Workout Frequency

Training Bodybuilding
1

First of all, I am asking this question because I am bored and curious. Mostly just bored though.

For workouts in general, what is your favorite workout frequency?

This is always my problem when it comes to workouts that are TBT. They only allow to work three days (sometimes 4 if you just alternate days), but workouts that are not at least 4 days per week all the time are never my choice.

Yes, this is probably a problem for me as it is limiting my choices for workouts that are out there, but I never liked it. And I do know I should listen to my body, but this is mainly my mind telling me this.

So, for the sake of discussion, discuss.

2

Stimulation / Restoration Rate tells you how often you can workout

3

Honestly my favorite way to workout is to be in the gym 6 or 7 times a week, and hitting only one bodypart a day. Unfortunately it’s not always an option, and it’s not always the best thing for me to be doing. shrug

4

[quote]Player wrote:
Stimulation / Restoration Rate tells you how often you can workout
[/quote]

It’s different for everyone, which is why he asked what works for you.

Right now I’m on a 3 on 1 off (chest/back, legs, bis/tris/shoulders) setup as I don’t have much other stress in my life. It’s working really well. As soon as I get back to full-time hours, I’ll probably throw another off day in there after leg day.

5

M-W-F works great for me. I’ve never done well with much more than that.

6

I have tried frequency as low as 1x week per bodypart (4 or 5day split) and as high as 4x fullbody week. I had the best results from fullbody 3x, or upper/lower 3x or 4x a week.

7

Read the Thibs article on frequency, its pretty comprehensive.
Just remember you may be able to work hard and make great gains on a high volume/frequency program for a few weeks, but often you die in the ass after that cause your immune system is stuffed and you get overuse niggles.

I used to go hard at it 5-6 times a week all the time till I noticed that I always got a cold after 4 weeks and couldnt train properly for a week or two. Now i have three weeks hard one week easy.

Try and find a way to cycle your frequency.

8

I’m up to training 6 days a week right now.
i started at a 4 day split chest/back, legs, shoulders, arms

then i changed it to a 5 day split because my workouts were getting more strenious and it went chest,back,legs,arms,shoulders

now its chest,back,legs,arms,shoulders,calves/abs

and i still spend about and hour each time in the gym, but id probaly be quicker if people didnt always talk to me.

9

When I can, I got hard 4-5 times a week. I find that this still allows me to train, and I don’t become sad that I’m not working out. For now, I am still trying to find what works best for me, but a lot of my frequency is determined mentally. My mind won’t let me get away with only 3x a week.

And I did ask this question primarily because I wanted to know how you guys trained, and why you do so; therefore, I can find out how to look at myself. And I did read that article, but some experience was my main point of this thread.

10

When I can, I got hard 4-5 times a week. I find that this still allows me to train, and I don’t become sad that I’m not working out. For now, I am still trying to find what works best for me, but a lot of my frequency is determined mentally. My mind won’t let me get away with only 3x a week.

And I did ask this question primarily because I wanted to know how you guys trained, and why you do so; therefore, I can find out how to look at myself. And I did read that article, but some experience was my main point of this thread.

11

[quote]Freaky Styley wrote:
Player wrote:
Stimulation / Restoration Rate tells you how often you can workout

It’s different for everyone, which is why he asked what works for you.

Right now I’m on a 3 on 1 off (chest/back, legs, bis/tris/shoulders) setup as I don’t have much other stress in my life. It’s working really well. As soon as I get back to full-time hours, I’ll probably throw another off day in there after leg day.[/quote]

Doing the exact same thing, as recommended by CT, just because I have absolutely no stress this summer, unlimited food, and lots of time to rest. Wouldn’t recommend it for someone not in my conditions unless you have good recovery abilities. I’m making strength and size gains so I’m pleased. To accomodate the more frequent training, I lowered my volume just a bit by dropping an exercise I would usually do on a 5-day once-a-week split.

12

I’m much like the OP. I enjoy lifting more often but I’m about to switch it up and go to the push/pull every other day for a while to give my body a bit of a break.

My current split is setup in a way that my posterior chain is getting hit pretty hard too often for optimal recovery (monday is heavy rack pulls, wednesday heavy squats, friday heavy deadlifts) and I’ve been starting to feel the effects of this in my training.

Also in about 2 weeks I’ll have everything setup for home training and I wont really have access to enough stuff to justify to myself doing bodypart split workouts for a while, at least until I get dumbbells in a few more months. I’m actually kind of looking forward to going back to a more back to the basics compound oriented routine.

13

I too am like the OP. I enjoy lifting, and cant handle it if i have more than 2-3 off days per week. Also, ive pretty much exclusively used TBT and this is probably why i have achieved less than spectacular results.

Im hoping though, to use my love for lifting, and my newly acquired knowledge of nutrition and nutrient timing, to pack on some serios mass.

I dunno for us guys that enjoy HFT, theres a couple of possible tradeoffs.

1.) less intensity
2.) less volume
3.) worse results

I personally im tired of option #3, so i’ll be taking less of 1 & 2.

Also, im going to experiment with shorter loading periods to see if it will help me recover more. I normally would try to follow a 3:1 loading/deloading scheme, but I think with higher frequency training, i may try a 2:1 loading/deloading scheme and train harder during the loading phase. We’ll see how it goes.

To the OP, you can easily modify any program out there to make it higher frequency. Just try to keep the weekly load somewhere in the same area. Good luck.

14

[quote]ukrainian wrote:
When I can, I got hard 4-5 times a week. I find that this still allows me to train, and I don’t become sad that I’m not working out. For now, I am still trying to find what works best for me, but a lot of my frequency is determined mentally. My mind won’t let me get away with only 3x a week.

And I did ask this question primarily because I wanted to know how you guys trained, and why you do so; therefore, I can find out how to look at myself. And I did read that article, but some experience was my main point of this thread.[/quote]

well i look at it like this; theres no infallable rule to how often you should train. if you need to get in touch with your own body. of course you wont like traning 3x a week because thats not a serious amount of volume for results. i think you need to just experiment with how much intensity you can cram in as little sessions you can a week. if you can lift 4x a week intensly and get good results then do that. if you cant fit your intenity into 4days move to 5 and so on.

15

Well, I am finally done with the football summer lifting, and they have given us a week off before they test us on our maxes. I am working out three times that week. They say we shouldn’t, but I don’t care. I am doing it.

Monday- 20 rep squat challenge (can’t wait for that).
Tuesday- I don’t know yet.
Thursday- I don’t know yet.