Training frequency: how many times a week

Frequency is about the muscle

Frequency is how many times a week a muscle gets trained, not how many times you go to the gym. A five-day bro split trains your chest once a week; a three-day full-body program trains it three times. I counted what that looks like in real programs in the full body vs split comparison.

There's also frequency of a lift: benching twice a week is two skill sessions, even if your chest gets different volume on those days.

What research says about muscle growth

An early meta-analysis by Schoenfeld, Ogborn and Krieger (2016) found that training a muscle twice a week grew more than once. But most of those studies didn't equate volume: whoever trained more often also did more sets.

When studies with equal volume were compared, the picture changed: in the review by Grgic and colleagues (2019), frequency on its own barely affected muscle growth. In Šarić et al. (2019), trained men did the same volume over three or six sessions a week for six weeks — and gained similarly. The large analysis by Pelland and colleagues showed the same: at equal volume, frequency changes almost nothing for muscle.

And for strength

Frequency matters more for strength. In Grgic et al.'s 2018 meta-analysis, more frequent training gave more strength, but largely because more sets were done per week; at equal volume the difference shrank. In the Pelland analysis, frequency affected strength more than muscle.

The logic is simple: strength is also a skill, and skills grow with repetition. That's why strength programs put the main lifts in two or three times a week, like 5×5 and full body three days.

Why train more often, then

Because it's easier to get good-quality volume. Twenty chest sets in one workout means the last ten on a tired muscle with less weight. Two workouts of ten each give twenty good sets. A practical rule: if a muscle gets more than 8–10 sets a week, split them across at least two workouts.

Also: at two or three sessions a week, missing one doesn't leave a muscle untrained for two weeks. How many sets you need overall is in the sets-per-week guide.

How to pick a schedule

• 2–3 days a week — full body: every muscle two or three times.
• 4 days — upper and lower twice: every muscle twice.
• 5–6 days — push/pull/legs or upper/lower + PPL: twice; a bro split once, with many sets.

Every option, with the week day by day and sets per muscle, is in splits. Pick the schedule you can keep for months: at equal volume, that matters more than frequency.

How to check yourself

Look at your log for the last month: how many times a week you actually trained each group — not by plan, but in fact. If the plan says twice and it comes out once every ten days, your frequency isn't what you think.

I count weekly sets for every group from what you did and show them on the main screen. You can lay out your plan by muscle in advance with the volume calculator, and the short definition of frequency is in the glossary.

Example: one week, two frequencies

Twelve chest sets a week can be done two ways. Once a week: bench 4, incline dumbbell press 4, flyes 4 — on chest day. Or twice: Monday bench 3 and flyes 3, Thursday incline dumbbell press 3 and dips 3. According to the research, the muscle will grow about the same.

But in the second version each set is fresher, and you practise the bench twice — a plus for strength. The first suits you if you love "chest day" and rarely skip. How this looks in ready programs shows in the frequency rows of the full body vs split comparison.

Common questions

Can I train a muscle every day? You can, if the volume per session is small: studies with six sessions a week showed the same result at equal volume. But there's usually no point — recovery and planning get harder.

How long should a muscle rest between sessions? Usually a day or two after a hard session for that muscle is enough — check whether your weights have come back. That's why full body goes every other day and upper/lower trains different halves two days in a row.

Can abs and calves go more often? Yes, their volume per session is small, and many people train them three or four times a week. Just don't let them get in the way of the main work.

Read next

• Full body vs split: which to choose
• Workout splits: how to lay out your week
• Training frequency
• How many sets per week to build muscle