I would like to come back to the original question of this thread.
What do you think about this?
Anyone got the original research?
“In 2012, researchers from the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences presented a study that looked at the differences between training 3 days a week and extending that same workout to 6 days a week. This study involved 16 powerlifters (13 men, 3 women) who had competed in national competitions. The workouts lasted 15 weeks, with the athletes performing 3 or 6 weekly training sessions. Total training, volume, training intensity and exercises for both groups were nearly identical. The authors concluded, “Dividing total training volume into 6 smaller sessions was more effective than the traditional 3 sessions per week regime both for the increase in 1 RM [1-repetition maximum] in squat and bench-press, as well as for the increase in thigh muscle CSA [cross sectional area]. The mechanisms behind the superior effects of more frequent and smaller sessions cannot be directly addressed in this study, but more frequent stimuli for hypertrophy and less fatiguing sessions might be possible explanations.”
( found on www.poliguingroup…)
They refer to One Compound Lift a day programs with:
6-8 sets x 2-4 reps (relative strength), 4-6 sets x 4-6 reps (functional hypertrophy), 4-5 sets x 10-12 reps (hypertrophy)
Would this be an alternative to the here discussed program?
Can you link me to this study? In a peer reviewed journal? You can’t? You know why? Because it’s not been peer reviewed.
In this “study” they trained sub-maximally. So the three times a week group saw strength increases but not size increases (which makes sense, because in order to generate size increases there is a need for some time of metabolic adaptation…which again occurs from training in a way that causes that…train with a lot of reps in the tank does not).
The 6 times a week group trained sub-max as well, but since they were training more often they saw more size increases. This again make sense because at least MPS was elevated far more often.
The deadlift gains were the same in both groups, mind you.
Lastly, this doesn’t really “prove” anything other than what I’ve said. If you want to grow you need to train really hard to create that need for adaptation.
Maybe they had fake drugs, or underdosed. I remember years ago I guy I knew from high school who just started lifting did a cycle (not sure what exactly but it sounds like it was a lot of shit) and gained about 30lbs. of lean mass in a month, no joke. He also lost it all, plus crashed his test levels, just as fast, but that’ another story.
This video explains it. Also they figured out that a 4 day per week upper/lower split was more effective for hypertrophy. The higher frequency submax volume training is just one approach and is based on weightlifting methods, it works but it’s not necessarily better than lower frequency and including some higher intensity work. Also the 3 day per week group had ridiculously long training sessions, each workout basically burned them out.
That’s what I find it interesting that Scott hits everything directly 3 times weekly with Fortitude. Would love to hear you guys discuss frequency etc. on Swoly Trinity at some point. Just to hear you talk shop.
Scott clearly has his reasons for upping the frequency, even surpassing DC frequency (with longevity in mind in FT).
(Btw, I’m NOT confused or saying “But, but… But Scott says that…” or any of that BS.)
That is one of the tiers in FT. Scott himself does not hit a muscle three times a week. He usually does the same as I do. Push, pull, legs, on a 4 day a week training split.
A comment from someone in a private group I’m a member of. Another member asked about DC and fortitude training and here was the response from someone who has done both (as have I).
I used to train volume out the ass- 60+ sets for legs were not uncommon. We’d get real shitty. However, I plateaued after awhile and in my opinion, there lies the biggest drawback to high volume training; where do you go after 40, 50, 60 sets on top of dieting/cardio etc. I switched to Fortitude Training about a year and a half ago and has helped immensely. It is so much more fun, I track everything I do; and I can actually eat more and stay in better shape due to the enormous EPOC it demands. There are progression days (Loading sets) as well as Dr. [Scott Stevenson] famous Muscle Rounds which I have a giant catalog now of all the exercises I do. The stretches are a huge part too and warranted for muscle growth as well as flexibility- a huge part of FT as well as [Dante Trudel] is DC program; don’t skip out on these! I hardly see anyone stretch or stretch for a specific purpose if that makes sense (Doing a 15 sec quad stretch before you do legs doesn’t count for anything imo lol). I recommend it to anyone who asks “so what do you ‘do’ / what do you think about x”. Like a supplement company or partner or anything in life, there is no perfect training program. But if I had to pick one, I think the Doc really nails Fortitude based on the science, challenging aspects, fun, bio individuality, as well as the planned deload in the program, as well as the stretches. You really hit all types of rep ranges, can employ intensity factors on the higher rep sets, and overall is just really fun. All about that logbook!
After reading this thread I’ve started DC training on a 4 day PPL split (working around work) and loving it! The difference between 4 sets of 12 and 1 massive set with two rest pause sets is not even comparable.
I only have Paul to thank for making me think and work harder rather than longer.
You rotate the days so that you hit one of the days twice in a week
Week 1 : Push, pull legs, push
Week 2: Pull Legs, push, pull
Week 3: Legs, Push, Pull, Legs
Repeat. It gives everything a touch higher frequency than once a week that way, without needing to drop down to a Upper lower, or some other A/B type split
Youd have to look up DC Extreme Stretching to really get the answer, lots of detail with pictures of each stretch at Intense Muscle forum stickies.
The short answer is that after you train a body part, or at the end of the workout (DC lays their workouts out by day, so its the muscles trained on that day), you do a loaded stretch on the muscle for 30-60 seconds. For example, after you train chest you would hold a heavy-ish pair of dumb bells in the lowered part of a DB Bench press for as long as possible, focusing on the stretch (light enough to get 30 seconds, but not so light you can go longer than 60)
The other forum and instructions and stretches for each body part
