Training Frequency

A lot of people often wonder how often they should train a muscle group. Many people, even though who have been training for years fall into the belief that more is better. It is not surprising to see people at the gym training chest or arms 3 or 4 times during the week. This is not the best way to achieve your goals and often will just hinder your progress. There is a real risk of over-training if you do not provide your muscles enough time to rest and recover. The actual gains to muscle mass, strength and endurance do not occur during your workout - this happens afterwards during the rest/recovery period. Without providing enough time for this to occur, you put too much stress on your muscles and they will be unable to adapt in the optimal way. As a general rule, you should provide at least 48 hours of rest/recovery (72 hours would be preferable) for a muscle group before training it again. Scientific research has shown that training a muscle group just once or twice a week is sufficient to maintain the benefits that training provides. In determining your workout routine during the week, you should keep this in mind when alternating which muscle groups you will train on each day so that they get enough rest/recovery before training them again.