As of: March 14, 2024, 7:04 p.m
By: Alexandra Grauvogl
Comments
Press
Split
Building muscle not only brings optical benefits, but above all health benefits © IMAGO / Westend61
Building muscle is a popular goal in weight training.
But how often do you actually have to train for this?
We explain what beginners, advanced and experienced users should consider.
And: Why not only fitness fans should work for bigger muscles.
A well-trained body with six-pack abs, thick biceps, tight buttocks, defined shoulders or a broad back: many people interested in fitness want to build muscles in order to achieve visual goals.
Greater muscle mass brings much more: health benefits that everyone can benefit from!
In order to build muscle optimally, exercisers should take certain factors into account.
Among other things, the frequency of training plays a role.
What is meant by hypertrophy and how does muscle building work?
Muscle building or muscle hypertrophy refers to the increase in muscle cross-section.
The muscle should become “thicker” and gain mass through training.
Due to the so-called “myofibril hypertrophy” (new formation of the smallest muscle fiber units in the muscle cell, which enable muscle tension), the muscle not only becomes larger, but also stronger.
That is why it is relevant for most athletes.
But there are also good reasons for everyone else to build muscle.
The health benefits of more muscle mass
For a long time, endurance training has been the focus of science when it comes to the positive effects of training on health.
But regular muscle training or strength training has also been able to achieve this in numerous studies.
The scientifically proven health benefits include (including Maestroni, L. et al. (2020), Momma, H. et al. (2022)):
lower body fat percentage and higher basal metabolic rate (calorie consumption of the body)
lower risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and dementia
healthier bones and joints
positive influence on mental health and risk of depression
better sleep
stronger immune system
higher pain tolerance
By the way: Push-ups are an effective way to build muscles in the upper body - especially the chest, shoulders, arms, stomach and back are trained.
Push-up training plans for beginners, advanced users and professionals can be downloaded for free in the PDF library.
When doing push-ups, always pay attention to technically correct execution in order to avoid pain and make training progress.
My news
How many push-ups men and women should be able to do read
Low-carb recipe for athletes: Read zucchini spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and feta
Do you sit a lot?
Even just a few steps per day can reduce fatal health risks
This is what push-ups do for muscle building, calorie consumption and health reading
Finally learn push-ups!
The 6-week training plan for beginner readers
Get fit with jumping rope: 2-week training plan for beginners
Building muscle: The optimal training frequency for hypertrophy
If you want to build muscle, you have to train regularly.
Only then will the adjustments in the muscles begin.
How often you should train for optimal muscle building depends primarily on your own fitness level.
In a position paper from 2009, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends the following training frequency for optimal progress in strength training:
Beginners: 2-3 times a week
Advanced: 3-4 times per week
Experienced strength athletes: 4-5 times per week
Strength training beginners should strengthen all major muscle groups of the entire body, especially the trunk and legs, in each of up to three weekly training sessions.
Advanced people (at least 6 months of regular strength training) can do a little more work and train up to four times a week.
In this case, according to Fleck/Kraemer (2014), split training is recommended.
For example, you can train on four consecutive days if the focus is on different muscles and each muscle gets at least 48 hours of regeneration time.
Even experienced strength athletes (several years of strength training) usually train using the split method.
Excursus: split training
There are different methods for split training, e.g.
B. Push/Pull - the training units are divided into pushing (push-ups, bench press, shoulder press) and pulling exercises (lat pulldowns, rowing) - or upper body/lower body - the training units are divided according to body region.
The aim is to ensure that the muscles have sufficient regeneration time, even with high training frequency.
The individual training sessions are usually shorter (max. 60 minutes) and can focus on specific muscle groups.
Known? How many push-ups men and women should be able to do
Muscle building: optimal intensity, number of repetitions and sets
However, for optimal muscle building, it is not only important how often you train.
There are other stress standards that determine the success of the training.
How much weight do you have to take?
How many reps and sets do you have to do?
How long does the pause between sentences have to be?
The training recommendations of different scientific authors vary slightly.
In order to achieve muscle hypertrophy, i.e. build muscle, the following guidelines apply:
Stimulus intensity: 65 to 85 percent of 1RM (“One Repetition Maximum”: The maximum load with which you can perform one repetition of the respective exercise; Example: If you can barely manage one repetition of the bench press with 80 kilograms, you should do 52 for hypertrophy training up to 68 kilograms)
Reps per set: 8 to 12
Sets per muscle group: 5 to 6
Sentence break: 2 to 3 minutes
Movement speed: slow to fast
Time under Tension: 30 to 50 seconds
These training recommendations are very general.
For beginners, a training volume of four sets per muscle group per week may be enough.
If you have little to no training experience, you should have a trained trainer create an individual plan for you to make progress in building muscle.
The author is a former competitive athlete, certified ski instructor and fitness trainer (B license).
Training plan “Learn to jump rope” – download PDF now!
Are you ready for an effective full-body workout and want to learn to jump rope?
Then download the training plan PDF for free after a short registration!
Here you can download the 2-week training plan for getting started with jumping rope © IMAGO / Pond5 Images