Yes, you can build significant strength by training just once per week. And this isn't just motivation – it's backed by solid science. A recent multi-year study with nearly 15,000 participants found that a minimalist approach to strength training can yield promising results.
Exercising just once a week can significantly impact your overall health and well-being, especially if you're currently inactive. While daily exercise is ideal for optimal health, even a single session promotes physical fitness by improving cardiovascular health, strengthening muscles, and enhancing flexibility.
The 3 3 3 exercise routine is a structured workout plan designed to improve strength and endurance through its unique approach of repetition and sets. This method focuses on performing exercises in sets of three, with each set consisting of three different workouts, repeated three times.
You're not going to lose muscle if you still train the bodypart once a week. You need significantly less volume to maintain, you may well continue to gain.
A training frequency of once a week will get you bigger muscles, but research as highlighted below shows that a training frequency of 2-3 times per week is more effective in reaching this goal.
You'll Become Deconditioned
Have you ever taken a week off of the gym because you were sick only to feel like you lost all of your strength? This process is known as deconditioning. Simply put, deconditioning is a state of physical decline that occurs due to prolonged inactivity.
Train too much without resting and you could see your fitness progress grind to a halt or even go into reverse. Exercise releases stress hormones and, just as working long hours with no days off can negatively impact your health, too much exercise without enough rest can lead to burnout.
As a general goal, aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day. If you want to lose weight, keep off lost weight or meet specific fitness goals, you may need to exercise more. Cutting down on sitting time is important, too.
The 30-60-90 interval training workout consists of three sets with three intervals. The first set includes three intervals of 30 seconds, followed by three intervals of 60 seconds and three intervals of 90 seconds. After each interval, rest for the length of the interval.
For most normal people, yes, three hours a week is fine—but that all depends on what your goals are. "Three hours a week of exercise is sufficient if your goal is to keep moving and maintain one's physical state," Jenny Liebl, CPT, and senior content director at the International Sports Sciences Association, tells us.
The rule that both NSCA and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommend is the “2-for-2 rule.” After a few workout sessions, you can increase the weight for a certain exercise once you can perform two more repetitions beyond your repetition goal for the last set for two weeks in a row.
When to expect results. You don't need to spend hours a day lifting weights to benefit from strength training. You can see significant improvement in your strength with just two or three 20- or 30-minute strength training sessions a week.
To maximize recovery, Mentzer advocated for significantly spacing out one's workouts. In the most extreme version of Heavy Duty, he prescribed doing 1 to 2 sets for a muscle group just once a week. The other six days would be used for recovery.
The Bro Split is the OG of gym routines! Each session zeroes in on one muscle group—chest, back, shoulders, arms, or legs—spread over 3 to 5 days. It's perfect for gym-goers who love to focus hard on one area while enjoying golden recovery time for maximum gains.
Doing 100 push-ups a day can help build muscle mass, strength, and endurance, especially in your core and upper body. But it can also increase your risk of muscle imbalances, injury, and overtraining. It's important to focus on proper form when practicing push-ups.
"Working out when sore is okay as long as it isn't affecting your movement to the point where it's causing you to compensate and do something in a way that's unsafe," says Dr. Hedt. "Muscle soreness can be a deterrent to exercising, but it's temporary and the more you exercise, the less you should feel it.
Downtime between workouts (whether you're lifting, doing cardio or training for a sport) is when our bodies have a chance to actually build muscle. Strenuous workouts cause muscle breakdown, while rest allows our bodies to build it back up.
It's important to acknowledge when you're feeling tired and adjust your workout intensity accordingly. Overexerting can lead to burnout or injury. Sometimes, a gentle stretch or restorative yoga session might be more beneficial.
Working out every day is okay as long as you do not overexert yourself. It's important to take care of your body so you can produce efforts that support your goals.
Evidence is piling up that condensing your exercise into just one or two days a week — being a “weekend warrior” — is enough to reap the many benefits of physical activity. The latest such study, published in Circulation, shows a weekend warrior routine can ward off a long list of serious illnesses.
In the first ten days to two weeks of inactivity/de-training, there is a measurable loss in cardiovascular fitness, but even this level of decrease is only about 2-3% drop in values such as VO2 Max, MAP (maximum aerobic power), or FTP (functional threshold power).