Training Frequency For Females

As the saying goes, less is often more.

This is definitely true, at least when it comes to training.

We're not saying that this is an excuse for sitting on your butt six days a week, only dragging yourself away from the TV and couch for a quick training session once every seven days, then going right back to the sanctity of your living room and a life of junk food and laziness, but getting great results isn’t always about training more. You're body deserves a rest too.

Training frequency is usually a tricky business for most people. While, common logic might suggest that if you train more it equals much better results, but contrary to what you may believe, this definitely isn’t always the case. The key for any woman who wants to get great gains is to manipulate frequency as needed.

Want to learn more about training frequencies as a female athlete? We've got you covered! Let's take a look at everything you'll need to know about training frequencies and how to implement them into your workout plant.

The phrase “over-training” is often banded around, and while true over-training is very rare, it is possible to reach a state of over-reaching, or fatigue, where your nervous system becomes tired, performance decreases, you don’t recover so well from sessions, and start to feel run down.

Whoever you talk to, you’ll likely get a different opinion on training frequency from everyone. Some believe in a super high intensity approach, with only one session every five to 10 days, such as the methods touted by bodybuilder Mike Mentzer and exercise physiologist Dr. Ellington Darden.

Others will recommend a more moderate approach of training each muscle group once, twice or even three times per week as advised in generic bodybuilding routines, or strength building full body workouts.

You also have those who are staunch believers in high frequency training. This is most commonly seen in Olympic weightlifters, who train the same muscle groups and same exercises over and over again, maybe up to five or six times per week. They believe that strength is a skill that must be practiced, and the more you practice, the better you’ll get.

Coming from a cardiovascular point of view, you’ll get just as many different approaches, from people who stick to one or two all out sessions a week to those who train every single day, regardless of how they’re feeling, any injuries they have, or what the rest of their week’s schedule looks like.

When it comes to the best training frequency for females, as with just about anything else in the fitness world, there’s no best approach, and certainly isn’t a “one size fits all” method.

It’s worth experimenting with a variety of different methods, and don’t dismiss anything without trying it first. While others may have a different approach to you, that doesn’t necessarily, mean that yours is wrong. What works for your friend or colleague probably won’t work for you.

The two scenarios you want to avoid when planning your training frequency are:

• a lack of results, and
• injury or fatigue.

A lack of results is almost guaranteed to be caused by not training enough. You’re simply just not putting the work in. When it comes to weight loss, if you have a solid diet in place, then the calories you burn from exercise need to be enough to lead to steady, consistent fat loss. It’s slightly different if you’re training for strength, as a lack of results can also be caused by doing too much, but this will manifest itself with signs of fatigue and tiredness, linking us in with the second issue of injury and fatigue. These can be caused by poor form, or factors outside the gym, such as stress, a lack of sleep or poor diet, but is most often linked to training too frequently.

Take a look at the following options for training frequency, try each for two to three weeks, and decide what works best for you.

Options For Female Training Frequency

This section will mainly focus on frequency for weight training, with cardio recommendations added further down.

Low Frequency, High intensity Training

What it Involves – One session every five days or so, with only four to five exercises, each performed at absolute maximum intensity. You take each set to failure using a slow, controlled tempo, then perform extra intensity techniques such as drop sets, static holds, negatives, or partner-assisted reps.

Who’s it For? – Advanced trainers who have exhausted all other methods of higher frequency training and have extremely hectic schedules. It’s worth noting that your diet has to be absolutely one hundred percent spot on for this method of training as you won’t burn many calories from exercise. You also can’t afford to have an off-day – each session needs to be one hundred percent.

Semi-Low Frequency Training

What it Involves – One session per body part each week, using the typical bodybuilding set and rep schemes of three to five sets of eight to 12 reps per exercises, with five to six exercises per workout.

Who’s it For? – Intermediate and advanced women looking to build muscle. This approach works well during an off-season phase, as the sessions are hard work for your muscles, but not particularly high calorie-burners.

Moderate Frequency Training

What it Involves – Two upper body and two lower body, or three full body sessions each week.

Who’s it For? – Anyone! This type of training lends itself particularly well to fat loss however, as you’re working most, if not all of your body in every session, getting a great calorie burn and a large metabolism boost.

High Frequency Training

What it Involves – Training at least five or six days per week, hitting the same muscle groups each time.

Who’s it For? – Weightlifters and athletes mainly. However, it can work extremely well if you’re looking to improve a certain exercise. Many women for example, struggle with body-weight exercises such as pushups and pullups. A high frequency approach, whereby you perform multiple sets of each exercise every day can work wonders in improving your numbers. The key is to stop just shy of muscular failure on every set and maintain rep quality. The good news with this training is that due to the high frequency, high volume approach, you may be able to eat more calories while still improving body composition.

Runners and cardio athletes will also often favor this approach.

Cardio

Cardio, while extremely beneficial, should come second to weight training in your routine, unless you have cardio-specific goals. Weight training torches calories, builds lean muscle and ramps up your metabolism, creating a lighter, leaner you.

Fit cardio work in around your weight training and increase or decrease the amount you do depending on results.

If you’re on a very low frequency, high intensity plan, you’ll need a little more cardio, as your weights sessions are so infrequent. On a daily training frequency plan though, one session per week could be ample. Again, the key is to find what works best for you and stick with it.