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According to the ACE Personal Training Manual (American Council on Exercise (2003). ACE Personal Trainer Manual (3rd ed.). San Diego, CA: American Council on Exercise.):

Because the muscle rebuilding process typically requires about 48 hours, strength workouts should be should be scheduled on an every-other-day basis. Clients who prefer to train more frequently should avoid working the same muscles groups on consecutive days.

The ASCM (see "Frequency") recommends weight training 3 days per week if doing a total-body workout and 4 days per week if doing a split routine (different muscles on different days, to work each muscle group twice a week).

So, if you know you want to weight train 3 times per week, I would apply this information by recommending you leave 48 hours between each workout and do a full body workout every time. If you work different muscles groups during each of your three workouts, you may not end up meeting the recommendation to hit each muscle group 2-3 times per week.

For completeness, the ACE manual also mentions that more stressful training sessions may require a longer recovery period. In these cases, a split routine (targeting different muscle groups on different days) could be justified.

According to the ACE Personal Training Manual (American Council on Exercise (2003). ACE Personal Trainer Manual (3rd ed.). San Diego, CA: American Council on Exercise.):

Because the muscle rebuilding process typically requires about 48 hours, strength workouts should be scheduled on an every-other-day basis. Clients who prefer to train more frequently should avoid working the same muscles groups on consecutive days.

The ASCM (see "Frequency") recommends weight training 3 days per week if doing a total-body workout and 4 days per week if doing a split routine (different muscles on different days, to work each muscle group twice a week).

So, if you know you want to weight train 3 times per week, I would apply this information by recommending you leave 48 hours between each workout and do a full body workout every time. If you work different muscles groups during each of your three workouts, you may not end up meeting the recommendation to hit each muscle group 2-3 times per week.

For completeness, the ACE manual also mentions that more stressful training sessions may require a longer recovery period. In these cases, a split routine (targeting different muscle groups on different days) could be justified.

According to the ACE Personal Training Manual (American Council on Exercise (2003). ACE Personal Trainer Manual (3rd ed.). San Diego, CA: American Council on Exercise.):

Because the muscle rebuilding process typically requires about 48 hours, strength workouts should be should be scheduled on an every-other-day basis. Clients who prefer to train more frequently should avoid working the same muscles groups on consecutive days.

It also cites the ASCM's and CIAR's frequency recommendations for improving muscular strength and endurance for the general adult population to be "2-3 sessions per week" and "3 sessions per week," respectively.

So, if you know you want to weight train 3 times per week, I would apply this information by recommending you leave 48 hours between each workout and do a full body workout every time. If you work different muscles groups during each of your three workouts, you may not end up meeting the 2-3 sessions per week recommendation.

For completeness, the manual also mentions that more stressful training sessions may require a longer recovery period. In these cases, a split routine (targeting different muscle groups on different days) could be justified.

According to the ACE Personal Training Manual (American Council on Exercise (2003). ACE Personal Trainer Manual (3rd ed.). San Diego, CA: American Council on Exercise.):

Because the muscle rebuilding process typically requires about 48 hours, strength workouts should be should be scheduled on an every-other-day basis. Clients who prefer to train more frequently should avoid working the same muscles groups on consecutive days.

The ASCM (see "Frequency") recommends weight training 3 days per week if doing a total-body workout and 4 days per week if doing a split routine (different muscles on different days, to work each muscle group twice a week).

So, if you know you want to weight train 3 times per week, I would apply this information by recommending you leave 48 hours between each workout and do a full body workout every time. If you work different muscles groups during each of your three workouts, you may not end up meeting the recommendation to hit each muscle group 2-3 times per week.

For completeness, the ACE manual also mentions that more stressful training sessions may require a longer recovery period. In these cases, a split routine (targeting different muscle groups on different days) could be justified.

If you're weight training three times per week, you should do a full body workout every time. No matter what kind of training you're doing, you have to hit a muscle 3-4 times per week to get optimal benefits (Source). You only need to do a split routine (working different muscles on different days) if you work out on consecutive days, since you muscles need ~48 hours to recover.

According to the ACE Personal Training Manual (American Council on Exercise (2003). ACE Personal Trainer Manual (3rd ed.). San Diego, CA: American Council on Exercise.):

Because the muscle rebuilding process typically requires about 48 hours, strength workouts should be should be scheduled on an every-other-day basis. Clients who prefer to train more frequently should avoid working the same muscles groups on consecutive days.

It also cites the ASCM's and CIAR's frequency recommendations for improving muscular strength and endurance for the general adult population to be "2-3 sessions per week" and "3 sessions per week," respectively.

So, if you know you want to weight train 3 times per week, I would apply this information by recommending you leave 48 hours between each workout and do a full body workout every time. If you work different muscles groups during each of your three workouts, you may not end up meeting the 2-3 sessions per week recommendation.

For completeness, the manual also mentions that more stressful training sessions may require a longer recovery period. In these cases, a split routine (targeting different muscle groups on different days) could be justified.