Is training 4 times a week enough?

[ThrottleBod]

Been at the gym for a year now, pretty much 6 days a week. Week in week out. I found just after Christmas I was coming home and not aching at all so I've started going 4 times a week but pushing a lot harder. I train shoulders, back, legs, chest doing compound lifts. Only going 2 days in a row with a day off then. Is this enough to gain size and muscle or should I be going more? My diet is very good now aswell. Training this way I always find myself aching which should be a good thing?

[sparks_E39]

4 days is fine I'd say.

[jimbobsimmonds]

My strength actually started booming when I went down to 3 days a week from 4.

I literally split into push and pull days, alternating, weds, fri and sun (or Monday if im hungover)

Edited by jimbobsimmonds on Tuesday 25th February 22:27

[Hoofy]

Your diet might be good but are you eating enough?

[Liquid Tuna]

If by aching you mean DOMS, that doesn't necessarily mean you've hammered the muscle hard. Some people get DOMS in certain muscles and not others, no matter how hard they push them.

You'll know whether you've put in enough effort or not. What are your aims? Are you trying to grow? Are the weights going up progressively each session (or week or month etc)? I realise that the ache can be a good reminder the next day that you've been to the gym but it's not a good indicator of progress or work done in the gym.

[didelydoo]

Liquid Tuna said:

If by aching you mean DOMS, that doesn't necessarily mean you've hammered the muscle hard. Some people get DOMS in certain muscles and not others, no matter how hard they push them.

You'll know whether you've put in enough effort or not. What are your aims? Are you trying to grow? Are the weights going up progressively each session (or week or month etc)? I realise that the ache can be a good reminder the next day that you've been to the gym but it's not a good indicator of progress or work done in the gym.

What he said. 4 times is plenty, but you could go more, or less, and still make good progress if you're training smart.

[ViperPict]

Depends how hard you go each time. Training with high volume/ intensity, you need more rest days than training days in my experience. I have made phenomenal strength gains on training once per week.

[Foliage]

Doesn't DOMS gradually disappear if you don't chop and change your routine regularly?

Ive very very little knowledge on this subject but I was reading about keeping muscle mass while dieting (which is an area I was struggling in) and the article suggested exercising but not in a regular manner but adhoc in order to not let your muscles get used to it.

[AngryPartsBloke]

Yep!

I went from 6 days a week at a commercial gym to Mon/Wed/Thur/Sat at an S&C place in march and got much better results!

DOMS you should get from the odd big session, but if you're getting it everytime I'd say you were training too hard.