Strength Train Every Day If You Can! Here Is Some Research You Should Read!
As soon as you think of strength training every day, one thing comes to mind, OVERTRAINING! There are many theories out there that would argue that this is insane! This would be bad for your joints, it would be bad for your muscles, and cause major fatigue. You might even get sick from a low and weakened immune system. These can all be partially true, but there is more to that!
If we look back to one of the most legendary figures in bodybuilding and fitness (Mike Mentzer), he had a very solid theory. Mike is the founding father of HITT training, who many years ago, shocked the fitness world with his theory of how people should train. So what it is it? It's very simple, he said to do one body part once a week, maximum. You can see his entire seminar video here. He definitely has some great points.
For example: If you are hanging on a cliff with your bare hands, there is no way, your body will not engage every single muscle fiber you have in order to hang on for dear life and survive. The same thing with a push up. Imagine having a huge rock on your back while in a push up position that will crush you if you touch the floor. You can bet your body will engage the upper, middle, lower chest, and every other dam muscle fiber it could get it's hands on to keep you from getting crushed. So the need to actually work different angles, is complete bullshit, if you put enough stress on the muscle. Makes sense right?
So what does this mean, can you do strength training every day? According to this theory, HELL NO! But again, there is more to that. This approach can definitely work for people, but the problem is, the workout will only last you 5 minutes (15 in reality), and you will be done, and also bored. For the most of us, its not that much fun, since we like to work out.
Just imagine, if you could actually work out once a week per body part, and 1 set per body part and look amazing? You can see some results, if you are just starting to work out, but that is about it. This is for several reasons! As you get older, protein synthesis in your body slows down significantly. When you are younger, your muscle growth can last up to 72 hours, which means you can work out every 3 days or something like that. As you get older, the protein synthesis in your body shrinks down to 8-12 hours. This means that you can even work out twice a day if you wanted to and you should be ok. Take a look at the following chart below. As you are more experienced, and as you get older, you should increase your workout frequency.
The most important thing to understand, if you are looking to do strength training every day, is that you CAN'T do the same workout every day. I am not talking about exercise type, I am talking about volume. The only reason people tell you, and other sources, that you should work out once a week, do the bro split (destroy one body part once a week) and get a lot of rest, is because they don't know. There is nothing wrong with not knowing, since research is constantly improving. There is also another reason they don't know. This is because the only research study that has been done regarding true muscle growth, was done a decade ago with people who didn't even train, and they only did leg extensions for a few weeks. Of course they will get results!
What about studies on athletes who work out very frequently? What about the guy who has done chest once a week for 10 years, or twice a week? What about the guy that does abs every day and has hit a plateau for the last 5 years? These are questions that have not been answered.
The MOST RECENT studies that have been done, have been done by Dr. Jacob Wilson on workout frequency. Check out his presentation here, it will blow your mind! The main thing that was discovered is the following.
- People who did max weight and high sets every day, lost significant strength very quickly and muscle mass. What is this? This is blasting your chest every day for 20 sets as an example. It also took these people several weeks to get their original strength back. These were all trained athletes.
- People who did one body part once a week, with high volume, did not get much improvement, since their body is used to that volume and frequency. Considering these were trained athletes as well, it's not surprise.
- Now people who did strength training every day, and took that 20 sets of chest, and split it up into 4 days, received over 30% higher results. This means that they did chest 4 times a week, but only 5 sets per day, with high intensity. Since your body recovers faster with the lower volume, you can work it again the following day. Also remember, that your protein synthesis only last about 8 hours after the age of 30. This means you can hit chest again if you wanted to the same day.
Please read this research study that never made it to the masses for some reason! The study is probably the best piece of information you will read on the internet today, besides this awesome article! :)
Now that you know you can work out every day, to get better results, you should feel good! You finally found out how to work out like a king. Go in the gym, get that intense pump and tear every body part, and then it's time to eat.
You have probably read a million articles out there that tell you how to eat. So here is some simple advice. Do not eat like a bodybuilder unless you are on steroids. You will get fat! There is no way around it. You can work out all you want, you will never outrun a bad diet! And consuming 5K calories a day will get you looking like Homer Simpson. Eat about 4 meals a day that are high in protein, medium to low carbs, and try to avoid carbs for dinner, maybe after 6 pm if possible. You can argue everything, I think the main point here is to give you the right idea, if you want to spend your life counting calories and weighing mustard on scale, thats your problem. You just need to space out the healthy meals, you can just eat one big one and think you gave your body everything you need.
Your body simply won't be able to absorb the nutrients, especially protein, all at once. Space out your meals about 3 hours apart, and try to avoid carbs for dinner. Have a good workout and avoid junk food for most of your life. That means 5-6 days a week, no junk food. You know what it is, it's 2017. This should get you looking pretty good. You can definitely do strength training every day.
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