Training Frequency: How Often Is Best?

The issue of training frequency is often discussed by trainers and bodybuilders without discussing the context in which the purpose of the training is understood--it's very easy to say, "training legs/chest/whatever once a week is the best way to get bigger/stronger", or "any beginner trainer has to be squatting 3 times a week, has to!". It's important to remember who your advice is really targetted towards. I'm going to be discussing the issue of how often to train, for what purposes, and why one might pick a certain frequency. This is, however, only a very basic overview.

Keep in mind, that my knowledge of this subject is directed primarily at natural, drug-free athletes--it is outside my range of knowledge to advise drug-enhanced bodybuilders, or to understand the mechanisms of how this affects their training, except in the most basic way possible.

Full Body Split

This would be the most basic sort of split that one could do--one in which you do basic, full body, compound movements at least twice, if not three times a week. The catch being that you're only sticking with really basic moves, with the goal being to add strength as quickly as possible. This is generally the sort of thing recommended for:

-complete beginners
-competitive powerlifters

However, you would still be surprised as to how long lifters can benefit from full body splits. For example:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/training-frequency-for-mass-gains.html

As in Lyle McDonald's article, "Training Frequency for Mass Gains", it was not unheard of for early top level bodybuilders to follow full body routines which involved hitting each body part once per week; the idea here is to keep muscle protein synthesis elevated for a longer time, a benefit which enhanced athletes have little need for--which brings us to:

Once a Week Body Part Split

Here, we are entering the realm of the so called "bro split" which involved blasting each body part or set of body parts once per week with a number of different exercises. This is largely the realm of the bodybuilding magazines which promote the kind of training most beneficial to, as discussed before, professional bodybuilders who are "most likely" (i.e, certainly) using performance enhancing drugs, which can allow for this sort of training to be more effective. As said before, the mechanisms of this are beyond my realm of knowledge, and if you wish to learn more about that, it is not my place help you.

However, can a "bro split" work for naturals? The answer is, absolutely! However, whether it is more effective is up for debate. What is not up for debate are the psychological benefits. If someone knows they are not going to be training for a full week, it's much easier for them to train very heavy and hard with maximum effort, as opposed to scaling their efforts back, to "save energy for later", and possibly not benefit as much from the training session.

Ultimately, it is up to the person training to understand the best way to train, with regard to their experience, genetics, and "biological" status. Don't think because one person got biggest off squatting only once a week that it's the best way for you to do so.