Ive been in a full body 5x per week program for 7 weeks now. Ive had good results in strength and physique. This has also been a cutting period as well. Ive dropped 20lb of fat since january.
The volume for each muscle group has been approx 18 sets per week. Spread across the 5 workouts.
Ive read a few articles talking about high frequency programs that suggest a better result may come from a 4 day or even 3 day per week program. Providing the volume remains high. Giving your body more recovery time. Tnation actually goes so far to say anyone over 40 shouldnt train more than 3 days
I havent felt like i needed more recovery going into the workouts. Fatigue has been getting greater toward the 5th and 6th week. This could be the caloric restriction or just staleness of the program
The point is. Has anyone actually observed a noticeably better result by scaling back their frequency?
It’s all periodization and duality. If you just do it one way forever, you stagnate.
Whenever I drop frequency, it means I can train BRUTALLY hard. My current program has me deadlifting heavy once every 2 weeks. On Friday, I did 10x10 deadlifts with 410lbs. Right now, whenever I cough or laugh, it feels like my lungs are going to collapse. There is no way I could repeat that effort, absent a gun being held to my head. This is a solid stimulus to grow for sure.
BUT, if I wanted to train more frequently, it would mean reducing the effort and getting in more frequent stimulus. That’s great too, and I’ll have periods of training where I do exactly that.
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You can probably find a dozen articles on T-Nation saying the opposite too - the site, while an absolute mountain of important information, is anything but determinate.
You are cutting, so expect that recovery isn’t going to be great. This being said, you will probably find more progress in your cut if you train more frequently. Not to say that 3-4 times a week is bad by any means, simply that if you are able to train 5x per week - you will burn more than if you only train 3x per week.
If you’re struggling to recover, I would consider dropping overall volume a bit while keeping frequency at 5x per week - if you’re able to. It will just allow you to either eat more, or sustain a larger deficit.
Just my opinion
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Yep. Volume and frequency. Besides strenght work, nowdays i do 2 sets per muscle a week.
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