Recent Study: Greater increases in muscle growth when training 5 vs 1 d/wk when volume is equated

[ravensfan]

@great_depression Got my biggest bench training chest one time a week.

Studies are great, but you need to prioritize what works best for you.

 

[mlenadc]

@ravensfan So you're referring to strength gains, not size gains?

 

[younglouis]

@ravensfan The post even says strength gains werent different between the 2 groups.

 

[ravensfan]

@younglouis I must have read it wrong

 

[darrellbrown]

@great_depression How are the 15 sets divided?

 

[r3g3nt]

@darrellbrown 3 sets, 5 days per week

 

[darrellbrown]

@r3g3nt Let's say 3 sets for chest, back, legs, biceps, triceps. You will have 15 sets in total per session.

What about the shoulders? And if you are only doing 3 sets should you do exercises like deadlifts, squats and bench?

I'm saying this because you would want to train everything so compound exercises should be preferred.

For example if you choose to do leg extensions you will need to train calves too. So is leg extenions out of the question then?

 

[goodasitgets]

@darrellbrown Just keep recovery in mind. If you focus too much on squats and DL, you may directly contradict the main point, which is "stimulate, don't annihilate".

Just some food for thought: I penciled out something similar that I'm going to start when my current mesocycle ends: 2 sets each for quads, hams, glutes, chest, lats, traps, med delts, rear delts, biceps, triceps, calves.

It's the same total daily set count as my current split, which goes between 50 and 70 minutes depending on the day. Not sure if this will end up slower because of so much switching between exercises, or quicker because I'll be relatively fresh for each body part. Also, there's definitely overlap here (with traps and delts specifically). So after trying this for a meso, I may find out some of those 11 slots need to be combined or cut. But that's what I'm starting with.

 

[dawn16]

@darrellbrown That’s what I never got about the bro split. There are so many muscle groups. Only 7 days in a week. You would have to work out every single day.

Lower leg day. Upper leg day. Chest. Back. Shoulders. Triceps. Biceps. 3 sets for each muscle group 7 times a day. So 21 sets a week and working out 7 days a week.

 

[dawn16]

@great_depression I think one should consider that certain muscles work better than others at high frequency due to biomechanical position and size. Like it doesn't make sense to think that your back can take the same amount of damage as your bicep and recover as fast

 

[dawn16]

@great_depression our muscles don't know what a week is. where's the threshold for optimal frequency? 2.37873x a week? 1.6993820903294x a week? the answer is it's different for everybody. everyone has different hormone levels. different androgen receptor sensitivities. different insulin levels thatll force those carbs into your muscle cells. different diets. different sleeping patterns. different training styles. different genetics. the fitness world is opinion based. find what works for you. i've tried all kinds of frequencies and right now my choice for prep is a continual 5 day split with no allocated rest days. i'll take one if my body tells me i need one or i haven't slept well or some other factor

 

[onlinepsychics]

@great_depression An interesting point I read somewhere on the internet (Super legit lolz) that I’d like to bring up is even if a higher frequency is more optimal in the short run there’s a cap on muscle growth of a natural athlete. Let’s call it 35 pounds of muscle. (The formula includes your wrist size or something like that) So when we compare high frequency to something like brosplits in the short term high frequency will yield higher gains for year 1-5. However after this point there’s a similar increase between the two styles with no noticeable difference in pounds of muscle added beyond that point as the higher frequency has less gains left in the tank so to speak. The more I read into these things the more I realize an optimal split does exist (for YOU) but it has to be tapered to ones own recovery abilities. Back when I was only able to squat the bar I could go high frequency but now that I’m more advanced due to my shit recovery I can’t squat a huge amount of weight and be okay in 3 days even if total volume is less. For this reason I choose bro splits because they’re more fun for me personally to severely destroy myself. I’d be interested to hear everyone’s opinions on this

 

[great_depression]

@onlinepsychics With these studies and with a lot of the content you'll find in this subreddit, try to think of it as sprinters trying to beat their previous mile by 0.5-1 seconds.

Genetic potential is a real thing, but it's how close can you get to it. Some training methods could eventually get you there. Some could get you there faster than others.
Some might have you fall short by a few percent.

There will never be a one size fits all training method that will get everyone to their maximum potential. We are always aging, increasing our wear and tear, we have different genetic benefits as well (though I'd argue it doesn't differ from person to person as much as people believe).

So trying to find the perfect method is like trying to find the perfect clothing as a bodybuilder. It fits great right now but in a few months as your body comp changes it probably won't. But you'll know how to get something that fits perfectly when that happens.

In other words, don't look to studies for complete routines but learn the new found science and how you can apply it to yourself.

 

[qtipie]

@great_depression Interesting but my body burns out faster doing full body workouts. I might try experimenting 2x per week per body part again though

 

[musingsofacac]

@great_depression Can we double down with this logic and do a muscle 10x a week for even more gains? Proving the volume is roughly the same