Just want to say that I’m a 53 yr old grandmama, heart attack survivor, 7 stents, died n came back , and follow all your videos. I’m healthy and happy! ♥️Thank you for what you do and for your awesome channel!
Extra benefit from the high frequency approach is that the consequence of missing a single work out will be less, which is nice if you have a busy, irregular job.
This is my favorite part of doing 6-8 lifting sessions a week over 6 days. Need to miss one, not a problem. 45 minutes to an hour is easy to fit in later too.
Excellent point! I have an extra arm and shoulder day on Saturday that bumps me up to 3-4x weekly for those body parts as extra weak point training. If I need to skip it for whatever reason, NBD, I've gotten 2-3x at least.
But if you do less frequency you are more adaptive. If I train 3-4 days of I can't train Monday I will do it Tuesday no problem and I don't miss stimulus. If a train 6 days if I can't train Monday that work out is done, and depending on your split you could actually do an unintentional deload
@@IrishJJ27 I go 4-5 times a week. About 1-2 hours in the late evening. I switch it up from legs to upper body. I usually finish out the night with 10 min in the sauna. That said healthy whole foods and lots of water make all the difference.
My mind just got blown. I packed my gym bag and I'm going to the gym. This is an amazing video. I'm going to try this. When Mike talked about how we made up the weekly calendar and has absolutely nothing to do with recovery it clicked. So easy to watch guys. Best video I've seen in a while.
Exactly. People are so concerned with basing a workout on 7 days. Just work a group of muscles recover and go back. The week is simply a guideline. Your muscles don’t know time, or types of weights or anything. They know stimulus and recovery.
Some points: 1. Mike suggests DUP for intensity and volume 2. Menno likes high frequency 4-6x a week for a muscle; Mike moderate 2-4x 3. Mike uses PED so his connective tissue issues make more sense than us non-PED issues 4. You can be smart with squats / do lower volume more frequent or moderate frequency with moderate volume to mitigate joint pain aka connective tissue 5. Squat everyday on low volume per session can work in short duration for strength or powerlifting
I did 6-7 day splits for a good while because it was fun and easier to workout regularly than the have days off. Eventually it changed and I like three days lifting and 3 days of cardio. Goals and priorities change in life and more and more I’m convinced that whatever motivates people to get up and exercise is just fine with me!
This is why I’ve been doing 3 full body sessions per week. The maximization on frequency, and maximization of the recovery window/recovery curve, you are capitalizing on the growth curve and repeating as quickly and as often as possible.
Consistency and patience is the key anyway. Whatever it is you're going to do. A bro-split over two days or a full body on the day. Basically it's not losing patience before you've seen positive results. If you want that perfect technique and full range extension and contraction for hypertrophy etc, etc. Then nothing beats doing the same exercises until it becomes learnt muscle memory. Then you find your muscles growing and yourself getting stronger and being able to listen to your body and things like higher reps or more frequency or which part of the body needs more work becomes more apparent and easier to achieve.
About 15 years ago i found an HFT prigram from Chad Waterbury and blew up on gains and overall conditioning as well as being able to handle more consistent workloads. Changed the way i looked at training and even sort of makes sense to our ancestry. This channel has become the best training, no bs source on youtube. Plus Mike is hilarious.
What Meno mentions about overtraining heavy movements is so true. I developed patellar tendinopathy from squatting only heavy multiple times a week for over a year. I ignored the pain and kept on pushing, and wound up in a state where my right knee was that stiff and painful just to walk on.
This is why my high frequency changes exercises MWF so Squat M, Leg Press W, Leg Ext Fri. Same for back Seated Row M, LAt Pull Down W, Chest Supported Row F and Chest Flat Bench M, Incline W and Fly F. This give me the multiple angles to hit each muscle group
As someone with no real knowledge, just doing what I can, I workout 6-7 days a week, start with upper body weight lifting, do one rep until failure, switch exercise to different muscle group, then go back after one rep to failure, and so on, until I feel adequate on all muscle groups, then do lower body
Timing on this video is great. I have been doing classic Arnie splits since January. 6 days on 1 off Average of 30 sets per working session and I have put on significant muscle mass (~4-5lbs) Currently on week 9.. have to say that one major difference I've noticed in my training was implementing slow negatives. Doing those on warm up and drop off sets gives those slow and fast twitches some insane stimulus. I also implemented a deload week every 5th and during the week I will switch between heavy progression and myorep sets. Lastly, to keep the stimulus strong, every day I change the grip or type of exercise for the targeted muscle (db bench to bb bench and concentration curls to hammer curls for example) Happy training!
I agree. I can do 3 sessions a week and be dialed in. I keep the tension high with intensity. If you do quality workouts then I think 5 sessions is too much.
The logic presented here in favor of higher frequency training is very convincing. If taken to its logical conclusion, I think this demonstrates very nicely the underlying reason why higher frequency training produces better results. By reducing the volume in each workout, you can actually increase the volume per day. Instead of 12-15 working sets per training session, by doing maybe 8 or 9 working sets per training session, you can increase the volume directly (for those… interesting people who believe that volume is the single most valuable variable for muscle growth for some reason), and also increase the relative intensity in every single one of those sets in the second daily session, given that you’re actually giving your body the resources it needs to recover properly. Great points all around
Which professional bodybuilders train twice a week? Literally the top10 of the olympia train only once a day dude… also doing bro splits and low volume
Whenever i have tried high frequency training, even with progressively deloading workouts, i used to constsntly catch a cold or have a fever. Would love to see Dr.Mike talk more about hypertrophy training and its effect on the immune system. I stepped back and now and am doing once a week workouts.
I can confirm this is the same case for me. It took a while for me to accept this fact. For a couple of months, I am on 3xweek full body and no issues what so ever. Additionally, as I love training, I am performing also 3xweek steady state cardio on a tredmill. 5-day split of weight training was not my cup of tea for some reason.
Thank you Dr. Mike for providing usefull information for us normies out here. I have been in the Gym for the last 1.5 years and progress stopped after like 1 month, mostly because of inconsistency, but a bad split, suboptimal nutrition and no tracking are part of it too I watched so many of your videos the last few weeks and you gave me the motivation to start from scratch with better splits, nutrition and drive and i made the progess of 1 year in 1 month. I know the motivation to cut out all junk foods and going to the gym 4-5 times a week wont last forever, but with your tips i am confident that i can make a lasting positive impact on my performance, physique, motivation and health. As a science guy myself i really love and connect with your analytical aproach to training
Started your RP arm/chest/back, leg's/shoulder's hypertrophy split. Doing it 6 days p/w and it's amazing. Workouts are more exciting and shorter, intensity is harder, volume is higher, recovery is faster, daily 2nd session cardio is easier. Best part is being able to hit my favorite lifts legs/back/chest every 2nd day!
@@tjarkt5597 brother watch his "Want bigger arms?" video from last week. He goes through the basic program and frequency for beginner/intermediate/advanced lifters at the end as a bonus👍
I suggested to my trainer and have been doing what menno called "combo workout", out of my mind, just because for me it's so obvious that you can do a much better set for each muscle with 7-10min of local rest, and 1-3 minutes total rest, and that way training moderate to high volumes but very efficiently. Made me progress again than the normal training as I was dealing with bad recovery ( bad sleep and stress management)
I started going to the gym about 7 months ago. Initially, I went 3 times a week, focusing on A, B, C workouts, primarily targeting chest/triceps, back/biceps, and legs/shoulders. It was great as a beginner, but I wanted to prioritize leg training more. About 3 months ago, I switched to a new 4-day training split, doing workouts labeled A, B, C, D. This routine involved targeting biceps/back, triceps/chest, and dedicating one day to quad-focused leg exercises and another day to hamstring and glute-focused exercises. I noticed significant growth in my lower body and felt really good overall. For my next step, I want a training plan that allows me to train upper body twice a week and lower body twice a week. I've been contemplating this for a few weeks now, and a this video has been quite helpful to me!
@@Ben_Dover15I can only train 4 days a week. For example, currently my workout A is focuses on chest/triceps. Therefore, even though I train upper body twice a week, I only target chest and triceps once a week.The video gave me some ideas to split my workouts better and get more stimulus by combining both upper body days. This way, I can target chest/triceps and back/biceps twice a week.
Sounds like a upper lower split. I ran a split like that before. I enjoyed it. Mon- lower body Tue- upper body Wed- rest (light cardio) Thu- lower body Fri- upper body Sat- rest (light yoga) Sun- rest.
if i dont give my elbows 2 days break, will hurt myself for sure, thats why i never train high frequeny on bodybuildung stuff. remember, muscles may recover but your tendons bones need more break sometimes
Way back on my 20s when I still have more time for myself and things I enjoy, I can train 6 times a week with a Push-Pull-Legs split. But then the pandemic hit with gyms closing and then opening back few years back, now having a small family with a managerial job working nights at my 30s, I can only train full body 3 times a week. Working nights is extremely game changing and you need to recover as much because humans are born to hunt(work) from am to pm, and sleep afterwards.
The worst is switching from days to nights, but for sure night shifts even when steady will mess you up. Isn't it like 30% increased rate of mortality from all causes or something stupid? Is the money worth it? Legit question, it very well might be but then.....
@@AngryOscillator I personally love night shift always have. At my job I worked from 430pm to 430 am for about 3 months loved it, got swapped to do days 430 am to 430 pm transition was rough but i don't hate it but I loved working at night way more.
I used to work nights just so I could train prior to work. You just need to get on a proper schedule and don't switch your schedule on your days off by more than a couple hours. Use blackout shades. Etc.etc. You're right, it's unnatural, but you can do the best you can to mimic the circadian rythyms.
@scillator I've been working nights for more than 3 years and yes, the shift is unhealthy but because the pay is way better than a number of jobs related to my field of expertise, I got no choice. I just need to make sure to sleep at least 7 hours and eat much healthier and keep lifting. It's not the best shift if you put it in a healthy perspective.
Here is my point : before looking at frequency, focus on progress and recovery. For instance, i feel great with heavy once a week back workout. On the other hand, my harmstring and calves love high frequency. I see progress and good recovery. It's all about you. Just give it a try and learn about yourself. Would like to have your point Doc 💪🏿
I've been naturally learning over time I can train my forearms like... 4 times a week. That's crazy to me since I used to be so scared of over training. But I'm not even sore 36 hours later and I'm getting gains like never before
This is the same for me too with forearms, calves, side and rear delts. But what I can’t decide is frequency for chest and back. It seems like with chest in particular, even if I reduce per session volume to 3 sets, even if I do 2-3 rir, 8-10 rep, or 15+ reps, no matter what, my chest still has soreness that lasts for 6-7 or even more days. So I wonder what’s happening here and if it’s better to just do more volume per session since it seems to Take so long to recover anyways from a soreness perspective. If I hit chest every 2 days, or 3 I can do My same work output. But I just have soreness going in that goes away once warmed up
When I want to develop a muscle specifically more, I always do one exercise for this muscle, everyday, to failure but only two or three sets, first to warm, second/third to failure, and then go on with my training, if the training is already basically the same muscle I am focusing on I continue to do variations if I feel ok with my joints and everything. Always has worked really well, so I will say high frequency is great for me. PS: keep in mind I'm natural and have been training seriously for 4 years.
Do you have soreness while doing this ? I’m wondering how much soreness is even worthy of note. Because I’m trying to prioritize my upper chest, but my chest will feel sore overall for over 5 days easy even if I do 2 sets in a given day, I’ve even tried going with 3+ reps in reserve and am still sore. This applies only to my chest, my back, quads and most everything else does not stay sore if at all for more than a day or two.
I'm glad that you're bringing the topic up. Doing up to 50-70 sets per body part and still progress is doable. I did it in the last 6 months and still progressed. Solving joints, motivation and progress is mostly knowledge and genetics, and it's doable, but I simply couldn't do 10 sets per day for all body parts at once as Menno stated in the past for more than 4 weeks because of the immune system reaction, despite I progressed well. I was constantly ill. Not so much that I'd had to take the day off, I still progressed, but you know the neck ache etc. After I stopped doing 10 sets per day I lowered it only to 8 sets per day for most body parts the immune system got fine, and I continued with that for 6 months. It was definitely worth it. I recommend it to everyone who knows what he's doing (mostly science-based trainers with experience) and are plateauing. Low volumes haven't done much for me in the last few years anymore; ultra-high do. Disclaimer: I've been training for 17+ years already. Don't copy me. But know that when you optimize everything and train for decades, there are much higher volumes you thought can recover from. And even break muscle gain plateau. I also own the gym and train there alone. So, it takes only 100-120 minutes, warm-ups not included. But if I were going to a public gym, God help me... P.S. I tried 2 phasic training, but doing it in 1 bout makes better sense for me. There was no performance loss. I like the 1 bout more.
and how did you ease into the 50-70 weekly sets? and how long did it take? I assume you didnt just think "alright, its day 1, Ill start doing 50-70 sets right now" and how was the soreness in those 6 months?
@@The_Patbey I've been training for over 17 years already, so I was used to bulking with 4 sets 7 days/week per body part. Did 6 for each of A,B,C work out, than, 8, than 10.
I train high frequency since like 3 years but in the last few months I further optimized it with doing the heavy stuff, e.g. dead lifts or heavy presses a little bit less often but the light stuff more often, e.g. biceps training and its amazing, espacially from a recovery perspective.
for this specific format - i'd love if they'd show each study supporting the claim they are making as they are making it, otherwise its just "he said that and it sounds about right" or "ye i trust mike, so he's gotta be right"
I think what the empirical studies miss is the sustainability aspect of high frequency training for years on end. Sure you might be able to get good results with high frequency training for 3-12 months as a natural lifter without accumulating too much joint and tendon damage. Flat out though, most human beings don't have the genetics, diet, sleep, or general lifestyle to handle 6 days of HARD training per week in perpetuity even if the training is body part split optimally. High frequency is just like low frequency, it is something you should do when you plateau, want to switch up your training because of boredom or complacency, or your goals change over time. For enhanced guys it has been obvious that everything works, and for beginners everything works, so this whole discussion about training frequency always needs to be oriented towards at least intermediate lifters who are non-professionals, non-genetic outliers, and who have a regular schedule and job. That is the demographic that seeks out this information the vast majority of the time and if we are being realistic and most evidenced based studies don't involve this group, either purposefully to make their results seem more interesting, or because people of this group don't have the time to work with researchers. I'm loath to trust any self reporting either, it is like self reporting d**k size for a study, the average is gonna be 30 feet and thick as a tree trunk.
The issue with high frequency, full body - basically two main drawbacks. A) Each movement/body part requires acclimiation/"ramp up" sets before you can get the most out of your 1-2 worksets for the day. So you end up getting the muscle/nervous system "primed for one movement, only to basically move onto the next. B) If you use a circuit style, performance and CNS drain can be big. Let's say your doing a 8RM Squat workset. And you then go to your 5RM Chin, and then you 6RM overhead press etc. Even with ample rest in beteween, these are different movement patterns and your peformance will feel odd after the first round (weights will feel heavier).
Love how Menno says Fullbody is practical because you can do circuit style training. Mate have you been to a commercial gym? You would have to hire bodyguards to protect your stuff when you work the other exercises in the circuit.
I understood it as doing the exercises sequentially, as in finish the chest, then finish the quads, then finish X. I didn't take it as meaning circuit training where you switch exercises between each set.
You could bring 2 dumbbells to the Squat rack and superset your Squats with DB press. Or Superset your pullups with abs etc. Its what i do, and it works fine :)
Higher frequency may lead to higher volume because you are fresh. BUT if you split your chest workkout to 3+3+3 sets you need to warm up 3 times instead of 1. So if you bro split you can do at least 1 more set in the same time. So the volume in high frequency is not leading to higher sets (per given time)
One of the best pieces of science and common sense I've seen in some time regarding the subject. High frequency training can work if you simply don't overdo it going heavy all the time.
Dang it. I just got into the rhythm of hitting everything twice in 8 days with 1 rest day a week split up: back and biceps, chest and triceps, shoulders, and legs
I do roughly the same PPL split but if I feel like my triceps, back or biceps can handle another couple of sets (nothing extreme or hard on the joints, usually something that I can rep for 10+) on days that I'm concentrating on another muscle group then I feel that it's worth doing. Some muscles just don't need 4 days to recover, they're good to go again after 2 without compromising their 'days'.
Gotta admit that this discussion kinda makes me rethink recently switching back to a bro split. But then i remind myself that the reason i switched back to that is because training muscles multiple times a week, for 3 years, trying several different programs in those 3 years, lead me to a 3 year long plateau. Not completely against training some muscles more than once a week in a specialization program, but my experience tells me that every muscle multiple times a week doesn't work for me personally.
Maybe you just weren’t recovering fully due to poor sleep, not enough calories or maybe even training intensity was too high for that kind of consistency.
@@evan191919 msybe so. But changing intensity, rpe, getting more sleep, caloric surplus... didn't seem to make a difference. 7 sets of chest and back per workout twice a week didn't just add up to no soreness. It added up to feeling like had just done nothing but sit around all evening. But add 1 more set for each per workout and 2 weeks later i felt like shit. There was no volume or effort sweet spot that i could find for myself unfortunately. I can't remember ever having that problem with a bro split, so I'm giving it another shot. I'm sure I'll make some adjustments along the way though.
@@evan191919 to be honest, it's not a standard bro split for 1 reason: legs. This is why i said earlier that less volume per wkout split accross more days is still viable, like in a specialization program. But to answer your question, mon-legs, 9 sets quads, 4 sets hams Tue-chest, 15 sets Wed-back, 15-17 sets Thur-shoulders, 9 sets, and legs again, 6 sets quads & 4 sets hams. Friday-arms, 10 sets bi's, 10 sets tri's, usually super sets. And 6 sets forearms. The extra leg volume is because i just can't recover from more than 9 sets quads and 4 hams in 1 workout. Sorry to make you read all that to get your answer.
The problem with full body training is that you have to warm-up every part of the body that is being trained that day. So you have to warm-up for chest, do 1 chest exercise, then warm-up for legs, do the leg exercise, then back etc etc. I don't understand how Menno (or anyone else for that matter) can get in and out in 30 minutes while warming up sufficiently and doing adequate volume.
I’m using the app and ran my first meso with everything two days per week. My delts didn’t get very sore, so my second meso ran delts 3 days per week. I’m on peak week now and still not getting much soreness in my delts, so the next meso will be 4 days per week. Starting low and titrating frequency from meso to meso seems very reasonable.
5:40 My experience with Full Body was it all taking significantly longer on account of having to do so many freaking warmup sets for every single body part.
If you are running for 5-10 minutes before then after do the first set of your first exercise for each body part with low weight and that will in the end be somewhat the same as your warmup. People overdo warm up, it was also a topic mike touched in one of the previous videos.
You shouldn't need to warm up that much tbh. I do warmups on bench pullup and squats by just following 12-8-4 protocol sometimes less depending on how good I feel with the 2nd set (sometimes I just fuck up and realize I'm doing a work set and then at that point may as well do my other work sets). After you have warmed up on compounds your muscles should be fairly warm and worst case you maybe do a set of 4 with your work set weight to warm up.
I've routinely heard for strength sports, higher frequency is preferred to reinforce the movement pattern, even if one or two of the sessions have to be submaximal load to manage fatigue, a good example of this could be a powerlifter deadlifting 2-3x per week, just to increase that movement specific strength and have buttery smooth form. Edit: Dr. Mike mentions this at 12:30 basically what I was trying to articulate with the above statement.
Not sure if these comments are monitored for suggested topics but figured I would throw this out here. Trying to find information on CNS fatigue. I tend to run low on energy while my muscles have no problem recovering. I have to take extra days off due to mental fatigue/CNS fatigue.
I went about 8 years loosing muscle and str because no one could fix my shoulder. I finally did my own research and pretty much have it back to 100%. I am now able to start building strength in the rest of my body again. In a month I have gained 20lbs. I train a couple group 3 times a week. None of them feel sore until day 3. Day one is max day (1-3 reps)for muscle gain. Day two is strength day 6-12 reps. Day 3 is endurance day, at 30 reps. I do 3-6 sets each day, so 12-24 sets throughout 3 days. Almost 2 years ago I started training, so weak I couldn't do arm circles or IYT with any weight. I weighed about 125-130, I started this muscle building process 2 months ago at about 135lbs and now between 170-175lbs. BTW I am 5'7" and my max weight was 165 before my injury. My joints feel soo good. before self rehab I was in pain everywhere, days where I could barely move. I now feel so strong, and I feel like I can get back to my prime and past my prime very fast and soon.
Over 40 here, wasnt training bi/triceps for years due to tennis&golf elbows. Started doing sets of 15-20 reps, and taking an off week every 6-8 weeks (when the elbow starts hurting) and it works like a charm
Great discussion and insights! Have been doing high frequency programming (training 3-6x/week) for myself and my clients for years. If you know how to program and approach it, it can be really beneficial for a lot of people with different goals, constraints, and levels of experience. I highly recommend giving it an honest try.
Is this the Norwegian Double Threshold method for endurance training, but applied to strength training? For reference, the Norwegian Double Threshold method is to do a difficult but not exhausting threshold endurance workout in the morning, then eat a huge lunch and take a nap, then do a slightly harder (by RPE, may actually be the same or lower pace because of fatigue) threshold endurance workout in the evening. It allows people to accumulate more time at threshold than anyone could possibly manage in a single workout. The key is to diligently monitor and control blood lactate, particularly in the morning workout, to make sure that you do not over-do the fatigue and kill your evening workout. A properly done Double Threshold day results in the same perceived fatigue the next day, despite the significantly higher time at threshold and resulting training gains.
I do a full body superset workout every day but only do 2 sets/group both to failure. It takes roughly 1h, and the next day, I am fully recovered. And the sets are super high quality sets and you stay mentally strong during the whole workout. It's awesome!
after watching this I went full body for 5 days this week. always the same exercises and instead of 3 sets I only do 2. I don't think I ever had a more satisfying training week. next week I go 6 days. recovery seams to be so easy with 2 sets. on Wednesday I thought I would be tired during Thursday training. But no. Same happened on Friday. I could go all out, no fatigue at all. I loved it
I’m returning to training in my 50s, after a break of 25 years. In the good old days, the magazines told me that it takes some days for a muscle to recover and then some more days for a muscle to grow. This suggested that you’d be unlikely to effectively train a muscle more than twice a week. I’ve watched A LOT of your videos over the last couple of months, but I’ve yet to see anything that explains how you can train a muscle every day and still allow it to both recover and then grow. What has changed in the research in the last 25 years and can you recommend one or more of your videos that goes into detail on the subject? A full body workout every day? How on Earth does that work?
GREAT video! I'm having a hard time recovering. 40 years old now, training for 5 y (with breaks), but recovering was never great, and i always trained bro split. Think i'm trying some sort of full body 3x a week to see how it goes (still reserving more sets for the weak points).
I have been training high frequency(6-7 times per week) for past 7 years and i had good results. It made sense in my head and i dont think i trained anywhere close to optimally for most of those 7 years. The double edged sword with high frequency is that you can run yourself into fatigue very easily, so each individual session cant have too much volume
Finally, I've been waiting for some more commentary on this for so long. I've taken this to the extreme with my home gym full body workout - instead of doing, say, 5 sets in one sitting on one day, I do 3 very (!) short training sessions (5-10 minutes) in which I do 1-2 sets of 3 essential exercises. This way, I go into each session almost fully rested and pump out way more volume than I could if I did 5 sets in a row. Biggest plus: compliance is extremely high because c'mon, who doesn't have 5 minutes for a quick bench, squat and pullup session? Of course, this only works if you work remotely and have a home gym.
I have found a similar effect after splitting my upper body session into two daily sessions. Back and chest in the morning, shoulders and arms in the evening. I end up essentially getting in more quality reps being totally fresh for the evening session, thus increasing volume.
I have been trying this at the turn of the new year following guidelines from Dr. Andy Galpin. Some things I have noticed. - Localized fatigue remains low presuming I sleep well and don't drink - More reps = more practice, or in other words the quality of the reps has improved faster - My limiting factor tends to be systemic fatigue after about 6 weeks of training - It is tempting to finish with high RIR and not push as far because you become aware of how much work there is to do. Context: - Im a novice-ish trainer (not my 1st serious bout of training, but I have never trained consistently at high quality for longer than a few months) - I train about 4 times per week twice a day, looking to get at least 12 sets per week on each muscle group, with higher volume 18-24 on some focused muscle groups (arms, shoulders, chest)
Based on the research and what i've gleaned, it sounds like maximum growth comes from staying in an anabolic state for as long as possible and building up compounding growth. It makes sense to me then, that you would want to build stimulus and spread it over time as much as possible to get the most cumulative growth possible. It also probably makes sense to hit all types of hypertrophic stimuli, metabolic, tension, and muscular damage. Starting out with high weight when you're fresh, and working up the rep ranges as you progress through your sets until the muscle has been hit every way it can be.
Bill Pearl had talked about this one time in a muscle mag interview. He would train Full Body 3 times a week 6 sets each muscle, and the Chest/Back, Shoulders/Legs, Arms days so he was hitting everything 4 days a week just about. He didn't train to failure ever but did a lot of volume.
I've soundly settled on 7 sets per muscle group per session. I do upper, lower, accessories twice a week, and do four sets of heavy primary movements and three with lighter supplement movements on my compound days. Works GREAT.
Looking back I've done a lot of the wrong things. I started by running for an hour everyday applying that "push through the pain" concept, all it did was hurt my knees, I'm happy I didn't develop any problems. Then, I tried running and weightlifting, which again the running used to tap me out. Now, I'm doing walking or some low fatigue cardio and weightlifting. I've just started doing the whole hypertrophy thing and I'm feeling amazing. I'm not super invested in bodybuilding so I'm only doing like an hour per day, where I rest by walking for 5min on the treadmill between sets. Overall, I'm seeing gains and I'm happy about it.
Seeing Dr. Mikes shiny dome makes me train my pelvic floor muscles with ultra high frequency for a maximum growth.
Advanced kegels program
Dead 💀
Dr Mike made most of his head gains with an apple in his mouth and his hands tied behind his back. Always going to failure.
😂
Someone ban this guy from the internet
Hit… chest… everyday…✍️ 📝
Lolol
I have a lot of respect for Dr. Mike for bringing guests on and really just letting them talk with just respectful silence on his end.
You don't interrupt literal gigachad, my boy.
@jarret45 Gigachads have no need to interrupt each other, especially when both know about being humble.
He's obviously thinking about dinosaur world
@@countdracula4656 google gigachad meme and you'll get the joke my boy.
Science is the true Chad
Just want to say that I’m a 53 yr old grandmama, heart attack survivor, 7 stents, died n came back , and follow all your videos. I’m healthy and happy! ♥️Thank you for what you do and for your awesome channel!
What a cool thing to read in the morning!
Thank you for the inspiration Mam! You rock!
Thats fucking AWESOME!!!You’re like a super hero 🦸♀️
Fine I’ll say it. Grandma look good - let me know when you want to go on a date. 👍
What does this have to do with high frequency training? Asking for a friend…
Extra benefit from the high frequency approach is that the consequence of missing a single work out will be less, which is nice if you have a busy, irregular job.
This is my favorite part of doing 6-8 lifting sessions a week over 6 days. Need to miss one, not a problem. 45 minutes to an hour is easy to fit in later too.
Excellent point! I have an extra arm and shoulder day on Saturday that bumps me up to 3-4x weekly for those body parts as extra weak point training. If I need to skip it for whatever reason, NBD, I've gotten 2-3x at least.
i swear bro . fitness industry is always telling us to do the exact opposite of what we all do . the truth is that everybody’s body is different .
the best with high frequency is that you can lower your frequency
But if you do less frequency you are more adaptive. If I train 3-4 days of I can't train Monday I will do it Tuesday no problem and I don't miss stimulus.
If a train 6 days if I can't train Monday that work out is done, and depending on your split you could actually do an unintentional deload
This is one of those videos that I will have to rewatch in order to get the most of it, and I love that
I am 43 and recently restarted gym life. Now I have a name for the work out process I have been doing. High frequency has worked great for me
Hey, 43 here and getting back to it too! Good luck, man!
Same
Can you describe your workout and how many days per week you train?
@@IrishJJ27 I go 4-5 times a week. About 1-2 hours in the late evening. I switch it up from legs to upper body. I usually finish out the night with 10 min in the sauna. That said healthy whole foods and lots of water make all the difference.
My mind just got blown. I packed my gym bag and I'm going to the gym. This is an amazing video. I'm going to try this. When Mike talked about how we made up the weekly calendar and has absolutely nothing to do with recovery it clicked. So easy to watch guys. Best video I've seen in a while.
Exactly. People are so concerned with basing a workout on 7 days. Just work a group of muscles recover and go back. The week is simply a guideline. Your muscles don’t know time, or types of weights or anything. They know stimulus and recovery.
Agreed. A week is a made up thing. Unlike a day which is an actual cycle of awake and asleep.
I don’t think anyone’s out here getting any gains off one set per day
I've learned so much from both of you separately, and Menno-Mike is the best fitness UA-cam collab I've ever seen.
I'd watch menno-mike vs vegeto
Some points:
1. Mike suggests DUP for intensity and volume
2. Menno likes high frequency 4-6x a week for a muscle; Mike moderate 2-4x
3. Mike uses PED so his connective tissue issues make more sense than us non-PED issues
4. You can be smart with squats / do lower volume more frequent or moderate frequency with moderate volume to mitigate joint pain aka connective tissue
5. Squat everyday on low volume per session can work in short duration for strength or powerlifting
I know a lot of people say 3 days full body is "best" but I just LOVE 5-6 day splits because I both LOVE the gym and have the time to spare.
💪
team 3-a-days baby, not 3 days a week 😎😎
Same. I love going to the gym everyday, so I'd rather have shorter more frequent workouts. You can also hit everything twice a week then.
Well, 3x a week fullbody isn't the best but you can do fullbody splits even 5x a week, it just depends how you program it
I did 6-7 day splits for a good while because it was fun and easier to workout regularly than the have days off. Eventually it changed and I like three days lifting and 3 days of cardio.
Goals and priorities change in life and more and more I’m convinced that whatever motivates people to get up and exercise is just fine with me!
One of the best discussions y'all have produced!!!
Got to agree, very informative conversation.
Literally sooo long overdue but glad it finally was discussed. Love you Doctor Mike! (And Menno)
you all*
This made a lot of sense
I really appreciate that you bring other people who don't agree so that we know this channel isn't an echo chamber.
This is why I’ve been doing 3 full body sessions per week. The maximization on frequency, and maximization of the recovery window/recovery curve, you are capitalizing on the growth curve and repeating as quickly and as often as possible.
Consistency and patience is the key anyway. Whatever it is you're going to do. A bro-split over two days or a full body on the day. Basically it's not losing patience before you've seen positive results. If you want that perfect technique and full range extension and contraction for hypertrophy etc, etc. Then nothing beats doing the same exercises until it becomes learnt muscle memory. Then you find your muscles growing and yourself getting stronger and being able to listen to your body and things like higher reps or more frequency or which part of the body needs more work becomes more apparent and easier to achieve.
About 15 years ago i found an HFT prigram from Chad Waterbury and blew up on gains and overall conditioning as well as being able to handle more consistent workloads. Changed the way i looked at training and even sort of makes sense to our ancestry. This channel has become the best training, no bs source on youtube. Plus Mike is hilarious.
What Meno mentions about overtraining heavy movements is so true. I developed patellar tendinopathy from squatting only heavy multiple times a week for over a year. I ignored the pain and kept on pushing, and wound up in a state where my right knee was that stiff and painful just to walk on.
This is why my high frequency changes exercises MWF so Squat M, Leg Press W, Leg Ext Fri. Same for back Seated Row M, LAt Pull Down W, Chest Supported Row F and Chest Flat Bench M, Incline W and Fly F. This give me the multiple angles to hit each muscle group
Would love to see a sample high frequency program. Like exercises, sets, reps, etc. for a full-body workout 4-5x per week.
Yes!!
Ditto, that's what brought me to the comments. I've not seen a good layout for something like that yet
Tried 5 x full body, was not managable in terms of systemic fatigue. But a 6 day template would be nice. PushQuad/pullHams / Repeat ...
Jeff Nippard has a 5 day full body program on his web site
As someone with no real knowledge, just doing what I can, I workout 6-7 days a week, start with upper body weight lifting, do one rep until failure, switch exercise to different muscle group, then go back after one rep to failure, and so on, until I feel adequate on all muscle groups, then do lower body
12:05 Jean Fernel coined 'physiology' in his De Naturali Parte Medicinae in 1542, the Georgian calendar was introduced 1582.
Timing on this video is great.
I have been doing classic Arnie splits since January. 6 days on 1 off
Average of 30 sets per working session and I have put on significant muscle mass (~4-5lbs)
Currently on week 9.. have to say that one major difference I've noticed in my training was implementing slow negatives.
Doing those on warm up and drop off sets gives those slow and fast twitches some insane stimulus.
I also implemented a deload week every 5th and during the week I will switch between heavy progression and myorep sets.
Lastly, to keep the stimulus strong, every day I change the grip or type of exercise for the targeted muscle (db bench to bb bench and concentration curls to hammer curls for example)
Happy training!
I'd love to see a version of Meno's full-body workout in the RP Hypertrophy app!
Yeah, I’d like to do the same, because you cannot do a whole body workout in 30 minutes, what a lot of bullshit
I feel like work capacity gets ignored a lot and this answered a lot of questions I've developed over the years.
I agree.
I can do 3 sessions a week and be dialed in.
I keep the tension high with intensity. If you do quality workouts then I think 5 sessions is too much.
The logic presented here in favor of higher frequency training is very convincing. If taken to its logical conclusion, I think this demonstrates very nicely the underlying reason why higher frequency training produces better results. By reducing the volume in each workout, you can actually increase the volume per day. Instead of 12-15 working sets per training session, by doing maybe 8 or 9 working sets per training session, you can increase the volume directly (for those… interesting people who believe that volume is the single most valuable variable for muscle growth for some reason), and also increase the relative intensity in every single one of those sets in the second daily session, given that you’re actually giving your body the resources it needs to recover properly. Great points all around
Which professional bodybuilders train twice a week? Literally the top10 of the olympia train only once a day dude… also doing bro splits and low volume
@@Elcanario91Arnold
@kingofcrunk4237 tricep longhead in the morning, medial head mid day and then lateral head in the evening...right babe?
Whenever i have tried high frequency training, even with progressively deloading workouts, i used to constsntly catch a cold or have a fever. Would love to see Dr.Mike talk more about hypertrophy training and its effect on the immune system.
I stepped back and now and am doing once a week workouts.
I can confirm this is the same case for me. It took a while for me to accept this fact. For a couple of months, I am on 3xweek full body and no issues what so ever. Additionally, as I love training, I am performing also 3xweek steady state cardio on a tredmill.
5-day split of weight training was not my cup of tea for some reason.
I literally didn't understand any of this but I'm going to follow it precisely just like i do with all of Dr Mikes advice.
My 2 Favourite big brain guys in the industry.
Following advice from these dudes will take you further than any gym bro
Getting high quality info from top notch fitness experts for free. So grateful for Dr Mike and RP
Thank you Dr. Mike for providing usefull information for us normies out here. I have been in the Gym for the last 1.5 years and progress stopped after like 1 month, mostly because of inconsistency, but a bad split, suboptimal nutrition and no tracking are part of it too
I watched so many of your videos the last few weeks and you gave me the motivation to start from scratch with better splits, nutrition and drive and i made the progess of 1 year in 1 month. I know the motivation to cut out all junk foods and going to the gym 4-5 times a week wont last forever, but with your tips i am confident that i can make a lasting positive impact on my performance, physique, motivation and health.
As a science guy myself i really love and connect with your analytical aproach to training
Yes. love these discussions. Please go in depth on volume progression and why you think adding sets is a great way to go.
Started your RP arm/chest/back, leg's/shoulder's hypertrophy split. Doing it 6 days p/w and it's amazing. Workouts are more exciting and shorter, intensity is harder, volume is higher, recovery is faster, daily 2nd session cardio is easier. Best part is being able to hit my favorite lifts legs/back/chest every 2nd day!
Where do i find that hypertrophy split?
What’s the name of this program?
@@tjarkt5597 brother watch his "Want bigger arms?" video from last week. He goes through the basic program and frequency for beginner/intermediate/advanced lifters at the end as a bonus👍
ua-cam.com/video/uisN5x4MV1k/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared
Mind saying what it is 🫣
I suggested to my trainer and have been doing what menno called "combo workout", out of my mind, just because for me it's so obvious that you can do a much better set for each muscle with 7-10min of local rest, and 1-3 minutes total rest, and that way training moderate to high volumes but very efficiently. Made me progress again than the normal training as I was dealing with bad recovery ( bad sleep and stress management)
Love these updated talks and multiple perspectives and including implementation as well
I love this format. With an opposing opinion arguing against what you preach. Have more of these about every topic!!
I read the comments before watching the video. You guys are gold.
I started going to the gym about 7 months ago. Initially, I went 3 times a week, focusing on A, B, C workouts, primarily targeting chest/triceps, back/biceps, and legs/shoulders. It was great as a beginner, but I wanted to prioritize leg training more. About 3 months ago, I switched to a new 4-day training split, doing workouts labeled A, B, C, D. This routine involved targeting biceps/back, triceps/chest, and dedicating one day to quad-focused leg exercises and another day to hamstring and glute-focused exercises. I noticed significant growth in my lower body and felt really good overall. For my next step, I want a training plan that allows me to train upper body twice a week and lower body twice a week. I've been contemplating this for a few weeks now, and a this video has been quite helpful to me!
Do the first one twice. And im guessing you made a mistake because you alrewdy train upper and lower twice a week?
@@Ben_Dover15I can only train 4 days a week. For example, currently my workout A is focuses on chest/triceps. Therefore, even though I train upper body twice a week, I only target chest and triceps once a week.The video gave me some ideas to split my workouts better and get more stimulus by combining both upper body days. This way, I can target chest/triceps and back/biceps twice a week.
4 days so a upper lower split will be fine to you , if you're a beginner just stick with an common split, don't try to create one.
Sounds like a upper lower split. I ran a split like that before. I enjoyed it.
Mon- lower body
Tue- upper body
Wed- rest (light cardio)
Thu- lower body
Fri- upper body
Sat- rest (light yoga)
Sun- rest.
if i dont give my elbows 2 days break, will hurt myself for sure, thats why i never train high frequeny on bodybuildung stuff. remember, muscles may recover but your tendons bones need more break sometimes
It might be worth doing some band curls/extensions to rehab and strengthen those tendons and find some more joint friendly movements for you.
Also you should eat stuff with collagen like broccoli and drink more milk
I wonder if reducing load/increasing reps will help with that
@@abduallahalazemi1028 or eat animals instead because broccoli is the devils
Look up “knees over toes guy”
Yet again. Another jewel in the vast and what can be a desolate wasteland of YT training/fitness videos. Thank you Dr Mike and Menno.. 👍
Nice with this new content, have missed content like the old series on advanced hypertrophy
Channel is growing rapidly, great job RP ❤
Way back on my 20s when I still have more time for myself and things I enjoy, I can train 6 times a week with a Push-Pull-Legs split. But then the pandemic hit with gyms closing and then opening back few years back, now having a small family with a managerial job working nights at my 30s, I can only train full body 3 times a week. Working nights is extremely game changing and you need to recover as much because humans are born to hunt(work) from am to pm, and sleep afterwards.
The worst is switching from days to nights, but for sure night shifts even when steady will mess you up. Isn't it like 30% increased rate of mortality from all causes or something stupid?
Is the money worth it? Legit question, it very well might be but then.....
@@AngryOscillator I personally love night shift always have. At my job I worked from 430pm to 430 am for about 3 months loved it, got swapped to do days 430 am to 430 pm transition was rough but i don't hate it but I loved working at night way more.
I used to work nights just so I could train prior to work. You just need to get on a proper schedule and don't switch your schedule on your days off by more than a couple hours. Use blackout shades. Etc.etc. You're right, it's unnatural, but you can do the best you can to mimic the circadian rythyms.
@scillator I've been working nights for more than 3 years and yes, the shift is unhealthy but because the pay is way better than a number of jobs related to my field of expertise, I got no choice. I just need to make sure to sleep at least 7 hours and eat much healthier and keep lifting. It's not the best shift if you put it in a healthy perspective.
@@vorsillionx having been there myself, I feel for you.
Sometimes though you just gotta do what you've gotta do
Here is my point : before looking at frequency, focus on progress and recovery. For instance, i feel great with heavy once a week back workout. On the other hand, my harmstring and calves love high frequency. I see progress and good recovery. It's all about you. Just give it a try and learn about yourself. Would like to have your point Doc 💪🏿
That was a really good discussion! Thanks!
Would love to see another vid exploring examples of this
I've been naturally learning over time I can train my forearms like... 4 times a week. That's crazy to me since I used to be so scared of over training. But I'm not even sore 36 hours later and I'm getting gains like never before
What forearm exercises to do u do
@@alexandernegron3128jergen’s curls
I've been hitting them once/twice a week. I gotta step my game up. Thanks dawg.
This is the same for me too with forearms, calves, side and rear delts. But what I can’t decide is frequency for chest and back. It seems like with chest in particular, even if I reduce per session volume to 3 sets, even if I do 2-3 rir, 8-10 rep, or 15+ reps, no matter what, my chest still has soreness that lasts for 6-7 or even more days. So I wonder what’s happening here and if it’s better to just do more volume per session since it seems to
Take so long to recover anyways from a soreness perspective. If I hit chest every 2 days, or 3 I can do
My same work output. But I just have soreness going in that goes away once warmed up
@@thisis5123 honestly, give it a try to train through the soreness. if 2-3 days passed u should be fine to train chest again
Great topic of discussion🔥
I don’t know why but I love it when Dr. Mike says Rhabdomyolysis.
When I want to develop a muscle specifically more, I always do one exercise for this muscle, everyday, to failure but only two or three sets, first to warm, second/third to failure, and then go on with my training, if the training is already basically the same muscle I am focusing on I continue to do variations if I feel ok with my joints and everything. Always has worked really well, so I will say high frequency is great for me.
PS: keep in mind I'm natural and have been training seriously for 4 years.
Do you have soreness while doing this ? I’m wondering how much soreness is even worthy of note. Because I’m trying to prioritize my upper chest, but my chest will feel sore overall for over 5 days easy even if I do 2 sets in a given day, I’ve even tried going with 3+ reps in reserve and am still sore. This applies only to my chest, my back, quads and most everything else does not stay sore if at all for more than a day or two.
I'm glad that you're bringing the topic up.
Doing up to 50-70 sets per body part and still progress is doable.
I did it in the last 6 months and still progressed.
Solving joints, motivation and progress is mostly knowledge and genetics, and it's doable, but I simply couldn't do 10 sets per day for all body parts at once as Menno stated in the past for more than 4 weeks because of the immune system reaction, despite I progressed well. I was constantly ill.
Not so much that I'd had to take the day off, I still progressed, but you know the neck ache etc.
After I stopped doing 10 sets per day I lowered it only to 8 sets per day for most body parts the immune system got fine, and I continued with that for 6 months.
It was definitely worth it.
I recommend it to everyone who knows what he's doing (mostly science-based trainers with experience) and are plateauing. Low volumes haven't done much for me in the last few years anymore; ultra-high do.
Disclaimer: I've been training for 17+ years already. Don't copy me. But know that when you optimize everything and train for decades, there are much higher volumes you thought can recover from. And even break muscle gain plateau.
I also own the gym and train there alone. So, it takes only 100-120 minutes, warm-ups not included. But if I were going to a public gym, God help me...
P.S.
I tried 2 phasic training, but doing it in 1 bout makes better sense for me. There was no performance loss. I like the 1 bout more.
and how did you ease into the 50-70 weekly sets? and how long did it take? I assume you didnt just think "alright, its day 1, Ill start doing 50-70 sets right now"
and how was the soreness in those 6 months?
You mean reps not sets. Who tf can do 70 sets per week
Brad Schoenfeld most favorite fan.
@@Typhus-th6ud I think he actually meant 70 sets. Thanks to videos like this people actually believe this excessive volume is the way to go. Insane
@@The_Patbey I've been training for over 17 years already, so I was used to bulking with 4 sets 7 days/week per body part. Did 6 for each of A,B,C work out, than, 8, than 10.
I definitely need to use the word "EMPIRICALLY" more often in my every day life.
I train high frequency since like 3 years but in the last few months I further optimized it with doing the heavy stuff, e.g. dead lifts or heavy presses a little bit less often but the light stuff more often, e.g. biceps training and its amazing, espacially from a recovery perspective.
for this specific format - i'd love if they'd show each study supporting the claim they are making as they are making it, otherwise its just "he said that and it sounds about right" or "ye i trust mike, so he's gotta be right"
I think what the empirical studies miss is the sustainability aspect of high frequency training for years on end. Sure you might be able to get good results with high frequency training for 3-12 months as a natural lifter without accumulating too much joint and tendon damage. Flat out though, most human beings don't have the genetics, diet, sleep, or general lifestyle to handle 6 days of HARD training per week in perpetuity even if the training is body part split optimally. High frequency is just like low frequency, it is something you should do when you plateau, want to switch up your training because of boredom or complacency, or your goals change over time. For enhanced guys it has been obvious that everything works, and for beginners everything works, so this whole discussion about training frequency always needs to be oriented towards at least intermediate lifters who are non-professionals, non-genetic outliers, and who have a regular schedule and job. That is the demographic that seeks out this information the vast majority of the time and if we are being realistic and most evidenced based studies don't involve this group, either purposefully to make their results seem more interesting, or because people of this group don't have the time to work with researchers. I'm loath to trust any self reporting either, it is like self reporting d**k size for a study, the average is gonna be 30 feet and thick as a tree trunk.
These convos w/ Menno are great, man 🤌🏽
The issue with high frequency, full body - basically two main drawbacks.
A) Each movement/body part requires acclimiation/"ramp up" sets before you can get the most out of your 1-2 worksets for the day. So you end up getting the muscle/nervous system "primed for one movement, only to basically move onto the next.
B) If you use a circuit style, performance and CNS drain can be big. Let's say your doing a 8RM Squat workset. And you then go to your 5RM Chin, and then you 6RM overhead press etc. Even with ample rest in beteween, these are different movement patterns and your peformance will feel odd after the first round (weights will feel heavier).
Love how Menno says Fullbody is practical because you can do circuit style training. Mate have you been to a commercial gym? You would have to hire bodyguards to protect your stuff when you work the other exercises in the circuit.
I understood it as doing the exercises sequentially, as in finish the chest, then finish the quads, then finish X.
I didn't take it as meaning circuit training where you switch exercises between each set.
You could bring 2 dumbbells to the Squat rack and superset your Squats with DB press. Or Superset your pullups with abs etc. Its what i do, and it works fine :)
Higher frequency may lead to higher volume because you are fresh. BUT if you split your chest workkout to 3+3+3 sets you need to warm up 3 times instead of 1. So if you bro split you can do at least 1 more set in the same time. So the volume in high frequency is not leading to higher sets (per given time)
Really good information that actually makes a lot of sense.
One of the best pieces of science and common sense I've seen in some time regarding the subject. High frequency training can work if you simply don't overdo it going heavy all the time.
Paul carter be punching the air rn
😂😂😂
Is he ever not? Most sensitive person in the fitness industry.
Dang it. I just got into the rhythm of hitting everything twice in 8 days with 1 rest day a week split up: back and biceps, chest and triceps, shoulders, and legs
If you’re in the groove don’t fuck it up chasing something new. Run that for like 4 months at least and then you can switch it up.
I do roughly the same PPL split but if I feel like my triceps, back or biceps can handle another couple of sets (nothing extreme or hard on the joints, usually something that I can rep for 10+) on days that I'm concentrating on another muscle group then I feel that it's worth doing. Some muscles just don't need 4 days to recover, they're good to go again after 2 without compromising their 'days'.
@@DjDolHaus86 I agree. Sometimes it’s fun to throw pull-ups in on leg days or an extra few sets of curls on shoulder days
@@curgunner I think that’s a good idea. It’ll be interesting to see what it looks like if I go this route after that
Awesome guys, thank you.
Great insight from three insightful people (I'm a videographer, so respect to all of you out there).
I like how Megan From Team 3D Alpha is right every single time.
Yeah bro. He was such ahead of his time in youtube
Gotta admit that this discussion kinda makes me rethink recently switching back to a bro split. But then i remind myself that the reason i switched back to that is because training muscles multiple times a week, for 3 years, trying several different programs in those 3 years, lead me to a 3 year long plateau. Not completely against training some muscles more than once a week in a specialization program, but my experience tells me that every muscle multiple times a week doesn't work for me personally.
Maybe you just weren’t recovering fully due to poor sleep, not enough calories or maybe even training intensity was too high for that kind of consistency.
@@evan191919 msybe so. But changing intensity, rpe, getting more sleep, caloric surplus... didn't seem to make a difference. 7 sets of chest and back per workout twice a week didn't just add up to no soreness. It added up to feeling like had just done nothing but sit around all evening. But add 1 more set for each per workout and 2 weeks later i felt like shit. There was no volume or effort sweet spot that i could find for myself unfortunately. I can't remember ever having that problem with a bro split, so I'm giving it another shot. I'm sure I'll make some adjustments along the way though.
@@DEUltra82 how many sets were you doing per body part with the bro split?
@@evan191919 to be honest, it's not a standard bro split for 1 reason: legs. This is why i said earlier that less volume per wkout split accross more days is still viable, like in a specialization program. But to answer your question, mon-legs, 9 sets quads, 4 sets hams
Tue-chest, 15 sets
Wed-back, 15-17 sets
Thur-shoulders, 9 sets, and legs again, 6 sets quads & 4 sets hams.
Friday-arms, 10 sets bi's, 10 sets tri's, usually super sets. And 6 sets forearms.
The extra leg volume is because i just can't recover from more than 9 sets quads and 4 hams in 1 workout. Sorry to make you read all that to get your answer.
The problem with full body training is that you have to warm-up every part of the body that is being trained that day. So you have to warm-up for chest, do 1 chest exercise, then warm-up for legs, do the leg exercise, then back etc etc. I don't understand how Menno (or anyone else for that matter) can get in and out in 30 minutes while warming up sufficiently and doing adequate volume.
You are absolutely correct! This is what I was thinking the entire time I was watching this. For 30 minutes Fullbody he's not lifting heavy enough.
I’m using the app and ran my first meso with everything two days per week. My delts didn’t get very sore, so my second meso ran delts 3 days per week. I’m on peak week now and still not getting much soreness in my delts, so the next meso will be 4 days per week. Starting low and titrating frequency from meso to meso seems very reasonable.
5:40 My experience with Full Body was it all taking significantly longer on account of having to do so many freaking warmup sets for every single body part.
It for sure does. That’s what I’m currently doing and it takes at least an hour and a half. Some days lean more towards 2 hours
Dude, this might be a good time to then re-think your warm-ups...
Most full body, dynamic stretching-based warm ups need not take more than 8-10min...
If you are running for 5-10 minutes before then after do the first set of your first exercise for each body part with low weight and that will in the end be somewhat the same as your warmup. People overdo warm up, it was also a topic mike touched in one of the previous videos.
You shouldn't need to warm up that much tbh. I do warmups on bench pullup and squats by just following 12-8-4 protocol sometimes less depending on how good I feel with the 2nd set (sometimes I just fuck up and realize I'm doing a work set and then at that point may as well do my other work sets).
After you have warmed up on compounds your muscles should be fairly warm and worst case you maybe do a set of 4 with your work set weight to warm up.
@@shantanusapruI'm not stretching, it's all the warmup sets.
Where's my small calves crew at? I am guilty of training them once a week and sometimes at the end of my workouts... I know... I know 🤦♂️
Wanted you to cover this because ive been going 6-7 days a week for a little over 2 months and see wild general improvements already
Sometimes I can't follow the conversations, a summary of how to implement would be great, but I must say Menno's man spread is incredible. 😊
I've routinely heard for strength sports, higher frequency is preferred to reinforce the movement pattern, even if one or two of the sessions have to be submaximal load to manage fatigue, a good example of this could be a powerlifter deadlifting 2-3x per week, just to increase that movement specific strength and have buttery smooth form.
Edit: Dr. Mike mentions this at 12:30 basically what I was trying to articulate with the above statement.
Not sure if these comments are monitored for suggested topics but figured I would throw this out here. Trying to find information on CNS fatigue. I tend to run low on energy while my muscles have no problem recovering. I have to take extra days off due to mental fatigue/CNS fatigue.
I went about 8 years loosing muscle and str because no one could fix my shoulder. I finally did my own research and pretty much have it back to 100%. I am now able to start building strength in the rest of my body again.
In a month I have gained 20lbs. I train a couple group 3 times a week. None of them feel sore until day 3. Day one is max day (1-3 reps)for muscle gain. Day two is strength day 6-12 reps. Day 3 is endurance day, at 30 reps. I do 3-6 sets each day, so 12-24 sets throughout 3 days.
Almost 2 years ago I started training, so weak I couldn't do arm circles or IYT with any weight. I weighed about 125-130, I started this muscle building process 2 months ago at about 135lbs and now between 170-175lbs. BTW I am 5'7" and my max weight was 165 before my injury.
My joints feel soo good. before self rehab I was in pain everywhere, days where I could barely move. I now feel so strong, and I feel like I can get back to my prime and past my prime very fast and soon.
I was gonna skip the gym today, but after watching this, I’m off to do either massive sets or Mike’s thing…or instinctual. Thanks, Doc!
Over 40 here, wasnt training bi/triceps for years due to tennis&golf elbows. Started doing sets of 15-20 reps, and taking an off week every 6-8 weeks (when the elbow starts hurting) and it works like a charm
Great discussion and insights! Have been doing high frequency programming (training 3-6x/week) for myself and my clients for years. If you know how to program and approach it, it can be really beneficial for a lot of people with different goals, constraints, and levels of experience. I highly recommend giving it an honest try.
This explains why calisthenics people who simply do push ups and pull ups every day don't run into recovery issues
Exactly! If I was to attempt this method it would either be with just calisthenics or light weights.
Is this the Norwegian Double Threshold method for endurance training, but applied to strength training? For reference, the Norwegian Double Threshold method is to do a difficult but not exhausting threshold endurance workout in the morning, then eat a huge lunch and take a nap, then do a slightly harder (by RPE, may actually be the same or lower pace because of fatigue) threshold endurance workout in the evening. It allows people to accumulate more time at threshold than anyone could possibly manage in a single workout. The key is to diligently monitor and control blood lactate, particularly in the morning workout, to make sure that you do not over-do the fatigue and kill your evening workout. A properly done Double Threshold day results in the same perceived fatigue the next day, despite the significantly higher time at threshold and resulting training gains.
I do a full body superset workout every day but only do 2 sets/group both to failure. It takes roughly 1h, and the next day, I am fully recovered. And the sets are super high quality sets and you stay mentally strong during the whole workout. It's awesome!
after watching this I went full body for 5 days this week. always the same exercises and instead of 3 sets I only do 2. I don't think I ever had a more satisfying training week. next week I go 6 days. recovery seams to be so easy with 2 sets. on Wednesday I thought I would be tired during Thursday training. But no. Same happened on Friday. I could go all out, no fatigue at all. I loved it
I’m returning to training in my 50s, after a break of 25 years.
In the good old days, the magazines told me that it takes some days for a muscle to recover and then some more days for a muscle to grow. This suggested that you’d be unlikely to effectively train a muscle more than twice a week.
I’ve watched A LOT of your videos over the last couple of months, but I’ve yet to see anything that explains how you can train a muscle every day and still allow it to both recover and then grow.
What has changed in the research in the last 25 years and can you recommend one or more of your videos that goes into detail on the subject?
A full body workout every day? How on Earth does that work?
GREAT video! I'm having a hard time recovering. 40 years old now, training for 5 y (with breaks), but recovering was never great, and i always trained bro split. Think i'm trying some sort of full body 3x a week to see how it goes (still reserving more sets for the weak points).
Very informative!
Menno explains things so clearly!
The quality of content on this channel is fantastic 👌🏻
I have been training high frequency(6-7 times per week) for past 7 years and i had good results. It made sense in my head and i dont think i trained anywhere close to optimally for most of those 7 years.
The double edged sword with high frequency is that you can run yourself into fatigue very easily, so each individual session cant have too much volume
That’s the point right. You don’t do the same volume every day, you take the total volume and break it up over several sessions.
Absolutely love seeing Menno on the channel.
Total body workouts, legs, chest, back, shoulders , biceps, triceps, in that order, is best for most people.
4 days split upper-lower body, the best splits for me (training hard / light split) i have had the best gains of my life (2 years with the routine)
Finally, I've been waiting for some more commentary on this for so long. I've taken this to the extreme with my home gym full body workout - instead of doing, say, 5 sets in one sitting on one day, I do 3 very (!) short training sessions (5-10 minutes) in which I do 1-2 sets of 3 essential exercises. This way, I go into each session almost fully rested and pump out way more volume than I could if I did 5 sets in a row.
Biggest plus: compliance is extremely high because c'mon, who doesn't have 5 minutes for a quick bench, squat and pullup session? Of course, this only works if you work remotely and have a home gym.
I have found a similar effect after splitting my upper body session into two daily sessions. Back and chest in the morning, shoulders and arms in the evening. I end up essentially getting in more quality reps being totally fresh for the evening session, thus increasing volume.
I have been trying this at the turn of the new year following guidelines from Dr. Andy Galpin. Some things I have noticed.
- Localized fatigue remains low presuming I sleep well and don't drink
- More reps = more practice, or in other words the quality of the reps has improved faster
- My limiting factor tends to be systemic fatigue after about 6 weeks of training
- It is tempting to finish with high RIR and not push as far because you become aware of how much work there is to do.
Context:
- Im a novice-ish trainer (not my 1st serious bout of training, but I have never trained consistently at high quality for longer than a few months)
- I train about 4 times per week twice a day, looking to get at least 12 sets per week on each muscle group, with higher volume 18-24 on some focused muscle groups (arms, shoulders, chest)
Based on the research and what i've gleaned, it sounds like maximum growth comes from staying in an anabolic state for as long as possible and building up compounding growth.
It makes sense to me then, that you would want to build stimulus and spread it over time as much as possible to get the most cumulative growth possible. It also probably makes sense to hit all types of hypertrophic stimuli, metabolic, tension, and muscular damage. Starting out with high weight when you're fresh, and working up the rep ranges as you progress through your sets until the muscle has been hit every way it can be.
Bill Pearl had talked about this one time in a muscle mag interview. He would train Full Body 3 times a week 6 sets each muscle, and the Chest/Back, Shoulders/Legs, Arms days so he was hitting everything 4 days a week just about. He didn't train to failure ever but did a lot of volume.
Great addition to the team.
"Locally, my volume is really big"
It's a video, Mike, we can see your head, you don't need to keep reminding us...
I've soundly settled on 7 sets per muscle group per session. I do upper, lower, accessories twice a week, and do four sets of heavy primary movements and three with lighter supplement movements on my compound days. Works GREAT.
Best training split. Full Lower Body, Full Upper Body, 1 hr cardio. Rest 1 day. Repeat.
Thank you.
Looking back I've done a lot of the wrong things.
I started by running for an hour everyday applying that "push through the pain" concept, all it did was hurt my knees, I'm happy I didn't develop any problems.
Then, I tried running and weightlifting, which again the running used to tap me out.
Now, I'm doing walking or some low fatigue cardio and weightlifting.
I've just started doing the whole hypertrophy thing and I'm feeling amazing.
I'm not super invested in bodybuilding so I'm only doing like an hour per day, where I rest by walking for 5min on the treadmill between sets.
Overall, I'm seeing gains and I'm happy about it.
4:18😂😂😂 he was on a roll. Complex opening, simple ending.