Why we train three days a week
Training three days a week in a periodized block program works better than training 4 or 5+ days a week. There are a handful of variables and reasons why this is the best approach and by the end of this blog post you’ll learn why.
Let’s start with one of our favorite formulas: Quality Work + Quality Rest = Results.
Training (work) is symbiotically connected to Rest. If you have high standards for your training and fitness, you will not meet your standards without rest. Work is not more important than Rest and Rest is not more important than Work. They’re interdependent and both moving you toward a greater goal.
Too often in training, however, it’s assumed you’re wasting time if you do not completely empty the tank in every training session. People think, “If I’m not tired, depleted, and sweaty by the end of a workout I didn’t get a good workout.” People think, “It’s better to get 6 sessions in a week instead of 3.”
This is completely wrong. Why?
Good, quality training and results is about sustainability.
Sustainability is the central theme of everything we do at Allegiate. Sustainability is why we choose a 3 day a week program.
And don’t confuse sustainable with easy – sustainable training is definitely not easy. Just ask any long-term Allegiate members who have been through many of our sustainably-structured training blocks. They will tell you it is not easy. Or as Seabass, one of the earliest members at Allegiate, told ABC7 News on a feature they did on us : “There are no easy days at Allegiate.”
So why is the 3-day split the choice for Allegiate instead of a 4 or 5 day split?
The three-day split.
The history behind the three-day program is built on the concept of people training around a full work schedule. As you probably know, we are a big fans of Bill Starr’s Strongest Shall Survive which sings the praises of a three-day training split. Or Tommy Kono, the last Gold Medalist in weightlifting from America, talked about working and training can only sustainably tolerate three sessions a week in his seminal book Weightlifting, Olympic Style.
Both of these resources used a ‘total body’ routine that stressed key movement patterns every 2 days or every 48 hours. The classification of “amateur” required these athletes to work a full time job and fit in training around that schedule.
The removal of amateurism led to increased time to train, which led to increasing training sessions in a week. What is important to note that financially athletes could train (and rest) without having to work, for most of us that is not a reality.
Adding a session a week we can get into a four-day split.
The four-day split can be broken up into two directions:
A Lower-Upper Split or a push-pull split which means alternating between lower body training sessions and upper body training sessions.
A Push-Pull Split which has a session combining lower pulling exercises and upper pushing exercises alternated with a session combining lower pushing exercises and upper pulling exercises.
With this type of split, you will hit a muscle group every 72 hours as opposed to the three-day split allowing for 48hours.
Adding another session a week leads us into a five-day split.
One of the primary reasons this even exists is to just simply train more. There is really only one form of a 5 day split: you hit a specific muscle group each day: Day 1 Chest, Day 2 Back, Day 3 Legs, Day 4 Shoulders, and Day 5 Arms.
The increase in training per week leads to a lesser actual frequency of training a muscle group. You have a five-day split hitting a body part once a week instead of the three-day split every 48 or a four-day split every 72 hours.
To decide the optimal frequency of training in a week we need to evaluate vertical integration and micro periodization.
With vertical integration you approach a given week by setting up alternating sequences of High and Low.
High meaning more demand on the nervous system by using movements that require higher motor unit activation through increased velocity or increased force.
Low meaning a lower degree of motor unit activation by using movements through increased durations.
To set up for micro periodization we break up training by a concurrent or conjugate set up.
A concurrent format would be in a single training session simultaneously performing movements with velocity, force, AND capacity
Where a conjugate format would be a day focused solely on velocity, force, OR capacity.
With increased frequency-based training, these two models represent ways to maximize return on investment.
The desired speeds, loads, and durations, as well as certain movement patterns or muscle groups are the parameters that guide which training split you should choose.
By training more in a given week, there needs to be solutions to compensate for less stress on a muscle group/movement pattern. If we choose movement patterns, the format in which you organize these movement patterns, and trying to hit the highest sustainable amount you can do it for leads us to the training split. The increased time for training organically required different approaches to training such as vertical integration and micro-periodization.
A third framework for organizing your training is called Block Periodization.
In block periodization, there is a emphasis of a specific quality of velocity, force, or capacity for a set period of time, or block
The focus on velocity, force, or capacity for a set period of time leads to a constant loop of development. This loop often alternates focus between the different qualities above. This open loop is why block periodization is best for general populations. It provides variation to keep things fresh and your body health. As well as enough time to improve the target quality.
For example, doing a concurrent model (simultaneously focusing on velocity, force & capacity) for 52 weeks a year will lead to a breakdown of both physically and mentally.
In a three-day split, there are less overall training sessions in a block. But combined with block periodization, we get more out of a 3-day split than we could a 4 or 5-day split.
Given we’re working professionals and have responsibilities outside of our training, a three-day split with block periodization allows us to sustainably train and maximize results.
Quality Work + Quality Rest = Results is made a reality by choosing a path we can do for an undetermined amount of time with incredible results. Aka one that is sustainable.
With enough stimulation to get incredible results, sustainably, the three-day program is the best training option.