Effect of not training three sessions per week

Hi

I’ve been using a number of your templates and I really like them. For the past year however, I have noticed that I have a hard time completing three training session per week. I have dealt with this by just keeping the program rolling on what effectively seems to have become “9 day weeks” or something like that. I understand that the effect of this potentially vary from template to template, but are there any templates where you could say that this simply will not work? Like flat out you need to train 3 times per week on template X or you will stall. Conversely, are there any templates that would work better with this approach than the others? And, as depending on the answers to these questions, is the general negative effect on strength/hypertrophy from only training 2.5 times per week negligible or significant? More substantially what is the potential effect? Just slower gains?

My favorit templates are Powerbuilding and GPP biased Hypertrophy (3 times per week). I seem to return to these.

Birkovic

are there any templates where you could say that this simply will not work? Like flat out you need to train 3 times per week on template X or you will stall.

No, because it is impossible to predict an individual’s training response. The only way to find out is to try it – and even one individual’s training response to a given program may change over time depending on a variety of factors.

Conversely, are there any templates that would work better with this approach than the others?

Same answer as above – although if time is an issue, the Time Crunch template is specifically designed for that purpose.

And, as depending on the answers to these questions, is the general negative effect on strength/hypertrophy from only training 2.5 times per week negligible or significant? More substantially what is the potential effect? Just slower gains?

This is also highly individual and impossible to predict. From a physical health standpoint, our current guidelines recommend twice weekly resistance training involving all the major muscle groups of the body. From a performance standpoint, again – completely individual. Some will do better with 2, some with 3, and some with more days of training per week on a given program. Eventually, though, in order to keep making progress, individuals will find they need to do more. You will simply have to experiment and find out.

Thank you very much for the answer!

I would add that the 7-day week itself is arbitrary, so other intervals might work better or worse for any individual.

and because I like to always add comic relief, I will also add that whether we actually have 7 days in a week has itself been hotly debated, among at least one thread of bodybuilders: