Title: Strength Training: How Many Days Per Week? – Healthy.net
Headings: Strength Training: How Many Days Per Week?
Strength Training: How Many Days Per Week?
Content: Although both training groups made significant improvements, the rate of muscle development for the two-workouts-a-week program was almost 80 percent that of the three-workouts-a-week program. We recently analyzed body composition data on more than 1,100 men and women who completed our eight-week Keeping Fit program during the past five years. The 716 subjects who strength trained three days per week gained 2.5 pounds of lean weight and lost 4.6 pounds of fat weight. The 416 subjects who strength trained two days per week gained 2.2 pounds of lean weight and lost 4.0 pounds of fat weight. On a comparative basis, the twice-a-week trainees added about 85 percent as much lean weight and lost about 85 percent as much fat weight as the three-times-a-week trainees. As illustrated in Figure 2, two strength sessions a week is almost as productive as three strength sessions a week with respect to body composition changes. The Facts
Research (Westcott 1995) indicates that there is a direct relationship between the exercise effort and the recovery period required for optimum muscle development. That is, a harder exercise session produces more muscle microtrauma and requires more recovery time for the tissue-building processes to be completed. It is also clear that more advanced strength trainees need longer recovery and building periods than less advanced strength trainees, due to their greater exercise effort. Our studies, conducted with previously untrained individuals, suggest that two or three strength workouts per week represent effective training protocols for increasing muscle strength and muscle mass.