Frequency
To create a personalized training plan that fits your schedule and lifestyle, you must identify which days of the week you are available to train. Once you have identified your available training days, we can plan your sessions and adjust the volume and intensity.
Training frequency is an important factor to consider when developing a fitness plan. Higher frequency is generally more beneficial for progress, but finding a balance that works for you is also important. If you need to take a break or have a lighter training week due to other commitments, that’s okay! Adjust your training plan to ensure that it is sustainable and allows for consistent progress. If you need help adjusting your training plan, please contact me.
In addition to traditional gym workouts, remember that at-home workouts are also a great option for targeting smaller muscles and building core strength. This can be a helpful way to free up gym time for exercises that require equipment.
It’s important not to skip training sessions, as each session is important for your progress. If you need to skip days, lowering your training frequency to a more sustainable routine that allows for more rest days may be helpful.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Let’s get started and work towards a stronger you!
Scheduling
In this next section, you will organize the muscle groups you will be training on each of your designated training days. This will help you plan and structure your workouts effectively, ensuring that you target all the muscle groups you want to work on and allowing for proper rest and recovery between sessions. By taking the time to plan out your training schedule, you can optimize your workouts and maximize your results.
3 Days/Week
To optimize muscle growth and recovery, it’s important to incorporate a mix of full-body and targeted training sessions into your weekly routine. A good starting point is to aim for 3 full body workouts per week, with rest days in between for recovery. On these full body days, focus on prioritizing a few key muscle groups for growth, such as the chest, back, and shoulders, on one day and legs and abs on another day. If you have time, include one or more targeted weekly training sessions to maintain muscle mass in other muscles.
When designing your workouts, focus on the prescribed number of sets and reps for your primary muscle groups at the beginning of the workout, using challenging weights that allow you to reach muscle failure. Moving to secondary and tertiary muscle groups, you can gradually decrease the volume and intensity to allow for progress.
It’s also important to remember that more frequency allows for more prioritization. If you can fit in more than 3 full-body workouts per week, you can focus on specific muscle groups more frequently and potentially see faster progress. However, it’s important to find a balance that works for you and your schedule and to ensure you get enough rest and recovery between workouts.
4 Days/Week
To optimize muscle growth and recovery, it’s important to incorporate a mix of full-body and targeted training sessions into your weekly routine. To ensure 4 training days per week, you can aim for 2 full body workouts and 2 targeted training sessions for specific muscle groups. When designing your workouts, focus on the prescribed number of sets and reps for your primary muscle groups, using challenging weights that allow you to reach muscle failure. Moving to secondary and tertiary muscle groups, you can gradually decrease the volume and intensity to allow for progress.
List all muscles you want to maintain and grow over your sessions to determine which muscle groups to prioritize. Remember that each subsequent muscle will receive a lesser training intensity and stimulus for progression, so performing these muscles first for optimal performance and ensuring adequate volume is important. Aim for 2-3 weekly sessions for prioritized muscles and at least one for muscle maintenance. It’s also important to allow for at least 24-48 hours of recovery between sessions of the same muscle group.
An effective way to organize your workouts is to schedule targeted training sessions for specific muscle groups throughout the week. For example, you could alternate between different muscle groups as follows:
Full body workouts with 2 targeted training sessions:
- Day 1: Full-body workout
- Day 2: Rest or active recovery
- Day 3: Full-body workout
- Day 4: Rest or active recovery
- Day 5: Full-body workout
- Day 6: Rest or active recovery
- Day 7: Full-body workout
Full body workouts for more overall growth:
- Day 1: Full-body workout
- Day 2: Rest or active recovery
- Day 3: Full-body workout
- Day 4: Rest or active recovery
- Day 5: Full-body workout
- Day 6: Rest or active recovery
- Day 7: Full-body workout
- Repeat cycle
Upper/lower split:
- Day 1: Upper body workout
- Day 2: Rest or active recovery
- Day 3: Lower body workout
- Day 4: Rest or active recovery
- Day 5: Upper body workout
- Day 6: Rest or active recovery
- Day 7: Lower body workout
- Repeat cycle
Push/pull/legs split with 2 targeted training sessions:
- Day 1: Push workout
- Day 2: Rest or active recovery
- Day 3: Pull workout
- Day 4: Rest or active recovery
- Day 5: Legs workout
- Day 6: Rest or active recovery
- Day 7: Repeat cycle (Full body or targeted training session)
Remember to find a balance that works for you and your schedule and ensure you recover enough between workouts.
5-6 Days/Week
Incorporating targeted training sessions into your weekly routine is important to optimize muscle growth and recovery. I urge intermediates to advance trainees to implement 5-6 weekly training days, aiming for 2-3 targeted training sessions for specific muscle groups. When designing your workouts, focus on the prescribed number of sets and reps for your primary muscle groups, using challenging weights that allow you to reach muscle failure. Moving to secondary and tertiary muscle groups, you can gradually decrease the volume and intensity to allow for progress.
List all muscles you want to maintain and grow over your sessions to determine which muscle groups to prioritize. Remember that each subsequent muscle will receive a lesser training intensity and stimulus for progression, so performing these muscles first for optimal performance and ensuring adequate volume is important. Aim for 2-3 weekly sessions for prioritized muscles and at least one for muscle maintenance. It’s also important to allow for at least 24-48 hours of recovery between sessions of the same muscle group.
One approach to organizing your workouts is to alternate between targeted training sessions for different muscle groups. For example, you might structure your workouts as follows:
5 Days/Week
- Day 1: Targeted training for chest and triceps
- Day 2: Targeted training for back and biceps
- Day 3: Targeted training for legs and calves
- Day 4: Rest or active recovery
- Day 5: Upper Body
- Day 6: Lower Body
- Day 7: Rest and Repeat Cycle
Alternatively, you can try a 3-day split routine where each day is dedicated to a specific muscle group:
- Day 1: Chest and triceps
- Day 2: Back and biceps
- Day 3: Legs and calves
- Day 4: Rest or active recovery
- Day 5: Targeted training.
- Day 6: Targeted training.
- Day 7: Rest and Repeat cycle
6 Days/week
- Day 1: Chest and triceps
- Day 2: Back and biceps
- Day 3: Legs and calves
- Day 4: Rest or active recovery
- Day 5: Upper body
- Day 6: Lower body
- Day 7: Rest and repeat cycle
Alternatively, you can try a 3-day split routine where each day is dedicated to a specific muscle group:
- Day 1: Chest and triceps
- Day 2: Back and biceps
- Day 3: Legs and calves
- Day 4: Chest and triceps
- Day 5: Back and biceps
- Day 6: Legs and calves
- Day 7: Rest or active recovery
Alternatively, for more emphasis on arms, you can try a 3-day split routine where each day is dedicated to a specific muscle group:
- Day 1: Lower body – legs and abs
- Day 2: Upper body – chest, back, and lats
- Day 3: Arms – shoulders, triceps, and biceps
- Day 4: Rest or active recovery
- Day 5: Lower body – legs and abs
- Day 6: Upper body – chest, back, and lats
- Day 7: Arms – shoulders, triceps, and biceps
Variations
You can stretch your week to 8-9 days. Alternatively, it takes 14 days, but the weekly volume session frequency doubles. Decide your training days and cycle duration (It is best to write them down for planning).
Volume
To find your optimal weekly volume for hypertrophy for each muscle group, follow these steps:
- Determine your training experience level. If you are a beginner, you will likely need less volume to progress; if you are more advanced, you will likely need more volume.
- Consider your recovery ability. If you have difficulty recovering between workouts, you may need to decrease your volume despite your training level.
- Determine which muscle groups you try to maximize muscle growth, and choose your workouts accordingly.
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- Volume has diminishing returns, meaning that as you increase volume, the benefits of additional volume will eventually decline. Achieving optimal volume for your needs is important to maximize muscle growth and minimize the risk of overtraining. This will depend on your training experience level, recovery ability, and goals.
- Experiment with different volumes to see what works best for you. Start with a moderate volume and gradually increase or decrease as needed.
- Track your progress and make adjustments as needed. If you are not progressing, you may need to increase your volume. You may need to decrease your volume if you are not recovering well.
It’s important to remember that everyone is different, and what works for one person may not work for another. It’s important to listen to your body and make adjustments to ensure you progress and recover properly.
Weekly Volume
Weekly training volume is an important factor in muscle growth, as it refers to the total amount of work (measured in reps and sets) done during a week of training. Higher training volumes are associated with increased muscle growth, as the muscles are subjected to greater stress and tension.
It is important to split the volume throughout the week to allow the muscles to recover between workouts, and it can help to prevent overtraining. Aiming for equal volume throughout the week can be a good starting point, but it is also important to consider individual differences and lifestyle factors. For example, someone with a very active lifestyle or job may need to do more volume on certain days to compensate for the additional muscle stress. In contrast, someone with a more sedentary lifestyle may need to spread their volume evenly throughout the week.
Trainee Status
For beginners, it is important to start slowly and progressively increase the intensity and volume of their workouts as they become more comfortable and accustomed to exercising. It is also important for beginners to focus on learning proper form and technique for different exercises to avoid injury. The MEV (minimum effective volume) and MV (maintenance volume) recommendations you mentioned can help determine how much volume and intensity to start with and how to progress over time.
For intermediate trainees who have been training for at least six months, increasing the volume and intensity of their workouts may be necessary to continue making progress. Lower MAV (maximum adaptive volume) values should be for progression, and MV-MEV should be for maintenance.
Advanced trainees training for at least three years may also need to increase the volume and intensity of their workouts to continue making progress. Higher MAV values should be for progression, and MV-MEV should be for maintenance.
It is important to note that these are general recommendations and that individual differences, such as genetics, training history, and goals, can affect the appropriate volume and intensity of training. It is always a good idea to consult with a qualified fitness professional or sports medicine specialist to create a personalized training plan that is safe and effective for your specific needs and goals.
MEV and MV recommendations:
Lower Body Muscles Upper Body Muscles Body Part MV MEV MAP MRV Freq Body Part MV MEV MAP MRV Freq Quads 6 8 12-18 20+ 1.5-3x Lats 8 10 14-22 25+ 2-4x Hamstring 4 6 10-16 20+ 2-3x Back 8 10 14-22 25+ 2-4x Glutes 0 0 4-12 16+ 2-3x Traps 0 0 12-20 26+ 2-6x Calves 6 8 12-16 20+ 2-4x Chest 8 10 12-20 22+ 1.5-3x Abdominals 0 0 16-20 25+ 3-5x Front Delt 0 8 16-22 26+ 2-6x Obliques 0 0 16-20 25+ 3-5x Side Delt 0 8 16-22 26+ 2-6x Adductors 0 0 4-12 16+ 2-3x Rear Delt 0 8 16-22 26+ 2-6x Abductors 0 0 4-12 16+ 2-3x Biceps 5 8 14-20 26+ 2-6x Triceps 4 6 10-14 18+ 2-4x Forearms 0 0 6-8 12+ 1-2x Maximum recoverable volume (MRV) is an advanced individual’s highest training volume in a given week without impeding progress. You can handle higher volume values as an advanced trainee with at least three years of hard training. However, monitoring your progress and recovery is extremely important to ensure your training volume is not exceeding your MRV. Start to plateau or feel overtrained. It may be necessary to reduce your volume or take a deload week (a week with lower volume and intensity) to allow your body to recover and fully adapt to the demands of your training.
Progression:
Your chosen trainee status will determine your starting volume, and you will gradually increase your volume over time as you progress in your training. Pay attention to both signs of stimulus as you increase your volume to ensure that you are receiving optimal results from your workouts.
The first sign of stimulus is volume tolerance, which refers to the ability of your muscles to handle the volume of your workouts without experiencing excessive fatigue or overtraining. The second sign of stimulus is a pump, which refers to the feeling of tightness and fullness in your muscles after a workout due to increased blood flow.
About muscle soreness
It is important to monitor your muscle soreness and pump to ensure that you achieve optimal volume for your workouts. If you are not experiencing muscle soreness after workouts, increase your volume until you do.
On the other hand, if your muscle soreness does not dissipate before your next workout, it may be necessary to reduce your volume to allow for sufficient recovery. If you are not experiencing a pump or your workout duration is too long, try increasing the intensity of your workouts by increasing the volume of your exercises or performing the same exercise with no rest between sets.
Starting New
To maximize progress and minimize the risk of injury, it is important to allow for progress in volumes and intensities when starting a training program. Begin with lower volumes and intensities, gradually increasing as you become more comfortable and accustomed to exercise. Avoid jumping straight into high-intensity, high-volume workouts without allowing your body time to adapt.
Listen to your body and adjust your training as needed. Starting slowly and gradually increasing volumes and intensities will allow consistent progress and safe, effective training.
Deloads
After gradually increasing the volume and intensity of your workouts over time, it may be necessary to incorporate a recovery week or “deload week” to allow your body time to recover and fully adapt to the demands of your training. A deload week usually consists of a lower volume of training with less intensity, typically every 6-12 weeks when your progress starts to plateau. During a deload week, you can focus on running through your main movements with a lower volume (such as MV volume) to allow your body time to recover before starting a new training phase. For example, if you were doing 12 sets per week in your first training phase, you could do six sets during your deload week and then start your next training phase with a volume of 6-8 sets less than the previous phase (14 sets per week). Again, it is important to listen to your body and adjust your training as needed to ensure that you are making progress safely and effectively.
