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The age old question is ‘If i train more will i build and get fit quicker’. I suppose you can look at this from both personal experience and researched literature. Most people will ask the question when looking at training programs of elite athletes and bodybuilders, will this work the same for me. The definitive answer is NO. Firstly most bodybuilders (and a few elite athletes) are on performance enhancing substances that not only allow you to train harder, but also shorten recovery time.

Back in the 70’s there was an experiment (the Colorado experiment) done to “prove” that doing less is better. This is the curves method of training and is now proven to be not entirely useless but close to it. The American College of Sports Medicine states that the minimum amount of exercise done on a daily basis to maintain health is 30 min of moderate intensity exercise. So for any real gains we must exercise at a higher intensity and for longer.

Now in terms of increasing size and fitness there has to be a balance of training and rest & recovery. So for a normal person four days a week weights with at least 2 cardio sessions is all that is recommended. Anything more is overtraining which will lead to injury. However with supplementation the process of recovery can be sped up, and growth happed a lot quicker.

Again this is different between individual that is why you should always be mindful of your program and adapt it to meet your level of fitness and own capabilities.

Andrew Bulloch

Exercise Physiologist