Who it suits
- Experienced lifters who enjoy long sessions focused on one area.
- People who can train five days a week and like a fixed weekly routine.
How it works
Each muscle group gets one long session a week. On chest day, a common order is a barbell or dumbbell press first, then an incline press, then fly or cable work. Shoulders and triceps also work on chest day, so keep that in mind when you plan shoulder and arm days.
How to progress
- Because each muscle is trained once a week, all of its weekly volume lands in one session. About 10 or more hard sets a week per muscle group is a reasonable target for growth in trained lifters [1]; if a session gets so long that the last sets are sloppy, move some of that volume to another day.
- Add load to the first exercise of each day when you hit your target reps with good form.
Is training a muscle once a week enough?
It can work if the weekly volume is there. Many lifters find that splitting the same weekly sets over two sessions, as in push/pull/legs or upper/lower, keeps each session’s quality higher.
Other splits
- Push / Pull / Legs: 3 or 6 days a week
- Upper / Lower: 4 days a week
- Full Body: 2–4 days a week
Sources
- Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Sports Sci. 2017;35(11):1073–1082. Verified · checked 22 Oct 2026