One of the keys to selecting the proper workout frequency for your own body is to understand two important factors that occur after your workout:
- You must learn the length of your anabolic window.
- You must know the amount of time that you retain any new gains after the anabolic window has closed.
The rest of this article will explain why these two factors are so important in regards to selecting a workout frequency that is well suited to your own physiology.
Your Anabolic Window = Muscle Growth Activation Period
Your anabolic window refers to the length of time that the muscle growth process is activated after working a specific muscle group. When you work out, some of your muscle cells will be damaged and new muscle cells will need to replace them. If you simply replace them in equal proportion to what was lost and through muscle cell damage, no additional growth will occur. On the other hand, if you replace the damaged muscle cells, plus you grow an additional amount of muscle cells, your muscles will actually grow.
The anabolic window, or muscle growth activation period, is not uniform from person to person. Easy gainers will tend to have a couple of advantages in regard to their anabolic window. The first is that their anabolic window is longer than normal, which simply means that their muscles are activated to grow for a longer time period than the majority of people. The second is that the muscle growth process is much more active. This means that more muscle growth occurs over a period of forty-eight hours after a workout than normal.
The opposite would be true of a hardgainer. Hardgainers tend to either have a short muscle growth activation period after they workout, and/or the muscle growth process is only mildly active during the same amount of time in comparison to an easy gainer.
The lesson to be learn from this is that easy gainers who have a lengthy anabolic window do not need to work out as often as other people. The muscle growth activation period continues longer than normal during recovery. In contrast, those who have a short anabolic window will probably need to work out more often in order to keep the muscle growth process continuously activated.
Excellent Retention = Delayed Onset of Detraining or Muscle Loss
Once the anabolic window has closed, it means that the period of time in which the muscles have been activated to grow has come to an end. In the case of an easy gainer, they may be able to retain any new muscle growth for several days after the muscle growth activation period is over. They don’t gain any muscle during this time, but they don’t lose any either. Because of this, there is no harm in resting longer than normal because they don’t lose muscle during extended rest times of up to a week after a workout. I refer to this as delayed onset of detraining or muscle loss.
Poor Retention = Rapid Onset of Detraining or Muscle Loss
The opposite is true of a hardgainer. Hardgainers tend to start losing muscle soon after the anabolic window has closed. In other words, they don’t retain new growth after the muscle growth activation period has come to an end. They must stimulate a muscle soon after the muscle growth activation period is over, or they will start losing muscle right away. I call this rapid onset of detraining (loss of muscle from lack of training).
The overall lessons to be learned are threefold:
First, Anyone who has a short muscle activation period must stimulate their muscles with frequent workouts or their muscles will not stay activated to grow.
Second, Anyone who does not retain new growth very long after the muscle growth activation period has ended will need to work out frequently in order to avoid early onset of detraining which causes atrophy (i.e. muscle loss).
Third, anyone who has a short muscle activation period must not work out so hard that it takes a long time to recover, because their muscles will stop growing before they fully recover. For example, if you work out so hard that it takes your muscles seventy-two hours or more to rebuild, but your muscles only have the ability to remain stimulated to grow for thirty-six to forty eight-hours, then the muscle growth activation period will end before your muscles have fully recovered and no additional growth will occur.
The bottom line is that some people may be able to build muscle by working a muscle group only once or twice per week because their muscles remain stimulated to grow for a longer time period than normal, and they retain new muscle growth for a longer time period than normal. Others cannot afford the luxury of only working a muscle group once or twice per week and must work out more in order to keep their muscles activated for growth.
Suggestions for Hardgainers
Those who find that they need to work out more often must do so with workouts that are hard enough to stimulate muscle growth, but not so hard that it takes a long time to recover. My suggestion is to only repeat sets for a muscle group as long as you are at full strength and no longer. In addition, only repeat reps of a set as long as you can maintain a steady even rep pace and stop. Don’t overdo it with high intensity because the recovery time will take longer than the amount of time in which your muscles stay activated for growth.
If you are a hardgainer, think twice about the common hardgainer advice to work out infrequently; it will only work if you are fortunate enough to have muscles that stay activated for a long time after you finish working a muscle group. This is why I often advocate high frequency training with strict guidelines for how much volume and intensity should be used in order to promote quick recovery. (For more information about high frequency training, click on High Frequency Strength Training: Guidelines for Making it Work). If you seem to be a hardgainer, you can try these suggestions and see if they work. The bottom line is to let the results you obtain from any type of training be the final word in terms of what works best for you. Best of training to you.