High-Frequency Training – Why I’m Hooked

[Ron OG Mouse]

Initially my old school "Push / Pull" splits musclehead self though no way this would work. I’ve always believed growth happens during rest: hit a lift hard, recover, then come back stronger. "Hitting a muscle group more than 2x a week is too much" So when my daughter brought up Squatober — squatting every weekday for a month — my first thought was “there’s no way my legs could recover enough to grow.”

For context, she was a college athlete and later a coach, and her fiancé is a former college football player, strength coach, and competitive powerlifter. High frequency is just normal in both their worlds. She pushed it, I shrugged, and figured I’d see if my old-school assumptions held up.

Week one, my legs were toast. Week two, every rep felt like my quads were ripping apart — I honestly thought I might have tore something. My daughter just laughed: “Nah, that’s Squatober.” Week three rolled around. I got smart and took ice baths over the weekend. Soreness eased, recovery caught up, and the weights started flying. By the end of the month, on PR day I had 40 lbs on my squat in one season.

Since that first month, I’ve leaned into this style fully:

• Eve muscle group twice per week minimum
• One focal muscle per month trained daily (rotating intensity/variations)
• Cycling through structured high-frequency blocks from Pen & Paper Strength App.

Worst case I will alternate this and push / pull monthly if I find continually pushing myself is too much. For now I'm gonna just go for it.
If you haven’t tried a well-structured high-frequency split, I recommend it. At the very least try Squatober next year.

 

[BALLISTIC]

Initially my old school "Push / Pull" splits musclehead self though no way this would work. I’ve always believed growth happens during rest: hit a lift hard, recover, then come back stronger. "Hitting a muscle group more than 2x a week is too much" So when my daughter brought up Squatober — squatting every weekday for a month — my first thought was “there’s no way my legs could recover enough to grow.”

For context, she was a college athlete and later a coach, and her fiancé is a former college football player, strength coach, and competitive powerlifter. High frequency is just normal in both their worlds. She pushed it, I shrugged, and figured I’d see if my old-school assumptions held up.

Week one, my legs were toast. Week two, every rep felt like my quads were ripping apart — I honestly thought I might have tore something. My daughter just laughed: “Nah, that’s Squatober.” Week three rolled around. I got smart and took ice baths over the weekend. Soreness eased, recovery caught up, and the weights started flying. By the end of the month, on PR day I had 40 lbs on my squat in one season.

Since that first month, I’ve leaned into this style fully:

• Eve muscle group twice per week minimum
• One focal muscle per month trained daily (rotating intensity/variations)
• Cycling through structured high-frequency blocks from Pen & Paper Strength App.

Worst case I will alternate this and push / pull monthly if I find continually pushing myself is too much. For now I'm gonna just go for it.
If you haven’t tried a well-structured high-frequency split, I recommend it. At the very least try Squatober next year.

Interesting actually...
Military takes young guys and smokes them daily push ups, dogs, dips, pull ups all body weight but absolute brutal failure. Next day same thing. It works. It also causes damage when the joint and connective tissue is developing.

I will say this I struggled with calves for a long time. Buddy said do them daily. I have solid calves now. So further proof. My abdomen was also lagging. Now every workout I do weighted 100 reps minimal. Bam abs popping great.