How Many Days a Week Should I Work Out To Build Muscle? (Expert Answer)

According to a recent study, all lifters should train each muscle group twice weekly to build muscle efficiently and effectively. 

To be even more detailed, you should train each muscle group between 12 and 20 sets per week and do 6 to 12 reps per set.

However, choosing the right workouts and exercises is important, or you may fail to meet your goals even if you follow them. 

Below, I can share tips from my experience helping beginners and advanced lifters build the right workouts to maximize their strength. 

Does Working Out More Per Week Build Muscle Faster? 

According to one of the foremost experts in muscle-building research, working out two times a week is better for building muscle than once. However, working out 3 to 4 times a week hasn’t been proven to build more muscle than 2 times a week.

“…the major muscle groups should be trained at least twice a week to maximize muscle growth; whether training a muscle group three times per week is superior to a twice-per-week protocol remains to be determined.”

-Brad Schoenfeld, PhD

In my experience, how often someone trains is not nearly as important as how much you train during your weekly workouts. 

Now, the question is, how do you put these optimal recommendations into a workout that fits into your routine? Below, you’ll learn that, plus example workouts. 

Check out this link for great programs for muscle hypertrophy.

How To Structure Your Weekly Workouts To Build Muscle

There are many ways to organize resistance training to put on lean muscle mass effectively. The following are some of the best training splits to work each different muscle group twice per week:

• Training 2x/week: 2x full body 
• Training 3x/week: 1x full body, 1x upper body, 1x lower body (3x full body would also be appropriate)
• Training 4x/ week: 2x upper body, 2x lower body
• Training 5x/ week: 1x upper body, 1x lower body, 1x upper push, 1x upper pull, 1x lower body
• Training 6x/ week: 2x upper push, 2x upper pull, 2x lower body

When structuring your training, you need enough frequency while allowing for rest and recovery. 

People with bigger muscles aren’t just the people who do the most work. They’re the people who do the most work and recover from that work. 

Knowing which training frequency is right for you will depend on several factors you can learn about further down. 

Should you do a full body or push-pull-legs split? Check out our head-to-head comparison.

Best Exercises To Add To Build Muscle

Your training routine should include compound lifts in four basic movement categories, which will work all major muscle groups: upper body push, upper body pull, lower body push, and lower body pull. 

• Upper push exercises use the chest, shoulders, and triceps to push the weight away from you. These include exercises like bench press, incline bench, overhead press, dips, etc.

• Upper pull exercises are mostly back and bicep exercises or anything where you’re pulling the weight closer to you. These include all varieties of pull-ups, lat pull-downs, and rows. 

• Lower push exercises use the quads and include squat and lunge patterns. These include exercises like squats, split squats, lunge variations, leg press, etc. 

• Lower pull exercises tend to be hamstring, glute dominant, or hinge patterns. Hamstring curl variations fall into this category as well. These include exercises like deadlifts, RDLs, good mornings, leg curls, etc. 

• Isolation exercises can be used to further target specific muscle groups, such as the triceps, biceps, and forearms of the upper body and the calves of the lower body. Some isolation movements are also used to further target the same muscle groups that are trained in the four major categories. 

Check out this link to see if a bro split or push-pull-legs is better for you.

Example 4-Day Per Week Training Split

• Monday: Upper Body
  • A1. Barbell bench press- 3 x 8-12 reps 
  • A2. Lat pull down- 3 x 8-12 reps 
  • B1. Dumbbell incline bench- 3 x 8-12 reps 
  • B2. Seated cable row- 3 x 8-12 reps
  • C1. Barbell curl- 3 x 8-12 reps 
  • C2. Dumbbell skull crusher- 3 x 8-12 reps

• Tuesday: Lower Body
  • A1. Squat- 3 x 8-12 reps 
  • B1. RDL- 3 x 8-12 reps 
  • C1. Leg press- 3 x 8-12 reps 
  • C2. Hamstring curl- 3 x 8-12 reps 
  • D1. Seated calf raise- 5 x 8-12 reps

• Wednesday: Rest

• Thursday: Upper Body
  • A1. Barbell incline bench- 3 x 8-12 reps 
  • A2. Pull-ups- 3 x 8-12 reps
  • B1. Dumbbell bench press- 3 x 8-12 reps 
  • B2. Single arm dumbbell row- 3 x 8-12 reps
  • C1. Cable curl- 3 x 8-12 reps C2. Rope extension- 3 x 8-12 reps

• Friday: Lower Body
  • A1. Deadlift- 3 x 8-12 reps
  • B1. Hack squat- 3 x 8-12 reps
  • C1. Walking lunge- 3 x 8-12 reps 
  • C2. Glute bridge- 3 x 8-12 reps
  • D1. Standing calf raise- 5 x 8-12 reps

• Saturday: Rest (or some aerobic exercise)
• Sunday: Rest 

On rest days, it is still important to stay active. This can include some low-intensity cardiovascular exercises, like biking or walking, or maybe a short HIIT session. 

There are many ways to split things up, but this is a great example that gets you between 10-20 sets per muscle group weekly. You could add sets week to week to increase weekly training volume before deloading after 4 or 5 weeks. Give it a shot if 4 days per week works in your schedule. 

Check out this article to know how many calories to eat to gain muscle. Or check out these two articles to know how often to bench press and how often to deadlift.

How To Know How Many Times Per Week To Workout?

Here are the biggest things you should think about when deciding how often you should work out to gain muscle:

• Training age – The longer you've been training, the more you'll need to work out to continue to gain muscle.
• How strong you are – The stronger you are, the more fatiguing your training will be. Therefore, things must be well structured for you to recover.
• Desired muscle growth – More muscle growth will generally require lifting more.
• Your work/home life – The more sleep you get, the more days you can lift.
• Your job – The more physical your job is, the more rest you'll need.

For example, if you are an advanced lifter but work a construction job 60 hours per week, you might want to train fewer days to ensure you can recover.

On the flip side, if you are a beginner and sit at a desk eight hours a day, you may only need to work out twice weekly to start gaining muscles. You may also want to include some cardio exercise throughout the week to loosen up your hips and avoid back pain.

However, if you’re an advanced lifter who works an office job eight hours a day, you may want to workout 5 days a week to see the gains you want. 

The biggest factor for progress is consistency. It’s easy to get gung-ho and say you’ll train 6 days per week, but you could likely burn out. It’s better to follow a workout routine of 2-4x per week for years than to sporadically train every day for a few months and then stop. Find what works for you and stick to it. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What Happens If You Workout Everyday? 

Weight training every day could lead to overtraining. You should do around 20 sets per muscle group per week for hypertrophy. If you spread those sets out over 7 days, higher training frequencies can be done. However, you should be active every day, and include lower-intensity exercises like walking. 

How To Speed Up Muscle Growth?

Increase muscle growth by progressively lifting heavier weights by about 2-5% every 1-2 weeks, consuming at least 1.6g of protein per kg of body weight daily, getting 7-9 hours of sleep, and incorporating compound and isolation exercises into your routine.

Do You Need To Lift Heavy To Build Muscle?

No, heavy lifting isn't the only way to build muscle. Moderate weights with higher repetitions (8-15 reps) can also effectively stimulate muscle growth if you reach muscle fatigue. Focus on consistent progression and maintaining intensity.

References

1. Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Medicine [Internet]. 2016 Apr 21;46(11):1689–97. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27102172/
2. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Krieger J. How many times per week should a muscle be trained to maximize muscle hypertrophy? A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining the effects of resistance training frequency. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2018 Dec 17;37(11):1286–95.
3. Adams A. Muscular Hypertrophy: Back to the Basics [Updated July 2022] [Internet]. blog.nasm.org. Available from: https://blog.nasm.org/sports-performance/back-to-the-basics-hypertrophy#:~:text=Aug%202022%C2%B7The%20NASM%2DCPT%20Podcast%20With%20Rick%20Richey

About the Author

Connor Lyons is a graduate of the University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. He spent the past 14 years as a strength and conditioning coach in both the NCAA setting and the private sector working with NFL, MLB, ATP, and NHL athletes. He is a former NCAA hockey player and was the strength and conditioning coach for USA Hockey’s Women’s Olympic Team which captured gold in 2018. He now owns The Lyons Den Sports Performance just outside of Tampa, Florida.