
If the most genetically elite pro’s doing WAY more gear than you ever dreamed of find once a week the correct frequency, why does Joe average figure it’s perfect for him also? If once a week is too much for some people, what is the correct frequency for those already doing low volume and not gaining fast enough? That’s a big question and one that can’t be answered with a blanket response. The two approaches I have seen work best are 3 times in nine days, or simply starting at once a week and inserting rest days regardless of the type of schedule one is doing. And just so you have some reference point, I NEVER recommend training more than three times in 7 days unless someone is a genetic freak recovery wise. I have had well over a hundred trainees doing a three times in 9-day routine. Of all these I have NEVER had a trainee fail to make awesome progress. Yes, some people do better on a once a week frequency but MOST genetically typical people actually do better on once every 8-10 days.
Before you dismiss this and figure it’s just not enough training and you will progress too slowly here is what usually occurs when training say once every 9 days as opposed to once every 7. As an example, at the end of thirty days and 4 workouts per body-part the trainee gains 20 lbs on his big lifts, while when he does a once in nine days he may add 25 lbs. Of about 30 people I am currently training approximately 50% are doing a once in 9-day split and all are making great progress. No, not everyone needs to train this infrequently but if you are not satisfied with your results it’s DEFINITELY worth giving a try. Many people swear they will never go back to a once in 7 schedules after trying less frequent training. If your doing what was a twice in 7 day routine like SB or myself have discussed and aren’t making the type of progress you think possible, simply insert rest days until you find your ‘sweet-spot”. Remember, if you are training within your bodies ability to recover you WILL add weight or reps or both to about every lift, every session. Mentzer advocated once in 12-16 days and I can say it works beyond all shadow of a doubt, although many find the size gains to not correspond to the strength gains on this type of schedule. The big downside to these types of schedules is that they don’t fit nicely into the work week and one week you will be in the gym on Monday, the next Tuesday, and end up having to hit the gym on the weekends some weeks also.
While it is absolutely true that the more frequently you can train a body-part and recover and grow the faster you will achieve your goals it’s TOTALLY USELESS to train before you have recovered. If you could train a body-part four times a week and grow you’d achieve your goal 75% faster than only hitting them once a week. Regardless, you cannot make your body do something impossible for it, and for many, full recovery does take longer than 7 days. Give it a shot and see how it goes. You will probably be surprised at just how much faster you make progress.
Iron Addict