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: Other studies have demonstrated similar results, leading to the American College of Sports Medicine’s recommendation to perform strength training two or three non-consecutive days per week.1,3
Study three
Although twice-a-week strength training may be acceptable for most people, a recent survey indicated that many adults may be limited to only one exercise day per week.6 For this reason, another study was conducted to compare the effects of one, two and three brief strength workouts a week on strength development. The subjects in this study were 218 previously sedentary adults and seniors, average age 50 years, who enrolled in a 10-week beginning exercise program. During each training session, the participants performed about 25 minutes of strength training with 12 resistance machines, and about 25 minutes of endurance exercise (treadmill walking or stationary cycling). One hundred and three subjects trained on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 86 subjects trained on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 29 subjects trained only on Saturdays. With respect to strength development, the three-day-per-week exercisers increased 21.2 pounds, the two-day-per-week trainees increased 15.5 pounds, and the one-day-per-week participants increased 15.5 pounds (see Table 3). All three training frequencies produced significant strength gains. Although they performed only two-thirds as much weekly exercise, the two-day trainees achieved 73 percent as much strength improvement as the three-day trainees. Even more impressive, the one-day trainees also attained 73 percent as much strength development as the three-day trainees, even though they performed only one-third as much weekly exercise. The results of this study with adult and senior subjects were similar to the first study with college students. In both studies, the one-day and two-day trainees made almost identical strength gains, and these were about 73 percent as high as those attained by the three-day trainees.