Title: Once-a-Week Training for Mass | Muscle & Fitness
Headings: Once-a-Week Training for Mass
Once-a-Week Training for Mass
Can you really add muscle with once-a-week training?
KEY POINTS

Content: Researchers examined how strength and muscle mass were affected by cutting back on training to once a week in both younger and older adults. Seventy adults, 39 in the younger age group (between ages 20 and 35) and 31 in the older age group (between ages 60 and 75), completed the first phase of the trial, which lasted 16 weeks. In Phase 1, participants performed three sets of three resistance-training exercises—leg press, knee extensions, and squats—three times a week. The second phase of the trial, which lasted 32 weeks, was a de-training study. Participants were divided into three groups: The first group stopped training altogether. The second group reduced training exercise days from three to one but kept the same workout. The third group decreased exercise days from three to one and also reduced training sets from three to one. Results indicate that improvements in strength can be retained for an extended period after training ceases. While once-a-week exercise is sufficient to maintain strength, there are age-specifc differences in the required dose to maintain muscle size.