Training Frequency & Hypertrophy

I've posted a few times on why I believe training frequency to not be of primary concern when designing a program with the goal of skeletal muscle tissue hypertrophy.

Here is some brand new research on this point: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29489727/

When total weekly volume and intensity was matched, there was no difference in strength or lean tissue mass increases between a once or five times per week body part frequency in well-trained individuals.

As I've said before, when it comes to programming for hypertrophy, keep it simple and focus on a total number of 'hard' sets per body part per week and progress via increasing load/improving execution/adding reps/adding sets etc over time.


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A couple points:
Particants didn't train to failure.
"Well trained " isn't defined.
The age group is very narrow.

Other studies conclude that training 2x wkly produced greater gains than 1x but no difference in 3x.

Age was also a factor... older trainers need more frequency than younger.

Genetics was also not considered in your quoted study.

Results for training frequency will vary from individual to individual. Experimenting, evaluation and adjustment is the best way find what works for you.

One size does not fit all.

Thanks for the article.

Oldschool said:

A couple points:
Particants didn't train to failure.
"Well trained " isn't defined.
The age group is very narrow.

Other studies conclude that training 2x wkly produced greater gains than 1x but no difference in 3x.

Age was also a factor... older trainers need more frequency than younger.

Genetics was also not considered in your quoted study.

Results for training frequency will vary from individual to individual. Experimenting, evaluation and adjustment is the best way find what works for you.

One size does not fit all.

Thanks for the article.

Click to expand...

I'm assuming you mean Schoenfeld's paper on frequency? If you would read his comments on the paper, the big floor was volume was not controlled for total load across groups, and has since speculated that there is no difference. He has a paper coming out this year on exactly that.

If you mean another paper, please post it.

I'd be interested to see a study where they match age, training experience, alter genetic SNP's etc, as you noted. This is obviously impossible, but we do our best with the data available.

I would like to see some evidence to support your claims however.


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The emperical evidence is undeniable... I would be very surprised if the more advanced ASF members would agree that 1x wk is no different than 2x.
I myself noticed a dramatic change when I changed from 1x to 2x week...
But here is a paper examining 6 studies. Maybe you can get some value out of it.
http://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses/109/

When I switched from higher volume less frequent training to lower volume more frequent, I started growing like a weed.

I actually train everything besides biceps and triceps 3x a week. Still growing.

I also suggest this to my clients and, they start growing more rapidly then expected as well typically.

I think at this point we can all agree that there's more than one way to skin a cat in regards to hypertrophy. High rep/low weight, low rep/high weight, high volume, low volume, etc...I've been training each body part 1x per week for years, in fact, I can't ever recall a time where I trained with more frequency than that. I couldn't imagine training each body part 2-3x each week. You guys must literally live in the gym.

TouaregV8 said:

I think at this point we can all agree that there's more than one way to skin a cat in regards to hypertrophy. High rep/low weight, low rep/high weight, high volume, low volume, etc...I've been training each body part 1x per week for years, in fact, I can't ever recall a time where I trained with more frequency than that. I couldn't imagine training each body part 2-3x each week. You guys must literally live in the gym.

Click to expand...

This right here. I don't think there will ever be an agreed upon training regimen for hypertrophy. Just get in the gym, lift, and eat. Rinse and repeat.

Personally I don't enjoy having to tailor my volume and intensity to conform to a higher frequency schedule, where I basically tease the muscle a few times a week.