Tommy's Take by Tommy Pomatico 9/1
Training Frequency is More Important Than Volume For Building Muscle
When most people think about getting stronger, building muscle, or improving performance, the first metric that comes to mind is volume — the total amount of weight lifted or the total number of sets and reps performed. While volume is an important driver of adaptation, it’s not the whole story. In fact, for most athletes and recreational lifters, frequency—how often you train a movement or muscle group—has a bigger impact on progress.
Why Frequency Beats Volume
1. Better Skill Acquisition
Strength is not just about muscle size; it’s a skill. Squatting, pressing, pulling—these are motor patterns that need practice. Training a lift more frequently allows your nervous system to refine the movement. Instead of hammering out 20 sets of squats in one brutal session, spreading them over 2–3 sessions keeps the quality higher and reinforces technique.
2. Higher Quality Reps
Fatigue is the enemy of progress. After a certain point in a workout, your reps degrade—bar speed slows, form slips, and effort skyrockets. By distributing the same total volume across more sessions, you get more high-quality reps, which translates into better strength and hypertrophy gains over time.
3. Better Recovery Between Sessions
If you dump all your volume into one session, you create a massive recovery demand that can leave you sore and sluggish for days. This limits how often you can train that muscle or lift again. With increased frequency, you recover faster, stay fresher, and can hit the movement again before the adaptation fades.
4. Stronger Stimulus–Adaptation Cycle
Muscle protein synthesis (the rebuilding process after training) peaks within 24–48 hours after a session. If you only hit a muscle once per week, you’re leaving several days with no anabolic stimulus. Training it 2–3 times per week means you’re stacking those growth windows, leading to more consistent progress.
5. Sustainability and Adherence
High-volume “marathon” workouts may look hardcore, but they’re harder to sustain long term. Shorter, more frequent sessions are easier to recover from, mentally less daunting, and fit better into busy schedules. Consistency always beats occasional hero sessions.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Instead of: 20 sets of chest in one brutal Monday session.
Try: 6–8 sets of chest spread across Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Instead of: Training legs once per week until you can’t walk.
Try: Hitting squats and lunges 2–3 times per week with lower per-session volume.
You’ll move better, recover faster, and progress more consistently.
The Takeaway
Volume is important—but how you distribute that volume matters even more. By increasing training frequency, you improve movement quality, accelerate recovery, and create more opportunities for growth. If you’ve been stuck on a once-a-week “body part split” or crushing yourself with marathon workouts, consider dialing back the per-session volume and training more often.
Progress doesn’t come from how much you can do in one day—it comes from how often you can come back, perform well, and keep stacking wins.
