Training 6 Days a Week?

aha yes optimal i mean

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Agree wholeheartedly: nothing wrong with training 6 days a week when programmed properly and you are properly recovered.

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You wouldn’t know a fanny if it hit you square in the face lol

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For that much training, you might as well do a PPL Rest PPL

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This is misleading. Programs like 531 have every training day revolve around a big barbell lift. If you are at all strong, you cannot and should not do the type of training prescribed in a 531 session (main lift, plus supplement, plus assistance) 6x a week. Most 531 are 3 or 4x a week for a reason.

Christian Thib. has a popular program that is 6x a week called Best Damn Workout. Look at the difference between that template and any 531 program. As Christian will say, frequency and volume are inversely related. If you want to lift 6x a week, each session is shorter and has less volume. If you want to lift 3x a week, each session can be longer and have more volume. In a given week, you can only recover from so much. Depending on the individual and their preferences, either will obviously work as both Wendler and Thibadaeu know what they are doing.

Take away: don’t take a 531 program meant for 3x a week and double it. Don’t take a high frequency program and half it if you can only make it or prefer 3x a week. Pick a program that matches your interests, goals, and preferences.

Last point: The weaker you are, the less this matters. If you are squatting 135 in your BBB (5x10), you will recover much easier than someone squatting 315 or more on their BBB sets.

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Have you seen @BOTSLAYER’s log? Hard to argue with the experience of a strong dude.

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I should have been more specific. I meant frequency with the Big 3 plus Barbell Rows and Pullups. When it comes to overall strength, PLing, BBing those 5 exercises are the most important by a mile. Next 2 I would add in are Dips (or OHPing) and T-Bar Rows.

Building a program by halving or doubling those other programs may very well be the one that matches interests, goals and preferences.

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Im going to jump back in this argument and say that training 6 days a week COULD work for you.

I notice that neural recovery (key for strength gainz) is best made when training LESS frequently (thats why 3-4day 531 works so damn well) (for me, maybe not for you). Even if your not lifting on all those six days, that extra work “burns out your battery.” (e.g. the time you spend on your iphone away from the charger=working out, Time the iphone spends on the charger, not using iphone=recovery time) Your body isn’t much different. In other words, the longer you spend on recharge mode, the fresher you’ll be when you lift. The guy that spends 3 hours in a row on his iphone will have a lower battery % (neural energy) than the guy that spends an hour, recharges for an hour, than goes on it for an hour. Just my opinion.

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It may match his interests, goals and preferences and thats totally cool! but at the same time, if he gets a month in to his 6day a week program, gets run down w flu, nagging joints, lifts dropping, libido in the shitter, than he cant come back to us saying how it isnt working. If you plan to customize an already proven method, and it fails, than you’re up your own “shchitts creek w out a paddle”

Currently training 5 days a week (Monday to Friday) with weekends off. I’m doing GZCL UHF5wk. Benching 4 times a week (Incline - volume; two heavy benches; and one volume bench), squating 3 times (two heavies and a low-rep, high set pause squat session), deadlifting twice (low-rep, high set pause dls and a heavy competiton dl session), and one heavy OHP session. All sessions are full body.

I am now far stronger than I have ever been, and I credit that to the increased frequency, volume and something I can’t explain about doing full body.

I’m not knocking 5/3/1 at all, but someone of us need increased training frequency. With that being said, I understand that some trainees do better with lower frequency. I can’t stress this enough: experiment and learn what works best for you

Jason

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Just to start 90% of programs I make for most people is the 4 day split below. My logic is if somebody needs a program they are probably new (or not overly committed) and that 4 day split will yield great results while they can enjoy a lot of time off easing them into the process.

Just go back to original template
even the program I out lined is pretty easy to make 4 days a week because it is only 5 movements.

Days 1 and 4
Squats and Deads
What Ever Else

Days 2 and 5
Bench
Barbell Row
Pullups
What Ever Else

Days 3 6 and 7 as rest

For the record I never said he should or it was necessary to train 6+ days a week. I said it was optimal and not as difficult as it was being made out to be.

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I also think that lifting is part of an overall picture, and “most” people would be better off in the longterm if they balanced out lifting with sports, yoga (or other mobility activities), and easy conditioning like hiking, biking, or swimming.

One thing I found is that when I lifted 5-6 days a week, I had no energy or interest in other physical activities. I was essentially using all my vitality to lift/recover/lift again, which is okay for some people but not for those that want to pursue other interests. Lifting 3X a week I have found that my strength is up, and I found the energy to invest in other aspects of my well being. Now, I bike to work each day, play soccer two lunch hours a week with a great group of people, run with a friend on Sunday, and take a 90 minute yoga class each week. When I was lifting 6x a week, this would not have been possible. Each person, of course, needs to find the balance that works for them.

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Nice, sorry for confusion lol

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