More frequent workouts make muscles bigger, not stronger
High Resistance-Training Frequency Enhances Muscle Thickness in Resistance-Trained Men.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Two groups trained with the same total amount of work, but one trained each muscle group every day, the other only once a week. After 8 weeks, both got equally strong, but the daily group got bigger muscles in the arms and thighs.
Surprising Findings
Training a muscle group five times per week led to significantly greater muscle growth in the forearm flexors and vastus lateralis than training it once per week—even with identical total volume.
Common belief is that muscle growth depends only on total weekly volume, not how it’s distributed—this study suggests frequency alone can drive hypertrophy in specific muscles.
Practical Takeaways
If you want bigger arms and thighs, try spreading your weekly volume across 5 full-body sessions instead of 3 split days.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Two groups trained with the same total amount of work, but one trained each muscle group every day, the other only once a week. After 8 weeks, both got equally strong, but the daily group got bigger muscles in the arms and thighs.
Surprising Findings
Training a muscle group five times per week led to significantly greater muscle growth in the forearm flexors and vastus lateralis than training it once per week—even with identical total volume.
Common belief is that muscle growth depends only on total weekly volume, not how it’s distributed—this study suggests frequency alone can drive hypertrophy in specific muscles.
Practical Takeaways
If you want bigger arms and thighs, try spreading your weekly volume across 5 full-body sessions instead of 3 split days.
Publication
Journal
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research
Year
2019
Authors
R. Zaroni, F. Brigatto, B. Schoenfeld, T. V. Braz, Júlio C. Benvenutti, M. D. Germano, P. H. Marchetti, M. Aoki, C. Lopes
Related Content
Claims (3)
Lifting weights more often each week helps you build bigger muscles and get stronger, but after a certain point, you don’t gain much extra strength—though your muscles can still grow. If you keep the same total amount of lifting, doing it in more frequent, lighter sessions helps strength more than muscle size.
If you're a guy who already lifts weights, doing full-body workouts five days a week will make your forearm and thigh muscles grow bigger than if you only work each muscle group once a week, after eight weeks of training.
If you're already strong and lift weights, training each muscle group either once or five times a week for eight weeks will give you about the same strength gains on the bench press, squat, and row.