training frequency

Definition

How often you train a muscle group or movement pattern per week, the variable that Instagram fitness influencers constantly debate while actual research suggests anything from 2-6 times weekly works fine if total volume matches.

Example Usage

He optimized his training frequency using a spreadsheet, algorithm, and probably a Ouija board, when just hitting each muscle twice a week would work fine.

Origin

Formalized in exercise science research in the late 20th century

Fun Fact

A 2019 meta-analysis found that training frequency has minimal impact on muscle growth when volume is equated, meaning you can train smarter, not more, regardless of what your gym crush's routine looks like.

Source: Exercise science and program design terminology

Related Terms

Beginner

warm-up sets

Lighter weight sets performed before working sets to prepare muscles, joints, and nervous system for heavy lifting. The part of training responsible adults do but impatient teenagers skip.

⚽ Sports / Fitness

Beginner

contractions

In the fitness world, when your muscles shorten and tighten during use, proving they're actually doing something besides just existing on your body. In the medical world, it's what pregnant people experience when their uterus is preparing to evict its tenant. Either way, it's your body's way of squeezing things really hard for a purpose.

⚽ Sports / Fitness

Intermediate

training to failure

Continuing a set until you physically cannot complete another rep with proper form, theoretically maximizing muscle stimulus. The point where confidence becomes concentric weakness.

⚽ Sports / Fitness

Intermediate

apparatus

The intimidating collection of specialized equipment and machinery that makes any professional setting look more serious than it actually is. In gymnastics, it refers to those medieval-looking contraptions like the pommel horse and parallel bars that only superhuman athletes can master. Scientists and engineers use this term to make their fancy tools sound more impressive than 'stuff we use to do our job.'

⚽ Sports / Fitness

Intermediate

greasing the groove

A training method involving frequent practice of a movement throughout the day at submaximal effort to build neuromuscular efficiency. Popularized by Pavel Tsatsouline for making impossible skills possible through sheer repetition.

⚽ Sports / Fitness

Intermediate

stim-free

Pre-workout supplements without stimulants like caffeine, for people who want focus without the jitters, heart palpitations, or 3 AM wakefulness. Decaf for gym rats.

⚽ Sports / Fitness

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