Workout Frequency

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

After reading a bunch of the training articles on this site, I am not sure what the ideal workout frequency is, for maximum improvement.

Let me first state my number one goal is a powerful/explosive lower body(cycling sprinter). But since I am relatively lean, I need to put on some real muscle.

Chad Waterbury states in one article that you should be training each muscle group 3 to 4 times a week, for the best gains. I have also read that each muscle group should only be trained ONCE a week.
Currently I have been doing lower body work once a week, because that’s how long it takes to recover. Oddly enough, I can recover from upper body workouts in half that time. I think I might be doing too much lower body work, on that day. here’s what it looks like:
saturday-
1-leg squats, 10x3, 85% 1RM
leg press, 6x3 85% 1RM
deadlift, 5x5 80% 1RM
tuesday-
stiff-leg deadlift, 5x5 80% 1RM
calf raises, 4x6 85% 1RM

After these workouts, my lower body is TRASHED for the following 3 days, and doesn’t fully recover until about 6 days.
I am not listing upper body work, its not concerning my question.
I want to include plyometrics now too.
I will be starting to eat more than before, which was not enough because I wasn’t gaining weight.

Any suggestions on altering my program for better hypertrophy and explosiveness gains?

opinions on workout frequency?

2

I don’t have the answer to your question, but I’m going to point out one detail to keep in mind.

Some exercise routines will have a main high-effort exercise combined with some other medium-effort exercises. I can see hitting a body part hard once per week, and hitting it again with some lower-effort conditioning exercise during the same week.

3

just do a cw program and you’ll find more out than anyone here can tell you.

4

You have to factor in frequency, volume, and intensity of your cycling training. Post that and we’ll get a better picture.

Off the top of my head I’d say you should try training lower-body once per week and upper body twice. Don’t do any cycling after your lower body workout that day or the day after. Work hard but not to failure on the weights.

Upper body day 1:
Bench 10x3 supersetted with
Rows 10x3
ab circuit

Upper body day 2

presses 10x3 supersetted with
chins 10x3
ab circuit

lower body

squats 10x3 followed by
romanian deadlifts 5x6
calf raises 3x12