Nowadays if you open a bodybuilding magazine or read bodybuilding articles or simply go to a commercial bodybuilding gym, chances are you will come across information about the "body part splits". That means that you train different body parts on different days. There are different variations of this sort of training program. Probably the most famous body part split is the bro split. It is usually structured like this: Monday Back/Biceps, Tuesday Chest/Triceps, Wednesday - Rest, Thursday Shoulders, Friday - Legs (often skipped by bros), Weekend - Rest.It allows you to put a lot of effort and concentration into training different body parts. Looking from the perspective of training variables it's also known as a high volume training approach. Sound great, right? But is there anything missing? Anything at all? Oh i don't know maybe... Frequency?
Protein Synthesis
Yes, frequency. Old school bodybuilders and weightlifters almost always have propagated high frequency training. And a lot of them didn't have science to support these claims, so why did they do it? Because, through experience they have found out that high frequency training tends to be a lot more effective as opposed to low frequency training. People who did high frequency style training have generally received better results than people who did high volume, low frequency style training. And they, again generally, were the ones winning bodybuilding and weightlifting contests. But why is that? what is the scientific reason behind this phenomenon? There are few explanations. One is that there is something called "protein synthesis". You see, when we workout, we brake down our muscle tissue. But don't worry, our bodies rebuild it. And the process of rebuilding our muscle tissue is known, in the scientific terminology, as protein synthesis. So, we workout, we break down our muscle tissue, our bodies consume protein, after that protein has gone through the process of digestion, it is used in protein synthesis to make our muscle grow. Great. I just explained to you how we build muscle. But what does that have to do with different training styles? Well, A LOT. Because you see protein synthesis is activated after a workout and only last about 24 to 36 hours. 48 hours at the most. Here a study that confirms it. So therefore, if you workout the same muscle three times a week (as in standard high frequency programs) the protein synthesis is spiked three times a week, whereas if you workout once a week (most high volume programs have you work one muscle group only once a week) you spike your protein synthesis only once a week. So with high frequency workouts your muscles grow for about six days, and then it comes to high volume workouts you are getting about 2 days of growth per week. Given that you are using standard high frequency and high volume training programs.
Not That Much Need For High Volume
So the high frequency programs have you train same body parts often, and high volume programs have you train your body parts with a lot of sets. Then shouldn't increased volume compensate for the lack of frequency? Good question. And unfortunately, most of the time, no. You see, there is a big myth that, like i said, comes today's fitness industry you have to hit your muscles with a lot of volume to make them grow. But i also said that old school bodybuilders and weightlifters have trained with low volume and made amazing gains. Plus we now have scientific research supporting the claim that you can only do a few sets and stimulate most of the growth possible to stimulate in one session. And every extra set that you do has greatly diminished returns. So if first guy does 3 sets of 10, and the second guy does 10 of 10, all other variables being equal, the second guy will stimulate more hypertrophy and strength, but not a lot more, very little, actually. See, if you do 3 sets of 10, the first set should stimulate about 70% of strength and hypertrophy, second about 20% and third only about 10%. So you see, you stimulate most growth and development with you first set and after each set diminished returns kick in. So guy who did 10 set only stimulated maybe 10-20% more growth than the guy who did 3 sets. Of course these are not definite numbers and latter sets may produce more neuromuscular development, but diminished returns are really real. And also he has tired his central nervous system, his connective tissues, his joints, his muscles, his body has produced more lactic acid, so he will feel more soreness the next day, and he put more stress on himself psychologically and he is more likely to need more recovery and train less frequently.
Accumulative Volume
And like i mentioned, while each extra set that you do will produce less and less gains, higher volume, all other variables being equal, will induce more growth. So, maybe maybe high volume low frequency training, when compared to it high frequency low volume training, won't be lagging that much, when it comes to stimulating muscle growth and strength, but here's another point. Volume is accumulative, a guy who is training three times might do less sets in one workout for selected muscle group when compared to a guy who is training his each muscle once a week, but since he trains his muscles three times a week, over the course of a week he might actually do more sets and accumulate more volume over the course of a week. So in a way not only he trains with higher frequency, but also with higher volume. Another point is that in order to do a lot of sets in one workout people usually do basic a few main movements, big compound exercises that stimulate a lot of neuromuscular development, accumulate little volume and in order to do enough sets they do a lot of not very effective exercises and not actually get much out of them. And so they will tire themselves a lot more, while getting very little more out of it.
The Real Reason Behind The Popularity Of High Volume Training
So, high frequency low volume training seems to be superior to low frequency high volume training. Then why does the modern fitness industry promote high volume approach? Good question. Like i stated before you have to constantly spike you protein synthesis, right? And for regular people, their spike lasts for about 24 to 48 hours. I also said that old school bodybuilders and weightlifters knew the importance of frequent training. Old school. So why don't new bodybuilders and strength athletes usually propagate it? What happened? Answer is pretty simple. Drugs. Throughout the decades a lot of performance enhancing drugs have emerged. And they effect the body in different ways. One of them is prolonging the protein synthesis. Here is a study supporting it. How much do they prolong protein synthesis depends on what kind of drugs, how much of them does the person take and also how does his body respond to them. So a protein synthesis spike of a natural athlete is normally shorter than that of chemically enhanced one. And also high volume training seems to be more effective when you are on PED's (performance enhancing drugs) rather than if you are natural. Steroids, HGH (Human Growth Hormone) help prolong protein synthesis a lot, but hormone that makes the biggest difference is insulin. That's the reason that even golden era bodybuilders (60's to 80's) have generally trained more frequently than most modern bodybuilders. Back then they had steroids, a bit later growth hormone came and only then insulin. Drugs have reshaped training styles that people use and because most people interested in bodybuilding look up to it's modern icons, a lot of them begin training like their idols. But the problem is, a lot of them are either natural, or don't use as many drugs, or use less drugs when it comes to the dosages, and these people shouldn't follow these routines that are used by bodybuilding pro's because they aren't using the same chemicals.
Conclusion
So, in conclusion, training frequency is an extremely important variable when it comes to designing your workout program, and it definitely has to be considered. In fact, in my opinion, it should be the first factor that you take care of in order to optimize your muscular and neural development, with other factors being considered after it. But your hormonal balance should be taken in consideration. If you're natural, or taking very little to moderate dosages of steroids, high frequency training should be optimal for you. If you are "heavily" enhanced, not necessarily. Of course even as a natural you can do high volume low frequency workouts and make good gains, i'm not denying that, but what i am saying is that's it's not going to be optimal. So, taken all of the information that i just shared, you can make decisions of your own.