The more work you put into something, the better results you will
achieve. This has always been a widely accepted truth that applies
to many areas of life. The harder you study, the better grades you
will achieve. The more time you spend fine-tuning your athletic
skills, the better athlete you will become. The longer you spend
learning to play an instrument, the better musician you will become.
Therefore, it only makes sense that the more time you spend in the
gym, the stronger and more muscular your physique will become,
correct? Contrary to what you might think, the answer to this
question is a gigantic, definite, absolute no! It is in this area of
bodybuilding that conventional wisdom goes straight out the
window, down the street and around the corner.

I know what you might be asking yourself…

“What? Spending less time in the gym will actually make me
bigger and stronger?”

Yes! It really will, and when we examine the muscle-growth
process from its most basic roots, it becomes quite clear why
this is the case.

Every single process that occurs within the human body is centered
around keeping you alive and healthy. Through thousands of years
of evolution the human body has become quite a fine-tuned
organism that can adapt well to the specific conditions that are placed
upon it. We become uncomfortable when we are hungry or thirsty, we
acquire a suntan when high amounts of UV rays are present, we build
calluses to protect our skin, etc. So what happens when we break
down muscle tissue in the gym? If you answered something to the
effect of "the muscles get bigger and stronger", then congratulations!

You are absolutely correct. By battling against resistance
beyond the muscle's present capacity we have posed a threat to the
musculature. The body recognizes this as potentially harmful and as a
natural adaptive response the muscles will hypertrophy (increase in size)
to protect the body against this threat. As we consistently increase
the resistance from week to week the body will continue to adapt and
grow.

Sound simple? Ultimately it is, but the most important thing to
realize in relation to all of this is that the muscles can only grow
bigger and stronger if they are provided with sufficient recovery time.

Without the proper recovery time, the muscle growth process simply
cannot take place.

Your goal in the gym should be to train with the minimum amount of
volume needed to yield an adaptive response. Once you have pushed
your muscles beyond their present capacity and have triggered your
thousand-year-old evolutionary alarm system, you have done your job.
Any further stress to the body will simply increase your recovery time,
weaken the immune system and send your body into catabolic overdrive.

Most people train way too often and with far more sets than they really
need to. High intensity weight training is much more stressful to the
body than most people think. The majority of people structure their
workout programs in a manner that actually hinders their gains and
prevents them from making the progress that they deserve. Here are
3 basic guidelines that you should follow if you want to achieve maximum
gains:

1) Train no more than 3 days per week.

2) Do not let your workouts last for longer then 1 hour.

3)  Perform 5-8 sets for large muscle groups (chest, back, thighs)
and 2-4 sets for smaller muscle groups (shoulders, biceps, triceps,
calves, abs).

Take all sets to the point of muscular failure and focus on progressing in
either weight or reps each week. If you truly train hard and are consistent,
training more often or any longer than this will be counterproductive to
your gains!