2) That all depends on your goals, man. The type of training you do is going to shift which kind of muscle fibers you build. You may have a genetic predisposition to slow-twitch capacity, but if you do five years of weight training in the <6 rep range, and do speed work as in Conjugate Method, you're gonna be a fast twitch monster by the end of it. Conversely, if all you do is endurance work, you'll build slow twitch. What do you want to do?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4741172&forum_id=2#41765823)

If you're running a bro split where you hit a bodypart less than twice/week, you are training inefficiently and should change your programming.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4741172&forum_id=2#41766533)

This isn't to say that there's never any benefit from taking another rest day or two, or deloading, because constant heavy training can tire your CNS which will take longer to recover. But higher frequency is NOT going to make recovery impossible -- higher volume and insufficient diet/rest are.

Diet first:

- Diet is pretty simple: eat 1.25 grams of protein for every pound of your bodyweight. There are other recommendations that have utility at given times, but if your recovery is suffering, your first response should be to increase your protein intake to this level. Often people underconsume protein and don't sleep well, and then blame a demanding routine for their lack of progress; your body is made to adapt and can often handle much more than you think, but it requires food. If you're hitting this protein goal for a week and still recovering badly, you can look at other variables.

- Your sleep is the next variable to consider; almost all of your muscular and CNS recovery takes place during sleep. If you're not averaging 7-8 hours/night, this is the problem. It's as simple as that.

Volume second:

- Your volume can be measured in sets per week, reps per week, or weight lifted per week; unless you're a powerlifter, the most useful metric for this is sets per week, especially if you're running a DUP split (which is what I'm recommending above).

- Unless you're exclusively training for strength, you should typically lift using weight that allows you one or two reps in reserve -- this obviously means reducing or increasing weight depending on the rep range you're working in. This ensures you're getting sufficient stimulus.

- Because you're autoregulating intensity to be challenging but not overwhelming, and you're using specific rep ranges to achieve certain goals, the main variable that you should adjust to manage volume is number of sets in each workout, and by extension number of sets per week. If your recovery is suffering and you've already ensured that you're resting and eating sufficiently, you should reduce the number of sets you're doing on each bodypart on each workout. Lots of people overestimate the amount of volume they need, and end up doing more tissue damage than anything else. If you're hitting a muscle 3x/week, most people can progress very well with 3-5 sets for each major muscle group (chest, back, legs) in each workout, and 2-5 sets for secondary muscles (biceps, triceps, shoulders).

- here: https://renaissanceperiodization.com/training-volume-landmarks-muscle-growth/ is a helpful (but long) article explaining essentially that there are minimum and maximum amounts of volume for progress, and a sweet spot somewhere in between that's primarily useful in understanding...

- ...these excellent bodypart training guides that give some good starting points for volume: https://renaissanceperiodization.com/hypertrophy-training-guide-central-hub/

- Adjust your volume of sets per week as needed, but don't waste more time between workouts than is needed to recover.

That's a somewhat longwinded way of getting to this: Matthews' advice flies counter to every serious strength or bodybuilding coach, because it's not based in physiology. "A Rippetoe style program" could mean many things, but I assume you mean a 5x5 3x/week; there are tens of other good programs that don't waste time by only hitting a muscle group once a week -- you've gotta roid for that to work.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4741172&forum_id=2#41766712)

I'd hit everything hard 3x/week. If you're not seeing the results you want and your recovery is at least 170, I'd start low volume (in number of sets per week) and adjust up as necessary.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4741172&forum_id=2#41766761)

https://liftvault.com/ has a lot of good ones, and if you like I can drop some I've written for you to pick from as well. Also consider that if you just drop it to a 3x5 3x/week, you've suddenly reduced your volume by 40%! That's a lot more manageable for a lot of people.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4741172&forum_id=2#41766786)

- 6 day PPL: https://liftvault.com/programs/strength/metallicadpa-ppl-template/

- 6 day PPL: https://liftvault.com/programs/strength/coolcicada-ppl-spreadsheet/

- 4 day split with two upper and lower days: https://liftvault.com/programs/strength/phul-spreadsheet/

- 3 day/week full body bodybuilding split; start the first week with your 10 rep max: https://liftvault.com/programs/bodybuilding/all-pro-simple-beginner-routine-program-spreadsheet/

- 2 on/1 off DUP routine I wrote; if you find the volume a bit much at first, you can reduce the top set from 5 to 4: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zz6oAGHp-DwT32pc386V7lcAGAYoE5L3uFeZqAT-jis/edit#gid=0

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4741172&forum_id=2#41767226)

I'd do small chunks like 15m of stair climber after your workouts, and do your longer sessions either on your rest days, or on your push days/after your leg days if you're not running a full body split.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4741172&forum_id=2#41766948)

But remember that none of it matters if you're in consistency with your training or if you're not eating enough.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4741172&forum_id=2#41766560)