when it comes to building muscle what do you feel is most important (in terms of workout, because we all know nutrition it the most important).
theres plenty of peopl who preach frequency i.e fullbody 3x a week, push/pull 2x a week (high frequncy-low volume)
but there are also plenty of people who do a body part split 5 days a week, hitting every muscle once every 7 days with high volume? (high volume, low frequency)
so which one would you say is the key to building muscle (hypertrophy) when it comes to these two elements.
well the ideal thing for hypertrophy gains would be to hit the target muscle as often as possible once it’s fully recovered from its previous workout. there is no point in waiting 7 days inbetween bodyparts if they’re fully rcovered in 4, thus it would be more beneficial to hit that muscle every 4 days. This leads to the fact that everyone recovers at different speeds, some fast(a la arnold schwarzenegger) and some slow.
In conclusion, the most beneficial split in regard for hypertrophy, would be one that allows the target muscle to be hit as frequently as possible, but allowing enough time for full recovery.
for me hitting each muscle 2x ever 8 days is ideal. Some muscles take longer to heal such as my lower back and legs, so I do one day of DL and another for squats in those 8 days.
I also think that over time your recovery abilities can be “trained” allowing for greater volume and a higher frequency at the same time, but that’s a whole nother subject.
These could be the exact same routine, down to the exercise, set, and rep.
And I’d say this is a great starting point for anyone who wants to get big and strong. Other than that, you just have to play with parameters and see for yourself. A few things to note:
-If you can consistently get stronger you will get bigger if you support your training with food and rest.
-People with high motor ability don’t need as much frequency. These are the people who can bench once a week and get stronger. These people are usually natural athletes and have the most talent for bodybuilding.
-People with low motor ability need to hit lifts more frequently or they have trouble building strength in the motor pattern. It’s as though their bodies ‘forget’ their strength.
-Your work capacity is independent of motor ability and determines how much weekly volume you can tolerate. This is much more trainable than motor ability.
-Figure out where you stand in terms of motor ability, and use an appropriate frequency. Increase your work capacity so you can handle more total volume. This is a big part of figuring out the training process for yourself.
Your question cannot be answered specifically as it depends on the amount of training experience you have.
If you are a beginner, you will experience the best gains by working out with basic exercises (ie: bench press, squat, press, pullups, etc) 3 days a week using 3 to 5 sets (depending on the shaper your in)- please note 3 to 5 sets only means doing basic core movements and not all the auxilary exercises you see in a lot body building magazines. It has been shown that beginners can recover much more quickly than advanced lifters (within 48 hours or 72 hours at most). The beginning phase will last from 3 to 9 months depending on the individual.
For more expierenced lifter, the recovery becomes longer and the training more complicated as the body just no longer reponds to the basic training. An experienced lifter will not be able to follow the same routine from week to week and may need to change up his routine in very deliberate but thought out ways to continue to make gains. The reason for this is that as the genetic cieling becomes closer and closer; gains are just more difficult and normal training does not apply.
Could a beginner follow a 5 day train split that some experience lifters use. The answer is yes; but your progress would be significantly slower compared to the person following the 3 day a week total body workout program during the begining phase. Even if your a beginner transition into a more experienced phase, a 5 day a week workout still might not work best as everybody is different.
Once you reach a peak or sticking point in the beginning program(which will be at least 3 months; average of 6 months, and maybe 9 months later); then you can begin experimenting with what will work for you as everybody is different. For advanced lifters, the training is complicated; in some ways, i miss the good old days of the beginning phase where i didnt have to worry about all the complex training methods.
The main thing is that frequency and volume is dependent on your training experience.
[quote]ds77 wrote:
Your question cannot be answered specifically as it depends on the amount of training experience you have.
If you are a beginner, you will experience the best gains by working out with basic exercises (ie: bench press, squat, press, pullups, etc) 3 days a week using 3 to 5 sets (depending on the shaper your in)- please note 3 to 5 sets only means doing basic core movements and not all the auxilary exercises you see in a lot body building magazines. It has been shown that beginners can recover much more quickly than advanced lifters (within 48 hours or 72 hours at most). The beginning phase will last from 3 to 9 months depending on the individual.
For more expierenced lifter, the recovery becomes longer and the training more complicated as the body just no longer reponds to the basic training. An experienced lifter will not be able to follow the same routine from week to week and may need to change up his routine in very deliberate but thought out ways to continue to make gains. The reason for this is that as the genetic cieling becomes closer and closer; gains are just more difficult and normal training does not apply.
Could a beginner follow a 5 day train split that some experience lifters use. The answer is yes; but your progress would be significantly slower compared to the person following the 3 day a week total body workout program during the begining phase. Even if your a beginner transition into a more experienced phase, a 5 day a week workout still might not work best as everybody is different.
Once you reach a peak or sticking point in the beginning program(which will be at least 3 months; average of 6 months, and maybe 9 months later); then you can begin experimenting with what will work for you as everybody is different. For advanced lifters, the training is complicated; in some ways, i miss the good old days of the beginning phase where i didnt have to worry about all the complex training methods.
The main thing is that frequency and volume is dependent on your training experience.[/quote]
This is true.
Also, the two factors are inversely related. The more volume you do in a session the longer you’re going to need to rest in order to allow the body to recover. Intensity is another factor that needs to be taken into consideration in this equation.
Basically you have a few different approaches:
Lots of volume, moderate intensity, low frequency (typical body part split, has had lots of success stories, more applicable for advanced trainees)
Low volume, High intensity, moderate frequency (basically HIT training, also lots of success stories and more applicable for intermediate to advanced trainees)
Moderate volume, low intensity, high frequency (basically the HFT programs on this site fall into this category, CW is a big advocate)
They all work. Just pick the one that appeals to you and give it your all.
You can have high frequency and high volume aswell. Kinda makes the point moot. Just tons of little sessions. You could look at the whole thing and just decide on how you want to divide your volume up.
Nor is it as simple as saying there are these two methods which are polar choices. You could view the whole thing as a continuum. Where you start being determined by your experience, needs, lifestyle, etc. The most important factor being what you enjoy. I used to do alot of full body stuff. I am switching now because i just enjoy the upper/lower split so much more.