Amateur Volume Question.

[anarchocapitalist]

38 years old.
Been working out and cycling steroids since I was 18.
5'6" 220lbs @ probably about 20% right now.

I took the summer off training entirely and went from 205 to 220 in the past month working out hard. Of course, 1000mg of testosterone/wk helps and 2-3 grams of creatine before my workouts.

Inspired by Dorian Yates I've always done high-intensity low volume workouts. I wanted to try doing some volume but I'm ashamed to admit, working out for 20 years, how do you guys do volume?

Are your four or five sets per exercise gradual warmups into heavy sets? Or do you just pick a heavyweight and do four or five sets same weight?

A typical chest day for me would be barbell flat press, db incline press, and dips. I can bench 405lbs for two controlled reps. So a typical workout for me would be like flat bar bench Barx20 - 135x15 - 225x10 - 315x5(moderate) - 365x5 (hard working set) - and then I may do another set at 365 and move on.

After a summer off, the only other time I took off weights in 20 years was during chemo treatment for cancer, I decided to jump on a gram of test shooting 200mg test enth ED on weekdays. And try out some volume. Always been a fan of Lee Preist and Jay Cutler so why not try something new.

A typical chest workout - lets say flat bar bench again - would be barx20, 135x10, 225lbx10, and then I'll do 5 sets of 5 reps with 275lbs. The first couple or three sets are progressively harder with the last two being the hardest.

But I think this isn't any different than what I was doing before haha except now I'm doing 5 exercises of 5 sets of 5 reps.

 

[IronLion2]

one set usually around 60-70% of 1rp as a "warm up" then 1-4 sets more (depending on the intensity/effort) of 75%+ 1rp. Spending too much time with submax load creates junk volume that doesnt stimulate growth/strength and burns too much energy

 

[trekrider215]

I like to work up to a heavyish top set of 6 to 8, and then drop the weight down slightly and get a few working sets in the 8-12 range.

Obviously the reps might change a little depending on excercise, but thats the general idea behind what i do. Im a fan of progressive overload so im constantly trying to bring that top set and working sets up over time.

Working up to a heavy top set allows you to kind of prime your nervous system and will allow you to train heavier and harder on the lighter working sets. (slightly lighter)

I used to just work up to a mediumish weight and try and do more sets and reps at that medium weight but i was finding i wasnt getting a very good pump. It also seemed like I was getting weaker regardless of how much intensity i was putting into it.

To give you an idea what im talking about: Think about when you work up to a heavy bench single of 405. Then you go back down to 315 and rep it out. It feels super fucking light right??

I guarantee you would be able to get more reps of 315 after dropping from 405 then you would had you simply y worked up to 315 and then tried to rep it out without going above 315.

 

[trekrider215]

one set usually around 60-70% of 1rp as a "warm up" then 1-4 sets more (depending on the intensity/effort) of 75%+ 1rp. Spending too much time with submax load creates junk volume that doesnt stimulate growth/strength and burns too much energy

You said it perfectly. Junk volume.

 

[Gunsmith]

I’ve been doing John Meadows “Creeping death” workout and it seems to be a good balance between volume , progressive over loading and frequency.