High Volume, High Frequency Training Challenges

Two Training Challenges for Busting Through Plateaus and Forcing New Gains

     For a program to be successful, it must regulate the variables of volume, intensity, and frequency.  Generally—and this is not an absolute; there are exceptions—two of the variables should be high (or one high and the other moderate) and the other variable must be low.  The reason I believe many “bro splits” are popular is because they are easy to program.  Many gym-goers these days, for instance, like to train one-bodypart-per-week and train with a lot of sets, a lot of intensity, but with very low frequency.  Although this approach most certainly can work for a lot of lifters, I don’t think it’s the most optimal way to train.

     If you’ve read any of the material that I’ve written on this blog and in articles elsewhere, you will know that I’m a fan of high-frequency training.  And I typically recommend a lot of high-frequency, high-intensity programs (intensity here refers to percentage of one-rep maximum, not how “hard” you train) with fairly low volume.  Any easy strength program such as my 30-Rep Program of Dan John’s 40-Day Workout are examples of this approach.  These are also workouts that are easy to program.

     The hardest workouts for lifters to program are high-volume, high-frequency ones because the lifter tends to add too much intensity to these programs.  But I think these can also be the very best programs for breaking through a plateau or for attaining muscle growth in a very short period of time.  Below are a couple of programs that can help you do just that.

     These programs work over the short-term because they are challenging to your body.  I think that the majority of the time lifters should use “moderate” workouts done with high-frequency, but our bodies do need to be challenged on occasion.  Here’s what Dan John has to say on this: “Without challenges, the human body will soften.  We thrive when we push our boundaries, reach goals, and blast personal records.  We perform better, we look better, and we feel alive.  Get this straight: you’re either progressing or regressing.  There is no maintenance phase.  Moderation in training can easily turn into stagnation.  If we want to improve, we have to seek out new challenges, struggle and win.”*

The 10,000-Swing Kettlebell Workout

     This is a program made popular by John along with Pavel Tsatsouline.  I must be honest about one thing before I outline this workout: I have never done it for the full 20 workouts as John recommends.  I have used it for a couple of weeks straight, and ended up doing 10 workouts with it, which means that I ended up only doing 5,000 swings.  I stopped because I was doing too many martial arts workouts, and it was just too hard for me to recover, so if you decide to take up this challenge, make sure that you’re doing it and nothing else.

     With that brief warning out of the way, here’s the overview of how it works:

• The goal is 10,000 swings over 20 workouts.

• You will perform 500 swings at each workout.  Between the swings, you will perform low-volume strength movements.

• Train 4 to 5 days per week.  John recommended a 2-on, 1-off program.  You can also train on a 2-on, 1-off, 2-on, 2-off schedule if you want to train on the same days each week, say Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, for instance.

• For men, use a kettlebell that’s around 50 pounds.  For women, 30 pounds.

• Use an undulating rep scheme to reach your 500 swings at each session.  Set 1: 10 reps.  Set 2: 15 reps.  Set 3: 25 reps.  Set 4: 50 reps.  That’s 100 reps.  You will repeat this undulating cluster 4 more times for 500 reps total.

• Between each set of swings, do a strength movement.  Select a big, “bang-for-your-buck” exercise such as squats, chins, weighted dips, barbell overhead presses, or bench presses.  Go heavy on these, and keep the reps low.  Don’t go higher than 5 reps.  And stay away from any “pulling” movement such as deadlifts or power cleans since the kettlebell swings will be working largely the same muscle used in those movements.

     Okay, that’s the “overview” of the program.  Now, let’s see what an example week of workouts might actually look like:

Day 1:

10 swings

Bench press: 3 reps using approximately your 6-rep max

15 swings

Bench press: 2 reps with same weight as first set

25 sings

Bench press: 1 rep, same weight

50 swings

     Rest around 60 seconds between sets.  Repeat 4 more times.

Day 2:

10 swings

Chins: 2 reps using bodyweight or added weight if you can handle it.  Stick with the same weight for all your chins in this session.

15 swings

Chins: 3 reps

25 sings

Chins: 5 reps

50 swings

     Rest around 60 seconds between sets.  Repeat 4 more times.

Day 3: off

Day 4:

10 swings

Front squats: 3 reps using approximately your 6-rep max

15 swings

Front squats: 2 reps, same weight

25 sings

Front squats: 1 rep, same weight

50 swings

     Rest around 60 seconds between sets.  Repeat 4 more times.

Day 5:

10 swings

Weighted dips: 2 reps, using a weight you can handle for around 8 reps if it was 1 all-out set.  Use this weight for all sets.

15 swings

Weighted dips: 3 reps

25 sings

Weighted dips: 5 reps

50 swings

     Rest around 60 seconds between sets.  Repeat 4 more times.

Day 6: off

Day 7: off or repeat the training cycle

     For the first week, even if you want to train 5 days weekly, you may want to take off on day 7 to allow your body to adjust.  On the next week, simply repeat the cycle on day 7 if you feel as if you have adapted to the workload.

The Bodyweight Challenge

     Probably the most popular form of high-volume, high-frequency training throughout the world are bodyweight workouts.  This makes sense.  And it’s not just because everyone has access to their own bodyweight and not necessarily the gym—though that is, to be honest, probably the driving factor.  Another factor is how easy it is to program this kind of training.  No matter how frequently you train, how hard you train, or how much volume you do, your intensity is always going to be low.  (Keep in mind, once again, that I’m using intensity as percentage of one-rep maximum, and not training effort.)  People program these well without even knowing that’s what they’re doing.

     This challenge is simple but not necessarily easy.  But keep in mind that the most effective programs are often simple but hard ones.  “Keep it simple, stupid,” should really be the lifter’s constant refrain.

     For the next 20 workouts, I want you to do the following every day (or almost every day; we’ll get to that in a moment): 100 push-ups, 30 chins, and 300 bodyweight squats.  If you want, you can also add an ab movement, such as 50 sit-ups and/or some hill sprints, such as 5 hill sprints.  Only add these two extra movements if you already have a good work capacity to begin with.

     I have, at times, recommended more bodyweight squats than that every day, and more chins, but I think the numbers here are just about right for daily training.

     Train as many days in a row as you can before you take a day off.  In general, just take a day off when you feel as if you really need it, or simply take it off when “life gets in the way.”  For example, when I’m training on something such as this, I take a day off if I have an event I need to attend, or a dinner I’ve been invited to, or if my girlfriend simply wants a date night.  That’s the kind of stuff I mean by life getting in the way.

     A lot of trainees find the first couple days to be relatively easy.  But by the 3rd, 4th, and 5th days, they are often sore and find it harder to get through the workout.  But then they adapt to it, and all of the workouts become a bit easier.

     This challenge is best done by you if you don’t use bodyweight workouts on a regular basis.  If you’ve been grinding it away on heavy, barbell-centric workouts for a few months, and need something different, this kind of challenge is perfect.

Some Final Thoughts

     Even though I’ve only listed two programs here, you could experiment with them and end up having multiple workouts at your disposal.  For instance, you could try replacing the kettlebell swing challenge with another movement that allows daily training.  I think kettlebell squats—either double or single—might be a good replacement exercise.  Another good one would be the double kettlebell clean.  In fact, if I was going to replace the swings with anything else, I think this would be my first choice.  You could even use something as simple as bodyweight squats for a replacement.

     If you make it through the bodyweight challenge and find it productive, you could run it again but increase the number of reps for each movement.  A more advanced bodyweight trainee could shoot for 150 push-ups, 50 chins, and 500 squats daily.  You could also simply replace the movements.  Do a different style of chins than what you used at first.  Replace the squats with walking lunges—200 walking lunges a day might be a good number.  Do some harder styles of push-ups, such as feet-elevated push-ups, diamond push-ups, push-ups on your knuckles or wide-grip push-ups.  You could even alternate between those styles on each set.

     As with any program, but especially high-volume ones, make sure you’re getting enough calories every day and enough protein to help in muscle repair.  Some of you may want to do the kettlebell workout to get lean—that’s one of the things it’s most renowned for, fat loss—but you still want to ensure you’re getting enough calories on a daily basis so shoot for at least 10x your bodyweight in calories daily if fat loss is your goal.  But both of the challenges are good at packing on the muscle, so if that’s your goal, consume around 20x your bodyweight in calories daily.  For protein, get at least 1 gram of protein per pound of lean mass on a daily basis, whether you’re trying to get lean or gain mass.

     Make sure you’re getting enough good, quality sleep, as well, and take advantage of whatever other recovery means you want to use: saunas, ice baths, message, foam rolling, etc.  Try to relax your mind and your body as much as possible.  A lot of big, strong lifters have a natural ability to relax deeply at will.  Make that your goal, too.

     If you’re stuck in a rut, or just looking for a different way to train, give one of these training challenges a try.  You may be surprised by the results.

*From the book “Before We Go: An Ongoing Philosophy of Lifting, Living, and Learning.”