What’s the best training schedule to maximize muscle growth? Anyone who takes their training seriously has sought the answer to this question. I am not convinced that there is any perfect formula. My own practical experience tells me that the right answer comes down to training age (how long you’ve been training), strength levels, and one’s ability to recover. Our bodies are all genetically unique, so what works for one trainee might not be optimal for the next.
Forty years ago, training was a lot simpler. The entire body was trained in one workout and the goal was to get stronger from one session to the next. Today’s fitness and bodybuilding magazines promote elaborate body part splits with daily training and excessive volume. I recall the first barbell set my parents bought me for the house. I was 16 years old, 6’2 and a whopping 135 after a good meal. I looked at the manual and performed all the exercises it included: squats, presses, rows and curls. I took a day off and then did it all over again. Over that 6 month period I gained quite a bit of size and strength. I was consistent, I didn’t deviate from the plan and that is what works.
One day I started reading Muscle and Fitness and Flex magazines, the ones with muscle bound super heroes on the front cover and my gains came to a screeching halt. Every month there would be a new magical training program that promised to put slabs of muscle on my bony frame. I’d try it for a week or two, the results wouldn’t come quickly enough, and then I’d move onto something else. I did this for years with very little to show for my efforts. At the time, I was too naive to realize that the bodybuilders who follow these elaborate training schemes are blessed with superior genetics and superior pharmaceuticals.
After years of frustration, I decided to research the best training programs for the average guy who has a hard time putting on muscle, and has a tendency to add fat. Just about everything I read brought me back to the same conclusion–I had it right, from the start. Train 3 to 4 times a week, stick with compound lifts, keep sessions under an hour and eat lots of high quality food with plenty of rest. I’d come full circle.
A novice trainee with modest strength levels can make consistent gains for a couple of years with a 3 day a week program that consists of 3 exercises each session. Heavy bench presses, chin ups and squats one day, then overhead presses, rows and deadlifts the next. Monday you would perform Workout A), Wednesday Workout B) and then repeat Workout A) on Friday.
Generally speaking, heavier loads require greater recovery time. Once a trainee reaches a certain strength level, the program needs to evolve. In Part 2 of this blog I will discuss alternative training splits for the advanced trainee.