Buzz
How many days make up your training week? For most of us, it's seven. But that’s only because we are creatures of habit, stuck in routines, unable to imagine a schedule that could be roughly seven days without being rigidly seven days.
Some of us even struggle with counting up to seven. (Let’s not forget the bodybuilders who once debated whether a standard week had seven or eight days.) But really, why do we expect our long runs to always happen on Saturdays, or bench pressing to be a Monday ritual? The calendar doesn’t have to dictate anything.
Extended “weeks” allow for greater recovery and added variety.
Many exercise programs schedule the most intense workouts for the weekend. This is particularly useful when it comes to long runs, as weekends tend to offer more time for such activities. For instance, it’s often easier to find a three-hour block on a Saturday than it is to carve out the same amount of time during a busy weekday.
The primary reason for scheduling tough workouts on weekends is recovery time. For example, after performing a heavy deadlift, your body may need a full week or even more before being ready for another similar session. Powerlifters and strongman athletes, in particular, may space their deadlifts ten days apart instead of every week or every other week to ensure proper recovery.
A longer training week can help add variety to your routine. For instance, if your long run is always on Saturday and you want to avoid intense training the day before or after, you’re left with just four days for strength training and speedwork. One solution is to extend the training week to nine days. This gives you space for long runs, strength training, tempo runs, and speedwork while leaving ample time for recovery.
If digital calendars feel too rigid, consider going old school and track your routine with pen and paper.
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Shorter training “weeks” allow you to fit more workouts into your schedule.
One potential downside of a longer training week is the extended recovery time between tough workouts. If you're not performing long runs or heavy deadlifts every weekend, it might be beneficial to condense your training schedule a bit.
For instance, many strength programs suggest lifting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In these cases, the only reason to take two rest days over the weekend rather than one is due to our tendency to follow the traditional calendar. In fact, many three-day workout routines can be effectively completed without a double rest day, allowing you to train every other day. By following this approach consistently for a year, you'd be able to fit in 26 additional workouts.
