Muscle Fibers & Training Frequency

How often do you train your muscle groups? Once a week, twice a week?

One of the main factors that determines how often you should train a muscle is the type of muscle fiber found in that muscle group. You have 2 different types of fibers Slow Twitch and Fast Twitch. 

Slow-twitch muscle fibers support long distance endurance activities like marathon running, while fast-twitch muscle fibers support quick, powerful movements such as sprinting or weightlifting.

Fast twitch muscles fibers experience more muscle damage during training. Because of this they require more time to recover. On the flip side, muscles that are more slow twitch dominant recover faster, allowing them to be trained more frequently within a given time frame. 

Fast twitch should never be trained more than 1-2 times per week. Slow twitch can effectively be trained up to 4 times per week . . . Review our chart below to help you plan out your training rhythm.