| | | | FEATURE ARTICLE Up Your Training Frequency by Charles Staley
Increasing your training frequency is really just a sneaky way to increase your volume. But, since it's the easiest way to increase your volume, it warrants your attention.
By breaking up your weekly workload into more manageable chunks, you'll recover better and therefore be able to do more total work. Interestingly enough, even if you don't do more total work, you'll still end up bigger and stronger.
There was one experiment conducted on a group of 16 raw powerlifters, who, like most lifters, typically trained three times a week.
The lifters were divided into two groups. One group continued to train as usual, and the other doubled the frequency of their squat, bench press, and deadlift sessions while keeping all other parameters exactly the same. | | | After 15 weeks, the high frequency group improved all three lifts by an average of 10%, as opposed to 5% in the control group. In addition to these impressive strength improvements, the researchers also measured increases in muscle mass of the vastus lateralis and the quadriceps as a whole.
I'd also like to posit the notion of higher intra-workout frequencies – splitting up your sets into smaller chunks. So for example, your typical 3 sets of 8 can be split up into 6 sets of 4.
Even if you're not sold on this idea, there's really no downside – you're not doing more work and it doesn't take more time. In fact, all it really does is make your sessions easier.
It's simply a real world fatigue-management strategy that works for pretty much everyone, irrespective of their goals. | |  | by Dean Somerset Yes, you can deadlift almost every day, get stronger, and not get injured. Here's how. |  | by Ben Bruno This might just be the best back-building exercise you’ve never tried. Check it out. | | | "Prove them wrong" always leads to a better outcome than "whine about it." – T Nation (Facebook) | | | Provided that it's not completely dumb, anything will work if you do enough of it, do it hard enough, do it well enough, and do it for long enough. – Christian Thibaudeau | | | Reflecting on your challenges while being grateful for the lessons they provide gives you a daily audit of your weaknesses and it'll motivate you to turn them into strengths. – Chris Albert | | | | | | |
