Hello
is there any benefit to training a muscle group 3x a week vs 2x a week, with same weekly volume, for more hypertrophy?
meaning, if we did 12 total sets of chest and did 3 days of 4 sets every other day instead of 2 days of 6 sets, would the more frequent training lead to more hypertrophy since each session promotes protein synthesis which then only lasts x amount of time?
or it’s about weekly Volume and not frequency?
for hypertrophy
AC,
From a recently published article on our site:
Given the dose-dependent relationship between training volume and exercise adaptations described above, the impact of different training frequencies must be done carefully by comparing programs with the same weekly volume, but different frequencies. If the frequency of an exercise program goes up, thereby increasing exercise volume, we would predict a greater improvement in strength, muscle size, and so on. However, we couldn’t determine if this was due to the changed frequency itself or the increase in volume.
For example, a recent meta-analysis reviewed 22 studies on exercise frequency and initially found that there was a graded dose-response relationship between training frequency and strength improvements. When volume was equated between the programs however, no significant effects were found. Additionally, the studies included in the review that did have the same volume and only differed in training frequency did not show a significant effect on strength development. [7] Another study using machines found similar results, as training the chest press and hack squat 1-time per week produced the same hypertrophy and strength results as training the movements 3-times per week with the same total weekly volume. [8]
Taken together, these data suggest exercise frequency doesn’t seem to matter unless it changes exercise volume. However, the data presented so far is limited to exercise sessions with volumes less than 10 to 12 sets per muscle group. Less than a handful of studies have looked at whether higher volume programs respond differently to altered exercise frequency, but the results don’t seem to indicate much of a benefit to increasing exercise frequency for strength or hypertrophy when the volume is greater than 10 to 12 sets per muscle group or movement. [9,10]
Doing a higher number of sets in a single session (low frequency) likely produces more fatigue than spreading the same number of sets over many days (high frequency). [10,11] As fatigue goes up, it becomes harder to improve skills and movement efficiency through motor learning, which are important to strength performance. [11,12] Additionally, splitting up the same amount of training into more sessions (high frequency) may be a practical strategy to keep the amount of time spent training manageable.
-Jordan