Training once a week. Does it make sense?

At a time when Mike Mentzer first showed the world the book "Heavy Duty", people decided that he was out of his mind. In his book, Mike was preaching classes high-intensity workouts once in 5-7 days, and at the same time, the maximum load on the muscles should not be more than twenty minutes.

Mike Mentzer was firmly convinced that the majority of bodybuilders are "perekreditovanija" and so he talked about the importance of prolonged rest between high-intensity exercises. It seems that recent studies have shown that the truthfulness of the claims of Mentzer, but they can be attributed only to the young athletes.

Recently, scientists conducted an experiment to determine the impact of the reductions in the number of training sessions to once a week with the young athletes and older. In this experiment participated 70 persons (39 athletes aged 20 to 35 years and 31 athlete over the age of 60 years). During the first sixteen weeks, the study participants did 3 sets in 3 power exercises — squats, leg extension, leg press three times per week. During the subsequent thirty-two weeks athletes from the first group exercises was not engaged, and the second group trained one day a week, observing the same program, the third group did the exercises one day a week, but have made only one working approach. The results of the experiment, saying that after the cessation of exercise strength continue for quite a long time. One day a week is enough to preserve the results achieved at the appropriate level. A group of young athletes who trained once a week, but this has not reduced the amount of exercise continued to gain muscle volume. Athletes from the group in which he reduced the amount of training maintained muscle at the same level. And among the members of the senior group at this training volume to maintain muscle failed.

So is there any point in training once a week?

1. If you keep proper amount of exercise, even when training once a week can increase muscle mass, but this is true only for young athletes.

2. Athletes can devote time to training only once a week and get stronger and grow. But the athletes who are already in age, for keeping yourself in shape requires frequent exercise.