More workouts per week don't help unless you lift more total weight
Effect of different training frequencies on maximal strength performance and muscle hypertrophy in trained individuals—a within-subject design
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Two legs trained differently: one leg worked once a week, the other three times—but total weight lifted was either the same or different. Both legs got stronger and bigger, but only when the three-times-a-week leg lifted more total weight did it gain noticeably more.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 554 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Two legs trained differently: one leg worked once a week, the other three times—but total weight lifted was either the same or different. Both legs got stronger and bigger, but only when the three-times-a-week leg lifted more total weight did it gain noticeably more.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 554 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Publication
Authors
Neves RP, Vechin FC, Teixeira EL, da Silva DD, Ugrinowitsch C, Roschel H, Aihara AY, Tricoli V
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Claims (10)
Your muscles grow bigger mainly because of how much total force they feel over time—not whether you do your workouts all at once or spread out over the week.
If you do the same workout three times a week instead of once, and you end up doing more total weight lifted, you’ll get stronger and build more muscle—because you’re doing more work overall.
If you train your legs with the leg press machine for 9 weeks, you’ll get stronger and your thighs will get bigger—even if you do it just once a week or spread it out over three days.
If you lift weights the same total amount each week, it doesn’t matter if you do it in one big session or split into three smaller ones—you’ll get just as strong and build just as much muscle.
If you do leg presses for 9 weeks, your legs will get stronger and bigger—even if you do it once or three times a week.