Topic: Training frequency quesiton

[Arden Cogar Jr.]

She seems to enjoy it.  But I haven't had her doing more than 2 or 3 sessions a week.

My own training is 7 days a week, but my gym work is every other day.  I do my sport's event work on my non gym days.  Very taxing on the CNS as everything is a sprint race.  When I was younger I could lift and event train on the same day.  Not so anymore.  Body can't take it.

I'm 39 and my current program has me, on my gym days, lifting in the morning, then doing kettlebell conditioning during the evening.  I'm having a hard time with the conditioning as I'm only motivated to do it about half the time.  Given my winter pudge, I need to get a wee bit more motivated.

But train as often as you body can handle it.  Just be smart about the rep schemes and weights you use from week to week.  And, above all else, remember to deload. 

All the best,
 Arden

[dabrock]

Thanks, Arden. I need to start looking into a good deload plan since I'm not that familiar with OL training yet. Since I'm still just working with light weight it's probably not a rush right now but I need to start getting a plan together soon.

[lillianreptilian]

This brings up my own training frequency question:

I've been training 3x per week for a little over a year. I tried moving up to 4x per week last month, mainly because I've been 'training' some family members at another gym once a week and I figured I could add another workout. I hear talk of people adding a 4th day, then a 5th day and then 2-a-days, etc...

4 days x week left me wiped out and feeling stretched too thin. I was also pretty busy for the 6-or-so weeks I tried it, so that could have contributed to me feeling lousy.

My gym is over a half hour away and I usually wind up training for a long time--like 2 hrs. I feel like it's not worth it to drive there if I'm not going to have a full training session. I can train at a closer gym, but only non-Oly stuff because it's just a regular neighborhood gym with octagonal metal plates and men's bars.

That brings me to my questions: 1) what is the purpose of adding more days/week? 2) If you add more days should you also shorten your workouts? 3) does any of this matter if you're 28 and without anything like Olympic ambitions and just training for the love of it?

I ask because I have a lot more free time right now and I can train as much as I want. However, after trying to add another day and finding it unpleasant, I wonder if I should just stick with good ol' 3x/week.

[Rolando Rodriguez]

Splitting a 3-day routine across 4 days will naturally shorten the average daily workout time.  That's not what I would call "adding" a 4th day.  Adding a day means you needed more volume to spur adaptation than 3 days was allowing (given full workouts on the 3 days).

Adding a 4th day usually means upping the intensity on your current routine, rearranging things a bit, and adding in some lighter work to flesh out 4 full days of training.  Thus you're getting in more total volume and more volume at higher intensities.  Eventually you'll need more work than 4 days will allow, and then a 5th day will become necessary.

The implication of this is that if you add a day *before* your body is ready for the extra volume x intensity, you'll crap out very quickly.  A 4th day of earnest lifting is only added when 3 days has clearly become insufficient to spur progress.  The guys going 6 days a week, 2-a-days heavy have taken years to get there, and they are adapted to the workload.

As others have said, you can do 6 days a week any time if 3 of those days are light work.  Once I have my own platform, I'll def. do a little bar work every day, just to keep limber and reinforce technique.  But adding a true-blue training day to the week is not something to do lightly, esp. if you're older, losing sleep, and stressed out at work.

[Judas]

This brings up my own training frequency question:

I've been training 3x per week for a little over a year. I tried moving up to 4x per week last month, mainly because I've been 'training' some family members at another gym once a week and I figured I could add another workout. I hear talk of people adding a 4th day, then a 5th day and then 2-a-days, etc...

4 days x week left me wiped out and feeling stretched too thin. I was also pretty busy for the 6-or-so weeks I tried it, so that could have contributed to me feeling lousy.

The whole idea is to do as much work as physically possible within a week, But still be able to recover from it. A key thing about experimenting with your training is to not change too many things at once. You changed two things at once, you upped your workload, AND you got less rest. Maybe try it again when you know you can get the maximum recovery that you're used to. This sport is all about reps, just like a martial art is about katas... the more you do the more ingrained it becomes, the less you have to think about it as you do it. The better you become.

My gym is over a half hour away and I usually wind up training for a long time--like 2 hrs. I feel like it's not worth it to drive there if I'm not going to have a full training session. I can train at a closer gym, but only non-Oly stuff because it's just a regular neighborhood gym with octagonal metal plates and men's bars.

Same here. My sessions can go over 4 hours. I have good work capacity and REALLY should be doing two sessions per day (more total reps!), but because ov my financial situation just simply cant.

That brings me to my questions: 1) what is the purpose of adding more days/week? 2) If you add more days should you also shorten your workouts? 3) does any of this matter if you're 28 and without anything like Olympic ambitions and just training for the love of it?

1. Reps. Total (quality) reps per week. Its just drilling. More (quality) reps = more skill/strength.

2. I think adding DAYS means just that, a whole 'nother day ov lifting. Not to be confused with going from one session per day to two, in which you'd usually do a bit less in each session, but it adds more overall reps for that day without shocking you into a coma. So no. You add a DAY, its a full day. So if you cant quite handle it then perhaps you were not quite ready for it. Like i said, in your case it might just be a case ov making damn sure your out-ov-gym game is excellent. Dont try it when work/life has you busy.

3. It comes down to how good you wanna be and how far you're willing to go to get as good. If lifting is all about fun to you, then maybe driving yourself into the ground physically and mentally to prove you can lift as well as the kids (and you could) might not be worth it. I've got 7 years on you and i attack this sport violently. I'll realistically likely never make the Olympics starting at 34, but i cant let myself think that way, i wanna get as good as possible as quick as possible, so i divert every single thing in my life towards this goal. Might not make me rich by 50, but you could do a lot worse things with your life than become (relatively) super-human. Personally, i also just love to lift, so spending 27 hours a week in the gym under a barbell is hardly a waste ov my time.

I ask because I have a lot more free time right now and I can train as much as I want. However, after trying to add another day and finding it unpleasant, I wonder if I should just stick with good ol' 3x/week.

I've worked for two years to supercharge my work capacity and have found it always comes down to the split. What days you put where and what exercises you do on what days, etc. Design your training week right and cover as many recovery bases as you possibly can and i bet you could train 5 days a week easily.

[lillianreptilian]

Thanks for the thoughtful responses! It sounds like I was approaching adding another day very lightly, but that it needs more planning and preparation that I'd given it. Now that I have more free time (finished my degree, don't have a full time job yet) for rest and recovery, I may try it again. I think I'm in need of refreshing my approach in the gym. Overall my technique is progressing very well, but I'm lacking strength and power. I'm probably shortchanging the time I spend on squats and presses and similar by spending more time than I need on the competition lifts.

Also, it's often more than 2 hrs I spend in the gym. I just don't really keep track because I am in denial about how much time I spend training :P. Basically on gym days I plug in the crockpot in the morning and just surrender the entire evening to training time.

In terms of goals, I certainly don't just want to languish around at a low level of lifting. I want to kick ass! It's just hard to reconcile how much time I spend on lifting when I am over-the-hill by athletic standards. I guess I could be spending just as much time watching lame TV shows, gaining nothing but a larger derriere.

[Bob Takano]

If you are just starting to lift and don't know the technique, then much of your work will be with light weights anyway so more frequently than 3 days could work.  Remember that as you are trying to learn technique, you should also be trying to increase your work capacity so that you will be able to take heavier loads down the road.
Hope this helps! biggrin:)http://weightliftingexchange.com/smf/Smileys/default/happy2.gif

[Aussie]

Interesting. I'm only just starting out in 'Oly' weightlifting. i come (like i said in my intro thread) from a bodybuilding / powerlifting background. Now that i'm building new nerve pathways i'm ablet o train almost every day of the week & become productive!

I'm in my late 20's.  I'm starting to get a bit of a twinge in my knee. I'll start to take glucosomine, go a bit lighter & not be overly aggressive..but still work like i need it!