How often should you squat, bench, and deadlift?
Take-aways
Higher frequencies generally lead to better strength gains than lower frequencies, even on a volume-matched basis.
Consider benching/squatting at least 3x/week and deadlifting twice rather than once a week.
The mechanisms may have to do with distributed practice and greater maintenance of load.
Last week, we covered the role of frequency for muscle hypertrophy. You may have wondered about the role of frequency for strength development. Today, we’ll cover StrongerByScience’s meta-analysis on that exact topic.
As a reminder, training frequency refers to how often an exercise is trained across a given week. For the purposes of this breakdown, this will include close variations of a given exercise (e.g. close grip bench as an accessory for the competition bench press).
Thirteen studies were included in this analysis. To be included, studies needed to be volume-equated.
Here’s what they found.
When frequencies were simply categorized into “higher” and lower”, higher frequencies resulted in significantly more strength gains - a “small” effect size, in statistical terms (d = 0.21; 95%CI: 0.08-0.45). Notably, this effect size is larger than it was for hypertrophy (0.21 vs 0.11).
When frequency was instead viewed as a continuous variable (from a movement being trained 1x a week to 4+x a week, above), a positive linear relationship emerged.
Why?
A few different interpretations or potential mechanisms exist when thinking about why higher frequencies lead to better strength gains. To me, two seem the most likely and are likely both at-play.
First, practicing a movement/skill more frequently probably leads to better learning vs doing it in large, infrequent bouts. There’s a whole area of research dedicated to this (massed vs distributed practice) and it likely does apply to the skill of strength movements, too. By performing these movements more frequently, lifters may be able to refine their technique a little better.
Second, by distributing sets across the week, you may be able to maintain the load on the bar a little better, leading to heavier loading. For 1RM strength, heavier training (at higher % of 1RM) consistently results in better strength gains than lighter training. So, part of the benefit may stem from simply lifting heavier across the week.
Generally, I’ve seen better results when lifters squat at least 3x/week, bench at least 3-4x/week and deadlift twice a week vs squatting 1-2x/wk, benching 1-2x/week or only deadlifting once a week.