How often we should target a muscle group per week, is one of the oldest arguments among bodybuilders.

Comparison between workout programs:

To get an understanding of the differences here are some popular bodybuilding routines.

1) HST advocates hitting the muscle 3 times a week. Routines are low volume.

2) HIT advocates usually hitting the muscle twice a week.

3) Volume routines advocate once or twice a week.

4) The most common 3 day split used by many bodybuilders, targets the muscle just once a week.

5) Extreme hardgainer routines, such as the one from Stuan McRobert, author of beyond brawn targets one muscle group per week.

6) Doggcrapp training, a high intensity low volume routine, advocates hitting the muscle 2 times a week.

Which workout is right about muscle frequency?

Unfortunately, it seems to be all over the map. Some workout routines deemed fit for “hardgainers” do more muscle frequency then some of the volume routines. What this means is, like most things in bodybuilding, most don’t have a clue of who is really right.

Studies:

The only workout listed earlier, designed off of scientific studies is HST. According to their sponsored research, hitting the muscle 3 times a week at low volume, is best for maximum muscle gains.

I looked for studies to see if I could help find an answer.

A study published in J Strength Cond Res. 2007 Feb;21(1):204-7
was done on 29 untrained volunteers. The first group did 3 sets
of 10 reps for 9 excercises twice a week. The other group trained 3 times a week but did 2 sets of 10 reps for 9 excercises, so both groups had equal volume. Both increased lean mass, and one rep max strength in excercises, but there was no difference between the two groups. Researchers concluded that volume, not muscle frequency is the main component of muscle growth and strength.

Another study published in J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2007 Mar;47(1):13-7 done on 21 untrained females, divided into 2 groups. One group performed one set of leg press once a week, the other group twice a week, both for 8 weeks. Results showed strength gains in both groups, but no differences between the groups.

One interesting study from Res Q Exerc Sport. 2002 Dec;73(4):416-24 showed that children had significant better strength gains on twice a week workouts than once a week. The twice a week workout group essentially doubled their volume, from one workout to two workouts a week, of 12 sets of medium reps(10 to 15). Why the contradiction from the previous studies? I believe that since these kids are growing, they have faster recovery than adults. Therefore the higher frequency or volume significantly benefited them.

From these studies you can see that muscle frequency, seems to not be a major factor. I believe these studies, help support the argument, that total volume(sets per week) is probably the major underlining factor, not how often you workout the muscle a week.

Most bodybuilders can’t enjoy a vacation, if they can’t bring the weights with them too. I recommend you take a vacation as a way to give your body a rest, but if you are in the middle of getting some good results, you may not want to stifle that with a break. You have two choices, either a dumbell workout or a Calisthenics (bodyweight) workout.

Dumbell workout:

Dumbell workout I posted a while back, will help you with a full body workout routine just using dumbells, without the need of even a weight bench or power cage.

Calisthenics Workout:

The other option is to do a Calisthenics workout, which is just
using your own bodyweight. Your workout will consist of at least pushups, chair dips, situps and possibly sprints for the legs. You probably will have to increase the intensity of your sets to make up for the lack of resistance from using your own bodyweight. To increase the intensity of pushups and chair dips you can do one or more of the following: rest-pause sets, reduce rest time between sets, increase set volume, adjust leg position.

This type of weight training was created by Charles Atlas, with his dynamic training course. Charles Atlas was a well known bodybuilder during the 1930’s to 50’s, with his infamous ads. The most memorable was the cartoon of a skinny guy getting sand kicked in his face.

You can check out Charles Atlas official website
Here

What is dynamic tension weight training?

The dynamic training course by Atlas, is basically a calisthenics and isometric workout. You can easily create your own calisthenic workout routine using your bodyweight, without the need for a copy of his workouts.

Why do calisthenic?

It’s much cheaper then spending hundreds on a home gym or gym membership. It is convenient because you can do these excercises anywhere.

Any disadvantages to calisthenics?

Dynamic tension training will not give you the same kind of workout as heavy free weight. While newbies can gain some muscle, you won’t be able to get the heavy resistance needed to build maximum muscle. Dynamic training is best used only when going on long vacations or if your job requires you staying away a lot from home.

Calisthenic workout routine:

If you are new to bodybuilding, calisthenics can help you get accustomed to heavy lifting and ready for weight training. Charles atlas routine is pretty basic calisthenics routine. If you feel the need to use calisthenitics while on vacation, you can make your excercises more difficult. Some things you can do to increase the intensity of bodyweight excercises are: Shorter rest times, elevating feet, slower reps, rest-paus reps, using one leg instead of two.

A very old argument among bodybuilders is, which workout routine gives better muscle gains, high volume or low volume high intensity?

Logic behind high intensity workouts:

These include the HIT cheerleaders. They believe that in order to stimulate muscle growth it’s all about going to failure on each set. Their workouts are brief and intense. They feel that you cannot gain muscle without going to failure and making the workout absolutely grueling. Often the routines go one step further with rest pause reps, negatives, etc.

Logic behind high volume workouts:

High volume routines don’t believe in failure. Instead they believe in working the muscle at a high load frequently. They believe that high intensity workouts are geared more around building strength instead of muscle hypertrophy.

Scientific studies:

There are few studies out there comparing more volume to lower volume routines. The ones I have come across, suggest one set is adequate for trained individuals for muscle hypertrophy. A study published in Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2000 Jan;32(1):235-42. was done on 42 men with a year of weight lifting experience during a specific 9 excercise routine 3 times a week. For 13 weeks one group continued one set and the other increased to 3 sets per excercise. Both groups increased muscle and strength, but surprisingly they found no difference (negative or positive) in strength or muscle, between the group who tripled their volume. I suspect that doing more sets per muscle, may just increase muscle endurance and not strength or muscle size.

If you are not familiar, periodization teaches that you must keep your body “guessing” in order to avoid plateaus in strength and muscle gains. If you were simply to do the same workout each week, eventually you will plateau. Periodization is controversial because some don’t feel it is necessary to change your routine. Whether you believe in it or not, it’s great to do as it keeps you from getting bored of your workouts. You can ready more about periodization and the research backing it, in a previous article of mine: HIT compared to Periodization

Most bodybuilding routines have reps in the medium range(8-10 reps) for workout sets. This primarily works, both fast and slow twitch fibers. In order to follow periodization principles, you will have to change the type of training you do. This will change which muscle fibers you target. Powerlifters do low reps with long rests, to target slow twitch(power muscle fibers) and increase neural capacity. Endurance athletes do high reps with short rests, to target fast twitch(endurance fibers).

How to setup a year long periodization program:

Every few weeks you will do a different phase. In a specific phase you will gear your workouts around a certain type of training. Working on a specific phase that may conflict with bodybuilding, you will give your muscles a well rounded training and to keep them from adapting. You can think of it as a 1 step back to get 2 steps ahead.

Phases:

There is different ways you could set up the phases and actual workouts. This is only a template to serve as a generic example of how it could be setup year around.

Heavy Phase:The first phase should be your heavy phase. This is your normal bodybuilding routine in the medium rep range. Do this for 8 weeks.

Alteration Phase: This is a transition phase, where you will tone down your training. Do slightly lighter weights and less sets. Do this for one week.

Light Phase: Here you will do a endurance weight training workout. High reps(15+) with rest very short(around 30 seconds). Do this for 4 weeks.

Power Phase: This is where you will do your workout like a powerlifter. Heavy weight around 5 reps, with long rests between sets. You may even setup your workout split like a powerlifter. Do this for 2 weeks. The strength gains will help prepare you for your bodybuilding routine.

After the power phase, you will then go back to your normal heavy phase again. You will continually go through this complete workout cycle, over and over throughout the year. The most important factors to remember, is your main muscle building workout should be the longest of all the phases and to change more than one workout parameter(such as reps or volume) when going into the next phase.

Most gyms fill up in the afternoon and evenings. This tells me that most people workout after work or classes.

Is morning the best time to workout?

Many bodybuilders advocate morning workouts give the best results, but is that really ideal?

This is difficult to answer, as it depends on how you interpret the studies. In the morning your testosterone levels are the highest. However, your body temperature, adrenaline, stamina, mental focus, lung capacity, muscle flexibility, and strength are all lower. Many hormone and physiological systems in the body, peak at different times of the day.

During the late afternoon your pain tolerance will be near peak(leading to better strength). Your body temperature and adrenaline will also be on a rise during this time. Does this mean the late afternoon is best for muscle gains? No, it means the afternoon is best for getting a good workout. The morning seems to be better for optimal muscle gains because of the higher testosterone levels. Testosterone is the main driving force behind muscle gains.

Plateaus is something all bodybuilders dread and will go through eventually. The main reason we stop progressing in bodybuilding. Unfortunately, not everyone is even 100% sure on how to get past plateaus. The two schools of workout science in the bodybuilding community, are contrasted between principles of HIT and Periodization.

Differences between HIT & Periodization principles:

Periodization believes that the only way to get past a plateau, is to radically change your workout. By working out the muscle in a different way you allow your body to surpass it’s plateau. For example, instead of lifting heavy they would do high reps and short rest times. Your muscles would then be getting stimulated more for endurance instead of strength. Periodization has been used for a long time by strength coaches, starting in eastern europe.

HIT in contrast, believes in the principle of progressive overload. This principle says that adding weights to the same routine will cause long term muscle gain. HIT believes at just keep doing the same thing and eventually you will get ahead. Periodization sees what they do as taking 1 step back temporarily, in order to get 2 steps ahead.

Research Studies on periodization

Both workout camps feel very strongly about their principles. There have been bodybuilders who have become big and follow the same routine for many years. Likewise there are some who are constantly changing their routine who continue to grow. Therefore I believe it’s not a question of whether each one works, but which one works the best. There seems to be more scientific evidence to support periodization in producing better long term gains. Most of the studies aren’t as ideal as I would like, but it is something to work with at least.

A study was published in J Strength Cond Res. 2002 May;16(2):250-5. done on 20 men in their early 20’s, comparing periodization for every workout compared to every 4 weeks. They did 3 sets of bench press and leg press 3 times a week for 12 weeks. The group that constantly changed their routine was called the DUP (Daily undulating periodization) did 8 RM on mondays, 6 RM on wednesdays, and 4 RM on fridays. They found that the DUP group made significant more strength gains through all the phases over the other group.

Another study done by Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001 Apr;33(4):635-43 was done on 34 untrained women. One group did low volume circuit training. The other group did high volume and periodization, with changes in volume and intensity of their workouts. Muscular strength and hormonal concentrations were determined pretraining (T1), after 12 wk (T2), and after 24 wk of training (T3). The periodization group was the only group that had muscular power and speed increases at 12 weeks(T2) and 24weeks(T3). They also were the only group that had testosterone increases at T3. Researches concluded from this study, that during the first 12 weeks the low volume and the high volume periodization both worked well in untrained women, but beyond that periodization only caused dramatic training adaptions.

A study published in Am J Sports Med. 2000 Sep-Oct;28(5):626 33 was done on 24 college female tennis athletes. One group did no resistance excercise, another did single set circuit, and the other did multiple set periodization program. The periodized group lost fat and increased muscle significantly after the 4,6, and 9th months of training. They were also the only group to have increased one rep max even after 4,6, and 9 months of training, wheareas the single set group only after the 4th month.

One way of setting up a year around periodization program, can be found in a previous article of mine: periodization workouts

5 X 5 training is popular type of workout between strength athletes and bodybuilders.

What is 5X5 training?

5X5 encompasses any kind of workout, where each excercise is done with heavy weights for 5 sets of 5 reps.

Who is the 5X5 training geared for?

Many bodybuilders may be hesitant to try low reps, worrying about it focusing more on strength than muscle gains. However, following the rules of periodization, switching your routine to 5X5 training could help break your plateau. One must also remember, long term strength gains will naturally follow with muscle gains, provided adequate calories.

5X5 Workout:

There is many types of splits and routines for the 5 X 5. The common denominator between most 5 X 5 workouts is:

- 5 X 5
- Main focus on compound excercises
- Longer rests (2-3 minutes)
- Work each muscle group 2-3 times a week
- 3 or 4 day split

Low volume or beginner routines are often full body workout splits.

Advantages to full body workout routines:

High volume routines cannot be full body routine. They advocate many sets per muscle group, making it impossible for a full body workout. Full body routines are low volume focusing around efficient compound excercises. Depending on the workout routine, you can hit each muscle group 1-3 times a week.

Full Body Workout Routine:

There is various types of full body workout programs. Most are 2 or 3 workout day splits. The amount of sets per muscle group varies between workout program. Some extreme hardgainer routines only recommend one set per muscle a week, while HST for example, recommends multiple sets per muscle group a week.

Ready for a workout change? Superset workout may be something you want to give a try.

What is a superset workout?

It is a workout based around supersets. A superset is when you do another set of a different excercise, quickly after the previous set. It is not to be confused with drop sets, which are multiple sets in a row of the same excercise with no rest.

There are 5 main types of supersets.

1) Isolation Supersets Two isolation excercise sets done in a row.

2) Staggered Supersets Two excercises in a row of completely unrelated excercises. Example, bench press then calf raises.

3) Compound Supersets Two compound excercises in a row for the same muscle group. Not recommended for beginners due to intensity.

4) Pre Exhaustion Supersets You first pre-exhaust the muscle with an isolation then do a compound for the same muscle group. Example, chest flyes then bench press.

5) Post Exhaustion Supersets Opposite of Pre Exhaustion supersets.

Why do superset workout?

It will shorten your workout time, and bust through any plateaus you are in!

Superset workout:

There is no specific superset workout. The one below is just an example.

Sample workout

Number coincides with which type of superset it is, move as quick as possible between the two supersets and 1 minute between each superset combo.

3) Squats
3) Stiff leg

2) Bench Press
2) Bent Over Rows

1) Barbell Curls
1) Dumbell Curls