The Ideal Training Frequency
Seems like I've changed my training frequency a dozen times in the past 5 years, due to both schedule changes and impatience/boredom. I went through a period where I could only fit in 2 full body sessions per week due to a super demanding work and travel schedule.
I then settled into a 3 on/1 off upper/lower type routine which carried me for 3 years or so. It was enjoyable and the results were coming.
Finally, I'm now training 6 days per week with one day of rest and just a light cardio session. The calories are there to support the work load, as I'm currently in a gaining phase. I also autoregulate many of my compound movements, and if I'm truly fatigued, I adjust the loading accordingly. When I tell people that I train 6 days per week they immediately call for overtraining, but the signs simply aren't there. Feel great, and again my caloric intake can support the recovery.
Anyways, I want to hear from you guys- what is your ideal number of training sessions per week? Cardio on rest days or strict rest?
Cheers!
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Each muscle once a week is what I like
Benny BlancoAs much as I've experimented over the years, I always come back to hitting every body part once every seven days. I never do cardio but when I have, I just count it as a day off.
i started off with a BB type split, after a few months realized I could get much better results with increased frequency so I still had a BB type of split, I was just hitting everything 2x a week. i then moved on to powerlifting because i enjoyed it more and did a push/pull/legs split, which I found worked very well (only lift I didn't train like this was deads, too CNS demanding). I would say 2-3 times a week is best doing big, not necessarily heavy, compounds and throwing in isolation work if you have time, if you have an imbalance, or if you just wanna lift some more, but make the compounds your priority. yeah the DOMS will suck for a bit but as long as you're programming correctly, you'll adjust fine. people throw "overtraining" around too fucking much; yes its possible to do but i honestly think you'd actually have to make a conscious attempt at doing it, it takes months and there are signs your body exhibits (can't sleep, high resting HR, stuff like that) that will indicate you need to back off.
so forget what people say, I trained 6days a week for really extended periods of time and like you, I had lifted long enough to know how to read my body, how to adjust my training in response to the signals I was receiving, how to eat to recover, and I made progress just fine.
hell tonight I did:
flat bench 3x8 ( sets/reps)
CGBP, 1 set of 10
squats 1 top set of 10
good mornings 5x5
barbell rows 3x10
1set of 10 BB curls
3x10 rear delt raises
3 sets of abs
and tomorrow Im gonna do the EXACT same exercises with 5-10lbs added to each of them. Ill do this every day till i feel a bit drained, maybe switch a few accessory compounds in and out (like military press for CGBP but not the main ones like flat bench or squats), take a deload (thats ALWAYS better than skipping a training session, learned that from experience) and depending on where my big 3 are at ( i train for powerlifting) I might focus on one lift a bit more than the others if its getting big enough to where CNS recovery might be an issue, but Ill still hit everything else 2x a week with big compounds, maybe just drop the accessories for those lifts but continue to make progress on the main ones
TurtleMansToothI train muscle groups EOD (back, tris/chest, bis/legs,shoulders) and do cardio/abs/flexibility EOD. So I basically train daily. Just feels better this way
im going 6 days a week training each bodypart 3 times a week with at least 30 mins of cardio every day. just started this about a month ago after slacking for a couple of months. i don't do any accessory work really, just heavy compound movements. well, obviously i start light and work my way up but i always go for max reps no matter what the weight. start with 20-25 reps and go up in weight and down in reps until im in the 6-8 range. i don't believe in overtraining especially if you're running a bunch of shit lol.
i don't know about you, but ive done this many times before and once i get into a groove no matter how hard i hit it my body adapts to it and i never get sore or anything.