Last week's post focused on volume, and as promised, this week's will focus on frequency. How often should you train for muscle growth?

Remember, for volume, more sets and reps equals more gains until a certain threshold. However, how you spread those sets and reps across a period of time (usually a week) also matters, and that's what frequency is. It simply refers to how often you train across one week.

I've outlined two options for determining training frequency and explained all the nuances involved below.

Option One - Train Each Body Part 2 to 3 Times A Week in a Bro Split

A bro split is a workout plan that prescribes training each body on one day. You know, chest day, back day, leg day, and whatnot. 6 - 8 sets per training session or 12 - 24 sets per week for each muscle is a great ballpark for muscle growth. But how should you spread out these 12 - 24 sets across one week?

It's simple – train each body part 2 or 3 times a week. I know this sounds like a lot, but you don't have to perform 12 - 24 sets for each specific body because there are prime movers and secondary movers in every exercise.

Basically, a prime mover is the muscle you're targeting, and the secondary mover is other muscles that you would also train simply because you're working the prime mover.

For example, in a dumbbell bench press, the chest is the prime mover, but you would also train the shoulders and front delts at the same time – the body is just biomechanically designed to move like that. In this case, the triceps and front delts are the secondary movers.

Why are we talking about primary and secondary movers? Well, if you have already trained your triceps substantially while doing multiple presses for the chest, you don't have to do another 12 to 24 sets for the triceps. The same goes for the front delts. Thinking about it like this, you'd understand that you can easily do enough sets while training each muscle 2 to 3 times per week.

The Problem With Bro Splits

You see, bro splits have been criticized for not supporting the frequency needed for optimal muscle growth, and rightfully so. Let me paint you a picture - imagine training chest, back, legs, arms, shoulders, and legs again from Monday to Saturday, respectively. Where's the time to train each body part twice or thrice in one week? There's no time.

If you perform all the 12 - 24 sets for the chest on Monday, you'll have too much fatigue. All those sets won't add to muscle growth, as that's simply well past the daily volume threshold. And if you train six times a week, you're most likely not getting enough recovery for muscle growth. So, training like this is counter-productive.

Does that mean that a bro split does not work? No. You can still train in the right frequency on a bro split. It's just a matter of reducing your daily volume. What does this mean? I'll explain with an example…

On chest day (Monday), you could perform only 6 sets for chest, 3 sets for triceps, and 4 sets for shoulders. If you sleep and eat properly in the days following that first chest workout, you'd most likely be able to train chest again on Thursday or Friday. This would allow you to hit all those muscle groups twice, and just like that, you're in an optimal frequency range for muscle growth.

You could try to hit other muscle groups, such as the quads, hamstrings, and calves the same way.

Here's an example of how I've structured my bro split training in the past: back on Monday, chest on Tuesday, legs (quad-focused) on Wednesday, chest and back on Friday, and legs again (hamstring-focused) on Saturday.

I chose this style because, by Friday, my chest and back muscles would have recovered from what I put them through on Monday and Tuesday. And by Saturday, my legs would have recovered from what I put them through on Wednesday. How do I know this? Well, research supports that this is enough time for muscles to recover, at least when your volume per session is not so high.

Here's the thing…

Creating a rewarding workout plan with a bro split requires a lot of attention to detail, but it's doable. I'll make another post to completely detail how you can set up a bro split for the most gains in the near future. Nonetheless, there's an alternative to the bro split. Let's take a look at Option 2.

Option 2 - Train Your Whole Body Multiples Times Per Week

Option 2 is much simpler, and for some reason, nobody talks about how much of a great option it can be. Full-body workouts would easily allow you to train each body part 3, 4, or 5 times per week. It's simple - perform few sets for each muscle group every time you train.

Current research has shown that multiple full-body workouts are more beneficial for muscle growth than training a body part once a week. However, science has not shown that full-body training is superior to training each body part twice or thrice in a bro split. Regardless of this, full-body workouts are a great alternative if a bro split is not convenient or too difficult to navigate.

What's the Final Verdict?

Train each body part twice or thrice a week while sticking to the right volume stipulations. What are the right volume stipulations? 6 - 8 sets per training session or 12 - 24 sets per week for each muscle or muscle group.

Remember, there are many factors that go into gaining muscle, including those ones you can't control, such as genetics. Some people can train more frequently because they recover very quickly, thanks to their genetics. Also, if you're not eating or sleeping properly, your recovery will not be optimal.

So, while all the advice here is a pointer in the right direction, it's not a one-size-fits-all answer. Go through the process of checking to see what works best for you and tweaking your training plan accordingly. That's the best way to get gains!