The list of champion bodybuilders who have used high volume training is almost endless and there are also powerlifters who use high volume training. In spite of this, high volume training is often vilified by those who prefer to focus on high intensity. While high volume training can definitely be misused to and sabotage a lifters training efforts, those who succeed with it tend to have a knack for applying it in a productive manner. There are principles that successful lifters use to help make their use of high volume training successful. These principles are the focus of this article.
Light Warm Up Sets for High Reps
In the last article, I gave examples of how there are both powerlifters and bodybuilders who accumulate their training volume with light weight and high reps during their warm up sets. Many begin their warm up sets with weights that are well below 50% of their single rep max. They do not push anywhere near to failure on these sets, but they still accumulate a substantial training volume.
A High Volume of Warm Up Sets
Another way that champions accumulate training volume is simply do a lot of warm up sets when working up to one to three work sets. It is not uncommon for champion powerlifters to start out with a very light weight and do close to ten warm up sets while increasing the weight on each successive set. Eventually they reach a top weight which they refer to as their work set. The warm up sets produce a high training volume, and the work set(s) produce high intensity so that both high intensity and high volume are addressed in the same workout.
The key to using a high volume of warm up sets in a successful manner is to still be at full strength when the top set is reached. It takes practice to maximize a high volume of warm up sets without compromising your strength when you reach your heaviest work set, but there are many champions who have a great feel for how to do it.
Basic Exercises Plus a Variety of Exercises
Bodybuilders often start out with a basic exercise such as the bench press and then do additional exercises for the chest. While doing twenty sets of bench presses may cause a training disaster, doing a variety of exercises that add up to twenty sets may be beneficial. Flies, cable crossovers, peck decks, dips, and dumbbell presses at different angles can hit the chest in a variety of ways that that help to keep from overstressing the pecs in a single way. Going for max reps and max weight is not the purpose of these exercises. The purpose is to feel a stretch, a contraction, a lifting groove, and a specific portion of a muscle during the exercise. Instead of overtraining by grinding out reps that require maximum effort to lift the weight, the emphasis is on feeling the movement with a lighter weight. This is what allows many bodybuilders to perform a high volume of sets without over training.
Assistance Exercises
Powerlifters often add volume to their training by doing assistance work. This is similar to what body builders do when they use a variety of exercises for the same muscle group. However, powerlifters are more likely to pick just one assistance exercise for a muscle group during a given workout instead of choosing multiple assistance exercises. The assistance exercises are not usually done with a huge amount of weight or a super high intensity, they are generally done to build up a specific muscle group, improve a weakness, or to strengthen a portion of the range of motion for a given lift. Two to four sets of eight to ten reps for an assistance exercise would be a common strategy used by powerlifters.
Half Sets
One of the keys to high volume training is to refrain from wasting yourself by going all out on every set. Doing high intensity sets for every set of a high volume workout equals disaster for most people. You don’t have to push to failure on every set when doing high volume training. You can do half sets, which simply means to do half as many reps as you are capable of when pushing for as many reps as possible. Why only do a half set? Because it allows you to do a greater volume of training before you start to lose strength.
Let’s assume that you can train at full strength for just two sets twelve reps when doing full sets of for a given exercise. If you take a different approach, you may find that you can do six sets of six reps at full strength when using the same weight that you used for two sets of twelve rep. In this example, six sets of six reps allows you to a total of twelve more reps at full strength than two sets of twelve. This is one way to increase training volume without overtraining. Trust me, most elite bodybuilders who do high volume training do not go all out on every set.
Mini Sets
Powerlifters often do mini sets to achieve training volume while maintaining the ability to utilize explosive rep speed on every rep of every set. Instead using a moderate weight and trying to do high reps for a few sets, high reps are accumulated by just doing a few reps for a lot of sets. You can watch the following video of a high volume bench session that is performed this way under the guidance of Louie Simmons. Assistance exercises are included after the bench work to produce a large total workload.
High Volume Benching with Mini Sets plus Assistance Exercises
In summary, consider the following guidelines to achieve a high training volume for your workouts:
- Utilize high reps with light weights on warm up sets (don’t push anywhere near to failure)
- Work up to a heavy weight by doing up to ten warm up sets (Eric Spoto and Richard Hawthorne utilize these first two guidelines.)
- Variety can extend the life of your workout. After doing a basic exercise, do an assistance exercise or a variety of exercises for the same body part.
- Do an extended series of mini sets, or half sets that fall well short of failure.
When you find someone who uses high volume training successfully, don’t just look at the amount of sets and reps they do. You must also consider that they usually make wise use of their energy and effort in order to accumulate their training volume without killing themselves. Also, if you want to increase your training volume, work into it slowly, don’t jump into it quickly or it can backfire. If you are currently utilizing high volume training, or plan to use it in the future, consider using the guidelines presented to maximize your efforts. Best of Training to you.