Strength, muscle mass increase proportionately with training frequency regardless of experience
PainSci summary of Wirth 2007?This page is one of thousands in the PainScience.com bibliography. It is not a general article: it is focused on a single scientific paper, and it may provide only just enough context for the summary to make sense. Links to other papers and more general information are provided at the bottom of the page, as often as possible. ★★★☆☆?3-star ratings are for typical studies with no more (or less) than the usual common problems. Ratings are a highly subjective opinion, and subject to revision at any time. If you think this paper has been incorrectly rated, please let me know.
This study shows that strength and muscle mass increase with training regardless of experience. The increases are described as proportionate to training frequency, and this is a notable exception: most such studies show that increased training frequency does not deliver proportionately greater results. However, in this experiment “all groups showed significant gains in muscle mass with a tendency of better training results when doing two or three training sessions a week. No difference could be found between the groups (beginners/advanced) with the same training frequency.”
original abstract†Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
The major goal of this study was to find a training frequency that promises optimum success in the proliferation of muscle mass by measu- ring muscle size before and 2 weeks after an 8-week training cycle. 30 men with at least half a year (beginner = A) and 30 with at least 2 years (advanced = F) of strength training experience participated in this study. The subjects were divided into six groups of 10 individuals each, who had to go through a hypertrophy training program for arm bends with a frequency of one (A1 / F1), two (A2 / F2) and three (A3 / F3) training sessions per week up to 8 weeks altogether. The size of the elbow flexors was determined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). 96 transversal images with a thickness of 1.67 mm were collected per subject. Thus a region 16.03 cm of the upper arm was examined. The statistical handling of the data consisted of an analysis of variance (with a repetition of the measurements) and the Scheffé-test (p < 0.05) as a post-hoc test. Except for the group of advanced athletes and a training frequency of once a week, all groups showed significant gains in muscle mass with a tendency of better training results when doing two or three training sessions a week. No difference could be found between the groups (beginners/advanced) with the same training frequency.
related content
One article on PainScience.com cites Wirth 2007 as a source:
- PS Strength Training Frequency — Less is more than enough: go to the gym less frequently but still gain strength fast enough for anyone but a bodybuilder
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