What Are The Best 3 Days A Week Workout Schedules For Building Muscle?

Lately, I’ve been receiving a lot of requests for new and different ways to set up a weekly weight training schedule with 4 workouts per week (that are not upper lower splits).

The number of requests I’ve gotten for workout plans that take only 3 days per week has been on the rise as well. SinceI covered 4 day workouts in a previous post, today I want to talk about 3 day workouts.

In this post,  I’ll share 8 great ways you can set up a 3 days a week workout schedule. If you only want to train 3 days a week, but you still want to make serious muscle gains, this is exactly what you’ve been looking for.

Why So Many People Want 3 Days A Week Workouts

The increasing demand for lower frequency training schedules (4 days or even only 3 days a week ) isn’t surprising for a couple of reasons.

One is that here in our community, we have an older demographic that’s skewed toward the 40 to 60 age group. What a lot of people are finding is that as they age, they can’t recover from the advanced lifting programs they used to be able to follow when they were 20 and 30 somethings.

Even if they don’t have arthritis or orthopedic problems, training 5 days a week (let alone 6 or 7) leaves them feeling beat up and suffering from prolonged general fatigue and specific muscle soreness.

These kinds of high frequency (and or high volume) workouts can make even younger folks feel overtrained unless they have better than average muscle-building genetics and recovery capacity.

After trying less frequent training (4 days or even just 3 days per week), to their pleasant surprise, many people not only find themselves feeling refreshed and recovered, with fewer aches and pains, they also find that major muscle and strength gains keep coming in even with fewer workouts per week.

At the very least, people are discovering that with only 3 brief workouts a week, they can easily maintain the muscle they already have.

Another reason is that in virtually every formal survey ever done, most people say the number one perceived barrier to exercising consistently is lack of time.

But there are many ways you make workouts more time efficient. Using techniques like supersets, drop sets, rest pause or doing things as simple as cutting the rest periods between sets can all help make workouts shorter. You can see even more time efficiency techniques in our extensive report here:

The Best Time Efficient Training Tactics To Build Muscle And Strength, According To Science

What many people don’t consider is the idea that reducing training frequency – the number of workouts you do every 7 days – is also a efficiency tactic on it’s own.

After all, training only 3 days a week saves time even if you don’t use any of the other techniques that get you in and out of the gym quicker, right? When you combine a lower frequency with all the other time saving methods, your workouts can become unbelievably efficient. To think 3 workouts a week that only take 30 or 40 minutes can build significant muscle is exciting for busy people.

A common objection some people raise is they worry that 3 days a week of resistance training isn’t enough to get results. They’ve heard that at least 4 days a week is ideal and even 5 days a week or more is necessary for advanced lifters and physique athletes. (It’s well-known that some bodybuilders train 6 days a week, at least before competitions).

No doubt about it, training schedules with 4 workouts a week are popular, proven and can produce results virtually the same as 5 days a week or darn close to it. Our original default training program, TNB-28 calls for 4 workouts a week. This is also the training plan found in my book, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (If you’re one of our new readers and you don’t have this classic book, it’s a muscle read and timeless reference guide).

But you don’t have to train 4 days a week or more, and since we already covered all the best 4 days per week training programs in a previous post, on this page below we’ll focus only on 3 days a week muscle-building workouts.  I’ll list 8 of the best routines, and I’ll also explain why this lower frequency of training can still be effective.

Is A 3 Day Workout Any Good?

Before I show you my list of  3 day training schedules, you might be wondering, “Can lifting only 3 days a week really build any major muscle? I thought you had to train almost every day to get maximum gains?”

Here’s one way to answer the question: The standard scientific guideline today is that about 10 sets per body part per week for major muscles (a little less for small muscles) can optimize muscle gains. If you do more than 10 sets (upwards of 20) per week, yes you can gain more muscle, but not much more. Plus that all depends on whether you can recover from higher volume training. Not everyone has the genetics of a pro bodybuilder.

If you can hit this weekly volume benchmark with only 3 workouts a week, you can get near optimal gains.

What if you can’t? What if that’s too many sets? Well, you probably can if you try. 10 sets a week per muscle is like doing 4 sets for thighs on Monday, 3 sets for thighs on Wednesday and 3 sets for thighs on Friday. One exercise, 3 to 4 sets, 3 days a week. That’s do-able isn’t it?

If you can’t even swing that, good news is there’s also strong evidence that you can get significant muscle gains with only 6 sets per large muscle per week! That is not a lot of sets. It’s certainly not like being in the gym for hours at a time or lifting 6 days a week.

You may find it hard to believe, but there’s research showing that the minimum effective dose is even lower. If you do only 3 to 5 sets a week, you will build at least some muscle. This might be something like 1 or 2 really hard sets for each muscle, Monday, Wednesday And Friday. Is this optimal? No.

The point is, if you get your butt in the gym just 3 days a week and do something you can make gains on infrequent workouts, as long as you follow a handful of best practice training principles which we teach here on our site and that I’ve been teaching in Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle and my other training books for years.

Understanding how many sets it takes to stimulate muscle gain is one of the key principles for optimizing gains. As you’d expect, it’s also important to train hard (at a high enough intensity), which is pushing within a rep or two of failure. And perhaps the most important principle of all for long term continuing gains is to use progressive overload.

The Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle Guide To Building Muscle With Progressive Overload Training

The Best 3-Days A Week Workouts

I hope what you just read is encouraging, especially if in the past you were one of those all or nothing types of lifters… “Eh, I can’t follow the perfect routine, so I might as well not train at all.”

Another thing that has stopped a lot of people is that they believe 3 days a week workouts are only for beginners. It’s true that full body workouts 3 days a week are a great way for beginners to start resistance training, but it’s false that 3 days a week workouts are only for beginners.

The 3 days a week workout can be used by anyone:

• It’s a great option for time restricted people who have busy weeks and simply can’t commit to more than 3 days a week in the gym.
• It’s a great option for people who don’t seem to recover well from doing a lot of volume for a single muscle or two in a single session. (bodybuilding-style training).
• It’s also a good choice for people who are recreational lifters and not planning on getting huge and posing on stage at the Mr or Ms Universe contest.

Most advanced bodybuilders use body part split routines, but even physique athletes could use 3 days a week workouts at times for various reasons. Their default method most of the time might be body part splits and higher weekly training frequency, but if their life circumstances change (new baby, moving, new job, need to recover from hard training cycle, or simply maintain for a while, etc), it could make perfect sense to scale back to only lifting 3 times week.

Lifting 3 times per week can be effective for building strength too, especially when the main focus is all the big compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, rows and presses. Proof here is the fact that some powerlifters train only 3 days per week and they’re pretty damn strong.

So with that introduction out of the way, now let’s start digging into some of the best 3 day workout schedule options.

3 Days A Week Full Body Training With Same 3 Workouts Each Day (Basic Full Body Workout)

To circle back to the beginner, there is one type of 3 day schedule in particular that works great in the early weeks or months of training. That is 3 full body workouts every other day (such as Monday, Wednesday and Friday), where the same exercises are repeated each workout.

The upside for beginners is that because weight lifting is a skill, the more often you practice an exercise in the novice stage, the quicker you develop that skill of using proper form.

The downside is that with advancing training age, the repeated bout effect sees to it that your body adapts more quickly. At some stage, more variety, or periodization (switching, cycling or alternating of exercises and training variables) is needed to keep gains coming.

Another downside is that doing the same exercises for a long training block of 2 to 3 months or more can get boring. Fortunately, with newbie gains coming in at a roaring pace in those early months, motivation is fairly easy to sustain.

Here’s what this basic lifting schedule looks like:

The important thing to remember about this type of 3 days a week workout schedule is that when you’re training your full body at every workout, you should not train two days in a row. Instead you should train every other day.

One thing you can do is customize this routine and any other 3 days a week workout in a variety of ways to suit your schedule and personal preferences. Here are some examples:

Monday, Wednesday, Saturday
Monday, Thursday, Saturday
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday
Tuesday, Friday, Sunday
Wednesday, Friday, Sunday

You also have some flexibility where if you ever need to skip a day of training, you could still make up the workout before the week is over. If your standard schedule is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and if something comes up on Wednesday and you miss, you can simply hit the other two workouts on Thursday and Saturday.

3 Days A Week Full Body Training Rotating 2 Different Routines (A-B Full Body Workout)

Next, let’s look at the 3 days a week full body training schedule where you alternate between 2 different full body workouts with different exercises each time.

Remember how I mentioned that when you get more experienced and get more and more months of training under your belt how your body will adapt when you keep repeating the same workout over and over too many times in a row? And, how it also gets boring? Well, there’s a remedy for both those problems.

People in the intermediate to advanced stage usually do better with exercise rotation. What this means is you create 2 different workouts that still hit the whole body, but the exercises are different every other workout. On a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule, it would look like this:

Now remember, you are not going to do workout A every Monday and Friday. This is a rotating schedule, so on week 2 on Monday you pick up again with workout B. You continue to rotate workouts A and B every other session.

3 Days A Week Full Body Training Rotating 3 Different Routines (A-B-C Full Body Workout)

If you thought rotating 2 different full body routines was interesting, you can take this to the next level and create 3 different full body workouts, A, B and C, and rotate them.

Why would you want to rotate this many different workouts each? Well, this will be even less boring and can keep even advanced lifters engaged and more interested in their training.

Even better, you get exposure to more exercises, which works your body from more angles. This could even help reduce overuse injuries which might be caused by doing the same exercise every time without any variety. You need consistency to achieve progressive overload, but variety is important too.

If there’s any downside, it might be that for less experienced lifters and beginners, this type of full body workout might feel overwhelming since you have to learn and correctly perform so many different exercises. There’s more complexity to this kind of schedule. That’s why this full body workout plan is better for advanced or at least intermediate trainees. Keeping with the popular Monday, Wednesday, Friday workout schedule, it would look like this:

In this case, you do follow the same schedule every week. Every Monday is full body workout A, every Wednesday is full body workout B and every Friday is full body workout C. It’s still a rotating schedule, but this time it fits evenly into a calendar week. (It’s weekly rotation not daily rotation). Because the workout changes more often, you’re less likely to adapt and plateau early in a training block, and you won’t get bored with this much day by day variety. Super neat, huh?

3 Workouts A Week With A 2 Day Rotating Split

Now is where is starts to get ultra interesting. That’s because here is where we are still training only 3 days a week, but we are leaving full body workouts behind and getting into 2-day splits. A 2 day split is where you train half your body one day and the other half on the other.

There are a lot of ways to divide the body parts on a 2-day split, but for simplicity we’re going to use the tried and tested upper-lower split:

Workout A: upper body
Workout B: Lower body and abs

Maybe you’ve seen this split before (it’s popular with our Inner Circle members). But the thing is, most people do this routine on a 4 days a week schedule like Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

We’re using the same 2-way split but scaling it back to only 3 workouts a week. To make it work, we’re using the exercise rotation concept again. Here’s what it might look like if we keep sticking to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule:

Again, remember what a rotating schedule means. Don’t do workout A Every Monday and every Friday. You’d be hitting your upper body twice a week and upper body only once a week. You’d have a hulking upper body and scrawny stick legs! Well, not really. You’d still look great. But you might be a little out of balance. That’s why we rotate the workouts A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B indefinitely every other session.

But wait… What if you’re a “quadzilla”, but you’re on the skinny side up top? Well in that case, you might want to hit upper body twice a week and lower body only once a week. Which is a perfect segue into… 3 workouts a week muscle priority training…

3 Workouts A Week With A 2 Day Rotating Split For Upper Body Priority Training

Many aesthetics-oriented lifters don’t feel like their body is well balanced. They look in the mirror and notice that some muscles are more developed than others. They want to do something to get their body looking better proportioned.

Other people actually want some muscles to be bigger to others. These days there are a lot of female physique athletes want to build up their thigh muscles and get big, round (and firm) glutes. There have also always been a lot of male bodybuilders who want to build a huge chest and arms (“suns out, guns out”) and could care less about building more mass on their legs.

In either case, people like this sometimes do more sets per workout for priority muscles and or train those muscles more often. Creating a split routine where you work certain muscles more often than others is call body part priority training, or specialization training.

Granted, serious physique athletes usually train 4, 5, sometimes even 6 days a week, but yes, you can do body part priority training with only 3 workouts a week. Doing it on the 2-day split is a good way to schedule it. Here’s an example:

This is not a rotating schedule. This is a fixed schedule. Every Monday and Friday you train upper body (twice a week). Every Wednesday, you train lower body. It works the other way too…

3 Workouts A Week With A 2 Day Split For Lower Body Muscle Specialization

Everyone has different goals. And almost everyone has easy gaining body parts and fast gaining body parts. So it’s no surprise that so many people want to prioritize the slower growing muscles. For some people, it’s the lower body they want focus on more..

For lower body priority training, a 3 day workout schedule might look like this

Again this is not a rotating schedule. Every Monday and Friday is lower body day and every Wednesday is upper body day, every week.

The 3 X 3 Split: 3 Day Split, 3 Days A Week

Next, here’s how you schedule a 3 day split with only 3 workouts a week. I call this a 3 X 3 split.

Just so there’s no confusion, let me clarify that the term split or split routine is not how many workouts you do in a calendar week. A split or split routine is how many ways you split up your body parts.

You can do an upper – lower split, which is a 2-day split routine. Or in this 3 days a week workout routine, we use a 3 way split.

Here are the 2 most popular ways to run a 3-day split:

Push-pull-legs:
Day 1: Chest, shoulders, triceps (push muscles)
Day 2: Back, Biceps, Abs (pull muscles)
Day 3: Quads, hams, glutes/hips, calves (leg muscles)

3 Day Classic Muscle:
Day 1: Chest, Back, Abs
Day 2: Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps, Forearms
Day 3: Quads, hams, glutes/hips, calves

It’s unconventional to run a 3 day split 3 days a week. Some people would argue that it’s not optimal for muscle gains because each muscle is worked only once a week.

But remember what I said about the number of sets per week for optimizing muscle gains. There is scientific evidence that as long as you can hit those ideal volume benchmarks for the whole week, you can still make excellent gains.

Mostly, it means you have to do a lot of sets for each muscle group in a single workout to make this work well. A 3 day split with only 3 workouts per week looks like this if you choose the push-pull-legs split and schedule it Monday, Wednesday And Friday:

Some people would (sarcastically) call this a “bro split” (because it’s a bodybuilding-style body part split and each muscle is worked only once a week). This type of schedule may indeed not be optimal compared to some other splits, but it does work if you follow all the muscle-building training practices, including hitting the weekly volume benchmarks. And some people really like it.

The 2/1 Hybrid Split 3 Days A Week

Now, here is one of the most unique ways to set up a split routine of all. It’s called a Hybrid Split

This is where you don’t do only full body workouts and you don’t do only split workouts either. You combine both into the same week. Previously, we published a 5 day hybrid split routine called 2/3 Hybrid M.A.S.S. And just this month we released a 4 day program called 3/1 Hybrid Muscle.  But as I’ve mentioned in this post, not everyone wants to train 4 days a week, let alone 5

That’s why in January, we will be releasing the third in the Hybrid Muscle Trilogy, a program called 2/1 Hybrid Muscle. I’ll be writing more about this new and unique 3 day program in upcoming posts, but for today, let me show you how the split routine works:

As you can see, this is an unusual training schedule that includes two days using an upper-lower split, and then a full body workout. It’s unique and incredibly effective because each muscle is worked two days a week. It’s also time efficient.

Wrapping Up

I hope this post gave you a lot of great ideas for different weekly schedules you can try.

I realize I only gave you weekly training schedules, not entire workout routines with exercises, sets, reps and other training variables. But the whole idea of this post was to answer the question in the title, “What Are The Best 3 Days A Week Workout Schedules For Building Muscle?” Plus, if I kept going on listing full workout routines, this blog post would scroll for pages and end up the length of a small book.

Keep your eye out for  future posts here at Burn the Fat Blog, because I’ll be sharing some examples of what a complete 3 days a week workout would look like, including exercises, sets, and reps and more tips to get the most out of 3 day training plans.

For access to the our library of over a dozen complete training plans, including 3, 4, and 5 days a week schedules, join the Burn the Fat Inner Circle. Membership includes access to the entire archive of previous releases as well as our brand new (just released December 2022) 3/1 Hybrid muscle program (a 4-days per week muscle building plan). Join in December and you lock in (get “grandfathered”) the current low monthly rate before rates go up next year:

NOT A MEMBER? To learn more about joining Burn the Fat Inner Circle, CLICK HERE

MEMBERS: To browse our Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle training program library CLICK HERE

Until next time,

Train hard and expect success!

-Tom Venuto, Author of, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM)
Author, The BFFM Guide To Flexible Meal Planning For Fat Loss
Founder, Burn the Fat Inner Circle

Related: The Best 4 Days A Week Workout Schedules

PS. Even if you have a great training plan, you won’t get far if you don’t have your nutrition dialed in. If you need help with meal planning, be sure to check out The Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle Guide To Meal Planning For Fat Loss.

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About Tom Venuto
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilding and fat loss coach. He is also a recipe creator specializing in fat-burning, muscle-building cooking. Tom is a former competitive bodybuilder and is today a full-time fitness writer, blogger, and author. His book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle is an international bestseller, first as an ebook and now as a hardcover and audiobook. The Body Fat Solution, Tom’s book about emotional eating and long-term weight maintenance, was an Oprah Magazine and Men’s Fitness Magazine pick. Tom is also the founder of Burn The Fat Inner Circle – a fitness support community with over 52,000 members worldwide since 2006. Click here for membership details

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The War Of Art By Steven Pressfield Book Review

This post contains Amazon affiliate links to a book we have read, reviewed and recommend. View book review on Amazon: amzn.to/3VkQXdP

Published in 2002, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is about breaking through blocks that hold you back and disciplining yourself to do important work and pursue your calling. This book is aimed at creative artists, especially writers. But it contains lessons for anyone pursuing growth in any area who feels blocked by self-sabotaging behavior or failure to act.

The premise of The War of Art is that there are hidden forces working against us, leading to inaction, distraction, procrastination, complacency, fear and self-destructive behavior. The author calls these forces “resistance.” They exist within us as negative tendencies or programming in our subconscious. The resistance may also be outside us, as in associations with the wrong people, or addiction to distractions (which today includes social media).

Resistance doesn’t only affect writers. It hits people in endeavors such as business, education, breaking bad habits and even, wrote Pressfield, “Any diet or health regimen.” The back cover blurb says, “Dream about writing the great American novel? Regret not finishing your paintings? Wish you could start dieting or exercising today? Hope to run a marathon some day? Resistance is what holds us back from these undertakings.”

The War of Art is divided into three parts. In part one, Defining The Enemy, Pressfield describes the insidious nature of resistance. He explains it from his perspective as a writer, but lists many activities that elicit resistance. This includes any pursuit that calls for rejecting instant gratification in favor of long-term growth, health or integrity. He also warns of the cost of giving in to resistance.

In part two, Combatting Resistance, you’re encouraged that resistance can be beaten. The way is by turning pro and ceasing to act like an amateur. You learn that this is not an easy task. You only turn pro by practicing self-discipline and pursuing self-mastery for life.

Here’s a partial list of what Pressfield says turning pro looks like:

1. The pro shows up every day no matter what.
2. The pro is committed for the long haul.
3. The pro knows the stakes are high and real.
4. The pro masters the technique of their craft.
5. The pro doesn’t accept excuses.
6. The pro keeps working with the cards he is dealt.
7. The pro is a student of the game for life and open to coaching.
8. The pro reinvents himself.
9. The pro endures adversity.
10. The pro is patient.

The third part of The War of Art is called, Beyond Resistance: Higher Realm. Some readers might find this part strange or even off-putting as it touches on spiritual / metaphysical topics. The author uses the term “muse” or even “angels” to describe the invisible source of inspiration that spurs us on to do our work. However, depending on your belief system, you could conceptualize this two ways:

One, this is the subconscious. This powerful part of our mind stores everything we’ve ever seen, read and experienced and can call it up into conscious awareness. It can also assemble old ideas and knowledge into new combinations. It is the wellspring of our creativity. Two, there’s a universal consciousness. This is a higher power, creative in nature, and possessing all knowledge. We are connected to it, or one with it in individualized form. We can call on it. But we can also cut ourselves off from this inspiration if we identify only with the ego and physical self.

The second interpretation appears more powerful, infinitely so. In either case, the author does not suggest just sitting around to pray, meditate, or think positive. The key is setting an intention and then starting the work. You commit to show up and simply begin no matter what. As you begin, you ask for guidance (“invoke the muse”), and the beneficent unseen forces show up. You’re inspired to keep taking action. You’re infused with energy. Ideas keep popping into your head.

A core message is that we are creative and growth-oriented beings by nature, and we have a channel to a creative source. Failure to act on our higher urges, do our work and create something or grow as a person means a life unlived, and cheating others out of our potential contributions.

Pressfield has a unique and impactful style. There are a couple F bombs, but colorful language is not gratuitous. At 165 pages, you can zip through the book quickly, especially because some pages contain only one paragraph. I can understand how this book might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but as a fitness professional and a writer, it resonated strongly with me. On the cover, a blurb from Esquire says, “… a kick in the ass.” That’s exactly how I’d describe it too.

Get the book – this is our Amazon Associate’s link: amzn.to/3VkQXdP

Disclosure: Burn the Fat Inner Circle posts may use affiliate links to third-party websites and online stores such as Amazon. When readers purchase a product or book, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to the reader, which helps support our website. We only link to books or products we have read, reviewed and recommend. However, even though we may endorse a book, always do your own due diligence when making a purchase from any third party website.

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To Gain Maximum Muscle, Should You Train Each Body Part Once a Week or Twice A Week?

One of the biggest training debates making its way through the bodybuilding and fitness community in recent years has to do with the ideal training frequency: If your goal is building more muscle, should you train each muscle group once a week or twice a week? (Or somewhere in between?) If you listen to most coaches and trainers today, you’ll probably hear them say it’s ideal work each muscle twice per week. However, based on recent research as well as observation of what’s working for top bodybuilders, the answer about training frequency may not be so cut and dried. In today’s post, Tom Venuto gives a unique and open-minded answer to a reader’s question on this topic.

Q: Hey Tom, what’s better, working each muscle once a week or twice a week? I’m on the thin side and I want to gain muscle mass. I’ve been doing a lot of reading online and a recurring theme lately is that recent studies say training each muscle twice a week gives you better growth. My confusion is because first, I’ve been training each muscle once a week (almost – it’s more like once every six days), on a body part split routine, and it’s working. I’ve been training for one year and in the last 6 months alone, when I switched to my current split, I put on 11 pounds of muscle. Second, it seems like most of the top bodybuilders are doing body part split routines and one muscle per week too. If studies say twice a week is better, how do we explain so many bodybuilders winning contests while training each muscle only once a week?

[Note: For all readers: When we say “frequency” in this article, we are not talking about the total number of workouts per week, we are referring to how many times you work each body part each week. For example, do you train chest (ie, bench press) once every 7 days or twice every 7 days?].

A: This is an important question, because for the past decade, I’ve also noticed the shift in preference in favor of the twice a week training frequency being optimal for gaining muscle. Some studies do support the contention that twice a week is better. And yet, this subject is still debated to this day for the exact reasons you mentioned – many, if not the majority, of advanced bodybuilders have continued to use body part split routines that work each muscle only once a week.

The short answer is that if you gained 11 pounds of muscle in six months using a body building style routine (a body part split), where you worked each muscle only once every six days, your results are the only evidence you need that training each muscle group once every six days is effective.

Could you have done even better? Will you continue to make optimal gains if you never change your training frequency? Those are not bad questions to ask. But your results were outstanding no matter what standard for comparison you use. Keep doing more of what’s working for you. 11 pounds of muscle in 6 months? What more can you ask for? (especially when those are natural gains).

Now let me elaborate on this with the long answer, because how many times a week to train each muscle is a more complex question than it seems.

Proponents of the twice a week training frequency are often vocal, arguing that bodybuilders who still do body part routines that only work each muscle once a week are “bros” living in the dark ages. (In fact, routines working each body part once a week are widely known as “bro splits.”) Some are adamant and insist you must train each muscle twice a week (or even 3 times) or else you leave gains on the table.

This is despite the fact that a large number of the top bodybuilding champions still train with a frequency lower than twice a week and clearly thrive on it.

In a 2013 study by Hackett, a research group followed 127 competitive bodybuilders to assess their training and nutrition practices. They found that twice a week (on a 3-day split) frequencies as well as once a week (5 day split) frequencies were both used by successful athletes. In fact, they noted that 7 out of 10 elite bodybuilders in their sample reported working each muscle only once per week.

If there’s a growing body of scientific evidence saying that a twice a week frequency is better, but champion bodybuilders are continuing to succeed on lower frequencies, how do we explain this paradox?

Before I answer, just so you get a picture of what we’re talking about, let me give two examples of weekly training schedules, one that works each muscle group twice a week and one that works each muscle group once a week:

The 2 day split – upper body / lower body (Twice every 7 days frequency)

This is a popular and mainstream routine you see followed by trainees with a wide variety of goals, including muscular development. After training upper body on Monday, you work upper body again on Thursday, just 3 days later, then 4 days later, after the weekend.

Monday: upper body
Tuesday: Lower body, abs
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: upper body
Friday: lower body, abs
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off
Repeat 2 on 1 off, 2 on 2 off weekly schedule

The 5-Day Body Part (“Bro”) Split (Once every 7 days training frequency)

Now on the opposite end of the spectrum, here is a routine you see usually followed only by advanced or competitive bodybuilders. After training chest on Monday, you don’t work chest again until the next Monday, 7 days later. Because fewer body parts are worked in each session, more exercises are performed for each muscle group (much more volume per workout).

Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Back
Wednesday: Shoulders
Thursday: Arms
Friday: Thighs
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off
Repeat 5 on 2 off schedule
* some people insert a rest day during the week and train one day on the weekend.
* abs and calves schedule may vary.

The 4-Day Body Part (“Bro”) Split (Once every 7 days training frequency)

A similar schedule could be created with a 4-way split.

Monday: Chest, Triceps
Tuesday: Back, Biceps
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Shoulders, Abs
Friday: Legs
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off

So which training schedule is better – once or twice a week training?

The first thing I want to point out is that while this is a common question, asking it creates a false dichotomy. The way the question is phrased, it’s suggesting that either twice a week or once a week training is the right way, thereby excluding the middle, presuming there is only one right way, and or suggesting that all the other ways are wrong.

What about training each muscle group once every four days? Or five days? Or six days? That’s neither once a week nor twice a week. Couldn’t the ideal frequency for various individuals fall somewhere in that middle range? Also, what if you want to change your frequency over the year instead of just sticking with one?

The “which is better, once or twice” question seems to ignore the possibility that both types of schedules could work.

In addition, do we have to arrange our training according to a calendar week at all? Does the 7 day week have anything to do with our physiology or is it just a convenient way to organize a schedule in our society? A 7-day week gives us a very practical structure to work in, and that’s why so many people prefer it, but fitting workouts neatly into a 7-day week doesn’t necessarily improve results.

Some critics of once a week bodybuilding routines say that succeeding on a traditional bodybuilder’s one body part a week frequency is only possible with steroids, which improve recovery time. But if that were true, wouldn’t that mean the drug-taking bodybuilders could train more often, not less, because the drugs enhanced their recovery ability?

When you look at it that way, the argument that only steroid-using bodybuilders can use a once a week frequency doesn’t even make sense. I think what they mean to say is that steroids allow people to make muscle gains even if their training is not optimal, and that’s true in all aspects of program design.

Examining the science behind the claim of more frequent training builds more muscle and that twice a week is ideal.

While bodybuilders have no doubt been successful with training each muscle less than twice a week, there is certainly evidence for a higher frequency having advantages.

Some studies have suggested that protein synthesis may peak at around 48 hours after a workout. On this basis, proponents of more frequent training suggest that the more often you spike protein synthesis (given at least 48 hours of recovery time), the more chances you have for muscle growth. The longer you wait after that 48 hour period, the more you simply delay the opportunity for more growth. If this were true, it would suggest that with infrequent training, you could still reach your genetic potential for muscle growth, but it would take you longer to get there.

Some trainers suggest that with two protein synthesis spikes per week, you could gain twice as much muscle. However, there’s little evidence for this claim, and in fact, the truth is closer to the opposite. Research shows that a very modest amount of training – with a low number of sets and a low frequency – gets you the majority of your gains. Training more often and or with more volume may increase your gains even more, but the additional gains come at a diminishing rate of return

It’s important to note that protein synthesis is a short term marker of potential muscle growth, it is not actual muscle growth that has been measured over time. Long-term studies that compare muscle growth using different training frequencies would tell us a lot more.

Certain high frequency advocates go as far as saying that if you only train each muscle once a week, by the time your next workout for a specific muscle rolls around, you have not only been fully recovered for days, your muscles are already starting to atrophy. Studies on detraining clearly show that this is false.

Depending on how infrequently you train, and how many sets you accumulate per week, it is possible that training more often could improve results, but studies have shown that your muscles do not start to atrophy after even two weeks of total layoff, let alone just one week when you’re still training. It might be accurate to say you are not growing optimally if you don’t train muscle groups often enough, but it’s not correct to say you are losing muscle if you only hit each body part once every 7 days.

The newest research finally explains why more frequent training could build more muscle

If at this point you’re more confused than ever, don’t worry. One recent research paper went a long way in settling this whole argument – and at the same time, explaining why so many of the “bros” get great gains with lower training frequencies…

Training each muscle group more often makes it easier to do more sets (volume) per week. More volume is strongly associated with more muscle growth, at least up to a point, because adding volume is a form of progressive overload.

A meta analysis was published in the Journal of Sports Science (Schoenfeld et al 2018) and it compiled data from all the research from 25 of the most important studies on training frequency and muscle growth.

The main finding was that as long as the weekly volume was matched, the training frequency did not seem to matter – twice a week, once a week, or any point in between – in every case, muscle growth was about the same. In other words, the bodybuilders were doing just fine hitting each muscle less often, under one condition: They achieved an equal number of sets as they might have with a higher frequency.

Here’s an example:

Schedule A: 2 day split, train 4 days a week, do 8 sets per body part on big muscles each workout = 16 sets per week
Schedule B: 4 day split, train 4 days a week, do 8 sets per body part on big muscles each workout = 8 sets per week

Who gains more muscle, lifters following schedule A or schedule B? This is easy. Naturally, the group that did more total work per week – the 16 sets per week group, which in this case was the twice a week schedule. They did double the weekly workload! It’s not even fair to compare these schedules for the effect on growth because weekly volume was not equalized.

Ironically, this is how some of the early studies on training frequency were done – they only looked at frequency and didn’t match the volume. Did the twice a week group gain more muscle? Yes. But the increased gains from the twice a week schedule didn’t come only from training each muscle twice a week, they came from doing more sets per week!

Now take a look at this second example:

Schedule A: 2 day split, train 4 days a week, do 8 sets per body part on big muscles each workout = 16 sets per week
Schedule B: 4 day split, train 4 days a week, do 16 sets per body part on big muscles each workout = 16 sets per week

Based on what we’ve seen in longer-term muscle growth research, we should expect the results will be approximately the same. And based on anecdotal evidence and personal experience, there are countless examples of bodybuilders who got jacked hitting each muscle only once a week (or once every 5 to 6 days).

What did those bodybuilders do differently to produce such great gains while working each muscle only once a week? They did more sets for each muscle in each workout – it’s that simple. And because it’s a body part split routine, it’s quite practical to do. When you’re only working a couple muscles per session, you have plenty of time for a lot of sets without making it a marathon session.

There may be more to it, for example, the protein synthesis theory may have merit. And there may be a limit to how many sets you should do for one muscle per workout, after which muscle damage can become excessive. But it looks like the main advantage of training each muscle more often is that it allows you to accumulate more weekly sets. In that case, by achieving more total volume, you’ll probably see more muscle growth, at least up to a point (where over training starts happening, or the workouts get too long to be practical).

If your total weekly sets hit benchmarks for optimal muscle growth (currently estimated to be somewhere between 10 and 20 sets per body part per week), and as long as the total weekly sets are the same, the results will be approximately the same no matter how often you hit each muscle per week.

Simply keep track of the number of sets you do per week (it’s an important metric to track). Also notice how changing your training schedule/frequency might affect your weekly volume because changes in weekly volume could affect your rate of muscle gains for better or worse.

Based on the most recent science we have, the best guideline is to choose your own training frequency that you prefer the most. This is good news because there are many reasons some people might not want to work each muscle twice a week. Like everything else in training and nutrition, you need to customize your training to suit you – genetics, recovery ability, injuries and personal preference.

How to Determine the Right Training Frequency for You

I don’t believe there is a best training frequency for every person in every situation. I do believe that we can recommend an ideal range for training frequency if we consider the science and all these practical considerations as well.

First, it’s important to look at experience level, also known as training age (how many years you’ve been working out). For beginners, trainers often recommend doing a full-body workout done three times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri, for example). That’s more than twice a week! Isn’t that too often? Not necessarily.

A beginner usually does only one exercise per body part, he is not that strong yet and doesn’t train with that much intensity yet, so it’s not difficult to recover from these types of workouts every other day. Furthermore, when you’re a beginner, you’re still going through the learning phase, and more frequent workouts give you more opportunity to practice the exercises. So three full body workouts makes a lot of sense for the beginner. After the beginner stage, the three times per week frequency might not be optional anymore.

Second, we should consider recovery ability. Whether it’s due to genetics, lifestyle or use of performance enhancing substances, some individuals can recover from intense training faster than others. If you’re still so exhausted and sore from the last workout that it decreases your performance in the next one, wouldn’t it have been better to take more rest between workouts so that every workout is done at full capacity?

The third factor to consider is your goals. Are you training for bodybuilding competition, muscle growth (hypertrophy), strength, sports conditioning, weight loss or just overall health and fitness? Your goals will influence the type of training program, including training frequency (and volume, which corresponds to frequency).

Bodybuilding training requires more volume (more exercises and more total sets per body part per week and per workout). This usually necessitates the use of split routines with no more than a few muscles worked per session, or else the workouts would take hours. Even if you could suck it up and train for hours, the exercises you do last when you are more fatigued would suffer. Very few advanced bodybuilders use full body workouts as their standard year-round default training method.

The fourth factor is personal preference: Assuming your experience, recovery ability and goals have all been considered, that helps narrow down the choices for the ideal training schedule, but you should still think about personal preference (and enjoyment). Why? Because if you hate your workout schedule so much that you won’t follow it consistently or you don’t put any enthusiasm into, then the fact that it’s physiologically “optimal” is of little consequence.

If you take all these factors into account, it should be easier to make informed decisions about what training frequency is ideal for you in your situation.

The conclusion I’ve made is that great muscle gains can be made on a variety of training schedules and frequencies. But depending on your training volume and the other factors mentioned above, you may in fact, be able to increase gains by increasing frequency, up to a point.

Let me use myself as a case study.

I’ve done one bodypart per week programs and made good muscle gains, but I did feel like it was too long between workouts for the same muscle. After years of experience I found that a slightly higher frequency was ideal for me so during most of my bodybuilding career, I set up my split routine to hit each muscle group once every 4 to 6 days. I’ve primarily used 4-day and 3-day splits.

The 4-Day “Body Part” Split (Once every six days training frequency)

One way I’ve scheduled a 4-day split is with a 2 days on 1 day off rotation. it does not fit evenly into a 7-day calendar week.

Monday: Chest, Biceps
Tuesday: Quads, hamstrings
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Shoulders, Triceps
Friday: Back, Calves
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Repeat 2 on 1 off schedule

Why did I choose this routine? I felt that it was perfect for my goals – bodybuilding – which requires working each muscle from every possible angle. For example, when training my deltoids, I don’t feel that I can do one exercise like an overhead press and call that workout done. I also do lateral raises and rear deltoid raises and sometimes throw in shrugs.

To do this many exercises for every muscle group requires spreading the training over a multi-day split. By only having to worry about one or two major muscle groups per session, I can put my full energy and intensity into working that muscle. I also enjoy this style of training above any other type of workout.

If I feel like I’m recovering adequately, I may increase the frequency slightly by training 3 days in a row before taking a rest day. By taking fewer rest days, I’ve increased the frequency to almost once every 5 days. If I wanted an even higher frequency, I’d use a 4 days on 1 day off rotation.

So you can see, my default training method has never been only once a week.

The 3-Day Push-Pull-Legs Split

When I wanted to lean toward a slightly higher frequency while continuing with a bodybuilding-style body part split routine, one way I did it was by changing from a 4-day split to a 3-day split.

Because of the recently published research and the amount of attention that’s been put on higher frequency training in recent years, this 3-day split has made a big comeback in popularity among bodybuilders.

Monday: Back, Biceps, abs (pull)
Tuesday: Chest, Shoulders Triceps (push)
Wednesday: Quads, Hams, calves (legs)
Thursday: Off
Friday: Back, Biceps, abs (pull)
Saturday: Chest, Shoulders Triceps (push)
Sunday: Quads, Hams, calves (legs)
Monday: Off
repeat 3 days on, 1 day off

This split lets you hit each muscle once every 4 days – almost twice a week. Three day splits can also be done with the “classic muscle” body part grouping: day 1: chest and back, day 2: Shoulders and arms, day 3: legs and abs.

If you wanted to go all the way and hit each muscle 2 times per week, you could run this 3-day split 6 days a week with only Sunday’s off. That’s very aggressive and many people won’t be able to recover from that, so another option is the 2-day upper-lower split I mentioned earlier, which you usually run only 4 days a week.

Concluding recommendations

It does not look like there is one training frequency that’s ideal for everyone. The ideal training schedule depends on your goals and needs, and if you prefer, you can choose a frequency that falls anywhere in between once a week and twice a week.

However, the weight of current evidence does suggest that most people might get even better results if they trained each muscle at least a little more than once a week. If we had to narrow it down to one range, based on both science and practice, the ideal weight training frequency for muscle growth probably falls somewhere between twice a week and once every six days.

If you’ve always used a once a week frequency and have never tried training more often, it’s worth testing it to see if bumping up your frequency a bit improves your results. You may want to try a slightly higher frequency like once every 5 days or you may want to bump it all the way to 2 times per week.

Either way, give it a fair trial, because you may have an initial knee-jerk reaction that it’s too often, but then discover after sticking with it a few weeks, your body adjusts and adapts in a positive way.

It may even worth experimenting with changes to your training frequency throughout the year as part of a long-range periodization plan. You don’t have to stay with the same frequency all year round. Even if the frequency and volume seems to border on over training, your body can sometimes thrive on being pushed hard for short periods, provided you back off and take more rest days when you need them.

It’s also worth trying a higher frequency just for lagging body parts while keeping a lower frequency for the rest (this is known as a variable split routine, which I’ll discuss in more detail in another article).

Regardless of your goals, you should always be aware of how you are recovering from your workouts on various schedules and pay attention to your results as you experiment with training variables. Keep doing more of what’s working. When you’re not satisfied with your results, then consider a change.

-Tom Venuto, Author of, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM)
Author, The BFFM Guide To Flexible Meal Planning For Fat Loss
Founder, Burn the Fat Inner Circle

PS. Training each muscle twice a week may be considered the industry standard and best practice today and it very well might be slightly better than once a week, when all else is equal. But there are many schedules that work and experimenting with different split routines and frequencies is worth trying, including “bro splits” and unorthodox schedules.

Last year we released a new and unusual type of training split at the Burn the Fat Inner Circle in our workout programs department. It’s called 2/3 Hybrid M.A.S.S. (Muscle And Strength Split). This is a strength and hypertrophy program where you do 5 workouts per week and you hit each muscle exactly 2 times per week. It’s called a Hybrid split because there is a 3 day push pull legs sequence as well as an upper day and a lower day. Since its release, this has become among our top three most popular programs.

More recently this year, we just released a similar program called 3/1 Hybrid Muscle. In this new program, you train 4 days a week and again each muscle is hit exactly 2 times per week. In this case the split is even more unusual. There are 3 workouts split into chest + back, shoulders + arms, and legs, then day 4 is a full body workout. This is a unique (and ingenious) way to hit that twice a week frequency mark.

If you’re bored with traditional split routines, then you may want to check this out. Both 12-week training programs are included with membership at Burn the Fat Inner Circle

Members: CLICK HERE for 2/3 Hybrid M.A.S.S. and the new 3/1 Hybrid Muscle here

Non-Members: CLICK HERE to our group for access to both Hybrid training programs

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About Tom Venuto
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilding and fat loss coach. He is also a recipe creator specializing in fat-burning, muscle-building cooking. Tom is a former competitive bodybuilder and is today a full-time fitness writer, blogger, and author. His book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle is an international bestseller, first as an ebook and now as a hardcover and audiobook. The Body Fat Solution, Tom’s book about emotional eating and long-term weight maintenance, was an Oprah Magazine and Men’s Fitness Magazine pick. Tom is also the founder of Burn The Fat Inner Circle – a fitness support community with over 52,000 members worldwide since 2006. Click here for membership details

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Scientific References

Brigatto, FA, et al. Effect of resistance training frequency on neuromuscular performance and muscle morphology after 8 weeks in trained men. J Strength Cond Res 33(8): 2104-2116, 2019

Damas F et al, Resistance training?induced changes in integrated myofibrillar protein synthesis are related to hypertrophy only after attenuation of muscle damage, Journal of Physiology, 594:18, 2016

Hacket D et al, Training Practices and Ergogenic Aids Used by Male Bodybuilders, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, Volume 27 – Issue 6 – p 1609-1617, 2013.

Kumar et al, Human muscle protein synthesis and breakdown during and after exercise, Journal of Applied Physiology, 106(6):2026-39, 2009.

McDougall JD, et al, The time course for elevated muscle protein synthesis following heavy resistance exercise. Can J Appl Physiolo. 20(4): 480-486, 1995.

Schoenfeld BJ, et al, Effects of resistance training frequency on measures of muscle hypertrophy: A systematic review and meta-analysis, Sports Medicine, 46(11), 1689-1697, 2016.

Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Krieger J. How many times per week should a muscle be trained to maximize muscle hypertrophy? A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining the effects of resistance training frequency. J Sports Sci. 17:1-10. 2018.

The post To Gain Maximum Muscle, Should You Train Each Body Part Once a Week or Twice A Week? appeared first on Burn The Fat Blog.

from Burn The Fat Blog https://www.burnthefatblog.com/train-each-muscle-once-or-twice-a-week/

Creamy Low-Calorie Mashed Potatoes

This post contains affiliate links to kitchen tools we use and recommend

Low calorie mashed potatoes that are creamy and delicious? Is that even possible? If you look up classic mashed potato recipes, you’ll see they’re made with high-fat, high-calorie ingredients such as butter, whole milk, cream, half and half or sour cream.

The recipe from one famous chef and cookbook author called for 6 tablespoons of butter, 1/2 cup of sour cream and 1 1/2 cups of whole milk! That isn’t even counting the gravy that’s often served on top or extras like cheese and bacon!

I analyzed the ingredients of that traditional recipe by putting it into our Burn the Fat Meal Planner software. The batch came out to 2104 calories in total with 350 calories per serving. No wonder potatoes get a bad rap! But it’s not the potatoes themselves, it’s what they are prepared and cooked with.

With a few ingredient tweaks to make it leaner, our “lean and mean” Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle healthy mashed potatoes logs in at 1030 calories per batch. We divided that into 6 servings which gives you only 171 calories per serving.

Even with our lower calorie modifications, you still get a creamy texture and great taste. It may not be quite as rich as fattier versions, but the tradeoff is minimal for the huge calorie-savings. (If you really want to splurge for a special occasion, go ahead and include a small amount of butter in place of an equal amount of the low-fat sour cream).

Most mashed potato recipes call for Russet or Yukon gold potatoes. I know some top chefs say to use Yukon Gold, but I used Russets and they worked great. (Even The Joy Of Cooking says Russets are best for mashing).

I suppose you could use any potato you want, but some chefs suggest avoiding waxy types (like red bliss and fingerling) because they have a low starch content and don’t break down or absorb the dairy as well as the starchier varieties, so you might get a gummier texture when you mash them. (On the other hand, I’ve heard some experienced cooks swear that red potatoes are great for mashed and that you can leave the skin on too, so I may try that one of these days).

The extra large Russets I find at my local grocery stores are usually about 11 to 13 ounces, so I set the ingredients for 3 of them, a total of 36 ounces (1020 grams). This amount of potato mixes with the amount of liquid ingredients used, for a perfect consistency.

Also remember that the best way to measure foods (calories and macros) is by weight (ounces or grams). It’s worth weighing starchy carbs like potatoes because they are not super low in calorie density like fibrous carbs. It’s easier to accidentally over-eat starchy carbs than fibrous carbs (some people even wonder if fibrous carbs can be “unlimited free foods.” Weighing food only takes seconds of your prep time and it ensures you don’t underestimate your calories and end up with an “unexplained” fat loss plateau.

Also keep in mind that the potato to liquid ingredients ratio listed in this recipe makes a perfect smooth and creamy consistency yet still thick. But if you eyeballed 3 potatoes without weighing them and they were only 9 or 10 ounces each (27 to 30 ounces total), with the amount of liquid ingredient here, your mashed potatoes would probably be too mushy. If you don’t have one yet, get yourself a good kitchen scale.

The food scale I’ve been using for years is the OXO Good Grips 11-Pound Stainless Steel Food Scale with Pull-Out Display. (This is our amazon link – it has a 5/5 star review rating).

Here’s the solution to healthy, low calorie mashed potatoes: First, leave out the butter – you don’t need it. You don’t even need olive oil which some people consider a healthier replacement – it’s still 120 calories per tablespoon. Second, keep the sour cream and milk, but switch to low or non-fat versions. This recipe uses fat-free milk and low-fat sour cream to save calories. To keep a richer flavor, we use low-fat instead of non-fat sour cream, but that’s still saving calories compared to the full-fat variety. (Go ahead and use non-fat sour cream if you like).

I’ve heard more than one of our members say they left out the sour cream completely because they wanted the calories even lower. That’s an option, but using at least some low fat sour cream makes a big difference in creaminess and taste.

You don’t see chicken broth in most of the traditional mashed potato recipes. The reason I use it is because you need a certain amount of liquid to get the perfect creamy mashed potato consistency. You can use more milk of course, but even fat-free milk has calories. Chicken broth has no calories, plus it adds a little more flavor, which helps in the absence of butter. You could drop the chicken broth, but you’d lose a bit of flavor and you’d then need to stir in a bit more milk. (By the way, chicken broth and stock are not exactly the same thing, but it makes no difference which you use in this recipe).

If you weigh your potatoes, this recipe will come out perfect. But here is a suggestion: mix all the other ingredients first to check the consistency, then add the chicken stock last. Add just add 1/4 cup of the stock first, mash to check how you like the consistency, then add the other 1/4 cup. If you use too much chicken stock and or too little potato, your mashed potatoes might be too liquidy. Remember, if your potatoes are too thick, its easy to add more liquid, but if your potatoes are too liquidy, it’s a whole lot harder to make it thicker – you’d have to add some kind of dry ingredient. (One of our members shared this hack: To rescue a batch of watery mashed potatoes, add some instant mashed potatoes).

I used the traditional method of starting the potatoes in cold water, then bringing them to a full boil (takes about 10 minutes from cold to boil). Then I simmered them for at least another 15 minutes with just enough heat so the water still bubbles (medium to medium low). Starting with cold water reduce the chances of uneven cooking where the outside of the potato is overcooked and the inside is still not done (too firm).

The potatoes are ready when you can stick a fork in and they’re soft and easily flake apart. If in doubt, boil them a little longer because under-cooked potatoes don’t mash as well. When you cut your potatoes, if you try to make the pieces approximately even in size, it helps them all cook evenly. About an inch at the widest part seems to work well. If you cut into larger chunks it might take slightly longer to cook.

Adding one teaspoon of salt to the cooking water begins the seasoning process because potatoes absorb the water they are boiling in. If you leave it out, you’ll start with blander potatoes. I’ve seen recipes suggesting you should load the water up with salt so it tastes like “sea water” (i’ve seen up to 2 tablespoons listed). I think that’s overkill. I found just one teaspoon was enough that you could taste the difference in the potatoes. Certainly, no more than two teaspoons are needed.

A big debate is what’s the right way to mash your boiled potatoes? Ricers and food mills seem to get high marks among chefs and cooks. I’ve used a hand-held manual potato masher and it worked fine. For one batch, I even mashed with a fork and it still worked. The way these potatoes were boiled and mixed with skim milk, low-fat sour cream, and chicken broth, in just the right amounts, made them easy to mash. You don’t have to overwork them and doing so (over-mixing/mashing) is said to release more starch, giving a gooier and less appetizing texture.

An electric mixer is not mandatory, but if you want your whole batch perfectly smooth, then use a mixer.

For perfectly smooth mashed potatoes, of course you can always use the classic electric hand mixer with the beater attachments. I simply use the immersion blender hand mixer immersion blender. It’s the same one I use to make our Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle protein ice cream. It works great and the clean up is fast and easy. The model I use is the Mueller Austria Ultra Stick. This is our Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3kC5pwJ).

Want to make these low calorie mashed potatoes even leaner? Health and fitness minded people sometimes recommend using non-fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. You’ll knock off 20 more calories per serving (macros: 157 calories, 7g protein, 33g carbs, 1.4 g fat). The potatoes will still be very creamy, but honestly, they’re not quite as rich. When your goal is fat loss, the last thing you want is a lot of meals with high starch combined with high fat, but I find even a small amount of fat makes a big difference in richness. Leaving in a little fat with low-fat sour cream was the perfect compromise, and sour cream is my choice over yogurt.

I heard a bodybuilder once suggest adding protein powder. One scoop could bring the protein up to 15 grams per serving. If you used natural (unflavored) protein powder, it probably wouldn’t affect the taste, but you might have to adjust the liquids to keep the creamy texture. If you add more powder than that, I’d worry about changing the texture.

I prefer to have these mashed potatoes as a side and include a protein like beef, chicken or turkey, plus a vegetable. Then my protein is covered elsewhere and I can call it a full meal. I’ve made these mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving for years, so there is always plenty of Turkey!

If you want to add something extra, try topping your mashed potatoes with chives or green onion. I found this delicious without other seasonings than salt and pepper, but you could also experiment with any herbs you enjoy, and of course, garlic always works.

After mashing the potatoes, I suggest taste testing it and seeing if you need any more seasoning. Whether you want more salt may depend on your tastebuds and whether you used reduced sodium broth. I like a pinch of pepper, but not too much. Black pepper is fine, but I like white pepper because it has a milder flavor, plus you don’t have black specks in your potatoes.

Splurge with gravy if you want, but trust me, these are delicious straight up! However you customize or serve these mashed potatoes, I think you’ll enjoy them. They couldn’t be easier to make, and they couldn’t be any leaner or lower in calories with so much flavor and creaminess.

This Low calorie mashed potato recipe has our new “tested and proven” seal of approval because I have experimented with ingredients, personally made it multiple times or even dozens of times, and it’s a staple in my own personal meal plans. When you see “tested and proven” in our recipe scorecard you can rest assured that all you have to do is follow the recipe and instructions verbatim, and even if you’re a totally beginner in the kitchen, the recipe will come out perfect!

-Tom Venuto, Author of, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM)
Author, The BFFM Guide To Flexible Meal Planning For Fat Loss
Founder, Burn the Fat Inner Circle

PS. As a member of Burn the Fat Inner Circle, you get access to hundreds of original, tested and proven recipes, designed specifically to hit the calories and macros you need to burn fat and build or maintain muscle. Plus, all the recipes are also installed in our Burn the Fat Meal Planner software – the ultimate push-button meal plan creation tool – where you can instantly drop your favorite recipes into your meal plan with a click. Learn more on this page.

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Creamy Low Calorie Mashed Potatoes

These healthy creamy mashed potatoes have half the calories of the traditional recipe. Recipe from Tom Venuto's Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle Blog (www.BurnTheFatBlog.com)

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword mashed potatoes

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Servings 6

Calories 172kcal

Equipment

• Mixing bowl
• Potato masher
• Hand mixer

Ingredients

• 36 oz russet potatoes (1020g)
• 1/2 cup low fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup nonfat milk
• 1/2 cup chicken broth/stock
• 1/8 tsp white or black pepper (or to taste)
• 1.5 tsp salt (divided - 1 tsp for boiling water)

Instructions

• Peel the potatoes
• Chop potatoes into even chunks about an inch wide
• Put potatoes in pot and fill with cold water (add 1 tsp salt to water)
• On stove, bring water and potatoes to a full boil (takes about 10 minutes)
• Lower heat to medium to medium-low and simmer (uncovered) for about 15 to 20 minutes or until soft when pierced with a fork. (if in doubt, boil slightly longer to be certain potatoes are fully cooked and soft for easy mashing)
• Drain boiled potatoes in a colander /strainer
• Put potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Add sour cream, milk, chicken stock, pepper, and remaining salt
• Mix and mash with a masher (or hand mixer) until smooth and creamy. Serve hot. Optional: garnish with chives or green onion (scallions)

Nutrition

Calories: 172kcal | Carbohydrates: 33.2g | Protein: 6.2g | Fat: 3.1g

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About Tom Venuto
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilding and fat loss coach. He is also a recipe creator specializing in fat-burning, muscle-building cooking. Tom is a former competitive bodybuilder and is today a full-time fitness writer, blogger, and author. His book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle is an international bestseller, first as an ebook and now as a hardcover and audiobook. The Body Fat Solution, Tom’s book about emotional eating and long-term weight maintenance, was an Oprah Magazine and Men’s Fitness Magazine pick. Tom is also the founder of Burn The Fat Inner Circle – a fitness support community with over 52,000 members worldwide since 2006. Click here for membership details

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The post Creamy Low-Calorie Mashed Potatoes appeared first on Burn The Fat Blog.

from Burn The Fat Blog https://www.burnthefatblog.com/creamy-low-calorie-mashed-potatoes/