How Often You Should Train Each Muscle Group For Maximum Strength And Hypertrophy

One of the most debated topics in the fitness world is how often you should train each muscle group. Once a week or twice a week? Bro split or push pull legs? It’s all very confusing especially if you’re new to the gym. In this video we hope to clear up the confusion by looking at what the scientific literature says and then talking about how you can apply the information to your training program.

In 2016, a review was conducted that aimed to determine the effects of resistance training frequency on muscular hypertrophy. The scientists took a look at ten different studies and each had to use healthy individuals without chronic disease or injury, the studies had to have a duration of at least four weeks, and they had to measure physical changes with biopsy. Within these studies, the scientists saw that increased volume led to an increase in hypertrophy. They concluded with the statement that the current body of evidence points to the fact that training each muscle group twice a week is better for muscle growth than training each muscle group once a week. They also said that it could not be determined whether or not training each muscle group three times a week is better than training each muscle group twice a week. Now that we’ve taken a look at the science, let’s talk about applying this information to your training program.

So how should your training program look now that you know hitting each muscle group twice a week is the way to go? The answer is different for beginner and advanced lifters. If you’re at the beginning of your training journey you likely won’t be able to recover quick enough to hit each muscle group twice a week or once every seventy two hours. But if you’re an advanced trainee, you should be able to recover quick enough to train a muscle group every three days. So if you’re a beginner, spend a little more time training each muscle group once a week, but if you’ve been training for a while, it’s definitely time to up your training frequency so you can see the best results possible.

Before we finish up, let’s talk about one more thing that’s perhaps even more important for hypertrophy than training frequency. We’re talking about total volume. The research has shown that at bare minimum ten working sets per muscle group per week are required for hypertrophy. If you're not hitting that number, you won’t grow, regardless of training frequency. So in our opinion, total training volume is more important than training frequency when your goal is muscle growth.

So in conclusion, train each muscle group every seventy two hours if you can recover quick enough and make sure to do at least ten working sets per muscle group each week if your goal is hypertrophy. If you disagree or are aware of some more current literature on this topic, let us know in the comments.