Hypertrophy guide: My insights - Volume 3

Volume 3 - Duration of MYOPS and discussion about frequency within a training week

The Chris Beardsley and Jake Doleshal episode in their “Hypertrophy Past and Present” podcast on duration of MYOPS and training frequencies was fascinating, as it gave me further insight into my programming and factors to consider when programming volume at higher training frequencies. As a firm believer of high frequencies myself, it has often been important for me to find my “maximum recoverable volume,” or the amount of sets I could recover from per muscle in a training session before training that muscle again. Through a compilation of the studies done with truly recoverable volumes, both Chris and Jake estimate that if training a muscle three times per week, or every 48 hours, about three sets using moderate to heavy loads and six to fifteen reps will be recoverable for every muscle.

If training a muscle twice a week, five sets will likely be the cap of what is recoverable. In each of these studies, subjects performed sets either 1 RIR, meaning they left a rep in reserve before they fail, or to task failure, meaning they could not perform another full rep without a breakdown in form or leveraging of other muscles to assist. However, there is often a fear of training past what is recoverable when using a maximum recoverable volume, due to mechanisms such as excitation coupling contraction failure (ECCF) and what we know about how our body utilizes its resources. Chris and Jake used the example of workers, where if you assign ten workers to a job on Monday, and only seven are finished with the job on Wednesday, you only have seven workers that can complete a task on that day.

This is similar to training a muscle that is still repairing damage or is in a state of MYOPS, as all motor units cannot physically be accessed since the resources your body uses for repair are not yet available. One question many ask is why we try to find our maximum recoverable volume, especially if more volume leads to higher degrees of fatigue. However, it is important to understand that more volume and more stimulating reps is in fact more stimulus towards muscle growth. However, going past a certain volume will come with diminishing returns. This is why hypertrophy is a balancing act between finding the perfect stimulus to fatigue ratio, and is why many proponents of 2 times a week frequencies cite that many muscles may not be efficiently recovered while training 3 times a week.

There is a concurrent debate within the exercise science community of two versus three times a week frequency for training, as the outcomes and mechanisms do not align. While mechanistically it would make sense for three times a week to be superior due to the diminishing returns of volume and a greater number of first sets throughout a week, in the literature we do not see a difference between the two, even when volumes are recoverable. This brings up the debate about the true duration of MYOPS. Many believe that this is not an issue with the mechanisms in place, but an issue in our perception of how long MYOPS is elevated for. In order to train at a 3 time-per-week frequency, a full body split is necessary, which will come with a lot of exercises and intra session fatigue. Therefore, many opt to only do one set per muscle group in order to maximize their time in the gym. Those on a split with twice a week frequency, such as a traditional 4 day upper lower split, are likely going to be able to do three to four sets per muscle group in a workout.

If a singular set only elevates MYOPS to 29 hours, as we can see in Chris Beardsley’s weekly net stimulus model, in this case twice a week frequency would prevail as it has a greater ratio of stimulus despite lacking a higher frequency. Individual muscles also recover at different rates due to varying types of fiber dominance, and we can see within the exercise science literature that three sets of a unilateral leg extension at 6-12 reps per set was recoverable in 48 hours. However, we also know the quadriceps to be one of the fastest recovering muscles since it has lower levels of voluntary activation, meaning that muscles with high levels of voluntary activation and high proportion of type two muscle fibers such as the biceps and chest may take longer to recover from. Therefore, we likely cannot make the assumption that three sets using moderate to heavy loads and a moderate rep range (6-12) is recoverable for every muscle.

This could be another reason we see two and three times-per-week frequency as equal in the literature. However, in the end I agree with both Chris and Jake that this will be very individual dependent. I personally find that through using longer rest periods (3-5 minutes) and a lower rep range of 4-7, I can recover from three sets every 48 hours for almost all muscle groups. At the end of the day, it is interesting how one person may be able to recover from three sets in 48 hours, while another may only be able to recover from one. Those with a higher proportion of type one muscle fibers compared to type two fibers will be able to recover at a faster rate, leading them to be able to handle more volume. However, since type 2 fibers have more potential for growth and have greater cross sectional area, it is actually beneficial to have a higher proportion of type two muscle fibers.