00:00:00
and I think Push Pull likes for example
00:00:02
I see a use case for but it's only for
00:00:03
those who are consistently training 6
00:00:05
days a week or more essentially cuz
00:00:07
otherwise you're missing out typically
00:00:08
on training each muscle twice a
00:00:13
week folks Dr mik here farby strength
00:00:17
and I'm here with Dr Milo wolf
00:00:19
researcher
00:00:20
extraordinaire actually doing research
00:00:23
on how to get jacked anything on how to
00:00:25
get tan from your
00:00:27
lab looking at me you would think I'd
00:00:30
have the keys apparently not on getting
00:00:34
jacked you told me listen this new meta
00:00:37
analysis came out and it's kind of about
00:00:40
how to get jacked in general or training
00:00:41
for getting jacked but it has a few
00:00:44
unique features that it also has
00:00:45
training frequency recommendations as
00:00:48
well as volume tell us about the new
00:00:50
metaanalysis what we can learn from it
00:00:53
sure as of this video when this comes
00:00:56
out there should be a pre-print of
00:00:58
metanalysis on train frequency and
00:01:01
muscle hyper so we're getting the shit
00:01:02
early early getting exclusive
00:01:05
exclusive essentially they looked at all
00:01:08
the studies that manipulated frequency
00:01:10
having people train a muscle fewer times
00:01:12
a week or more times a week and they
00:01:14
looked at how that influenced
00:01:16
hypertrophy I'm sure you've heard the
00:01:17
claim online that certain people say
00:01:19
full body training is best you want to
00:01:21
have a full body split train each muscle
00:01:23
as often as possible or back in the day
00:01:25
especially body part splits were
00:01:28
best next Monday exactly back Tuesday
00:01:32
shoulders get the deal this meth
00:01:34
analysis tried to look at that
00:01:36
idea and we found a few things this was
00:01:40
a metanalysis by Pelin colleagues
00:01:42
frequency seems to have a neutral to
00:01:43
slightly positive effect on hypertrophy
00:01:45
so as you volume equated or not volume
00:01:47
equated okay correct so let's just
00:01:50
describe to folks quickly what that
00:01:51
means volume equated means if you have
00:01:55
to do let's say 12 sets per week you can
00:02:00
do them Monday Wednesday Friday four
00:02:02
sets or you can do them Monday Thursday
00:02:06
six sets each still 12 sets per week so
00:02:10
the frequency doesn't raise the volume
00:02:12
but it just hits you with a little less
00:02:13
a little bit more often and what you're
00:02:15
saying is the effect is either like man
00:02:17
nothing write home about or like a
00:02:19
little bit of a boost even if the volume
00:02:21
doesn't go up what do you ascribe that
00:02:23
to hypothetically I have my own guesses
00:02:25
but I want to hear from you there's a
00:02:27
variety of things mechanistically
00:02:29
whenever you muscle that growth curve
00:02:32
response only lasts so long mhm so even
00:02:35
if you blast a muscle with more and more
00:02:37
volume in a single bout that myoi
00:02:40
protein synthesis response muscle growth
00:02:42
essentially will only take so long
00:02:45
several days correct not eight days not
00:02:48
seven days probably not six or five
00:02:50
correct more like two to three correct
00:02:52
so if you're only training a muscle once
00:02:53
a week you're missing out on three or
00:02:55
four days out of that week where you're
00:02:57
not growing that mus at least neutral
00:02:59
and then you grow it but again and at
00:03:00
least neutral missed opportunity to get
00:03:02
more growth correct because essentially
00:03:03
what we want to do is maximize that area
00:03:06
under the curve of hypertrophy and so if
00:03:08
we only aggregating one bump that is
00:03:10
only so much area on the curve we could
00:03:12
potentially get yeah so that is my most
00:03:15
likely explanation to be clear the
00:03:17
effect is somewhere between there is
00:03:19
next to none and there's a slight
00:03:21
positive effect slight so if we want to
00:03:23
maximize muscle growth we probably want
00:03:25
to ear on the side of training muscle a
00:03:26
bit more often rather than a bit less
00:03:28
often because there's nothing to be lost
00:03:31
but there is potentially a small thing
00:03:32
to be gained train a muscle a little bit
00:03:33
more frequently but with the same volume
00:03:36
12 for three sessions versus 12 for two
00:03:38
sessions six versus four
00:03:40
sets in those extra sets on the fewer
00:03:43
sessions at the end you kind of a little
00:03:45
bit lit tired as the French would say
00:03:48
and then maybe your stimulus isn't as
00:03:50
great as if you were more Fresh So in
00:03:53
essence three days a week of training
00:03:55
gives you kind of more rest breaks
00:03:58
between the sets on average and the
00:03:59
workouts on average so you can come back
00:04:01
fresh and hit it do you think there's
00:04:02
maybe some reason to think that a little
00:04:04
bit it's funny you mention that because
00:04:06
I'm aware of a upcoming analysis on the
00:04:09
topic of procession volume and
00:04:11
hypertrophy now that is probably not
00:04:15
going to be published at the time of
00:04:16
this video if it is I'll comment it
00:04:18
below so you can check it
00:04:20
out but the relationship between pession
00:04:24
volume in hypertrophy displays more
00:04:26
strongly diminishing returns compared to
00:04:28
weekly
00:04:30
now as we mentioned in our video on
00:04:32
volume we don't have any studies looking
00:04:34
at high frequency training in
00:04:36
conjunction with high volume training
00:04:38
yeah we don't really have studies where
00:04:39
people are training five or six days a
00:04:40
week with really high volumes most of
00:04:43
our studies are on high volumes but
00:04:44
training muscle two or three times a
00:04:46
week yeah we have very few studies on
00:04:48
frequencies of like four five six times
00:04:50
a week per
00:04:51
muscle however with a previous analysis
00:04:54
by creger James ker for example on per
00:04:56
session volume and this one that I'm
00:04:58
aware of behind the scenes
00:05:00
I can tell you that there is more of a
00:05:02
diminishing returns situation with per
00:05:04
session volume and hypertrophy which
00:05:07
with a bit of speculation and a bit of
00:05:09
theory crafting leads me to think
00:05:12
practically speaking if you're trading
00:05:14
with really high volumes if we want to
00:05:16
maximize that area under the C we're
00:05:18
better off spreading that high volume
00:05:20
across more sessions because we get such
00:05:23
strong diminishing returns On A
00:05:24
procession basis yes and so if you're
00:05:26
doing say 20 30 plus sets for a muscle
00:05:28
fractionally speaking
00:05:30
counting both direct volume and indirect
00:05:33
that is where I think there's a case to
00:05:34
be made as we'll probably see in the
00:05:36
metanalysis by remon colleagues for your
00:05:40
volume to be spread out across three or
00:05:42
more sessions it's just that we don't
00:05:44
have the research on that yet to make
00:05:46
any super clear inferences right all
00:05:50
right so small increase in growth
00:05:54
potentially neutral to small from added
00:05:57
frequency in a volume constrained manner
00:05:59
did they look at unconstrained volume as
00:06:01
well they did not however they looked at
00:06:02
a variety of potential moderators so
00:06:05
they performed sub analyses based on
00:06:07
training status whether they were more
00:06:09
untrained or at least slightly trained
00:06:11
whether they were trained to failure Etc
00:06:13
and just like with volume the
00:06:15
relationship between frequency and
00:06:17
hypertrophy seems to be robust to
00:06:19
different moderators so for most
00:06:22
populations in most contexts where
00:06:24
you're trained to failure Etc training a
00:06:27
muscle a bit more often is going to have
00:06:29
a sort of neutral to positive effect so
00:06:31
I would say as a rough ballpark train
00:06:35
each muscle at least twice a week mhm
00:06:37
that relationship between frequency per
00:06:38
week like how often you train muscle and
00:06:41
hypertrophy you see slightly larger
00:06:44
returns when you go from say once twice
00:06:46
a week then you do after that I would
00:06:47
say this kind of an inflection point
00:06:49
where after twice a week There's may be
00:06:51
a positive effect but it's very minimal
00:06:52
so significantly different returns from
00:06:54
one to two versus practically I would
00:06:56
say so practically I would say that you
00:06:58
better off training each twice a week
00:07:00
then once a week past that it's probably
00:07:03
a neutral positive effect but it's a
00:07:04
very slight one that there is one very
00:07:06
so practically that means that if you
00:07:08
are training two days a week for example
00:07:10
your someone doesn't have much time you
00:07:12
should almost certainly be training with
00:07:13
full body split there's no real downside
00:07:16
but there is an upside to training each
00:07:17
muscle twice a week or more likewise if
00:07:19
you're training say four days a week
00:07:21
you're likely better off with something
00:07:22
like an upper lower split compared to
00:07:24
like a body part split sure
00:07:26
importantly here's an interesting part
00:07:29
just like with volume they looked at
00:07:31
frequency
00:07:33
fractionally so they looked at direct
00:07:36
instances of training a muscle like for
00:07:37
example the biceps doing bicep curls
00:07:39
would be a direct instance they looked
00:07:42
at indirect instances where for example
00:07:43
doing back training would still Target
00:07:45
the biceps but just not as well and they
00:07:48
looked at fractional frequency where
00:07:50
essentially they counted direct bicep
00:07:51
training as
00:07:53
one unit of training frequency for the
00:07:55
biceps and back training is half a unit
00:07:58
of training frequency for the biceps
00:08:00
and once again just like for volume
00:08:02
fractional frequency was the most
00:08:03
accurate way of looking at the data
00:08:05
excellent so back training still counts
00:08:07
for something because it's more
00:08:08
realistic correct it's it would be a lie
00:08:11
to say that 16 sets of back work on a
00:08:15
Friday does nothing after a Monday and
00:08:17
Wednesday bicep workout doesn't have any
00:08:20
more effect on biceps it would also be a
00:08:22
lie to say that it counts for 16 CS of
00:08:26
biceps that's fucking crazy but it might
00:08:29
for something like 4 to 12 yeah some
00:08:33
half there sure so that was interesting
00:08:36
as well because it means that a body
00:08:37
part split can be modified to be pretty
00:08:40
effective like don't get me wrong
00:08:42
training a muscle once a week probably
00:08:43
not ideal and if I were coaching you I
00:08:45
would say try training at least twice a
00:08:47
week sure but if you modify it a little
00:08:49
bit say instead of just doing Monday
00:08:51
chest Tuesday back Wednesday shoulders
00:08:54
Thursday legs and Friday arms you add in
00:08:57
some compound training for your arm day
00:08:59
you do some chinups and do some bench
00:09:00
pressing maybe you add some a couple of
00:09:03
leg exercises on your shoulder day all
00:09:05
of a sudden for most muscle groups
00:09:06
fractionally speaking you're actually
00:09:08
training them one and a half or two
00:09:10
times a week yes it doesn't take a lot
00:09:12
of modification to make even something a
00:09:13
body part split pretty effective with
00:09:16
frequency not playing so big of a role
00:09:18
in the first place with it being more so
00:09:19
about volume and potentially other
00:09:21
factors even the body part split can be
00:09:24
effective but if you want to improve
00:09:25
that a little bit just some small tweaks
00:09:28
can take it from effect
00:09:30
to quite a bit more
00:09:32
effective many people may see this study
00:09:35
and as usual without reading it will
00:09:38
conclude that c frequency is not a big
00:09:41
deal neutral effect may be a little
00:09:44
positive but what do you think they're
00:09:47
missing Milo if they don't include the
00:09:49
fact that this was a volume equated
00:09:50
study tell us a story about non-volume
00:09:52
equated frequency that makes some sense
00:09:55
yeah so a few things one with really
00:09:58
high volumes like we just mentioned
00:10:00
there is a potential use case for higher
00:10:02
frequencies that is one thing equally I
00:10:05
think most people will be able to
00:10:07
tolerate more volume and have higher
00:10:10
quality volume quote unquote if they're
00:10:13
doing the same amount of sets with a
00:10:15
higher frequency so just spread out
00:10:17
across the week better technique Better
00:10:18
Effort better follow through less likely
00:10:20
to SLO off on later sets correct is set
00:10:23
number seven of legs you're like man
00:10:26
I'll do it but I'm not going to do it to
00:10:27
it whereas if you take those eight sets
00:10:29
for example you're doing in one session
00:10:30
and spread it into two days yep mentally
00:10:33
present for each 100% so I think with
00:10:36
specialization phases where you're
00:10:37
performing higher volumes
00:10:40
or if you want to get the most out of
00:10:42
each set a slightly higher frequency can
00:10:44
be beneficial look it's not going to be
00:10:46
a 9-day effect but I think if you want
00:10:48
to optimize your growth slightly higher
00:10:51
frequencies are probably a good idea
00:10:52
it's an optimization thing but it's also
00:10:55
a question of what exactly do you lose
00:10:58
by just taking single mouth training and
00:11:00
spreading it out more I think it's a
00:11:01
personal preference thing for a lot of
00:11:03
people they like to just smash the
00:11:05
muscle just a few times a week or even
00:11:07
once but even for the one time a week
00:11:09
your recommendation is like okay fuck it
00:11:11
you like once a week sweet Monday hit
00:11:13
chess like crazy hit a few sets of
00:11:14
triceps after though and then Thursday
00:11:17
hit your tricep workout your Bice still
00:11:19
say arms Thursday Thursday arms back
00:11:21
shoulders arms somewhere there and uh
00:11:23
legs never shows up but uh after you
00:11:26
finish your bicep stuff and your tricep
00:11:28
stuff do a couple of sets of close grip
00:11:31
presses or push-ups after your triceps
00:11:33
stuff it'll cook your triceps even
00:11:34
better but it'll get you enough of a
00:11:36
stimulus for chest that it's you're
00:11:38
definitely benefiting from multiple per
00:11:40
week frequencies and you'll probably be
00:11:42
able to put in a little bit more volume
00:11:43
that way and a little bit more of an
00:11:45
elevation of the fractional synthetic
00:11:46
rate of muscle growth and you'll get
00:11:48
more jacked over long term versus Monday
00:11:51
chest Thursday shoulders and arms but
00:11:53
nothing remotely to do with chest at all
00:11:55
because it needs recovery bro because it
00:11:57
probably doesn't training once a week I
00:11:59
agree and I think people can think of
00:12:01
frequency of training kind of like
00:12:03
protein where total protein intake is
00:12:06
fairly important for hypertrophy and you
00:12:08
want to make sure you're getting enough
00:12:09
protein each day to maximize hypertrophy
00:12:11
but exactly what your meal frequency is
00:12:13
in a given day like whether you're
00:12:14
having three or four wheels or four six
00:12:16
or what have you doesn't seem to play
00:12:19
nearly as large of a role it's the same
00:12:21
with volume and frequency where volume
00:12:23
seems to be quite important for hopy as
00:12:25
we've discussed but exactly how you
00:12:27
spread that out plays potentially a
00:12:29
small R but certainly not as large as
00:12:31
volume yes unless we go to the extremes
00:12:34
correct one meal a day difficult to get
00:12:36
your protein at all just like one
00:12:38
workout a week is how you're going to
00:12:39
get all your volume in it's practical
00:12:41
consideration but also a lot of the
00:12:44
Protein that's available to you in the
00:12:46
digestive tract from any one meal some
00:12:49
fraction of it gets used for muscle
00:12:50
synthesis not high and the rest of it
00:12:53
the body doesn't need at the time just
00:12:55
gets burned directly for energy and so
00:12:57
you eat 250 grams of protein and one
00:12:59
meal you may find that like you only
00:13:02
really analized 125 of that which is
00:13:05
good but if you ate 100 grams of protein
00:13:07
per meal twice a day or 125 you may
00:13:26
anabolizantes because I think here's
00:13:28
here's where I'm going this
00:13:29
Smo some people are looking what what
00:13:32
can I get away with doing the minimum to
00:13:34
still get great results and there's
00:13:35
nothing wrong with that's great but a
00:13:37
lot of people are looking
00:13:39
for I want to make sure that my workout
00:13:42
routine is checking all the big boxes
00:13:45
and not missing out some shit where it's
00:13:47
like man I wish I knew that you know
00:13:49
like for example talk to people who try
00:13:51
to get bigger shoulders side delts and
00:13:54
they training shoulders the shoulder day
00:13:56
is crazy but it's once a week I usually
00:13:58
talk to those people and I go dude try
00:14:00
two or three shoulders per week
00:14:02
exercises and or sessions rather you're
00:14:04
going to see a huge difference because
00:14:06
your shoulders just take that long to
00:14:07
recover and you can multiply your volume
00:14:09
by
00:14:10
XYZ those people typically experience
00:14:12
that they go God damn it why didn't
00:14:14
anyone tell me this shit so as far as
00:14:16
frequency per week we're ready to say
00:14:19
you and
00:14:20
I real serious effort at getting jacked
00:14:24
two times a week frequency is the meat
00:14:26
and potatoes for most people sometimes
00:14:29
higher is better unlikely that lower is
00:14:32
better solid take I think practically
00:14:35
for people what that means is if you're
00:14:38
training two to three days a week I
00:14:40
would typically stick with a full body
00:14:41
approach that allows you to train most
00:14:43
muscles two to three times a week and
00:14:45
real quick just for folks that don't
00:14:47
connect the dots yet because it took me
00:14:48
a while to understand this the
00:14:50
alternative is people will say okay I
00:14:52
train Monday Thursday you're okay great
00:14:54
and you and I are on making think in
00:14:55
full body because it takes the growth
00:14:57
happens for a few days it comes down
00:14:59
down happens a few days comes down but
00:15:01
some people will be like okay so I do
00:15:02
upper body on Thursday lower body on
00:15:03
Monday and you're like oh man the volume
00:15:07
is the same total if the total amount of
00:15:08
workout 's the same but now the
00:15:10
frequency is insufficient and now you
00:15:12
grow a little bit but then you sort of
00:15:14
and you grow a little bit more so just
00:15:16
the frequency alone even if it's a
00:15:17
smaller effect and between one and two
00:15:19
it's a notable effect it's a good idea
00:15:22
to do a 2X or more even if you just
00:15:25
train twice a week correct which means
00:15:28
the best routine for you will depend on
00:15:30
how often you train CU we want to hit
00:15:32
each muscle at least twice a week
00:15:33
sometimes more so I think if you're
00:15:35
training two to three days a week all us
00:15:36
being equal a full body routine will be
00:15:38
pretty adequate for most people if
00:15:40
you're training four days a week or five
00:15:41
days a week an upper lower split could
00:15:43
work great full body can work great too
00:15:45
still luck for sure if you're recovering
00:15:46
joints feel okay but then four to five
00:15:49
days a week is where upper lower starts
00:15:50
become more viable because it allows you
00:15:52
to train each muscle twice a week at
00:15:54
least if you're doing a 5day split for
00:15:56
example you could do upper lower upper
00:15:57
lower upper yep days for upper body
00:15:59
which anecdotally I enjoy two days for
00:16:01
lower body and I think Push Pull legs
00:16:04
for
00:16:04
example I see a use case for but it's
00:16:07
only for those who are consistently
00:16:08
training six days a week or more
00:16:10
essentially because otherwise you're
00:16:11
missing out typically on training each
00:16:13
muscle twice a week for you to train
00:16:15
each muscle twice a week you need two
00:16:17
full rotations of the push pull legs
00:16:20
sequence sure so I think that's more of
00:16:22
a reserved use case a body part split
00:16:25
can work but you need to be smart about
00:16:27
it essentially you need to make sure
00:16:29
you're making those modifications to
00:16:30
your routine to make each muscle beain
00:16:32
at least twice a week so it's not a b
00:16:34
split anymore it's a body emphasis if
00:16:37
spiritually yeah you view it as a body
00:16:40
part split and you still enjoy it and
00:16:41
that's probably what you're doing in the
00:16:42
first place just those modifications
00:16:44
make it a bit more effective I wonder is
00:16:47
that why SCI there you go proved correct
00:16:50
and then the final use case I would say
00:16:52
is if you're specializing on a muscle or
00:16:54
you're training with really high volumes
00:16:55
all around that's where experimenting
00:16:57
with slightly higher fre quencies for
00:16:59
those muscles muscles you're
00:17:00
specializing on or for your whole body
00:17:02
can become beneficial if you have the
00:17:04
time and the inclination to say get 20
00:17:07
30 fractional sets per muscle per week
00:17:10
that's where maybe doing a full body
00:17:11
split three or four days a week or
00:17:13
training the specialized Aon muscles
00:17:15
three or four days a week could become
00:17:17
beneficial as I mentioned those
00:17:19
diminishing returns on per session
00:17:21
volume yeah might allow you to get more
00:17:23
overall hypertrophy if you spread that
00:17:26
out or stretch it out across the week
00:17:27
how many sets per muscle per session
00:17:30
would you say starts to be a little much
00:17:32
for optimal hypertrophy I've heard eight
00:17:34
I've heard 12 I've heard six what is
00:17:37
your take on that on average that's a
00:17:38
great idea that's a great question for
00:17:41
my own coaching process and the app
00:17:43
developing I have essentially set a
00:17:46
limit of around 5 to eight sets per
00:17:48
session so for every five to eight sets
00:17:50
direct sets you do per week for a muscle
00:17:53
I would add one extra day of training to
00:17:54
people that's direct training so in
00:17:57
fractional terms maybe we're talking
00:17:58
about 10 fractional sets so for every 10
00:18:00
fractional sets I would add one day of
00:18:02
training if you're getting 20 sets a
00:18:03
week in for muscle that gets into about
00:18:06
two days a week if you're doing say 30
00:18:07
sets or below like between 20 and 30 I
00:18:09
would do 3 days that makes sense I think
00:18:11
that's a rough ballpark in theistic I
00:18:13
use that makes perfect
00:18:15
sounds that's it that's it I
00:18:18
think all right guys like subscribe do
00:18:23
YouTube things check out Milo he's on
00:18:24
YouTube he's on Instagram we'll have all
00:18:26
the links below see you guys next time
