The desire to achieve results (and muscle growth) as quickly as possible often pushes beginners to increase the number of strength training up to five or more per week. It seems to them that training three times a week is very little, and a few more are needed to “point” work out the lagging muscles.

However, for muscle growth and for muscle fiber recovery after strength training the body of a professional athlete needs from 36 to 48 hours, and ectomorph beginners need even more time - up to 72 hours. More frequent training will lead to more loss muscle mass than to her height.

Recall that it is suitable only for mesomorphs, who already have sufficiently developed muscles.

Are isolation exercises necessary?

Our body is one system, in which not only muscles work harmoniously, but the entire metabolism. The abundance of machines in modern fitness centers makes you think that each muscle needs to be pumped with the help of a complex isolating exercise, invented just for it - and not with the help of basic exercises with a barbell.

But it's not. Only in theory can biceps work in isolation - in practice, when lifting a barbell for biceps, triceps, deltas, and even upper back muscles work. Similarly, the muscles of the arms are involved in all basic exercises - for beginners, this level of involvement is quite enough.

Overtraining

Doing too many isolation exercises (bicep curls, chest pulls, dumbbell side raises, and so on) will only cause a loss of muscle mass in ectomorph beginners. Their body physically has no energy reserves and will have no other choice.

However, over-indulgence basic exercises even more dangerous - the lack of time for muscle recovery provokes lethargy, chronic fatigue and loss of appetite. Lack of nutrition, in turn, will only aggravate the situation and give even more fatigue.

Strength training and metabolism boost

It is important to remember that strength training significantly speeds up the metabolism. However, ectomorphs already have a fast metabolism, burning calories without a trace. That is why they need not only enhanced nutrition, but also the minimization of any additional activities outside the gym.

Swimming, running or football is no different from strength training because it requires muscle loading, increased energy requirements and recovery time. If your goal is to build muscle mass, you need no more than 3 sports per week.

Training program: 3 weeks

The main difference in this week's training will be an increase in working weight and a decrease in the number of repetitions of exercises - you need to use a barbell weight that will allow you to perform no more than 10 repetitions on the first set and no more than 8 on the last (when you get a little tired).

• - 3 x 10
• - 3 x 8-10
• - 3 x 8-10
• - 3 x 8-10
• - 3 x 8-10
• - 3 x 8-10

Self-check after training

It is necessary to complete a strength training session with the feeling that you still have strength left. If at the end of the session everything is floating before your eyes, you can hardly get to the locker room and you need time to recover - you are definitely on a dangerous path to overtraining.

A similar check is useful between sets of exercises - it is important to rest as much as your body needs. Remember that 30-60 seconds is the bare minimum, but you can easily increase the rest interval to 1.5-2 minutes if you feel dizzy and your heart is beating hard.

Diet for muscle growth: 3 weeks

In last week's article, keep accustoming your body to four meals a day. However, pay attention to digestion. If you observe bloating and pain, this may be a signal of a food allergy.

It is necessary not only to overeat, but to allow the body to fully absorb food - heaviness in the stomach 2 hours after eating indicates that the digestion process is disturbed. Try to find a "problem ingredient" (for example, milk or) and try to eliminate it from the diet.

***

Daily strength training on simulators is a mistake. Training for muscle growth in beginner ectomorphs should consist of exercises with a barbell or other free weight and be done 2-3 times a week. The second component of success is a sufficient number of calories in the diet.

> > Mass training program

Mass training program

Muscle building is a laborious and long process that requires not only effective program weight training, but also a complex of actions, from nutrition to sleep. As simple as it may seem, many people actually fail to get results for one of two main reasons - they are either trying to over-complicate the process or they don't really understand the underlying principles of mass gain. It is important not only to know how many sets and repetitions you need to do to gain mass, but how to maximize muscle growth through proper rest and nutrition.

Principles of mass training

How more people trains, the more it becomes adapted to the loads, therefore it is important to choose the right amount of loads, sufficient to ensure consistent muscle adaptation and further growth. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly increase the working weight so that the muscles adapted to a certain load continue to progress, and therefore increase in volume.

For muscle growth optimal number of repetitions is the zone from 8-12 times. Since three approaches with moderate weight are suitable for adaptation to the load, more trained athlete must be carried out 4 sets with maximum weight, working until the "failure" of the muscles.

So, the weight of the load should be selected in such a way that it is it is impossible to lift more than 12 times. But not less than eight times, since strength will develop, and work in the minimum rep range will not increase muscle volume - this is very important.

Rest between sets should not exceed two minutes, this time is enough for the muscles to rest from the load. It is also important to set up a proper mass training schedule, as overworking will not lead to growth. Preferably exercising every other day, and leave two full days of rest. Therefore, a suitable mass training system for most athletes is 3 days a week.

Recovery

The increase in muscle volume will inevitably depend on two things.

1. First, in order to progress, muscles need recovery, including adequate rest and intake of the right nutrients;
2. and secondly, at some point there will be a "dead point".

The second usually occurs around the 8-week mark, and is associated with the inability to recover in short time and more stress on the central nervous system and other important regulators of muscle growth. At this stage, you can reduce the load, or relax for a few days. This should give the body a chance to recover, adapt and grow further.

Nutrition

Athletes need to get enough calories, that is, energy to maintain and grow muscles, from carbohydrates and fats, this is also important for the production of hormones. Protein should come from sources such as meat, eggs, dairy, whey protein, and those who need extra protein intake and recovery need amino acids. full cycle and (Essential Amino Acids) needed for muscle building.

Remember, What total protein and calories in the diet will be the most important determinant of muscle growth, with supplements to help improve nutrition and "fill in the gaps". Sports supplements, such as , can help maintain strength in gym, so this is a great tool for people looking to maximize muscle growth.

A significant increase in load volume can also have a big impact on the immune system, so Vitamin C supplementation is important. Other supplements that will benefit those looking to build muscle are Omega-3s, fish oils, and Vitamin D.

An important condition for muscle growth is eating immediately after exercise. Within forty minutes after exercise, the body must replenish energy reserves, proteins and carbohydrates. During this period, all nutrients are fully absorbed by the muscles, and this provides a significant impetus for the restoration of damaged tissues, and hence growth. Also it is important to replenish glycogen stores after sleep Since they begin in a hungry body, the timely intake of protein and carbohydrates will stop the breakdown of their own protein.

Gym weight training program for men

Day 1 (Chest, biceps)

1. 3 x 10-12.

1. Bench press at an angle of 45 degrees 3 x 10-12.

1. Reduction of hands in a crossover at an angle of 30 degrees 3 x 10-12.

1. 3 x 10-12.

1. 3 x 10-12.

1. Press: 3 x 15-20.

1. Abs: leg raises on uneven bars 3 x 15-20.

Day 2 (Back, legs)

1. 3 x 10-12.

1. 3 x 10-12.

1. 3 x 10-12.

1. 3 x 10-12.

1. 3 x 10-12.

1. 3 x 10-12.

1. Bending the legs in the simulator 3 x 10-12.

Day 3 (shoulders, triceps)

1. 3 x 10-12.

1. Delta machine 3 x 10-12.

The mass training program: 3 days a week, is designed in such a way that, in principle, both novice athletes and more advanced athletes can work on it.

Under the concept "novice athlete", I mean someone who has been in the gym for at least a year and trained regularly, worked out the technique of exercising and adhered to a special plan for a balanced diet. Advanced Athlete, in turn, is at least three years of regular training.

Mass training program, the essence of the complex.

Three sessions per week are ideal for successfully recovering from a previous workout. The main focus is on large muscle groups. Legs are a must! Leg training should include squats for 8-12 times, do not lower less than 6 - 8 repetitions, the effect of this exercise will decrease significantly! The squat should be your #1 exercise.

Starting to engage in this training program in the gym, stick to it from 1.5 to 2 months. Rest between sets - 2 minutes. Sleep 8-10 hours a day, eat 5-6 times a day, drink 1.5-2 liters of water and daily protein intake of up to two grams per kilogram of body weight.

You can practice on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The rest of the days are days of rest and recovery.

Mass training program.

Before each workout - a general warm-up, 5 - 10 minutes. Pick any cardio machine and run it at low speed to get your central nervous system (CNS) going joint warm-up trained muscle groups.

After completing your workout, do a cool down (stretching exercise). Muscles after the load to which they are exposed throughout the workout, significantly increase in size and fill, becoming rigid and inactive. This leads to pain and discomfort during movement. A hitch relieves tension from them and reduces muscle pain. Spend a hitch for 10 minutes.

MONDAY (Legs, Abs)

1. - 2 warm-up sets, 3 workers of 20 warm-up reps and 10 - 15 workers.

2 .

3. - 1 warm-up set and 2 workers for 15 warm-up repetitions and 10 workers.

4. - 3 sets of 10 repetitions.

5. - 1 warm-up set and 3 workers for 15 warm-up repetitions and 10 workers.

7. - 3 sets of 15 repetitions.

8. - 3 sets of 15 repetitions.

WEDNESDAY (Back, Delts, Abs)

1. or - 4 sets of 6 - 10 repetitions.

2. - 1 warm-up set and 3 workers for 15 warm-up repetitions and 6 - 10 workers.

3. - 3 sets of 6 - 10 repetitions.

4. - 2 warm-up repetitions and 3 working repetitions of 15 warm-up repetitions of 6 - 10 working repetitions.

6. - 1 warm-up set and 3 workers for 20 warm-up repetitions and 6 - 10 workers.

7. - 3 sets of 15 repetitions.

8. - 3 sets of 15 repetitions.

FRIDAY (Chest, Arms, Abs)

Training each muscle group once a week is considered the lowest training frequency.

On the other side of this concept is training each muscle group three times a week. This is considered the highest training frequency.

The question is, how appropriate is this frequency of training for you ... is it the best? Let's figure it out.

Let’s start with the example of strength training three times a week…

Above is an example of a three-day full body split that is the most popular for this frequency. As you can see, every muscle group or part of the body is being worked out. three times a week.

This means that each muscle group is being trained every second or third day which is enough high the frequency of classes.

This is true compared to the frequency of training once a weekwhen each muscle is worked out only every seventh day.

How to create a frequency of three times a week

The key to creating a workout three times a week is exactly the opposite of creating a workout once a week.

Instead of making sure you have enough load to give you a whole week off between workouts, your goal here is to provide exact the amount of load to NOT go over its optimal amount.

If your load is too high, you will not have time to recover for the next workout (which will take place in two or three days at this frequency of training).

So while you're working hard enough to achieve positive results, you need to keep it low enough to keep your body's ability to recover.

People choose the wrong load

And that brings us to the main pitfall of training three times a week (or using either option more than once a week).

People incorrectly reason that they should take the same amount of load (exercises, reps, sets) as they would when training once a week. Now just start exercising three times a week.

Due to the high frequency of classes, not only will this not work… it will be very stupid.

The bottom line is that you need to take the total load and divide it into about three workouts, and NOT do the same number of exercises three times a week like a complete idiot.

The human body (muscles, nervous system) cannot recover as quickly.

But at the same time, the load should not only be low for recovery, but also high enough to achieve positive results.

So, is training three times a week optimal?

For certain of people… Yes. For others, not particularly.

If you are a beginner athlete with any goal, training three times a week is MOST EFFICIENT way.

And as usual, this is not just my opinion. As well as the opinion of every expert and coach, at least half literate.

In fact, it is proven by science and worldwide results.

Literally all studies and scientific papers studying different kinds frequency of training for beginners, came to the same conclusion: training each muscle group three times a week is most effective training option for beginners, regardless of their goals.

So if you are a beginner with any goal (increasing muscle mass, losing weight, increasing strength, improving appearance and developing your body in any way), training three times a week is the best option for you.

Let's get to the bottom of it...

For whom BETTER

Training three times a week is best for the following categories of people:

• Beginners with any goals
• Any athlete with an initial goal of increasing strength

And it's no coincidence that any well-designed beginner program adheres to three-day program on the whole body, which I spoke about earlier. It has already been proven that it is the most suitable for beginners.

The high frequency of classes allows you to quickly master motor skills. It's like how a child learns. How will he learn faster… if he does something once a week or three times a week?

And for all intents and purposes, the novice athlete is the “child” of strength training. Everything is new to his body. And this means that he will absorb everything faster and make progress than a non-beginner athlete.

And it so happened that training three times a week just allows you to do this.

For the same reason, training three times a week is very effective for non-beginner athletes to increase strength.

This means that if you are already past the beginner stage and your goal is to get stronger, training three times a week is a proven option for you.

Therefore, many of the most popular strength training programs have the same frequency of training (with the same 3 days of full body training).

To achieve strength performance, training each muscle group three times a week is just right. So if this is your goal, this frequency of classes will suit you.

For whom LESS Is training three times a week okay?

Honestly, for everyone not named above.

Do not misunderstand me. Exercising three times a week CAN work for just about anyone, with any goal and any fitness level.

Without a doubt.

However, we are talking about what will work better and what will work worse. For the people I talked about above (beginners with any goals and athletes with the goal of increasing strength), the frequency of training three times a week is optimal.

For the rest of the population this workout works worse.

Yes, it can work (and it works) it's just not the best option In most cases.

So, what is the best frequency of training in this case?

Great question. Let's get straight to the answer...

Consider a gym program designed for those who are going to visit it 3 times a week. The main tasks that it will allow you to achieve are training the main muscle groups and rapid weight gain.

In order to get good results, you need to practice regularly and give all the best in training at full strength.

Classes 3 times a week

The classic training program for non-professional athletes includes 3 groups of exercises divided by day of the week. Training days should alternate with rest days. This is due to the need for time to restore physical and psychological form.

This training program in the gym for men 3 times a week is designed for 1-1.5 months of training with an increase in weights each cycle (once a week), and after the total period has elapsed, correction is necessary by replacing or adding exercises.

There are no training programs that can be used for more than 2 months without changing it.

1 training day: study of the pectoral muscles and triceps

• Classic Bench Press: 4 sets, 8-12 reps.
• Push-ups on the uneven bars: 4 sets, 8-15 reps.
• Standing Dumbbell French Press: 3 sets, 10-15 reps. Technique in .
• Flexion and extension of the wrists sitting: 3 sets, 10-15 repetitions. .

Day 2: back, abs, shoulders

• Barbell deadlift: 4 sets, 6-10 reps. Carefully look at the variations and technique -.
• thrust upper block sitting: 3 sets, 10 to 15 reps.
• Pullover with dumbbells in the prone position: 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions.
• Arnold press: 4 sets of 8-12 reps -.
• Standing barbell row to the chin: 3 sets of 10-15 reps.
• Lateral dumbbell swings: 3 sets of 10-15 reps.
• Twisting on incline bench: 3 sets, 10-15 reps.
• Lying leg raises: 3 sets, 10-15 reps.

Day 3: legs and biceps

Do not forget that before training, you definitely need to be good in order to prepare the body for work. After you complete all the exercises, do. Usually beginners do not pay attention to this issue - understanding how important good workout and hitch, comes to them later. But you can get it right from the start by including in your training program these are the most important parts.

Choice of projectile weight

If you are just starting out, or there was a big break, you should not use maximum weights. In this case, there is a high chance of injury.

In addition, if you have been training recently, you first of all need to develop a technique, and with large weights it is very difficult to do this.

First, the muscles must learn the correct pattern of movement and get used to the load. After that, you can build up a lot of weights - after all, in order to make the muscles grow, you still need to work with full dedication, and you can’t do without really big weights.

How to increase the weight in exercises, for example in the bench press, read in.

When you get to this stage, the mass of the projectile in each exercise should be such that for the required number of repetitions you will gain target muscles to failure. Ideally, at the end of each set, you should feel like you can't do any more reps.

Feelings during the exercise

During the exercise, you need to mentally concentrate on the work of the target muscles.

For example, if you are doing a barbell chest raise, you should focus on pectoral muscles and feel how they do their job, taking on the lion's share of the load during the rise and slow, controlled lowering of the projectile. This is very important point, which must be kept in mind in order to get a really good result from training.

If you are just starting out and the muscles are doing a completely unusual hard job for them, in the first few weeks they will be quite sore. This is absolutely normal, but over time, the pain will go away.

In order to avoid the appearance of pain or simply reduce it to a minimum, you need to enter into training process as smoothly as possible - you can start with an easy half-hour workout with minimal weights, and then gradually increase the size of the weights.

Load increase

In order to progress quickly, you need to regularly increase the load. You can do this 2-4 weeks after you enter the training process and start exercising with those weights that will be optimal for you at first. Next in 3 day program training in the gym for men, it is necessary to increase the weight at least once every 2 weeks.

If the size of the weights does not increase, the muscles get used to work and over time react to it worse and worse, as a result, their growth slows down. The transition to work with large weights is the main method of increasing the load, which will definitely help to achieve excellent results in building the body of your dreams.