Training Frequency for Bodybuilding
As a new gym goer, I'm sure you at one point looked up an online training split and it looked something like:
Monday: Chest and Triceps
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Back and Biceps
Thursday: Shoulders
Friday: Arms
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off
A muscle GENERALLY is able to recover 48 hours after the last time you trained it volume being the main factor. If you went in and let's say crushed 20-25 sets on chest, it is doubtful you will be recovered until at least 4 days factoring sleep and your nutrition. Plus let's be honest, 20-25 sets of working sets is absolute overkill. If you are capable of doing that much you are not training heavy enough. With the muscle recovering 48 hours after a session, you are leaving 5 days of it being non trained for what reason? I have your answer, there is no reason other than someone came up with this split and it was never altered until recently.
Research has shown that in natural athletes, you need that stimulus to turn on protein synthesis. In athletes using PEDs they can handle the volume and frequency being a lot higher because their recovery is enhanced. If you train a muscle once per week, you are leaving a lot of possible lean tissue gain in the tank. This is why a good majority of people stall out and stop seeing progress among other factors like eating like a dingus or not sleeping enough.
So let's give an example of what this would look like over 8 days:
Day 1: Hamstrings, Glutes, Calves
Day 2: Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Day 3: Quads, Hamstrings, Abs
Day 4: Back, Shoulders, Biceps
Day 5: Hamstrings, Quads, Calves
Day 6: Back, Chest, Shoulders
Day 7: Off
Day 8: Off
Now this example is if you want to just blast through the week. I recommend 2 days completely off at that point. You've essentially trained your entire body 3 times in 6 days. You need the rest.
Another example is a 2 on 1 off scenario. You can do upper, lower, rest. Rinse and repeat. It's really all in how you individually recover; how good are you at stress management, quality of sleep, quality of food, amount of food, all factor into this recovery and capability of training more.
With these scenarios, we stick to 2 working sets per exercise and never go over 3 exercises per body part.
To wrap it up, you want to be training your body more than once in a weeks span. Does it have to be a 7 day split? No. It's all dependant on your schedule, your recovery, and what muscle or muscles you want to grow.
For a more customized plan for you, you can email info@ironmetalfit.net and check our personal training rates.