Frequency of Weight Lifting

There is a lot of controversy in the fitness field with regard to frequency of weight lifting. The definition is the easy part. The proper frequency of weight lifting sessions is to workout, allow enough time for full recovery to take place, along with muscle and strength increases, and then workout again.

However, putting the above into practice is much harder. Some people say you can workout almost every day as long as you are working different body parts each session, so that each body part gets no more than two or three training sessions per week.

Others say you should never workout two days in a row, even if you train different body parts each session. The thinking behind this idea, one that I happen to agree with, is that weight training places a very high level of stress on the body as a whole. Whether you are working chest, legs, back or arms, your body as a whole is put under a great deal of stress. So if you workout on consecutive days, you are still putting your overall system under a great deal of stresss and not giving it any time to recover. Eventually, you will overtrain, leading to loss of muscle, strength, and eventually your'll even get sick due to a run down immune system.

Another important factor in the frequency of weight lifting sessions is how much volume you are performing and to what intensity. If you are doing 10 sets for your chest and performing all those sets in a hight intensity weight training fashion (training to failure), you'll most likely overtrain even if you are only doing this once per week.

On the other hand, if you are just performing one set of push ups for your chest, and not training to failure, you can probably do this on a daily basis without any overtraining or adverse affects.

As you can see, the frequency of weight lifting sessions can be quite complicated because there are so many variables to account for. Here are some other articles on this site to help you with this aspect of your training.

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Here are some more articles that can help you with the frequency of weight lifting principle -

Weight Lifting Tips - Tried and true weight lifting tips to get you started on the right track.

Weight Lifting Programs - The Fundamentals of Weightlifting

The Importance of Intensity in Your Weight Training - the role intensity plays in your training progress.