—— 选自Rogue (Health and Fitness) 网站（吉玛译）
How often should you lift weights to get good muscle growth? What’s the optimal frequency of workouts? While many fitness writers and bodybuilding websites say you should get to the gym many times a week, we’ll take a look at some evidence that once a week workouts are as good as three a week.
你应该举重多长时间才能获得良好的肌肉?锻炼的最佳频率是多少?尽管许多健身作家和健身网站说你应该每周去健身多次，我们还是要看看一些证据，证明每周锻炼一次就相当于每周锻炼三次
In a recent article, we saw that brief workouts produce significant strength gains. These workouts lasted only about 15 minutes, and were done twice a week. Maybe it’s possible to decrease the frequency too.
最近一篇文章中，我们看到简短的锻炼产生了显著的力量增益。这些锻炼只持续15分钟，一周做两次。或许也可以降低次数。
In a study of resistance training, a group of older men and women, age 65 to 79, were randomized to exercise programs of one, two, or three days a week. The program consisted of three sets each of eight different exercises. Note that the study calls it “high-intensity resistance training”, but given the number of sets done, it seems doubtful that it was what is normally referred to as high intensity. I suspect what was meant is that they just worked hard.
在一项针对耐力训练的研究中，一组年龄在65岁至79岁之间的老年男性和女性被随机分组，分别每周锻炼一、二、三次。这个项目包含三套不同的八项锻炼。值得注意的是，这项研究称其为“高强度的耐力训练”，但考虑到所做的每套锻炼的数量，似乎很难确定这是通常所说的高强度。我怀疑他们只是在努力锻炼而已。
The study lasted 24 weeks, or almost 6 months.
这项研究持续了24周，也就是将近6个月。
Results: there was no difference in muscle strength gains between any groups. Once a week was as good as two or three. Unfortunately, the abstract doesn’t state changes in body composition, although it does say that chair-rise ability was correlated to lean mass gains, and there was no difference between groups.结果:不同组间肌肉力量增加无明显差异。一周一次，就像两三次一样好。不幸的是，并没有说明身体成分的变化，尽管它确实表明，上升能力与精益质量的增加有关，而群体之间没有区别。
Another, more recent study found no difference in strength gains in older adults whether they worked out once or twice a week. This study lasted only 9 weeks.
另外，最近的一项研究发现，老年人每周锻炼一次或者两次并没有差别。这项研究持续了9周。
Yet another recent study comparing twice a week with three times a week workouts in adults over age 60 found:
然而，最近另一项研究比较了60岁以上的成年人每周两次和每周三次锻炼情况:
Chest press strength increased in both the 2 times/week and 3 times/week groups over the 8-week training period by 20.84% and 20.18%, respectively. Lower-body (leg press) strength also showed improvements in both groups: 22.34% in the 2 times/week group and 28.12% in the 3 times/week group. There was a slight, but nevertheless significant gain of lean body mass from pre-to post-training (2.4% and 1.9% for the 2 days and 3 days groups, respectively). However, functional performance remained unchanged in the groups. We found that short-term resistance training 2 times/week or 3 times/week elicited comparable muscle strength and lean body mass adaptations in older adults.
在8周训练期间，2次/周和3次/周群组胸部按压强度分别增加了20.84%和20.18%。两组下肢能力(腿部压力)均有改善:2次/周组22.34%，3次/周组28.12%。训练前后，脂肪除外体重有轻微的但是很重要的增加(2天和3天组分别为2.4%和1.9%)。但是，群组中的功能性能保持不变。我们发现，短期的耐力训练2次/周或3次/周可以使老年人获得类似的肌肉力量和瘦体适应能力。
Are there any studies showing greater gains with higher frequency training? Yes, at least one. However, it found increased strength gains only in half the exercises (knee extension and curls), while bench press and standing calf raise were the same for both.
有研究显示更高频率的训练能带来更大的收获吗? 是的,至少一个。然而，它发现只有一半的人在训练中(膝盖伸展和弯曲)力量增加，而卧推和站立的小腿的力量的提升两者都是一样的。
Conclusions and caveats
结论和说明
What are we to make of all of this?
我们该如何解释这一切?
All of the participants in these studies were older people. Perhaps it’s possible that younger people would have had different results.
这些研究的参与者都是老年人。也许年轻人会有不同的结果。
It’s doubtful that many actual bodybuilders work out once a week. But who knows — maybe they could.
令人怀疑的是，许多实际的健美运动员每周锻炼一次。但谁知道——，也许他们能。
Another issue is that of intensity, arguably the most important variable in training for muscle growth. If the participants were not training at high intensity, then volume becomes more important, and perhaps frequency less so. This study argues for higher volume being more important than higher frequency.
另一个问题是强度，可以说是肌肉生长训练中最重要的变量。如果参与者没有高强度的训练，那么量就会变得更重要，也许频率就会降低。该研究认为，量大比更高频更重要。
My own workout routine uses a two-way split, and I train twice week, and therefore exercise each muscle group only once a week. However, there’s a lot of overlap between muscle groups, e.g. you can’t work out the chest without using shoulders, or do rows without training arms. So in fact some muscle groups get trained more than once a week.
我自己的锻炼方式是双向的，我每周锻炼两次，因此各种你肌肉每周锻炼一次。然而，肌肉群之间有很多重叠，比如你需要用肩膀来锻炼胸肌，或者不用划来锻炼手臂。事实上，一些肌肉组织一周不止训练一次。
I’m unsure what definitive conclusions we can reach regarding those of us who want maximum muscle gains. While genetics and diet are important, and most or all competitive bodybuilders use PEDs, maybe a greater training frequency could overcome some genetic limitations. Or possibly not.
对于我们这些想要获得最大肌肉收益的人来说，我不确定我们能得出什么样的结论。虽然基因和饮食是很重要的，但大多数或所有参赛的健美运动员使用的是PEDs，也许高训练频率可以克服一些遗传上的限制。或者不是。
The point is, more is not necessarily better. Those who want maximum muscle gains may have to experiment to see what works best. Those who want to gain strength and function and better health might be satisfied with once weekly weight training.
关键是，多多不一定益善。想要获得最大的肌肉增益的人可能需要试试看什么效果最好。那些想要获得力量和性能和健康的人可能会对每周一次的体重训练感到满意。
Added: For good cardiovascular fitness, you probably need to exercise more than once a week. I don’t want to imply that you don’t. The above considerations apply to strength and muscle growth.
此外，为了保持良好的心血管健康，你可能需要每周锻炼一次以上。我不想暗示你没有。以上的注意事项有益于力量和肌肉的生长。
Link: Once A Week Workouts Are As Good As Three