Training more than 4 days a week

[70sBB]

I've been reading and come to the conclusion that there is little reason for the average person to lift weights more than 4 times per week.

Last night my brother came home from college and he started talking about lifting 6 days a week during the summer. We had a debate about quantity versus quality and he thinks I'm wrong. To prove me wrong he now says he's going to do a double split and train twelve times a week resting only on sunday.

I bet him that I could make just as good of gains lifting only two days a week. Now that I opened my mouth I'm a bit nervous but am going to give it a try.

[LtL]

This will be a great experiment. Eager to see what happens.

LtL

[BendtheBar]

Interesting situation. I'll be curious if his 12 training sessions start to get lighter and lighter, or start to decrease to 10, 8, etc.

I tried a split like that once back in college when I had nothing else to do. I lasted 2 days.

[Off Road]

I don't know, Faz and BtB seem to be doing pretty well on their training schedules which have them training most days. But then again twice or three times a week is also a proven method. Routine design and effort will be the determining factor of it's success. Good luck to you, a little competition is a great motivator.

[Fazc]

Haha, I like this! You were debating 6 days a week training and to prove your wrong he's going to train 12 times a week!!!

Originally Posted by 70sBB

To prove me wrong he now says he's going to do a double split and train twelve times a week resting only on sunday.

Offroad is right, Btb and I have done well with frequent lifting and yes 12 times a week training for a few months was manageable.

But, I think unless he is very in-tune with his body he will struggle. I employed a good deal of cycling intensity, exercises and variations in what ended up being a relatively complex looking cycle to manage my workload. I also built up to this workload over the course of around 3 years.

I'm looking forward to hearing his results!

[Trevor Ross]

Training frequently is freaking awesome, you don't get better at something by doing less. Every day you come to the gym it's a +, every day you don't come it's a -.

[Trevor Ross]

Bodybuilding is a different kettle of fish from what I'm doing, but hitting everything at least twice a week worked for me when I was at that stage of my life.

[JacktheThriller]

He will have to set up the progression with a lot of thought he wont go far twice a day banging out whatever reps for whatever sets lol

[TitanCT]

[jhew]

Depends upon the training level of the lifter. A novice is going to make gains on just about any training schedule. 2 days may have some good results if your intensity and progression are appropriate. 6 days a week is possible as well, but I pity your brother, because I tried it for about a month in college and couldn't keep up the intensity. keep us posted on the progress both of you respectively make.