Workout frequency page

[TheTeddy]

Do y'all think it's better to workout twice a week, or three times a week? On the PBF plan, I only has strength training twice a week in addition to sprints, but I do it three days a week plus sprints. and I only do bodyweight, since I don't have a gym membership. Although I do have a set of dumbbells, maybe I shoul use them. Any thoughts on a pbf routine with those too?

[primalrob]

this really depends on your goals. i started off doing three days a week which was great for building endurance, but i'd rather be strong. so i cut it down to two days with much harder workouts, plus usually just one sprint day. i need the extra time to recover. so figure out what you want. do you want to be able to do drop and do 50 pushups, or would rather be able to do 5 with a car parked on your back? you can certainly do both, but in that case i would recommend dropping a day and marking the work harder so you're getting strong.

[TheTeddy]

So all I'm doing is building endurance then? That sucks. I figured I was building both with three days a week. I've been adding reps and upping the level when I reach the pbf goal, but if it's just endurance...

[jfreaksho]

It's not a clear line. Mark's recommendations are averages that work pretty well for the vast majority of people. There's not much reason to do 3 lifting sessions plus sprints in a week, and not everyone can do it, due to needed recovery time.

Mostly, if you're doing PBF, then the difference between 2 and 3 days per week is not that big of a deal, and it probably doesn't matter much.

[TheTeddy]

I only sprint once a week, and do bodyweight three times a week. I think I do alright.

[wolfman]

depends how heavy your dumbells are, and what your goals are, to get stronger you will eventually have to put some weight on a bar, although lots of strength can be obtained by bodyweight exercises. My week is like this and I found it works out very well.

Sunday: play or walk
monday: Heavy weights
Tuesday: sprints
Wed: off
Thursday: Heavy weights
Friday: off
Saturday: Bodyweight workout + sprints

[primalrob]

So all I'm doing is building endurance then? That sucks. I figured I was building both with three days a week. I've been adding reps and upping the level when I reach the pbf goal, but if it's just endurance...

you're adding strength too, which you can tell by the fact that you're moving up levels. but you're not adding any more strength than you would be doing two days a week. when you work out, you're stressing and breaking the muscles, and it's in the recovery period, when the muscles are rebuilding, that you're actually getting stronger. you could probably do the heavy lifting only one day a week and see the same strength results. working out more often won't cause that repair to happen any faster, but it will adapt your muscles to repetitive use...or endurance. both are great.

the only reason working out less might help you build more strength is because you can push a little harder, get a deeper burn, and let your muscles get stronger during that recovery time. personally, i used to love three days a week, but two works better for my goals. i'm also less fatigued for my sprinting, and have some extra time to work on other things like balance, hand strength, new moves, etc.

[TheTeddy]

So something along the lines of:

Monday: Strength
Wednesday: Sprints
Friday: Strength

Would be perfect then? I walk a lot on my days off, too.

[primalrob]

So something along the lines of:

Monday: Strength
Wednesday: Sprints
Friday: Strength

Would be perfect then? I walk a lot on my days off, too.

that looks pretty good. and do more if you want on off days, just to work in some other skills...chase the muscle up, planche, handstand, etc.

[Tribal Rob]

In my experiment of 1 I get as much improvement from 1 session of LHT a week than I have from more sessions in the past, runs like this ATM - Tuesday - long run (traing for 10 mile trail run at end of month) Thursday LHT, Sunday - Sprint, otherdays include walking and playing depending on life. So really what works for you