How long do you need to train to build muscles? How does training frequency affect muscle growth?!!!! When you shouldn't train to failure

Most people start going to Gym, in order to get rid of extra pounds and gain beautiful figure. But when training doesn't work desired result, disappointment sets in. Newly-minted fitness enthusiasts, trying to justify their failures, claim that working out in the gym does not help you lose weight, because “mass growth begins.” This and other myths prevent beginners from reaching their goals and admiring their toned body. How to exercise correctly to lose weight and improve your health?

Trainers give 10 life hacks to beginning athletes that will make their workouts effective and help them lose weight.

Trainers note a common mistake beginners make is that they practice too often. Daily training does not allow muscles to recover. Instructors advise taking days of complete rest, otherwise the results from going to the gym will be minimal.

To lose weight, you need to train 3-4 times a week. But during classes it is necessary to force the body to work actively.

This is interesting!

Scientists from the University of Alabama conducted an interesting experiment. They divided women who wanted to lose weight into two groups. Subjects from the first group studied daily, and from the second - 4 times a week. Women from the second group lost weight 1.5 times faster than their rivals.

Fat burns over low heat

Isolated exercises on a specific muscle group will not give the desired effect. In order to experience stable weight loss, you need to train for at least 40 minutes, giving your body aerobic exercise. At this time, at least 23% of the muscles of the total mass should be involved. If the whole body works during training, fat will be burned much faster. The loads should be light, but long-lasting.

The body’s usual “fuel” is carbohydrates, and only when they are deficient does it begin to use fat reserves. To enhance the fat burning process, you need to adjust your diet. Avoid high-calorie foods, especially in the hours before and after your workout.

Expert advice:

You won't be able to lose weight by constantly overeating. Eat 4-6 times a day, but the portions should be small. Choose the diet that suits you.

Cardio after strength training

Spend 60% of your training time on cardio. If you want to lose weight, do cardio exercises after strength training. During resistance exercise, carbohydrates are primarily used. Therefore, when you switch to cardio, fat reserves will be burned.

Monitor the load during continuous movement. To get rid of extra pounds, you need to give your best, but monitor your heart rate - it should be within the fat burning zone (50-65% of the upper value). The calculations are simple: you need to subtract your age from 220 - this is the limit.

Recommended for weight loss interval training: do intense exercise for a minute, then 1-2 minutes more intensely at a relaxed pace. You can increase the time of intense training and reduce training at a recovery pace.

Expert advice:

If you don't have time to go to the gym, do a quick workout. Pick up a few multi-joint exercises and run them around in circles several times at high intensity.

Work all muscle groups

Include in your training program exercises that involve the maximum number of muscles. The higher the load, the stronger the blood circulates, and accordingly, the fat “melts” more actively.

Squats burn more calories than mat exercises because they work your buttocks and thighs simultaneously. Running is more effective than cycling or walking - it works during the workout shoulder girdle.

Always make sure your back is straight! Beautiful posture motivates you to pull in your stomach and spend an extra “minute of sports.”

Is stability always a sign of mastery?

If you always perform the same set of exercises, you may forget about good results. The muscles get used to the monotonous load and stop responding to it. To restore the “muscle response”, urgent measures need to be taken.

First of all, it is important to regularly increase the load and increase the number of approaches. The body should not get used to the elements of the workout, otherwise calories will be burned very slowly. The trainer will help you choose the optimal load and outline a training plan.

Expert advice:

A series of fitness mistakes can kill your desire to exercise. Don't give up, even if you have to start over!

Should there be muscle pain?

After training, the muscles should be felt, but debilitating pain is an alarming symptom. If your muscles ache for longer than two days, you should reduce the load. This indicates that they do not have time to recover, resulting in chronic fatigue, irritability, and a loss of desire to train.

To make progress, you need to give your body a rest and then concentrate on rehabilitation exercises.

Your efforts will be most fruitful if you find your own training program. Otherwise, you will simply waste time in class and will not get one iota closer to your cherished goal.

Professionals advise to always keep your fitness goals in mind. Then you will achieve the desired result faster and can be proud of your slim and fit figure.

Expert advice:

Pay attention Special attention The technique of performing exercises is the key to a good result.

A mentor will help you get great results

Self-organization is, of course, good. But sometimes achieving a goal requires powerful motivation. You can train with a friend and set a bet to demonstrate a certain result within a set time frame.

Share your intermediate successes, support each other. Encouraging comments are the best motivation.

Have fun with your workout!

If working out in the gym is accompanied by constant stress, the body begins to accumulate fat “for a rainy day.” Take a few days off and try to reconsider your schedule.

Move your workouts to another time or diversify your program. Perhaps you are pushing yourself too hard, and your body is resisting excessive stress. The process of losing weight will be much more active if you enjoy the exercise.

After the sauna, metabolic products are eliminated and it subsides. muscle pain, "evaporates" excess liquid from the body. As a result, cellulite becomes less noticeable and body volume decreases.

You can go to the sauna 2-3 times a day, the temperature should be up to 60 degrees. It is useful to drink herbal teas or mineral water.

Question: I'm a little confused about what the frequency of strength training should be. How many times per week should I train each muscle group? Many recommend working out each part of the body three times a week, others insist on two workouts, and still others say that one is enough. How correctly, what strategy will give best result?

Answer: There is a very good and clear answer to the difficult question of training frequency. But before you know it, I have to give a slightly vague answer that may cause irritation. The answer is...all of the above.

What I mean is that you can effectively train each body part once, twice or three times a week and achieve good results. You just need to understand that the training volume must correspond to the chosen training frequency.

You can train intensely, but not too often, or you can work a little bit, but with greater frequency. Once you understand this principle, you will achieve results at any frequency of training. And if you don’t learn... you will mark time. Let me explain...

Train each muscle group once a week

As you can see, each muscle group works only once a week and rests 6 days between workouts.

What is important to remember if you plan to train each muscle group once a week in this split or another similar one? It is necessary to provide the muscles with enough training stimulus in a single workout per week. Only in this situation do you have the right not to return to the muscle group for a whole week.

If the amount of load on the muscle is insufficient, it will recover long before next workout. As a result, the time between full of muscle and the next training session will be lost. Moreover, processes that we call detraining and regression will begin in the muscle. Simply put, you will lose everything you gained in your previous workout.

The load should be sufficiently noticeable to provide a full week of recovery.

Ultimately, this scenario leads to a decrease in training productivity. Therefore, if you decide to train each muscle group once a week, make sure that during a single session you generate sufficiently powerful training stimuli, and the muscle is guaranteed to recover throughout the coming week. This way you will avoid an unproductive period of detraining and regression.

At the same time, we should not forget that excessive training stress, from which the body cannot recover even in a week, is no better. The load should be significant enough to provide a full week of recovery, but also reasonable enough not to go too far.

All this leads us to...

Training each muscle group 3 times a week

As you can see, each muscle group is worked 3 times a week and rests only 1-2 days between workouts.

If you train each muscle group at this frequency, your local goals should be a mirror image of the goals you set for yourself with one workout per week. In the three-training regime, the stress on the muscle should be extremely insignificant so that it has time to fully recover and is ready for the next training session.

Without enough time to recover, the muscles will not only NOT develop, but will even begin to regress. Ultimately, such a scenario will lead to you encountering . So, if you decide to train a muscle group 3 times a week, make sure that the training stimulus is relatively small and allows the body to fully recover before the next workout.

However, we must not forget about the other side of the coin. Although the training stimulus must be relatively weak to allow for adequate recovery at such a high frequency of training, it must still be significant enough to move you closer to the priority goals of the training program (gaining muscle mass, strength, etc.).

The stress on the muscle must be extremely insignificant so that it has time to fully recover

Training each muscle group 2 times a week

Now each muscle group receives two workouts per week and 2-3 days of rest for recovery.

It is important to understand that regardless of the training frequency you choose, you run the risk of under- or over-training. However, we can safely say that the typical problem with one workout per week is the lack of adequate training stress, enough for a whole week of rest. And the main problem with three workouts a week is creating a load that does not allow you to recover for the next session.

Essentially, with two workouts per muscle group per week, you are in an ideal situation and can avoid both problems.

Of course, you may still find yourself under- or over-exercising and making the same mistakes, but at the same time, you have the opportunity to get the best of both worlds.

With two workouts per muscle group per week you are in an ideal situation

Key Point: All strategies work!

I want to focus your attention on the fact that any frequency of training can bring results. But the only way to make the strategy work is to match training volume and frequency. Let me explain.

Let's say for a muscle group, 12 sets is the ideal weekly training volume. Your personal optimal load depends on thousands of individual factors, but 12 sets is a fairly reasonable number and very convenient for our example. So that's what I mean...

• If you train each muscle group once a week, you should complete all 12 sets at once. Since the training frequency is low, you have to do a week's work at a time. So, 12 sets for a muscle group 1 time per week = weekly training volume of 12 sets. Mission Complete.
• If you train a muscle group 3 times a week, you should perform approximately 4 sets per muscle group on each of the three weekly training. Since the frequency strength training is high, you have to sharply reduce the load volume in one workout to adapt to the frequency. If you do 4 sets per muscle group 3 times a week, you'll get a total weekly volume of 12 sets. Mission accomplished again.
• If you train a muscle group 2 times a week, you should do 6 sets per muscle group in each of your two weekly workouts. The frequency of training can be called moderate, so you need to work with a moderate load that corresponds to this frequency. By performing 6 sets for each muscle group 2 times a week, we get a weekly volume of 12 sets. And again we state that the mission is accomplished.

Regardless of the training frequency you choose, you distribute the load so that your optimal weekly training volume remains the same (12 sets in this example). Just make sure that the volume of the load in one session corresponds to the frequency of the training impact, and by the end of the week you will not exceed the norm and will not find yourself far behind the ideal weekly volume.

Comment. The 12 sets per muscle per week principle applies primarily to the larger muscle masses of the chest, back, and legs. For small muscles, such as biceps and triceps, half the load is enough.

And now the most important question...

What is the best training frequency?

You already understand that all strategies are effective, and you are wondering whether one of the options will be better or worse than the other. Yes! Choosing the best strategy depends on individual factors, especially your skill level. That's what it means.

• Beginners. If you are new to strength training (that is, you have been training regularly and properly for less than 6-8 months), all the research, expert recommendations and practical experience suggest that 3 workouts per week is ideal for you. The example given split (3 workouts for the whole body) is the optimal choice recommended for all beginners.
• Intermediate and advanced level. For anyone who has passed the beginner stage (that is, has been training regularly and competently for more than 6-8 months), research, expert advice and practical experience agree that a frequency of two workouts per week is ideal. The example of the split given earlier (2 workouts each for the upper and lower body) will be the optimal choice. This is the strategy most often recommended by the most educated people in the iron world.

But what about 1 workout per week?

Although training each muscle group once a week is most popular among average gym goers, it also turns out to be the least effective for most. Is the strategy working? Without a doubt (provided you do everything right). Is it the best for most of us? Absolutely not.

A whole week of rest between training a specific muscle group is a serious waste of time, no matter what sauce it is served under. Judge for yourself. The muscle receives 52 training sessions per year. If you train her 2 times a week, she gets 104 training sessions per year. What strategy do you think will give the best results in the future over the same period of time? The answer is obvious, isn't it?

If so, why is the option of one muscle group workout per week so popular? Because it is great for people who use various "support" (i.e. pharmacology and steroids), people with excellent genes and bodybuilders who have already almost fully realized their muscle-building potential.

All these people look amazing. We want to be like them and try to imitate them. The only problem is that we are average normal people who train without “support”, and a similar strategy on long distance will be less effective. Scientific research and real examples prove this.

• Once a week. I generally DO NOT recommend this strategy. If your only goal is to maintain strength and current levels muscle development, and not their increase, then it is possible, but in other cases - completely abandon this irrelevant style of strength training. He is the least productive of all.
• Three times a week. I strongly recommend this frequency of training for beginners, regardless of their goals (muscle growth, fat burning, increasing strength). My #1 recommendation is to use a full body split, which I gave as an example.
• Two times a week. I recommend this training frequency for most people. This has been proven to be the ideal training frequency and is best for most people (except beginners) who want to build muscle, lose fat, lift strength indicators. There are several ways to make the strategy work, but my favorite remains the top/bottom split above. This is the only split I use today.

Still have questions? The articles on our resource will help you answer them. From them you will learn about proven programs that are actively used and recommended by famous representatives of the world of fitness and bodybuilding.

In addition, you will find on the website complete guide, how to build muscle, burn fat, or solve both problems as quickly and efficiently as possible. The publications contain answers, details and facts that will make diet and exercise programs productive and help both men and women completely transform their bodies.

You may train to failure in hopes of gaining muscle mass and increase strength, but actually regress. Find out how to avoid making mistakes.

Imagine the situation:

At the beginning of your workout, you perform an intense set of abdominal exercises on a bench, as you would do:

1. Stop one or two reps before failure and do another set with the same weight.
2. You will do as many reps as you can because you are training with an assistant who will help you complete the last rep.

Which approach do you think will be more effective for increasing strength and muscle mass?

You will be surprised, but the first method will allow you to achieve your desired goal faster. And that's why.

What causes muscle growth?

Modern muscle growth research has proven the following:

1. There is a certain intensity of the exercise that makes it extremely effective.

That is, not all loads are equally effective. Brad Schoenfeld compared the growth of muscle mass and strength in two groups: In one, subjects trained with heavy weights, performing 8–12 repetitions; in the other, subjects did 25–35 repetitions with light weights.

Both the first and second groups of trainees gained the same muscle mass. But the group that worked with light weights, it was much more difficult.

Because it was doing 30 reps with a light weight, 20 of which were considered warm-up reps and too light to stimulate muscle growth. Only the last few reps of the exercise were difficult enough to stimulate sufficient muscle growth.

This is why the load is important, the total payload or the amount of training. The words of Greg Nichols confirm this: “To grow muscle, you need to perform each set with maximum effort in order to properly load all muscle fibers.

We do not know the exact threshold of effort required to hypertrophy . Many people achieve significant muscle growth without training to failure, but in general, to progress, you need to stop 1-2 reps before failure.".

2. Muscle hypertrophy requires an increase in the number of approaches.

But there is a point of no return (overtraining), after which all efforts made only inhibit the growth of strength and muscles.

After a certain number of repetitions (maximum useful repetitions), each subsequent one gives a negative effect. This fact was confirmed by Gonzalez-Badillo, who observed three groups of weightlifters over 10 weeks of training with different quantities repetitions and weights.

The first group did 1923 repetitions, the second group did 2481 repetitions, and the third group did 3030 repetitions. All groups progressed in strength, but the second one took the lead. This suggests that progress has a linear relationship with the number of repetitions performed, but only up to a certain point. Once you reach overtraining, subsequent efforts will have no or negative effect on strength and muscle gains.

3. It is better to distribute the number of repetitions between several workouts than to complete them all in one.

This fact was confirmed by Rastaad's observations of the Norwegian powerlifting team. Athletes did the same number of repetitions at the same intensity, but at different frequencies. Some trained 6 times a week, while others trained 3 times, but did double the volume.

Even though both groups performed the same number of repetitions over the course of a week, greater muscle and strength gains were noted in the second group.

This once again confirms the fact that the formula for muscle growth is to do a moderate amount of exercise. effective repetitions per week, preferably (but not necessarily) with greater frequency, and when introducing progressive load.

Read also:

When should you not train to failure?

Training to failure is unwise, as research has proven and is reflected in the muscle growth formula.

You can reduce the number of effective repetitions per set, thereby stimulating muscle hypertrophy. How? By increasing the overall load and the number of repetitions performed during the workout.

Given that muscle growth is dependent on the total volume of training, you will build muscle better by dividing the total number of repetitions during the training into more sets than by completely depleting your reserves of strength and energy by training to failure.

Another major disadvantage of training to failure is the fact that it places excessive stress on your body and requires more recovery time between workouts. This may cause you to reduce your training frequency.

For example, you can do intensive upper body on Monday and Thursday. But training to failure will prevent you from performing 100% on Thursday because you won't be strong enough.

This negatively impacts the intensity of your workouts and the number of reps you can perform for the rest of your workout. training week, and leads to the accumulation of fatigue, forcing you to reduce the load more often. If you cut back too often, you will reduce the effectiveness of your training throughout the year.

Does this mean you shouldn't train to failure at all? Of course not. Training to failure is very effective for muscle growth in special cases.

When does training to failure work?

For the same amount of work (as many sets and reps as possible) and intensity (the weight you use), training to failure has been shown to provide greater benefits for muscle mass and strength gains.

In a 2005 study, Drinkwater and his colleagues recruited two groups of young beginner athletes to perform 24 repetitions of a maximum weight bench press (one that they could lift no more than 6 times)..

The group did these 24 reps (4 sets of 6 reps), reaching failure on each set. The second group did these 24 reps for 8 sets of 3 reps using the same weight. After 6 weeks, the first group showed an increase in strength by an average of 7.3 kg, and the second - by 3.6 kg.

With a fixed volume and intensity (the same throughout the entire workout), training to failure produces more successful results. The closer the reps are to failure, the more they stimulate the need for adaptation (in terms of muscle mass and strength gains). The last few presses of the 6 rep set were the most effective.

In this case, they confirm their effectiveness.

It is equally effective to train to failure when performing the last set of individual exercises. By training this way, you'll perform 1-2 extra reps on your last set. That is, you will do a more effective amount of work and thus stimulate muscle growth more.

Practical conclusion

By focusing on the quality of your reps and the weight you lift throughout your workout, you'll achieve greater results than training to failure.

Training to failure on each set can make it difficult to perform the desired number of exercises in one session.

So instead of doing something like this:

Set 1 – 7 reps to failure with 102 kg, Set 2 – 6 reps to failure with 102 kg, Set 3 – 5 reps to failure with 102 kg,

it would be better to do something like this:

Set 1 – 5 reps to failure with 102 kg Set 2 – 5 reps to failure with 102 kg Set 3 – 5 reps to failure with 102 kg Set 4 – 5 reps to failure with 102 kg

In the second case, you will lift more weight as a result of training and do this through more repetitions.

But you shouldn’t bet everything on increasing your training time; it’s better to work with full dedication when performing each approach. This guarantees optimal results.

When you create a training program, first of all, you need to decide on the first important point – regularity of training. How many times a week should you exercise?

I understand... this is quite a broad question. And the terms “exercise regularity” and “exercise regularity” can have a lot of different meanings.

However, there are 3 values ​​that are worth paying attention to:

• General training regularity: How often should you do certain exercises (strength training, cardio, etc.)?
• Regularity of strength training: How many times a week should you do strength training?
• Regularity of exercises for individual muscle groups or body parts: How many times per week should you train each muscle group or body part?

The only thing we missed on this list is cardio training. This is a separate topic that we will talk about a little later.

Now let's look at the 3 most important aspects of regular training.

Regularity of training in general

The first thing to decide is how many times a week we will perform training. These may include strength training, cardio, and so on. All this relates to the regularity of classes in general.

This is one aspect that may vary depending on you and your goals (for example, an obese person with the initial goal of losing weight may do 4 cardio workouts per week, while a thin person with the initial goal of gaining muscle mass may not do cardio at all).

Therefore, it is impossible to say exactly how many times a week you need to exercise.

However, there is one thing general rule, which works for everyone.

And this is the rule: do least 1 day off from training.

It means that as a last resort You can exercise 6 times a week (and that includes power load, cardio and so on).

I am sure that among those reading this article there is no such person who needs to exercise 7 times a week and who will derive any benefits from it.

I will say more: most people will accept 3-5 times a week as the norm, depending on their goals.

Why? Because daily training not only makes no sense to achieve your goals, on the contrary, it can lead to the opposite results.

Regularity of strength training

There are many individual characteristics that should be taken into account in the regularity of training in general. However, when it comes to strength training, the opposite is true. I can accurately describe the regularity of strength training.

The regularity of strength training refers to how many times a week you need to do it.

Some people can do 5 workouts a week (although in most cases they are not necessary at all), some people can stop at two. However, for most people in most cases 3-4 is enough strength training in Week.

I base this on most well-designed training programs that are 3-4 workouts per week.

The same goes for the rule do not perform more than 2 workouts in a row.

Regularity of exercises for specific muscle groups or body parts

And the last thing is the regularity of exercises for individual muscle groups or parts of the body.

How often should you train to get maximum muscle growth?

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Optimal training frequency is a hotly debated issue.

Some believe that for continuous improvement, it is necessary to train the whole body 2-3 times a week, others believe that such a training regimen will only lead to overtraining. This problem is complicated by the fact that various types of individuals have managed to create a lot of crazy training methods and systems.

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Recommendations vary widely and cover everything from low-volume workouts (1-2 sets per muscle group) repeated several times a week to high-volume workouts (20-25 sets per muscle group) performed much less frequently.

The truth is that optimal frequency training depends on how these same training sessions go in terms of the amount of work performed and intensity.

When looking for a scientific answer to the question of what is the optimal amount of training, you inevitably come across the fact that the number of subjects is usually relatively small; at least some information can only be gleaned from a large report by researchers from the University of Gothenburg.

I'll hit the nail on the head if I quote the study:

“In general, moderate training volumes (~30-60 repetitions per training session) produce the greatest results.”

Although professional bodybuilders go somewhat beyond this range, it has long been known to bodybuilders even without research, since it is what the more experienced have always recommended to the less experienced. If you look at many popular, time-tested programs, you will notice that in most of them 30-60 repetitions are performed for each muscle group per week.

For example, in my “Bigger Dryer Stronger” program, there are 9 to 12 exercises for the main muscle groups, 4-6 repetitions each. Once you can do 6 reps, you increase the weight on the bar (after which the reps typically drop to 4), so you end up with high-intensity workouts with reps in the 45-60 range. With this program, people can seriously gain both strength and muscle mass.

If we understand the volume of training, then let's return to their frequency.

In Dryer Stronger, for example, I recommend people train 5 times a week and rest 2 days. Each muscle group (chest, back, shoulders, arms, legs) has its own training day, so each muscle is trained once a week. (However, keep in mind that compound exercises often work multiple muscle groups, such as deadlifts and squats.)

Some people believe that this approach is not correct; in their opinion, for muscle growth it is necessary to train each muscle group at least 2 times a week. Although clinical studies say otherwise.

I have dozens of evidence that training specific muscle groups 5-7 times a week produces phenomenal results, and research also shows that proper training volume and intensity are more important than training frequency.

To put it simply: your muscles can only take so much damage each week, and whether it's done in one workout or three sessions, it's pretty much the same thing.

Training one muscle group a day may not work well if you have a poorly formed training program: poor selection of exercises, training volume and number of repetitions. A significant portion of people do too much with this type of training regimen. isolated exercises with low weights and high reps, resulting in low intensity and too much volume.

“But what about protein synthesis?” you ask. “Don’t muscles recover in 2-3 days?”

Research has shown that a spike in muscle protein synthesis occurs 24 hours after exercise and returns to normal after 36 hours. This means, in theory, that you should exercise the muscle every 2-3 days to stimulate it maximum height, in fact, a number of training programs are built on this principle.

Such programs can work, however, the common problem for people working on them is recovery. As the volume and intensity of your workout increases, your rest time should also increase.

The study found that even a trained male athlete can take anywhere from 48 to 96 hours for full muscle recovery, with the exact timing affected by sleep, nutrition, and other physiological factors such as hormonal levels and genetics.

If we look at other studies, we see that the vast majority of people need more than 72-96 hours to fully recover from intense workout, and also the fact that the older generation needs more time than the younger generation, just like large muscle groups it takes more time than small ones.

Plus, muscle recovery is only one part.

Intense exercise causes stress in nervous system, and research has shown that this “fatigue” can accumulate from workout to workout. If there is too much of it, symptoms of overtraining occur, such as decreased productivity, depression, sleep disturbances, etc.