One of the most controversial topics in bodybuilding and in fitness is “The workout frequency”. Some people say train each muscle once a week, others might say train each muscle twice a week, then you might find people suggesting number of rest days/week, duration of workout etc,
To get started, we will discuss these and then subsequently move on to some other complex things.
As you might have seen in your gym, people try to emulate their role models. But let’s be very clear about one thing, our workout (and by us I mean, natural bodybuilders) cannot match the workout schedule of those Pro’s that we see on boxes of supplements.
Here’s the reason why:
LOGIC FOR MUSCLE GROWTH:
When we train in the gym, we break the muscles tissue of the body part that we are training(say chest). Now for the muscle to grow, it has to first be repaired and then overcompensated. This is done through diet. Big bulging muscles are not made in gym, they are made at home, with adequate rest. Getting sufficient protein in your diet helps repair the damaged tissues, and builds new muscle. Thus adequate rest is necessary for muscle to recover before you break it again by working out.
This is where the genetics plays a vital role. All the pro’s have superior genetics as compared to normal human beings (not to mention, they modify genes through steroids). Thus their bodies recover quickly then normal and hence their bodies grow faster. Now, if you have good genetics, then you can be one of them. Hence, one should never schedule a workout before he/she feels fully recovered.
Consider the following example:
When we do a very intense set for a muscle, here we virtually create a small hole on the muscle (let us imagine damage to hole here for the sake of understanding).When we do another intense set for the same muscle, here we make the hole deeper. Another set and the hole gets still deeper. As I said earlier the growth process starts after the workout when we rest. So if the hole is very deep, all the protein that we take will be used up to fill the hole. But what about the overcompensation? Before the muscle fully recovers it would be more than a week. So our “go to gym” syndrome will kill the growth and we would train the same muscle again. So if you observe here, our progress is zero. This is the reason why most of the bodybuilders lack to make gains.
So what should you do?
Just try to be logical and rational about your workouts and your frequency. Train optimal, train no more than what is required to create a small hole onto the muscle. But remember lazy workouts are not going to help. Do not spend too much time in the gym. Just concentrate on your workout. Working out for longer duration is not going to help as long as you have your work cut out while doing your sets. Try to induce failure in muscles, not giving much rest in between.
What I mean here is just choose very minimal amount of exercises per body part and do several warm-ups and do one or may be two all out sets to failure. By reaching temporary failure of the local muscle you can be sure that you created that required damage to the muscle. When you reach your failure, you not only damage the muscle but also induce the growth stimulus of your body’s growth mechanism. So when you rest and eat proper nutrition, you have no other option but to grow.
Now you would have understood about the volume of workout. There is one more important topic, the training frequency. Just make a practice of listening to your muscle. Don’t train when you feel that your muscle is not fully recovered. Take a day or two off. Believe me you wont loose your gains. Have you noticed that after a complete week or two of rest you always come back stronger to the gym. You are able to feel your muscle better during the workout!! This is because your muscle is fully recovered. Listen to your muscle and train accordingly. You will make optimal gains.
TO CONCLUDE:
There is no magic number of sets or number of days you must train in a week. All you have to do is train each of your muscle with no more than what is required to induce the body’s growth mechanism and not train the same muscle until that muscle and its supporter muscles are fully recovered.
With this, I take your leave for now. More to follow………
