My Son’s High-Volume, High-Frequency Training

High-Volume, High-Frequency Training and Realistic Muscle-Building for the Natural Bodybuilder

     This article, I will admit, is in many ways nothing more than an excuse to show off my youngest son Garrett’s physique as seen above.  But since I have a good feeling that he has exactly the kind of body that most men would love to acquire, I also want to discuss his training philosophy and some lessons that you can learn from it.

     First, however, let’s discuss the 3 training variables of volume, frequency, and intensity.  If you’re familiar with my point-of-view, you can skip ahead to the next paragraph.  If you’re not, then pay attention!  In order to get results out of resistance training, no matter your goals, you must properly balance and manipulate the 3 training variables of volume, frequency, and intensity.  Two of the variables need to be high (or one high and the other moderate) and the remaining variable needs to be low.  The only exception to this is if all 3 of them are moderate.  Routines that don’t work—at least over the long haul—are ones where all 3 of the variables are high (or low) or ones in which only one of the variables are high and the other 2 are low.

     In an article a couple of years ago entitled Mass-Building Variety, I outlined the 6 different training types that a program would “slot” into.  What follows (to the end of the bullet points) are largely from that article, with a few additions.

     Below are 6 training “types” along with some examples of the kind of programs that would fit each type.  When the middle variable is listed as moderate-to-high, whether or not it should be used as a “moderate” or a “high” variable depends on the lifter’s level of experience.  Beginning to intermediate lifters should stay (for the most part) in the moderate range, whereas advanced lifters would need to have the 2nd variable high in order to have continued progress—my son has been training long enough that both his volume and frequency are high.  Keep in mind that “intensity” in the below types is used how it is among weightlifters and powerlifters: as a % of your one-rep maximum.  Basically, the higher the intensity, the heavier you are training.

• High volume, moderate (to high) intensity, low frequency.  Examples: Typical American bodybuilding split; one-bodypart-per-week training (separate days for chest, legs, arms, etc.) for multiple sets (16 to 20 sets or more) of multiple reps.  Good for hypertrophy for those lifters that respond well to volume and plenty of sets with heavy weights (“powerbuilding”).  Should never be the first type of training used by someone who is just starting to lift, however.  I have often argued that the reason that this style of training is so popular is because of how easy it is to program.  You train as hard as you want, as long as you want, then wait an entire week (maybe a little more or little less) before training again.  It doesn’t get much simpler to program than that.

• High volume, moderate (to high) frequency, low intensity.  Examples: ‘80s style bodybuilding splits, such as a 6-on, 1-off program where the body is split 3 ways, and you have one day for chest, shoulders, and triceps, one day for back and biceps, and one day for legs and abs.  Sets are not as high as in the first method (typically 9-12 per bodypart) and reps would be the same.  Good for hypertrophy for lifters that respond well to volume, but with a bit more frequency than the previous high-volume group.  A highly advanced lifter might follow a 2-way split where he does the same kind of training but does it for 3 days each week for each muscle group.  Also good for bodybuilders who like to use less weight in order to “feel” the muscle.

• High intensity, moderate (to high) volume, low frequency.  Examples: The kind of training used by a lot of (mostly American) powerlifters where you squat, bench, and deadlift only once-per-week.  If you like to squat on Monday, bench press on Wednesday, and deadlift on Friday, this is you.  The “Hepburn method” where you do 5 to 10 singles with 90% of your 1-rep-max, then follow it up with 5 sets of 5 reps with 70% of your max would slot into this type, and anything of a similar nature.  Good for any strength athletes that respond well to low-frequency programs.  Also, if you’re a bodybuilder that responds well to high-volume, moderate-to-high intensity, and low frequency, this would be a good method as a change-of-pace, and it would work well if you wanted to switch over to strength training.  Methods using this type are also good for lifters who want a combination of strength and hypertrophy.

• High intensity, moderate (to high) frequency, low volume.  Examples: the 3-to-5 method of training, some beginning “Soviet-bloc” methods of weightlifting and powerlifting, and some Bill Starr-style H-L-M programs.  You could even slot in older H.I.T. programs into this type.  The “old-school” Nautilus methods or Mike Mentzer’s training in the ‘70s (not the crap he wrote in the bodybuilding magazines in the ‘90s) would be examples.  They used only 1 or 2 sets per bodypart (low-volume) but the frequency was actually fairly high, 2 to 3 times per week.  Methods of this type—similar to the other high-intensity type above—are also good for a combination of strength and hypertrophy.

• High frequency, moderate (to high) intensity, low volume.  Examples: Any easy strength method and almost all of the HFT (high-frequency training) programs that I have on the blog would be slotted here.  In fact, a lot of the programs that I write about fit this type of training.  These methods are generally believed to only be good for strength (most detractors would say the volume is too low and the weights are too heavy to stimulate hypertrophy), but I think some lifters will also gain muscle utilizing them.  Whether or not they are good for muscle growth, these methods are always good at quick strength gains.

• High frequency, moderate (to high) volume, low intensity.  Examples: My Easy Muscle article fits this type of training to a T, along with most bodyweight programs.  If you ever tried a “100 push-ups per day” challenge for a month, or something similar, and got good results from it, then you respond well to this sort of training.  This training is not very good at producing strength gains, but it will produce good muscle gains in some lifters.  It’s especially good for older lifters.

     I have written a lot of different programs that use all of these types, though I generally favor high-frequency workouts of the last two categories, and I have also created a lot of programs that fall into the 3rd category above.  However, for bodybuilders seeking hypertrophy, I have designed quite a few programs that are high-volume and then high (or moderate) frequency, followed by low-intensity.  This is the kind of training that Garret uses right now, and it’s what allowed him to build such a phenomenal natural physique.

     Garrett rotates between 3-way splits, where he trains each muscle group twice per week, and 2-way splits, where he trains each muscle group 3 times weekly.  If he wants to use more volume for a muscle, then he takes the former approach.  He uses the latter, however, the majority of the time.  In many ways, his training is similar to old-school bodybuilders who split their bodies 2 different ways, trained each muscle group 3 days per week, and used around 10 sets per muscle.  This is what he is doing right now.

     Here are a couple of different pictures of him taken the same day as the pic at the top of the post.

     Now, let me make one thing clear.  My son did not start training using such methods.  He is 25 years old right now, but I began training him when he was only 13.  He started by doing full-body workouts only 2 days per week.  By the time he was 16, he was still using full-body training, though he did start doing some split training at that point, as well.  But he never split his body more than 2 ways.  And, no matter the split (or lack of one), he focused on gaining muscle with big, compound movements.  He squatted, deadlifted, bench pressed, and did rows, chins, curls, and overhead presses, but very little else with the exception of some loaded carries.  Now, he does isolation movements and higher reps, but he still uses predominately free weights and stays away from machines.  His training philosophy: "Adaptation and accumulation over rest and recovery.”  His words, not mine, though you can see my influence.

     Also, he eats very strictly.  You can’t look like him no matter your training program without taking your diet seriously.  He eats a “kind of” Carnivore Diet.  He eats a lot of beef and other meats—though red meat is his favorite—along with fruit.  He also has eggs and one or two sweet potatoes on most days, especially after training to re-fuel his post-workout muscles.

     I want to comment on one final subject before closing this thing out.  And that is the topic of realistic muscle-building for the natural bodybuilder.  My son is in very good shape (obviously) but he is not very big.  He is between 5’7” to 5’8” and weighs around 150 pounds.  You have no clue just how great his physique is until he takes his shirt off or if he’s training in a tank top.  Most guys at the gym, or so he tells me (I don’t go to gyms), think that he weighs around 180, however.  My other son, Matthew, is around the same height, but weighs between 230 and 240.  He is massive—and massively strong—but he is not very lean.  He’s not fat, mind you, but he is “bulky.”  He is also completely natural and always has been, just like his brother.  He trains with primarily high sets combined with low reps, including plenty of heavy singles similar to some of my most recent posts.

My oldest son Matthew is massive and massively strong.

     Natural bodybuilders can be either big or they can be ripped.  Very few, unless they are just genetic freaks, can be both.  Maybe something like 1% of the training population would be capable of being big, ripped (not just lean), and natural.  Steroids, and other performance enhancement drugs, change the equation.  In fact, they change everything.

     If you’re a natural bodybuilder, it is best to pursue one thing at a time.  If you’re starting out, try to get as big as you can.  Use full-body workouts or 2-way split programs that utilize all of the big, compound lifts—all the stuff I’m constantly preaching in article after article.  Train consistently for a decade, eat really clean, and a physique such as my son’s is within your reach.