How many times a week is it necessary to work out to have hypertrophy?

How many times a week is it necessary to work out to have hypertrophy?

The hypertrophy is a condition that occurs in the muscles in the cell. It is a phenomenon in which the size of the muscle cell increases, which implies an increase in its size.

It happens because muscle exercise stimuli will generate an inflammatory spike in the cell. And it is through this inflammation that the cell recovers and is in an "above" condition than it was before (with increased strength, resistance, and size).

What is the ideal training frequency?

The frequency of training totally influences muscle growth, although it is not the only factor. Suddenly, the person can even train every day, but if the structure of the training is not consistent, he will not have results from the point of view of hypertrophy.

This is because, on average, after a stimulus, a muscle group takes around 48 hours to recover. So it's more or less like this: if I trained a "chest" muscle group today, it will only be after that period that, as a rule, it will be prepared to have a new stimulus.

So, if the person trains before that time, he will run the risk of the muscle still being inflamed and that will not be good because it will hinder the recovery. But if she gives the stimulus much later, it may be that the muscle group has already returned to the previous situation. That's because, when you stop, you may also already have muscle damage.

Therefore, the ideal is to have something around a weekly frequency of 2 to 3 times for each muscle group per week. And the work for hypertrophy should vary from 9 to 15 sets per week for each muscle. So, these 3 times, you need to make this total in the week. I'll explain better.

For example, considering an exercise with a series of 3 repetitions. If the person did it on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, he is already in, because it will total 9 sets. But this is where the challenge is to make a coherent distribution because people will sometimes only be able to train twice a week.

In this case, it needs a little "engineering" to be able to optimize the training in order to work and develop the main muscle groups that the individual wants. Because if he trains 3 times a week or worse, 2, thinking about hypertrophy, it's not much. That way, some parts will be left out.

That's why you need, in a more specific situation, the analysis of a professional to make a "training map" and try to optimize to have the least possible loss. Because, if the person trains a muscle group today and then will only train next week, surely he will be at square one as if he had done nothing.

Training intensity for hypertrophy

Both training intensity and frequency make all the difference. There is a term widely used in this area which is training periodization. You have two ways to increase the intensity: you either increase the volume or increase the load.

But what is increasing the training volume? It is to increase the series, the repetitions. And as the body is programmed to adapt, now you adjust one, now you adjust the other. In fact, a periodization model widely used is called a wave, in which you alternate.

Load x Reps x Series

For example, in a week I have the highest repetitions and sets and the lowest load. The next week, I reverse. Then the repetition is a little lower, but the load is higher. Then, what I do is maintain the load for week two and try to increase the number of repetitions. So there is a cycle that will force the person to progress.