When it comes to building muscle and maximising hypertrophy, one of the most important questions to ask is: how many days a week should you be working out? The answer isn’t as straightforward as “the more, the better.” Instead, your ideal workout frequency depends on several factors including your training goals, recovery ability, and the intensity of your sessions.
In this article, we’ll break down the benefits of working out one, two, three, or more days per week for hypertrophy, discuss common workout splits and their purpose, and explore how workout frequency ties into recovery and progress. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced lifter, finding the right balance between training and rest is crucial for long-term gains.
Understanding Hypertrophy
Hypertrophy refers to the increase in muscle size resulting from resistance training. To achieve hypertrophy, your muscles need to be challenged through resistance, causing micro-damage to muscle fibres, which then repair and grow stronger during recovery. While lifting heavy weights is a key factor in hypertrophy, it’s only part of the equation. Your training frequency, exercise selection, and recovery time all play critical roles.
To fully understand how many days a week you should work out for hypertrophy, let’s break down the potential benefits and drawbacks of different workout frequencies.
Training One Day a Week
Can You Build Muscle Training Once a Week?
Training just one day a week may seem minimal, but it can still yield benefits, particularly for those with busy schedules or limited recovery capacity. The key here is to focus on full-body workouts or compound lifts that target multiple muscle groups in one session. Exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and rows can stimulate a lot of muscle growth in a relatively short period.
However, one major drawback is that you might not stimulate enough overall volume to maximise hypertrophy. Volume, defined as sets x reps x weight, is a key driver of muscle growth (Schoenfeld et al., 2017), and with just one session a week, it’s difficult to accumulate enough volume. Additionally, longer periods between training sessions for the same muscle group can limit the consistent tension and microtrauma necessary for optimal hypertrophy.
Best for: Beginners, or those with limited time who want to maintain muscle mass.
Training Two Days a Week
Balanced Training Without Overdoing It
Training two days a week allows for a bit more flexibility in structuring your workouts. You could do two full-body sessions or focus on an upper-body/lower-body split. Studies show that training a muscle group twice a week can result in better hypertrophy than once-a-week training, as it increases muscle protein synthesis without overloading recovery (Schoenfeld et al., 2016).
However, the overall volume is still limited compared to higher frequencies, which might slow down long-term muscle growth. Still, for people who can’t commit to more frequent sessions, two days a week is a solid approach that offers a balance between progress and recovery.
Best for: Intermediates or those who want to make steady progress with minimal time commitment.
Training Three Days a Week
Optimal Frequency for Many Lifters
Training three days a week is often seen as the sweet spot for many lifters. You can structure your sessions as full-body workouts, or move to a more traditional bodybuilding split such as push-pull-legs. This setup allows you to work each muscle group 2–3 times per week, which has been shown to promote superior hypertrophy compared to less frequent training (Schoenfeld et al., 2016).
With three sessions a week, you can accumulate a decent amount of training volume while still allowing adequate recovery time. This frequency works particularly well for those looking to build muscle and strength, as it offers enough stimulation to promote growth without the risk of overtraining.
Best for: Lifters focused on hypertrophy and strength gains, with enough time to dedicate to training.
Training Four Days a Week
More Volume, More Gains
When you start training four days a week, you open up more opportunities for variations in your workout split. Common splits at this frequency include upper-lower body splits or push-pull splits, where you work on complementary muscle groups each session. This setup allows you to hit each muscle group twice a week while keeping your sessions manageable in length.
The main advantage of training four days a week is that it allows for more total training volume, which is key to hypertrophy. Research suggests that training volume, rather than intensity or frequency alone, is the strongest predictor of muscle growth (Schoenfeld, 2010). More volume leads to more microtrauma in the muscle, which stimulates hypertrophy during recovery.
Best for: Lifters looking to prioritise muscle growth and who can manage a higher workload without compromising recovery.
Training Five or More Days a Week
Maximising Volume but Risking Burnout
Training five or more days a week is generally reserved for advanced lifters who have the time, recovery ability, and experience to handle a higher volume of work. With this frequency, you can adopt a more detailed split, such as a body-part split (e.g., chest on Monday, back on Tuesday, etc.), which allows you to focus on one or two muscle groups per session.
While training more frequently offers the advantage of maximising volume and focusing intensely on each muscle group, there are potential downsides. Training too frequently without adequate recovery can lead to burnout, injury, and impaired performance. Research indicates that muscles need 48-72 hours to recover after intense resistance training (Schoenfeld et al., 2015), so hitting the same muscle group too often can hinder growth.
Best for: Advanced lifters with superior recovery who are focused on maximising volume and hypertrophy.
Types of Workout Splits
How you structure your workouts—whether you train two, three, or five days a week—depends largely on your goals and schedule. Some common workout splits include:
- Full-Body Split: Ideal for those training 1–3 days a week. Each session targets all major muscle groups, focusing on compound movements like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses.
- Upper-Lower Split: Common for lifters training 3–4 days a week. Each session alternates between upper-body and lower-body exercises, allowing more focus on specific muscle groups.
- Push-Pull-Legs Split: Ideal for those training 3–5 days a week. Push days focus on pushing movements (e.g., chest, triceps), pull days on pulling movements (e.g., back, biceps), and leg days on lower body work.
- Body-Part Split: This approach is more common among advanced lifters who train 5–6 days a week. Each day is dedicated to a specific muscle group (e.g., chest on Monday, legs on Tuesday), allowing for high volume but requiring careful recovery management.
Workout Frequency and Recovery
Regardless of how many days a week you choose to work out, recovery is essential to achieving hypertrophy. Recovery isn’t just about resting from workouts—it involves ensuring you’re getting enough sleep, managing stress, and fuelling your body with proper nutrition.
Research shows that muscle protein synthesis increases after resistance training and remains elevated for up to 48 hours (Damas et al., 2016). During this time, your muscles repair the micro-damage caused by training and grow stronger. If you don’t allow for sufficient recovery between sessions targeting the same muscle group, you risk overtraining and impeding muscle growth.
Aim for 7–9 hours of sleep per night, and make sure you’re consuming enough protein—1.6–2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight—to support muscle repair (Morton et al., 2018). A caloric surplus, where you consume more calories than you burn, is also necessary for optimal muscle growth.
How to Match Training Frequency with Your Goals
Your training frequency should align with your specific goals. If you’re focused primarily on hypertrophy, training each muscle group 2–3 times per week is optimal. This can be achieved with a split routine (push-pull-legs or upper-lower) that fits your schedule and recovery capacity.
On the other hand, if you’re more interested in general fitness or maintaining muscle, fewer training sessions may suffice. Beginners and casual lifters can see progress with just two or three sessions a week, while more advanced lifters may need more frequent training to continue seeing gains.
The number of days you should work out each week for hypertrophy depends on various factors, including your goals, experience, and recovery ability. While training more frequently can lead to greater gains in muscle size and strength, it’s essential to find the right balance between volume and recovery.
Whether you train two days a week or five, focus on optimising your workout split, ensuring adequate recovery, and supporting your muscles with proper nutrition. By tailoring your workout frequency to your goals, you can achieve consistent progress in your muscle-building journey.
References
Damas, F., Phillips, S. M., Vechin, F. C., & Ugrinowitsch, C. (2016). A review of resistance training-induced muscle damage: the role of muscle length, contraction type, and training variables. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 116(1), 5-16.
Morton, R. W., Murphy, K. T., McKellar, S. R., Schoenfeld, B. J., Henselmans, M., Helms, E., … & Phillips, S. M. (2018). A systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 52