Volume up!? · Caliversity

Volume up!?

Is volume the missing link to your gains?

Our body types are all different in how we respond to certain types of training. Whether it be weight, duration or frequency.

Some people respond really well to volume. Volume in a way could be looked at as a more natural type of stimulus in sense of our nature.

If you think about it, humans are capable of labouring for hours.

It’s more unusual in general to lift super heavy objects a few times then relax the rest of the day. Or to work until absolute extreme exhaustion (complete failure)

I like to think of failure like the red line on a cars rev counter. There’s a start of the red line (start of failure), a gradient as the redline increases and a point where the rev limiter stops (total failure). And just like a car, bouncing off the rev limiter may not always be the best strategy for everyone (especially if you don’t own a Civic with a stock d-16)

Here are a few things to keep in mind if you want to experiment with volume and see how you react.

Time under tension is a big factor here. You can maximise this by doing many sets.
If you’re new to the technique you can do as many sets as you can manage let’s say 5 to 10 is
Aim for a rep failure of around 10 to 20 reps. Anything over 10 I think is realistic for someone new to the technique
Choose a weight where you reach the start of failure at the desired rep range
Only go to the start of failure not extreme failure or doing the high sets won’t be possible
Do the reps fairly slowly, with great control and special attention to not jerk the movement. Jerk is one of the main reasons for tendon injuries (tennis elbow etc)
Choose medium weights compared to your 1 rep max or usual working weight if you already do heavy sets.
Focus carefully on mind-muscle connection
Rest as long as necessary. More rest days than you’re used to may be needed with this technique.
You can super set exercises to make better use of time
Have shorter rests between sets (1 to 2 minutes)
Focus on compound exercises as this technique spends a lot of time on single exercises (many sets). You may only be able to do 3 exercises in the time of a normal session.