Across the many years I've been lifting weights there have been months where you wouldn't see me anywhere else but the gym. And there's been months where I've been lucky to get 3 decent workouts in a week. I once set myself the challenge of being active every single day of the month. And not long after that, I reigned my frequency right back to a handful of short sessions per week.
And do you know what the funny thing is?
There was no difference in progress. There didn't seem to be a best gym split.
Despite doubling my efforts, the outcomes were almost identical to taking 4 rest days a week. You would have at least expected me to walk out the gym on that last day of the month looking like Arnie. But alas, I retained my DYEL status!
Joking aside, there's a lot of discourse around optimal program length. Especially amongst the younger crowd just discovering lifting. Everyone wants to know how much they SHOULD be going to the gym each week for maximum gains. And when they are told they could get similar gains lifting 3 times a week as they would going to the Church of Iron 6 times, they tend to scoff in disbelief.
But the thing is, the literature actually shows us that there's very little difference in outcomes when comparing programming frequencies. Brad Schoenfeld, in his book Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy collates the latest research we have on this topic and concludes that, whilst research is still lacking in order for us to give a confident inference:
"Very high training frequencies (6 days per week) do not appear to be more effective than moderately high frequencies (3 days per week) for enhancing hypertrophy..."
Naturally there is nuance to this, as there is with everything. What matters the most is the work you're doing each day, and how you recover outside the gym. If across 6 days of lifting you're simply doing 1 set of 1 exercise, compared to multiple sets of multiple exercises across 3 days, then of course 3 days are optimal. Because you're doing more work. When we discuss programming frequency, we are discussing weekly volume. The volume being the sets x reps x weight you're lifting. Or the 'workload'. And also how we spread that across our desired lifting days.
When designing a program, that workload gets spread across the week and tied to exercises. Those exercises are then grouped into days (the split). And those days are often interspersed with occasional rest days to allow for recovery.
When we talk about frequency, we're referring to the amount of times your program has you going to the gym to do the work. If we balance the volume appropriately, we could legitimately have the same amount of work across 3 days as we do 6. How easy that is for someone to complete is down to the individual's capacity to put the work in and recover from the effort. But if they can do so appropriately, the literature shows us that it doesn't matter whether or not they are lifting circles 3 days or 6. The general outcome is the same.
If a lifter can do a serious amount of work in 3 days, shouldn't they double the volume and reap even more gains?
That is a great question.
Why wouldn't you, if you could, double or even triple your work and rival Sam Sulek? Well, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Or even could. Your muscles aren't built in the gym. The gym tells your body that there's a stimulus worth adapting to, but the body needs rest to recover and adapt. If you're constantly hitting the gym each day, with high intensity, the body isn't being given the opportunity to recover. And as a result, you'll get nowhere.
A lack of adaptation in response to a stimulus is typically an overtraining symptom as well. And can lead to a regression in progress, and even illness and injury. Too much of a good thing...as they say.
I covered this in my article: Stress, Recovery, Adaptation, where we spoke about General Adaptation Theory. Go give that a read, but if you want the highlights:
General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) was first proposed in the 1950s to explain how the body responds to both acute and chronic stress...The theory proposes that when the body is presented with a stressor, it goes through three stages: Alarm, Resistance, and Exhaustion.
During the Alarm stage, the body initiates a fight-or-flight response, and becomes highly aware of the stress. In the Resistance stage, the body reacts metabolically in an attempt to adapt to the stress and return to homeostasis. Finally, in the Exhaustion stage, the body becomes unable to continue resisting and may experience negative health effects.
According to the General Adaptation Syndrome, it is essential to give the body adequate rest to recover the energy expended while adapting to stressors. Chronic stress without a break can lead to burnout and negative health consequences.
Similarly, in training, stress is applied in the gym by applying external load (weights, resistance, cardio), and rest is necessary outside the gym to allow the body to repair and come back stronger. The aim is to achieve what's known as supercompensation. An adaptation response that increases your baseline of fitness post-exercise.
In short, we need downtime outside of the gym to allow the body to adapt to its new fitness levels so we can hit the gym stronger.
So, whilst it may be tempting to hit the gym 7 days a week, or it may feel weird to only lift 3 or 4 days a week, know that if your program is well written and the volume is adjusted accordingly, you can still get all those juicy gains on a 3-day program. And in fact, your body may well be better off for it.
The right program will net you the best gains if it fits your lifestyle, schedule, available equipment, and goals. Your program should work for you, not the other way around.
As a coach and fitness and nutrition consultant, I've helped 100s of people find the right program and training frequency to help them achieve their goals. And one of the interesting insights is that whilst 2 people may have the same goal, their programming will be completely different.
Over the years I've found that personalising the programming and being led by the client, almost always yields the best outcome. Think of trying to put a square peg in a round hole.
If you've been beating your head against a wall and struggling to commit to 6 days of training a week or think you SHOULD be hitting the gym for 6 days a week and your inability to do so is preventing you from starting...try lowering the frequency.
Or reach out, if you need guidance on how to do so.
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