Title: Lifting weights, Strength Training. How Many Times Should You Train Each Week.
Headings: STRENGTH TRAINING FREQUENCY
STRENGTH TRAINING FREQUENCY
For beginning exercisers, there is research to support recommending strength training three times, two times, or even once per week.
Study two
Study three
Study four
Summary
The studies’ research findings are summarized as follows:
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Content: Consequently, this exercise frequency was ruled out as a sensible strength-training procedure, and people were not advised to work out only once per week. Study two
In 1996, another study analyzed five years of data from the South Shore YMCA’s, Quincy, Mass., fitness classes (1,132 subjects, average age 51 years). During that time, 716 subjects met on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to complete an eight-week program of strength and endurance exercise, and 416 participants performed the same training program on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The primary objective of this study was to determine the effects of twice-a-week and three-times-a-week strength-training sessions on the participants’ body composition. The findings revealed that the three-day-per-week exercisers gained 2.5 pounds of lean muscle weight, and lost 4.6 pounds of fat weight. The two-day-per-week exercisers gained 2.2 pounds of lean muscle weight, and lost 4 pounds of fat weight. Surprisingly, the men and women who trained just twice a week experienced 88 percent as much muscle gain and 87 percent as much fat loss as those who trained three times per week (see Table 2). As in the first study, twice-a-week training proved to be a highly productive exercise protocol, even though in this study the Tuesday/Thursday participants performed only two-thirds as much work as the Monday/Wednesday/Friday subjects. The Tuesday/Thursday training program produced significant improvements in both lean and fat weight for these previously sedentary subjects. Because twice-a-week training is more time-efficient than traditional Monday/Wednesday/
Friday exercise programs, it is an excellent alternative for time-pressured individuals who have difficulty fitting strength training into their busy schedules.