Thread: a contradiction?

Originally Posted by keelo1086

I have been doing alot of research on these forums and have found that an overwhelming majority suggest only working a muscle group once a week. But many of my friends work muscle groups every other day and have been getting substantial gains(in mass/strength). I don't understand why this is because they would be "over training" according to many of you. It is just hard for me to understand how someone can make gains working a muscle 1 time a week, while others are making obvious gains working a muscle 2-3 times a week.

it's almost impossible for a person who is new to resistance training to overtrain. regardless if you train a body part once or twice a week you will make significant gains in strength and LBM the first year or two of lifting. the gains come slower and slower after that.

i am currently training muscle groups twice a week and seeing some good gains. I just started lifting serioulsy about a 2 months ago and have gone up 20 pnds, on my bench. I am just wondering for someone new should i train once or twice a week? because as of now what i am doing is working, but i wonder if once a week would work better.

When I wasn't as strong, and when I was younger, I could train much more often.

There is a balance that has to be found between intensity, volume, and frequency. If you lower the volume you can train more often. If you are relatively new to training, you can make gains doing virtually anything, even if its not optimal.