How Often Should You Lift?

Bodybuilders are applying as much science as they do brute force to their trade lately, all in the interest of boasting bigger biceps and abs. Rightly so: Why blindly burn yourself out at the gym if there are shortcuts?

The latest bit of insight from the lab coats informs us that the biggest gains come from training each muscle group twice a week. The scientists, from Lehman College in the Bronx, examined the data from 10 previous studies that compared muscle growth in people who trained each muscle group once, twice, or three times per week over a couple months.

So if you do three sets of bicep curls on a Monday and three more on that Wednesday, you will post better results than the guy who lifted six sets on Monday.

The researchers aren’t exactly sure of the science behind the stats. They are theorizing that lifting weights triggers growth in a muscle for a relatively brief window of time – about 48 hours. When that window closes, the muscle ceases accruing mass until you open the window and start lifting again, which will spur growth for another 48 hours.

The research was published in the journal Sports Medicine.

Note, however, that the growth will accumulate over time, so the more frequently you put your body into a muscle-building state, the bigger your muscles will be. The big “but” here, however, is that if you spread your session over three days a week, you will not show any appreciable gains over the person who lifts the same amount over just two days

The American College of Sports Medicine has long recommended that you train each muscle group as a set – arms, chest, shoulders and legs –  two or three times per week if you are a newbie or senior, or three to four days weekly if you have been lifting for a while.

These recommendations are not at odds with the new data: Just split your work-outs into upper-and lower-body days. Do two upper-body days and two lower-body days per week.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have chimed in on work-out frequency as well. They have warned against lifting weights too often with little if any rest between sessions, which can lead to damage of skeletal muscle and delayed onset muscle soreness.