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Less Time Equals Better Results?
By Jason Ferruggia
Why is it that almost everyone you see working out in the gym does high
volume bodypart splits? Today is Monday and in just about every gym in
America that means it’s chest day. Tomorrow is back, Thursday is legs
and Friday is arms…or something like that, I guess.
Why the lack of variety or rational thought? What is the need for all
that training volume?
You need to understand that most forms of training have just been passed
down for decades from one generation to the next, without the inclusion
of rational thought. Sometime in the 60’s, sensible training programs
started becoming less and less prevalent with the rapidly growing usage
of anabolic steroids.
In the days of old, men like Steve Reeves and Paul Anderson trained with
far more sensible, lower volume programs but these started to disappear
during the 60’s. By the time Arnold got to Gold’s Gym in Venice for the
first time, high volume, bodypart splits were the widely accepted way
for everyone to train for size and strength.
This type of training is not based on deductive reasoning but just on
the fact that “it’s what everyone else is doing.” The proponents of
these training methods will always blindly tell you that “higher volume
training is needed for hypertrophy gains.” Says who? I can tell you for
a fact that the University of Chicago isn’t wasting time examining the
effects of Jay Cutler’s marathon workouts. There are no studies saying
that you need 8-12 sets per bodypart to grow. In fact there are studies
that show the opposite; that one set is just as effective as three.
The proponents of this type of training will also tell you that higher
volume training is associated with higher levels of growth hormone
secretion. What they don’t tell you is that the level of GH increase is
not enough to make any difference at all. In fact, almost anything you
do elevates GH. Extreme temperatures elevate GH but my biceps don’t get
bigger every time I take a shower. The increased GH secretion from
training is so minimal that it is not enough to make the slightest
difference whatsoever.
For the drug free lifter who does not possess muscle building genetics
quite up to par with the Austrian Oak, training this way is a huge
mistake. Not only does it drain your amino acid pool and glycogen stores
but it dramatically enhances your recovery time between workouts. If you
do 8-12 sets for chest on Monday you can not recover from that workout
and be able to train again for seven days. So you are only getting one
growth stimulus per week or fifty two per year. Now if you reduce your
volume to the point where you can recover faster and more efficiently
without draining your amino acid pool and glycogen stores so greatly,
you can train bodyparts twice per week instead of once. Now instead of
52 growth stimulating workouts per year for each bodypart, you can now
do 104. In fact, if your volume is kept low you can even get away with
training bodyparts three times a week in certain situations. Now, which
do you think will be more effective; 156 growth stimulating workouts per
year or 52?
To train more often you absolutely have to lower your training volume.
The total sets per workout should be kept low and the total sets per
exercise should be even lower. There is no need to hit four sets of
incline presses, flat bench presses and decline presses for your chest
workout. Doing that is a form of neuroses; you think that you need to
hit every angle and do and endless amount of sets to stimulate every
last muscle fiber, but this is simply not the case.
The reason these training programs remain popular is because nobody
wants to be told that they are wrong. Admitting your mistakes is
something many people can’t do. It is why when something radically
different is proposed, the high volume proponents get upset and
offended. Nobody likes to have their ego bruised so they keep on doing
and promoting the same old high volume workouts that they always have.
That’s fine, let them continue to do what they choose; personally I have
way more important things to do than spend all of my waking hours in the
gym. If I can get better results in a fraction of the time I will choose
that option every time.
Cut your volume down, up your weights and intensity and get ready for
the “what are you on” questions to start rolling in.
Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for
his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He
is the head training adviser for Men’s Fitness Magazine where he also
has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more great
muscle building information, please visit
http://www.musclegainingsecrets.com/ |
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