Weight Training Volume

Manipulating your weight training volume is a body building secret that will help you build muscle fast.

Variety in every aspect of training is something that I believe very strongly in. Our bodies adapt so quickly to what we do that we will hit a plateau in no time if we don't find a way to keep our body guessing. While some people believe that simply increasing the weight or the number of sets will solve the problem, they will soon find that they reach a point that their bodies can't take the abuse and begin to break down from the overtraining.

The body building secret I am about to tell you about handling this aspect of training is to alter the weight training volume. That means that you need to change the number of sets that you perform for the exercise, the muscle group, and for the workout. Simply changing the amount of work you do every three weeks will work pretty well, but if you want to maximize your progress, you need to have a plan.

If you can devise a weight training plan in which each three-week period, or phase, builds upon the one before it you can grow muscle at an accelerated rate, and work toward a specific goal. Sure, you can build muscle fast by randomly changing the weight training volume, but a well thought out plan, done in the right way, can get you to your goal much faster, and is more reliable.

Let's say that you want bigger, stronger legs. We can start our training with a modest amount of volume by performing squats for 5 sets of 5 reps after a couple of warm-up sets. In this example, the weight training volume for the other leg exercises will remain constant, although you may choose to play around with the volume for those later. After squats, we will perform stiff-legged deadlifts for 3 sets of 10 reps, leg extensions for 3 sets of 15 reps, and leg curls for 3 sets of 10 reps. We will finish the workout by supersetting standing calf raises for 4 sets of 15 reps with weighted crunches for 4 sets of 25 reps.

After 3 weeks of 5 sets of 5 repetitions in the squat, we will increase the volume by performing 6 sets of 8 reps for 3 weeks. This change will bring about a new round of muscle soreness, and some noticeable increase in size. However, just like any other change, if you keep doing the same thing for too long, your body will adapt and it will no longer work. That is why we will move on and increase the weight training volume again after three weeks of this.

Now it is time to change the workout to 8 sets of 10 reps in the squat, with the other exercises still remaining the same as they were from the beginning. This will be difficult, but your muscles will respond according to the effort you put into it. Once you have done three weeks of this amount of volume, you will probably be ready to drop the volume, due to your body reaching a point of exhaustion and overtraining. If you increase the volume too much for too long, it will only result in overtraining, injury, or lack of progress. When you are approaching the point of overtraining, you must begin again with the lowest volume phase, which is 5 sets of 5 reps in this example. You will need to listen to your body to determine when you are beginning to feel tired and sore all the time. Hopefully you will know your body well enough to catch it before you reach this point. However, there will be some of you whose recovery systems are so good, that you can handle one more increase in volume before starting over. Here it is.

The final increase in weight training volume for this example is to perform 7 sets of 15 reps in the squat, with all other exercises remaining the same. I suggest doing this for only 2 weeks before going back to 5 sets of 5 again.

An important thing to remember is that the increased volume in your body building workout will stimulate your muscles to grow by breaking down the muscle, but if your body can't recover, you won't grow. That means that doing more volume than your body can recover from is counterproductive. You will notice an increase in muscle size and strength when you start over at 5 sets of 5. Don't push it and do the 7 sets of 15 reps if you have any doubts about your ability to recover from that much volume. Personally, I would probably never go up that high, and would start over after the 8 sets of 10 for three weeks. Almost everybody would be best served to do the same, but there will be a gifted few whose bodies can handle it.

In summary, adjusting the weight training volume in a controlled and well-planned manner can greatly accelerate your rate of muscle growth.

Tips for proper use of weight training volume.