High Volume vs. High Intensity

[enz660]

There are lots of people do do the classic "leg day" or "arm day" approach, and perform many types of workouts & many sets, spending at least 30 minutes on one muscle. I haven been going at it by doing much less volume, but high intensity. For example, Start out with Benching 3 sets of 10, then move on to rowing 3 sets of 10, then bicep curls 3 sets of 10, then tricep extension 3x10, and the last set of all these workouts would be a dropset. I read somewhere that bulking is all about intensity, and not so much about volume. Short burst of high overload on the muscle will stimulate growth, sometimes even 2 sets would be enough if the intensity is high, and them muscles are worked out to total failure. So Is high volume really needed or no?

 

[bipennate]

Intensity + frequency > volume, but what you're doing is neither high intensity nor high volume...3x5, 3x3 would be low volume, high intensity workouts, for instance

 

[enz660]

yes but thats directed to strength gains, not mass, i want to stick to doing about 8-10 reps.

 

[bipennate]

yes but thats directed to strength gains, not mass, i want to stick to doing about 8-10 reps.

Says who? Have you ever seen a Powerlifter or Olympic Weightlifter? I'm willing to bet that these guys don't venture out much beyond 4-5 reps at most, either...

 

[enz660]

im just looking to get lean muscle, those guys are mad fat. But in any case, I got those figures from this Page

"2-3: strength with little size gain

4-5: strength and size gains, but more strength than size

6-8: strength and size gains, almost equally

9-12: strength and size gains, but more size than strength

13-15: size gains, and some muscle endurance gains

16-20: muscle endurance gains, and some size gains."

 

[bipennate]

im just looking to get lean muscle, those guys are mad fat.

Really? Does this guy (Dimas) look fat to you:



How about this guy?:

Body weight is a function of diet, not the exercise that you do...Stick to the 2-5x5's for a low volume, high intensity workout with much better results than just sticking with 3x10, or mix the reps: 2x5, 1x12 per exercise

 

[goergen1]

So Is high volume really needed or no?

Yes.

Can you gain size doing 2 - 5 reps???? Yes

Can you gain size doing 5 - 12 reps???? Yes

We were actually talking about this at the gym today. A lot of guys try to stay in the lower reps range, they have good gains in the beginning but then they hit plateaus. The reason is generally because they do not have the muscular endurance to keep making gains.

Short burst of high overload on the muscle will stimulate growth

This is true. But it is not the only way to stimulate muscle growth. The higher volume work can be done after the high intensity work in order to take advantage of the benefits of both.

 

[NBS 4life]

Different people get different tesosterone responses from different rep ranges. You have to trial some different ranges and find what rep ranges work for you.

 

[Karky]

I really like ding low reps on the big lifts, deads, squats, pulls, etc. but do higher rep assistance work for some size and work capacity

 

[bipennate]

A lot of guys try to stay in the lower reps range, they have good gains in the beginning but then they hit plateaus. The reason is generally because they do not have the muscular endurance to keep making gains.

I'd think that it would have more to do with a weak signal for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy than endurance...unless that's what you meant?

 

[goergen1]

I'd think that it would have more to do with a weak signal for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy than endurance

Generally, it's just that they are not in good enough shape to do the amount of work it takes to break through the plateau.

unless that's what you meant?

Not what I meant, but good point.