When we're young, we have lots of energy, we recover well, and we can train less frequently – 2-3 days – take the time to recover, and grow. The environment is very favorable in our teenage years and 20s and all we've got to do is show up and blast a few workouts per week, eat right, and sleep. This is the era of 1.5-2 hour gym sessions and we don't even bat an eye about it. I don't think those long gym sessions are necessary, but the fact is, young folk can get away with them.
As we get older, we have less free time, less energy, but we seem to need more training frequency to keep progressing, and eventually even just to maintain peak form. Yet, we usually don't recover as well as we did when we were younger.
The trick here is to train more frequently but while taking advantage of shorter training sessions.
I've also learned that, as I advance in lifting experience and in age, splitting the body up into different parts is beneficial for recovery, allows me to complete my training in a shorter period of time (about 30 minutes) and encourages greater training frequency.
This is one reason why I've enjoyed my 30 minute PPL splits (and similar splits/programs) over the past 4 years or so.
I pick 3-4 exercises, do 3 sets per exercise, and train around 4-6 days per week. But even if I only complete 3 days per week, I'm still doing the minimum effective dose.
Focusing on 1/3rd of the body at a time allows my muscles to recover throughout the week, but also encourages me to train frequently. The sessions are only about 25-35 minutes long, so they don't sap energy from me. Instead, these short, focused sessions leave me feeling refreshed and energized.
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