Mega Mass & Power

 

The Best High-Volume, High-Intensity, Low-Frequency Programs for Mass and Strength & Power

     Yesterday, while I was finishing up, ironically enough, my latest high-frequency training article, I received an email from a reader.  He said that he’d been using a couple of my HFT programs the last few months.  He said that he got pretty good results from them, and he now understands why it is that I “push” them.  But, he also said, he had an issue.  He didn’t enjoy training with them as much as he did with high-volume, high-intensity, low-frequency programs.  He said that he just liked training with a multi-split program where he trained each muscle group just once per week.  So, he wanted to know what I thought was the “best” program that didn’t involve high-frequency or full-body workouts.  The remainder of this essay is essentially what I wrote to him, albeit in more detail and a lot more fleshed out.  Here, I’ve also included a couple of training routines in case you want to apply the information contained herein immediately.

     First off, before I get into my training advice outright, please understand that I don’t think there is one best way to train.  In fact, I’ve always been put off by that line of thought and trainers/writers who say that their way is the only way—it’s one of my main problems with a lot of H.I.T. (“high-intensity training”) enthusiasts.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t find standard H.I.T. programs to be optimal, but I do think they can be effective when used at certain times and for certain individuals.  No, my main problem is that H.I.T. enthusiasts—like the crazed Mentzer that inspired them—is that they often proclaim that H.I.T. is the only way to train.  And that I cannot abide.  The truth is that there isn’t a “best” way or an “only” way to train.  There are better methods and more optimal ways to train—high-frequency training, I believe, being one of them.  (For more on why I believe in a “both/and” system instead of an “either/or” approach, I suggest you read THIS past essay of mine.)  In fact, one reason I titled this blog “Integral Strength” is because I wanted my writing to integrate together different modes and methods of training and working out.

     Second, if there’s one form of training that you enjoy over others, then that is absolutely the kind of training you should use.  At least, the majority of the time.  Because, when you enjoy training, you will stick with it and you will be consistent.  And if there is ONE key to success, it is without a doubt consistency.

     Even though I think (for the majority of lifters) high-frequency training (HFT) is superior to other forms, it actually may not be the best form of training for some lifters.  Depending on genetics, some lifters respond best to frequency, some to volume, and some to intensity.  The main thing is to make sure you’re using a program where two of the variables are high (or one high and the other moderate) and the other variable is low.  With high-frequency training, you have to either have low intensity or low volume to go along with the higher frequency.  So, that means when using a low-frequency program, you need to make sure that your intensity and your volume are both (at least proportionately so) high.  The lower the frequency, the more you need to ratchet up the volume and intensity—as you will see below in the workout examples.

     One of the good things about high-volume, high-intensity, low-frequency programs is that they are relatively easy to program.  I’ve argued in several other articles that I think this is one of the primary reasons that they are so popular.  If a training routine is easy to program, it’s also easy to use.  Nonetheless, using this form of training, certain programs are decidedly better than others.

     The problem with how most gym-goers use this style of training is this: Their training may produce good hypertrophy results but it sucks at producing good strength gains.  For instance, think for a moment about the average workout performed in American gyms when training low-frequency.  They usually involve between 3 to 5 exercises per muscle group for 3 to 5 sets per exercise.  Reps are typically (to use a range here that’s fair) between 6 to 15 (20?), and each set is taken to the point of momentary muscular failure—or, at least, close to it.  To top it off, a lot of machines and cable movements are used, as well.  Now, as said, this kind of programming can produce hypertrophy but it won’t do much to produce strength gains.  To be fair, any program that relies on “exhausting” a muscle—even high-frequency routines—won’t produce much strength gains.  So, the question, then, becomes this: using high-volume, high-intensity, low-frequency training, what kind of program will produce plenty of strength along with hypertrophy?  In brief, it would include less exercises (but not less sets—perhaps more), lower reps, less failure training, and undulating workloads.  The remainder of our essay will look at this in more detail.

     One of the best ways to get really strong on a lift while also gaining muscle is to do multiple sets of a movement for low reps (5 or less).  8 to 10 sets of 2 to 5 reps seems to work best when starting out.  When training in this manner, select a weight for the lift (whatever lift it may be) where you could get double the reps if you were attempting the lift for one all-out set.  This means if you do 8 to 10 sets of 5 reps, you select a weight where you could get 10 reps for 1 set.  For 4 rep sets, it would mean an 8-rep weight.  For 3 rep sets, it would mean a 6-rep weight; so on and so forth.  If you get all the reps on all the sets, simply add weight at the next session.

     If you were to use this method on just one exercise for each muscle group at each session, I would train a little more than once-per-week.  The best split, in this case, for most lifters, is a 3-way split where you train on a 2-on, 1-off, 1-on, 1-off split.  This isn’t just my opinion, either.  This is the exact split recommended by the likes of (the greats) George Turner and Charles Poliquin, may they both rest-in-peace.  An example program would look like this:

Day One - Chest and Arms

• Bench presses: 10x3

• Barbell curls: 8x5

• Skull crushers: 8x5

Day Two - Legs

• Barbell squats: 10x5

• Stiff-legged deadlifts: 10x5

Day Three - OFF

Day Four - Back and Shoulders

• Weighted chins: 10x3

• Behind-the-neck Presses: 8x5

Day Five - OFF

Day Six - Repeat cycle

     If you would prefer a program that only has you training each lift once-per-week, then do 2 exercises for each muscle group.  A good program would be the following:

Monday - Chest

• Dumbbell bench presses: 10x3

• Incline barbell bench presses: 8x5

Tuesday - Legs

• Barbell squats: 10x5

• Stiff-legged deadlifts: 10x5

• Hack squats (barbell or machine): 8x5

Wednesday - Shoulders

• Military presses: 10x3

• Seated dumbbell presses: 8x5

Thursday - OFF

Friday - Back

• Weighted chins: 10x3

• One-arm dumbbell rows: 8x5 (each arm)

Saturday - Arms

• Barbell curls: 10x3

• Alternate dumbbell curls: 8x5 (each arm)

• Narrow-grip weighted dips: 10x3

• Skull crushers: 8x5

Sunday - Off

     One of the things that I like about the above program—oddly enough, this is also a reason that some of your “rest and grow” pundits wouldn’t like it—is that the muscle groups get worked directly once per week but get worked indirectly multiple times per week.  Your shoulders get worked directly on Wednesday but indirectly on Monday and Saturday.  Your biceps get worked directly on Saturday but indirectly on Friday and Tuesday (the deadlifts).  Ditto for all of the other muscle groups.

     If you can only make it to the gym 3 days per week, you can still follow this kind of program, as long as you enjoy being in the gym longer.  Some lifters enjoy long training sessions—I always did—and if you went this route, your program might look something like this:

Monday - Chest and Back

• Bench presses: 10x3

• Weighted chins: 10x3

• Incline barbell bench presses: 8x5

• Bent-over barbell rows: 8x5

Wednesday - Legs

• Barbell squats: 10x5

• Stiff-legged deadlifts: 10x5

• Sumo deficit deadlifts: 10x3

• Hack squats (barbell or machine): 8x5

Friday - Shoulders and Arms

• Military presses: 10x3

• One-arm dumbbell overhead presses: 8x5 (each arm)

• Barbell curls: 10x3

• Skull crushers: 8x5

• E-Z bar curls: 8x5

• Overhead dumbbell triceps extensions: 8x5

     I mentioned earlier the need for undulating workloads.  One way to do this—and there are different methods of doing so—that is also a great way to increase your strength on a lift is to do 10 sets of 5 reps (or 8 sets of 5 reps) on a lift the first week, 10 sets of 4 the 2nd week, and 10 sets of 3 the week after that.  Add weight to the lifts each subsequent week—the amount will depend on the particular lift.  On the 4th week, do 10 sets of 5 with what you used for 10 sets of 4 the 2nd week, then on the 5th week do 10 sets of 4 with what you used for 10 sets of 3 the 3rd week, and so on and so forth.  Use this program for 9 to 12 weeks straight.  You will be considerably stronger by the end of a training cycle.

     If you enjoy training on the opposite end of that, as in every day, you could stretch out a program to 6 days a week.  If you do this, then I suggest using a one-lift-a-day program.  The beauty of this training—assuming you think plenty of volume is a thing of beauty, as I most certainly do—is that you can really push up the number of sets on each lift to considerably more than 10.  15 to 20 sets are even a possibility.

     I wrote about this not that long ago, in another article, but it might be worth revisiting here as a possible idea.  In the early to mid ‘90s, my training partner Dusty and I worked out using the “common” bodybuilding style of training where we typically did 3 to 4 exercises per bodypart for 3 to 4 sets each using anywhere from 6 to 12 reps on each exercise.  Then one day, after I read an article by Greg Zulak on high-set, low-rep training—10 to 15 sets of 2 to 3 reps—we decided to try that for an arm workout.  We did barbell curls for 15 sets of 3 reps.  The next day, our arms were more sore than they had been in a year or more.  We knew that, at the very least, we had provided a unique stimulus for our arms.  We spent a few weeks training in that manner on all our bodyparts, doing one exercise per muscle for 15 sets of 2 to 3 reps.  Our bodies responded well—possibly because it was such a different, unique stimulus—and I’ve used such training on occasion ever since.

     If you go the 1 lift a day route, here’s an idea:  Do multiple sets of doubles.  Select a weight where you can get 4, maybe 5, reps for one all-out set.  Now, simply see how many doubles you can do with that weight.  Perhaps you get 15 doubles until you fail.  At that point, you can either stop or you can continue with singles until you can’t get a single.  You may only get a few singles at that point—5 would probably be the limit.  Your week might look like this:

Monday

Squats: 15-20x2 then 1

Tuesday

Bench Presses: 15-20x2 then 1

Wednesday

Power cleans: 15-20x2 then 1

Thursday

One-arm dumbbell overhead presses: 15-20x2 then 1 (each arm)

Friday

Barbell curls: 15-20x2 then 1

Saturday

Barbell shrugs: 15-20x2 then 1

     Now, back to undulating workloads for a moment before I finish this thing off.  Even though all of the above programs give plenty of rest for an individual muscle or movement pattern, this kind of training can be hard on your nervous system.  Heavy, low-rep training can take a real toll, in fact, more than any other kind of training.  Most lifters will need to take a de-load every 4th week or so.  If you have a lot of fast-twitch muscle fibers, then you probably need to take one every 3rd week.  On this week, reduce the weight and the number of sets.  In our above scenario, let’s say that you did squats for 15 sets of doubles with 315 pounds.  On the de-load week, reduce the weight down to around 250 pounds (roughly 80%) and simply do 5 doubles.  Do this on all of your lifts for the week, and then simply pick up where you left off the week after.

     If you’re one of those lifters that loves the feel of heavy, high-volume training, consider using one of these workout programs.  More muscle, strength, and power awaits.