lifting weights too often ???

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Training and Health
1

a friend of mine recommended taking more days off in between (lifting) workouts to allow more time for the muscles to recover and grow. he’s a pretty strong looking guy and he only trains once a week. does a lot of heavy deadlift / squat type stuff. he talks a lot about how results at the gym is not a game of attendance but more of how intense a single workout is and allowing sufficient time for the muscles to recover and overcompensate (er… somethin)

his lifting program may not exactly be the ideal program for everyone who’s experienced growth from weight training, but i took his advice into consideration and it got me thinking — if one workout a week is enough to yeild results for some, WHY workout any more frequently than that ? it seems that if one weight training session a week is enough (in theory), than a program of 3 or more lifting workouts a week may be overkill. i’m going to reduce my workout schedule from 3 to only 2 workouts per week and see if my progress slows or increases ( if there is any change at all). ***so i was wondering what some of you muscle heads thought about it? given that different people have different recovery times/ metobolic rates/ etc., , it’s not like your muscles are going to start reducing in size given a couple extra days of rest. any advice ? it couldnt hurt to give it a try i suppose.

2

sure. but your rate of progress will eventually slow if you stick to any set thing for too long. so you may always get results at first, but the rate of results will probably alsways slow down over time.

etc.

try different things.

:smiley:

3

It completely depends on your goals and the structure of said workouts. One weight training session per week would need a very volume intensive full body workout in order to work optimally. I’d always prefer at least 2 myself. It allows you to be fresh for different body parts.

4

Once a week, high intensity for mass gain.

As many times a week as you can, while being fresh as possible, for strength. This means stopping well short of muscular failure.

A good strategy is to do a mass cycle, followed by a strength cycle. There are other kinds of cycles, too.

5

Of course you could combine mass, strength, and speed all in one cycle! :slight_smile: