06 April 2023
Some camps advocate high volume approaches to training and others with low but very high intensity, so how do we know what is the most “optimal”?
Well there isn’t really a most optimal method but what’s certain from current research is importantly we want to train with moderately high volume in close approximately to failure for hypertrophy. The higher the intensity we choose to train at then the lower the volume will have to go for recovery purposes.
Volume is the total amount of sets on a muscle group over the week, how much volume does a trainee need to stimulate hypertrophy in a muscle group? There’s some general rules of thumb but the truth is everyone is so different so there isn’t a one size fits all amount. As a beginner-intermediate you’ll most likely respond well training 2-3 times a week with 7-8 exercises per session and 2-3 working sets on each exercise. As you grow more muscle and your body adapts you may need more volume, but at some point adding more and more volume won’t yield any more results, it just becomes extra work that we might not be able to recover from. Then we can also become highly skilled at the exercises that volume actually needs to be reduced to recover effectively and to continue to progress. Frequency, or the amount of times we train a muscle group per week, will need to be taken into consideration as we need to carefully delegate the volume across the week to be able to recover from session to session. This is why it is so important you keep track and log your own training so you can keep record of the amount of volume you are able to recover from and make the necessary changes as you progress.
Intensity is equally important too, so your training volume needs to be effective, i.e. you need to be training close to failure for the muscle group you are targeting! The definition of failure is widely debated across a number of research papers but we can generally define failure meaning you couldn’t physically do another rep at the end of the set without breaking the form or completely failing the rep. Please note that effective training to failure means the target muscle for that exercise is the limiting factor and not secondary muscle groups which may come into play if form breaks down or the movement is executed poorly. Current research suggests that anywhere from 0 to 5 reps shy of failure is effective for building muscle but there’s still debate and ongoing research to what’s more effective; training to absolute failure or leaving a couple reps in the tank? Somewhere in the middle is most likely the answer.
In terms of rep ranges it’s a bit of a continuum, so there will be some hypertrophy anywhere under 6 reps but a rough sweet spot is from 6-15. As you advance you might find it useful experementing with more rep ranges, you’ll find that in certain movements and muscle groups depending on the dominance of the muscle size or fibre type (fast or slow twitch) will respond to different rep ranges from perhaps 6 all the way up to 25 ,in some cases. With varied rep ranges we will need to consider a variation in load, typically a higher load will mean a lower rep range to be close to failure and vice versa. You’ll usually want to prioritise the most energy demanding lower rep sets close to beginning of the workout then the higher rep sets closer towards the end of the session. Typically this will mean your compound work training multiple muscle groups near the start and isolation work training a single muscle group towards the end.
Please note, regardless of load, the most important factor is training that load close to failure and with effective technique. Effective technique being defined as ensuring the target muscle is the limiting factor; training with as full range of motion as possible; having complete control in all phases of the movement and ensuring the reps of the set look exactly the same with only the last few reps slowing down as you approach failure. Ensure the exercises you select within your programme allow you to do all of the afore mentioned.
Taking all of this into consideration it’s important to let the research be a guide and framework, but importantly to track your own data to find out the best method for you. If you’re unsure how to do this or how to analyse the data this when a coach can come in handy.