One of the biggest problems in fitness is determining the balance between a) intensity (how much weight to push, how fast to run?) b) volume (how many rounds to run, how many sets of weight) and c) frequency (training 1x a week or 2x daily?).
Unfortunately most guides are confusing and I myself struggled (and still struggle) to find the right balance.
So summing up, here are some of my tips for helping you achieve more strength, endurance or general fitness!
Lesson #1: To become good at something do it often!
Weightlifting, playing piano and studying foreign languages have one thing in common: It is about the acquisition of a new skillset.
Consequently, in order to become great at any skill you need to do it over and over again, after you become truly great at it.
As Mr. Miyagi showed in Karate Kid, this applies to even the most mundane movements:
The main reasons for high frequency training and its advantages are by essentially helping to rewire the Central Nervous System. In fact, when we think that we are training our biceps or abs, our training also has a deep neurological impact. By performing a movement a few times only, the CNS has thus more difficulty to cope with it - hence why if you change exercises (e.g. from bench press to weighted dips) you will very likely end up doing fewer repetitions, since your neural system first has to get used to this particular movement.
Let's consider the following scenario: If you were to win 10 000 dollars by improving your squat or bench press by 20kg within 1 month - how would you train?
Most likely you would want to squat not just once a week, but do it over and over and over for faster results.
Lesson #2: Using less weight can be beneficial!
I understand, you do not want to be the guy who benchpresses with one plate each in the gym, while everyone around you is doing far more. After all, this one girl in yoga pants...ah well, I digress.
If we consider though that high frequency training leads to better results due to a better neurological stimulus, then it also follows that you may not be able to workout several times a week while performing at your absolute maximum!
Knowing that your body responds to regular patterns, another thing to consider is the importance of perfect technique!
Let's say you are able to perform 5 squats with 100kg. If you then try to crank out 5x 100kg each set, it will be very likely that your technique by the last reps will be far from stellar! Now, is this what you would like to "teach" your body? Of course not!
Professional weightlifters themselves use several sets of using less weight simply for movement pattern acquisition. So in this case, maybe try 75kg. but do so in a manner that your squats are absolutely perfect!
Lesson #3: Try out "grease the groove"!
Popularized by the Russian fitness guru Pavel Tsatsouline, the idea behind "grease the groove" is performing a single exercise several times a day for high volume and thus lots of repetitions.
This idea works very well for exercises like pushups: Let's say you are able to perform 75 pushups - rather than doing 60 pushups each day, you instead set yourself an aim to do 20 pushups throughout the day - once you wakeup, next when you go to a shower, after lunch...and so on. This way you will not exhaust your body, but you will experience a high increase in stamina and performance.
Pavel recommends only doing this with a single exercise at once - after 1 month your maximum of pushups should have increased by a lot!
Summing up, while most fitness guides recommend systems where you squat 1-2x a week, try instead to do the key exercises more often instead, while sometimes option to use a lower weight. This way your body adapts more easily to the movements. Also, common with squatting only 1-2x a week are often stiff legs - far less likely when you squat more often, thus chances of injury are far less likely.
Personally I missed out of gains by doing the exact opposite - trying to crank up my workout by doing very high intensity and high volume, while also incorporating tough exercises like deadlift and squats on the same day. Result: I could not walk the next day and I was feeling drained and exhausted.
Now that I instead decided to instead train almost every day (not necessarily weightlifting though due to time commitments), I feel much better and my strength is progressing faster.
After all, if you were to learn Spanish you would likely also not choose to do so 1x a week for 8 hours straight, but instead trying to do so over a longer period of time to let your brain have a chance to cope with the new information.
Sources images: 1) www.roughstrength.com 2) www.theexpertinstitute.com 3) www.catalystathletics.com 4) www.gearpatrol.com
Articles for further information: http://next-level-athletics.com/4-reasons-high-frequency-training-leads-faster-strength-gains/
https://www.t-nation.com/training/optimal-frequency-and-intensity-of-training