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How often should you train muscles to gain mass?
Author: Alexander Dobromil - trainer and author of the video blog Your Fit. All articles by the author ➤
The growth of muscle mass and volume depends on many factors, which you have surely heard about even without me: nutrition, training, and recovery. However, the most crucial factor, around which all others are tied, is muscle recovery and its supercompensation (when muscles grow larger). The catch is that no matter how much you train, how much you sleep, or how much you eat—your muscles will never grow without the most important element: time for recovery. And time is the key factor. The internet is full of articles and videos where authors urge you to eat buckets of rice, kilograms of fish, and drink liters of water, as well as perform basic exercises. However, hardly anyone talks about the time necessary for recovery, and even if they do, it’s not always accurate. Have you ever come across a mass gain program where a muscle group is trained less than once a week? Personally, I have not. At least, I haven’t found one online. Does this mean that muscles recover for almost everyone in exactly one week? I don’t think so. It's just that a weekly split is convenient. But that's all. I agree that there are individuals whose muscles recover in a week, but this is far from always being the case. When I first tried training a muscle group less than once a week, I was amazed. Strength results and working weights, especially in the initial phase, increased almost every workout, and I made significant progress in both strength and size. At that time, I began training a group roughly every 9-11 days, and my split looked something like this:
Later, I changed my split to train 3 times in one week and then only 2 times the next week, but the breakdown by muscle groups was more detailed:
The next week, I again trained 3 times and then back to 2. Muscle groups were worked sequentially. Such a training program, where a muscle group is not loaded once a week but rather trained every 10-11 days, provided me with significant progress that I had not achieved before. After that, I began implementing similar training schemes with my clients, increasing the recovery time for specific muscle groups. It was fantastic. Those who were stagnating began to grow and improve in strength. And contrary to popular belief, neither strength nor mass decreased from such infrequent workouts; on the contrary, they increased! It is worth noting that this discussion pertains to natural athletes, like myself. If your blood is a concentrate of pharmacological agents, I'm afraid this scheme might not be suitable for you, though it's worth a try. When it comes to "naturals," the body's ability to produce anabolic hormones is limited by the "capacity" of your glands, and recovery capacity, of course, is also limited. Therefore, in terms of genetics and recovery time, individuals vary significantly. If you feel that you are training correctly and eating properly but are not seeing progress—try giving your muscles more rest. In my experience, in 8-9 out of 10 cases, this helps. Read my articles on the website your-internet-coach.com and watch my video blog. Best wishes, Alexander Dobromil. SIMILAR ARTICLES
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