Here’s where tap on the frequency of training. So you when you wonder how many days you should workout to build muscle, you need to consider your goals, your workout plans and your nutrition.
Training Frequency
When it comes to muscle-building, how often you train and how often you rest are just as important as what you do when training and exercising. This is because the actually muscle-building part of the process happens not in the gym, but when you’re resting.
During exercise, muscles are strained and slightly torn. During recovery, they are rebuilt to be bigger and stronger than before.
Active life
You should be doing some type of exercise every single day. Even on your rest days, it’s important to do something active to keep your whole body moving and healthy.
However, you don’t want to focus on the same muscle or muscle group too close together because this can lead to muscle soreness or even injury. That’s why having a training schedule is vital to your success as a muscle-builder.
Training schedule samples
Here are a couple of sample training schedules that will help you avoid working the same body part too close together:
5-Day Split
This type of training schedule has you focus on a different muscle group every day for 5 days, then take 2 days to rest. Most muscle-builders that follow this schedule group muscles this way: back and abs, legs, arms, chest, and shoulders.
What’s nice about this is that you can push yourself further with each muscle group since it has a full week to recover. However, it does require commitment.
3-Day Split
This exercise schedule involves splitting the muscle groups into three days. You can then do them spread out over the course of a week with rest days in between, or you can do them twice in a week and have only one day to rest. Typically, you will divide the muscle groups as follows: shoulders, chest, and triceps/biceps and back; and legs.
Whole Body Split
With this routine, you will only workout 3 days every week, which makes it great for someone with a busy schedule. This works because you do exercises for every part of the body every day you workout, and then have rest days in between. The downside to this is that you won’t be able to push individual areas too hard since you don’t have as much recovery time for each muscle.
Rest Days
What you do on your rest days will determine how successful your exercises are, since this is when muscle building really occurs. If you don’t work just as hard on your body on these days, then you run the risk of missing out on muscles being built up. For that reason, it’s vital to keep your muscle-building goals always in the forefront of your mind.
The first thing you need to do on rest days is continue eating well. You need to be getting a good balance of protein, fat, and carbs every day in order to have the energy you need to workout and the nutrients you need for your body to grow your muscles.
You should also be doing some light exercise to keep your blood flowing and your muscles moving but without straining them.
How many times a week should I go to the gym to build muscle?
If you only workout when you go to the gym, then you should go 5 days of week to train all your muscle groups. Now, 5 days is the maximum limit. You should go beyond. Otherwise, you won’t grow muscles.
The least amount of days is 3. You can go down below that. If you do, you won’t be able to cover all muscles during the whole week. So maintain between that range (3-5 days a week).
Working out at home
In case you are more of solitary guy or just don’t like the environment of a gym (Yes, some people who like to workout don’t enjoy the gym’s vibe), you can train the whole 5 days at home.
Since you are at home, and don’t have to travel long distances to get to the gym, you have plenty of time to focus on each muscle. Now, a word of advice, because you have more time, doesn’t mean that you have to do something else with it.
It may happen that when we have more time in our hands, we tend to distribute itnto many unrelated things. But this is counterproductive, specially if you’re going through an intense routine to grow muscle.
So, stick to the schedule that you have set up. And avoid all distractions. If necessary, turn off your phone or put on silent mode.
Workout sessions
You should focus on working out one or two muscles per day. The combination of your muscles is up to you. But when you workout legs, it is recommended to do it in one day.
Leg workout is very exhausting. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t combine with arms or back, but for most people – specially beginners – including legs workout in a muscle group combination can take a toll. So, it’s better if go slow at first, and then progress in intensity.
Now, let’s review on the frequency of working out some muscles.
Training frequency for muscle building
The frequency will be dictated by the type of workout plan you have laid out. Certainly, sometimes doubts and questions arise. Therefore, we will proceed to detail some of the most common:
A couple of days a week is enough. But if you’re doing a high intensity training, you can train your arms three times a week. Having said that, it is safe to admit that any enthusiam activates his arms each session in one way or another.
So when you workout on your other muscles, your arms usually get activated by the force you applied on certain areas.
Two days a week if you’re not working out on muscle groups daily. However, some people might train their back area twice a week if they have beeing doing soft workouts.
It is recommended that you assign only one day per week to workout your legs. However, if you do cardio everyday to burn fat, you are also working out your legs as well.
This is one of the body parts many people focused on. You can train it twice a week with a 48-to 72 hours interval for resting. So if you workout your chest area on monday, you can train it again on Wednesday or Thursday.
Final considerations
So, how many days should I workout to build muscle?
Our verdict, based on most all cases, 5 times a day. If you skip one day, increase your training intensity a little bit the following week.
But don’t continue skipping more days because in order to grow muscles you need to follow a rigid plan and stick to it.
David is a writer and graduate professor. He writes for different websites. With 7+ years of experience in writing and education, David has combined his expertise in teaching with his passion for physical and mental wellness. He researches and writes to bring you valuable information about weight loss, nutrition, fitness, community, society and more.
