High-Volume, High-Frequency Workouts for the Natural Bodybuilder

Garrett Sloan's High-Volume Training for the Natural Bodybuilder Seeking Aesthetic Perfection

Part One: 3-Way Split Training

     In April, I posted an article on My Son’s High-Volume, High-Frequency Training.  There was enough interest in it that I wrote a follow-up in May titled High-Volume, High-Frequency Training for Quick Mass Gains.  The first article contained a little bit about my son’s training (that's his pic in the header), along with an overview of the 3 training variables of volume, frequency, and intensity, and the ways that they can (and should) be manipulated for achieving your training goals.  The 2nd article outlined a more detailed training program that anyone can use to begin a high-frequency, high-volume routine.  In this article and the other that will follow, I am going to outline in much greater detail exactly what my son Garrett does (and did) to build his outstanding, not to mention entirely natural, physique.

     Before we get into the “meat” of things here, one word of note, or perhaps “caution,” before we get started.  If you are interested in building a physique equal to my son’s, you shouldn’t just jump right into the workouts that he uses now.  Keep in mind that he trained for several years using more “basic” workouts that focused a lot on heavy, compound movements.  I started training both of my sons when they were around 12 years old.  Like most dads, I required them to do chores around the house and, especially, the yard, such as cutting grass and helping me with landscaping projects.  But, in addition to that, I also required them to squat, bench press, and deadlift each week.  Most of the time, they elected to follow a 2-days-per-week training program, consisting of full-body workouts.  As they got older, they also competed in different sports in high school.  My son Matthew—naturally larger and more bulky than his brother—competed in football.  Garrett competed on the track-and-field team, along with soccer.  After they graduated high school, neither of them took training too seriously for a few years before, several years back, reigniting their workouts with a passion.  Garrett is now 26 and has been training solely with bodybuilding workouts for (around) the last 3 years.  Before that, he trained with weights but also did a lot of martial arts.  Eventually, he decided that he needed to focus on one over the other, and chose bodybuilding.  My point is that he had a solid foundation in physical training that allowed him to build his current physique.  However, he did go from an “athletic” physique to the body of an adonis-like Greek-god statue in “only” 3 years.

This is Garrett's physique several years ago when he was primarily training in martial arts.

Garrett's physique after 3 years of focused bodybuilding training.

     If you’re new to training, and you are interested in building a natural and aesthetic physique, you don’t need to do the workouts that will be described here, though they can help provide some guidance once you are at the point that you can use the advice.  For now, you should focus on a more basic training program.  Start off with a 3-days-per-week, full-body program that focuses on the compound lifts.  I have a number of articles on the blog that will help if you are at this stage.  Once you have built some muscle, and have trained long enough, you should then transition over to a 2-way split program as outlined in my “Quick Mass Gains” article (link above).  Once you have trained on that, or a similar program, for at least 6 months, you might then be ready for the kind of training that my son uses currently.

     Okay, with that out of the way, let’s get started.  First, I will cover the basic training principles Garrett follows—and followed—that allowed him to build his physique and to continue to perfect it.

Volume First

     In order to be successful at transforming your physique, you must use a program that properly balances the 3 training variables of volume, frequency, and intensity.  “Intensity” in this article—and this is paramount in order to understand Garrett’s training—refers to the percentage of your 1-rep maximum.  In other words, how heavy you train, not how “hard” you train.  To succeed in building muscle, one must keep two of the training variables high—or one high and the other moderate—and the remaining variable low.  The exception is if all of the variables are moderate.  Garrett trains predominately using high-volume, high-frequency, and low-intensity workouts.  He often does train quite hard, but not with heavy weights.  Hence, the low “intensity.”

     For the most part, he always keeps volume high.  He has found that if his volume and frequency are high, he continues to make gains.  Sometimes, his frequency is “moderate”, depending on the training split that he uses.

     His training is the opposite of what most modern bodybuilders use.  The majority of your modern trainees utilize high-volume, high-intensity, and low-frequency workout routines.  Most of your average gym-goers follow “bro splits” where they train with a lot of sets (high volume) coupled with heavy weights and “hard” sets (high intensity) and then they train each muscle group around once per week, give or take a day or two (low frequency).  I have often argued that the primary reason for this approach is the ease of programming.  You go to the gym, train one (maybe two) muscle group(s) per workout with a lot of sets using heavy weights, and then you wait until that (or those) muscle(s) are no longer sore before training it/them again.  I think, since this is what the vast majority of gym-goers do, the bodybuilders who get good results in today’s gyms are simply lifters who respond well to this kind of training.  The rest of gym-goers are left spinning their wheels, and wondering why they don’t make any gains.

     Garrett typically trains with between 12 and 20 sets per muscle group.  He trains each bodypart either 2 or 3 days per week, depending on if he is using a 2-way or 3-way training split.  His intensity will vary depending on the frequency of training.  We will look at his 3-way training split in detail shortly, but the bottom line is that his volume is always high.

Adaptation and Accumulation, Not Just “Rest and Recovery”

     Another reason that modern gym-goers train with high-volume, high-intensity, lower-frequency regimens is because they think in terms of “train hard, rest, recover, and grow.”  While partially correct, it’s not the “whole truth” on how one grows muscle, builds strength, or improves athletic performance.  If it was the only paradigm in which one improved with weighted workouts, or other forms of resistance training, then certain high-frequency training models—the Bulgarian method, in particular—simply would not work.  East European models of training—Bulgarian as well as Russian—often involve daily training of a lift (or one of its derivatives) with either high-volume or high-intensity.  They work, however, because the East European lifters realized that, in addition to rest and recovery, adaptation and accumulation are equally important.

     In order to make consistent gains in size, strength, or both (or just pure aesthetics), rest and recovery need to be balanced with one’s ability to increase his work capacity.  You increase your work capacity by adapting to an increase in workload.  In order to do this, you train with high-frequency coupled with either high-intensity and low-volume (the Bulgarian model) or high-frequency coupled with high-volume and low-intensity (the Russian model).  Sometimes, in addition, you train with all 3 variables high.  You “overtrain” for a period of time before taking a break.  During the “break time” or de-load period, your body adapts by growing bigger and stronger.  The key is to press forward to the point that it’s almost “too much” then back off before pressing forward once again.  Think advance, then retreat, then advance again, before retreating once more, and then (of course) advancing again.  It’s called “cycling your training loads” and it’s another key for continued growth.

     Garrett understands these principles of training and he applies them in the gym.

Garrett’s Training Programs

     At this point in his training, my son essentially uses two models of training.  Although he did use full-body workouts, he no longer does so, since he no longer “needs” them, though he might—at some point in the future—return to them if he finds his gains stagnating with his current routines.  He either trains with a two-way split program, training each muscle group 2.5 to 3 times weekly or he uses a 3-way split, training each bodypart 2 times (or slightly less) per week.  I write “slightly” less because he uses either a 6-on, 1-off program (2x weekly) or a 3-on, 1-off (roughly 1.8x weekly).  Currently, he is using a 3-way split, so we will look at it in this article.  In Part 2, I will outline his 2-way split.  He typically follows each split for 4 months in a row before switching back to the other one.

     I should mention one other point before continuing.  Garrett is not solely interested in building muscle.  He understands my personal training philosophy well enough to know that he could be bigger, perhaps much bigger, than he currently is now if he used the kind of training that I used around a decade ago to get quite massive—considering both my age (in my 40s) and the fact that I was entirely natural (no TRT or anything else exogenous).  At that time, I trained with high-volume, high-frequency workouts almost solely centered on squats, bench presses, overhead presses, deadlifts, and the quick lifts, training each lift as much as 3 days per week with a lot of sets (8 to 10 on average) of low reps (3 to 5 on average). (For more on my training at that time, check out my article How You Feel is a Lie.)  However, Garrett feels that if he did that kind of training now then, sure, he would be bigger, but it would take away from the aesthetic perfection that he is chasing.  He is still gaining muscle, but he won’t chase size alone if it takes away from his shape and symmetry.  Okay, with that out of the way…

Push/Pull/Legs Training

     Garrett currently trains on either a 3-on, 1-off or a 6-on, 1-off schedule.  For the most part, he sticks with a 3-on, 1-off template and goes to a 6-on, 1-off rotation when he intuitively feels as if he could use more work.  Therein lies another key to his training.  He has trained long enough that he knows his body well.  He knows when to train more.  Or less.  This could be in terms of frequency, but it could also be in terms of volume and intensity.  If he feels as if he could use it, then he might do as many as 20 sets for a muscle group.  Other days, it might be as low as 8 sets.  The majority of the time, however, his workouts look like what follows.

Push Day

     He starts his push day workout with chest.  In the past, when he was prioritizing width, he would start this day with shoulder work.  However, at this point, he realizes he needs more chest width and thickness, as he feels like upper chest-width in particular is an aspect of his physique that needs improvement.

     He always begins chest training with two compound lifts.  He rotates between doing an incline exercise and a flat movement.  It might be incline barbell or dumbbell bench presses or flat barbell or dumbbell benches.  If he starts his workout with an incline exercise for the first workout of the week, he will begin his next session with a flat movement.  He also does both a barbell and a dumbbell movement at each session.  So, if he starts his workout with incline barbell bench presses, he will then proceed to flat dumbbell benches.  If he starts with incline DB benches, he will then do flat barbell benches.  Same thing if he starts with a flat movement.  If he does flat barbell benches to begin, he finishes with incline DB presses or vice-versa—flat dumbbell followed by incline barbell.  On each compound lift, he does 4 progressively heavier sets, working up to one hard set of (typically) between 8 and 12 repetitions.

     When he finishes the two compound lifts, he then does supersets of pushups and dips for 4 supersets and 8 sets total.  At one workout, he does pushups followed by dips, and at the next session, he reverses the order, doing the dips then the pushups.  He usually just uses his bodyweight on both exercises, doing around 20 reps on each.  Sometimes, however, he will train heavier with weighted dips followed by bodyweight pushups.

     After completing the 2 compound lifts and the supersets, the one exercise that he always does is cable crossovers.  He finishes the chest portion of his workout with 4 sets of cable crossovers, typically doing 16 to 20 reps on each set.  With the other exercises, he leaves a rep or two “in the tank” at the end of each set.  On the cable crossovers, however, he takes each set to the point of momentary muscular failure.

     So, Garrett does between 16 and 20 sets for his chest, depending on whether you count the 4 supersets as 4 or 8 sets.  Now, it’s time for him to move on to shoulders.  Typically, he will do between 12 and 16 sets for shoulders.  Unlike with the chest, he only does one compound movement for his delts.  His favorite compound movement is the behind-the-neck press, though he sometimes substitutes it for seated or standing military presses or dumbbell overhead presses.  At the moment, he tells me that he has been doing more seated dumbbell presses than the other options, simply because that is what he feels he could use at the moment.  He keeps his elbows flared on the seated DB presses, doing 4 sets of 10 to 12 reps.  Since he is already warmed up from the chest work, he doesn’t do progressively heavier sets but does 4 straight sets of 10-12 reps, taking each set about 1 rep shy of muscular failure.

     When he is finished with his shoulder presses, he moves on to lateral raises.  Typically he does bent-over lateral raises followed by standing dumbbell lateral raises.  His rear delts need more attention at the moment, so he usually does the bent-over laterals first.  Again, it’s 4 sets of at least 10 reps, though usually he does 4x12 on both the bent-over and standing lateral raises.

     Another movement that he supplements in on occasion is the one-arm leaning side lateral raise.  He hangs on to a bench or the power rack with one arm and holds a dumbbell in the other, and then leans slightly over to the other side, allowing him to use a heavier dumbbell for his sets.  He also does 4 sets (each arm) for around 10 to 12 reps each.

     When he is finished with shoulders, it’s time for triceps.  He says the one go to movement that he does is standing two-arm dumbbell overhead extensions.  He usually starts with a 50-pound dumbbell for a set of 15 reps.  He then does progressively heavier sets, using the 60, 70, and 80-pound dumbbell, finishing off with one hard set of 6-8 reps with the 80-pounder.

     After the dumbbell overhead extensions, he likes rope pushdowns and bench dips.  At one workout, he does the pushdowns followed by the dips, and at the next session he reverses the order.  Since this is the end of his workout, he doesn’t go too heavy on either movement, and uses slightly higher reps.  4 to 5 sets of 15 reps on each movement.

You can see the detail in Garrett's rear delts and triceps here.

Pull Day

     This workout is devoted to back and biceps training.  He follows a similar high-volume routine as his push session.

     For his back, he is currently focused on width over thickness.  In the past he did a lot of deadlifts, bent-over barbell rows, and one-arm dumbbell rows in order to build his back; he is now after shape, symmetry, and aesthetics.  With this in mind, he always starts his back training with a heavy vertical pull.  He will occasionally start with lat pulldowns, but for the most part he uses weighted wide-grip chins.  Sometimes, he also just uses his bodyweight for the chins, especially if he wants to utilize higher reps.  He can do more than 20 strict wide-grip chins using his bodyweight.  He always comes up high on the movement, chest over bar, and gets a deep stretch at the bottom, pausing for a second or two on the stretch before commencing with his next repetition.

     For the wide-grip chins, he does 4 to 5 sets.  If he is just using his bodyweight, he does 4-5 sets of 20 reps.  If he does weighted chins, he does 1 set with his bodyweight, then does progressively heavier sets, until he reaches his near max weight for 10 reps.

     After chins, it’s time for wide-grip lat pulldowns.  He does 4 sets of between 12 and 20 reps, getting a deep stretch at the start of the movement and an intense contraction at the end.  When it comes to back training—this is important for all of his muscle groups but especially for the back since he can’t see it while working out—he focuses on the “mind-muscle connection.”  He feels his lats stretch and then contract on every single repetition, no matter how high the repetitions for each set.

     Once he’s done with pulldowns, he now moves on to a rowing movement.  Since he wants his lower back to be fresh for his hamstrings on leg day, he will do either machine or cable rows for his 3rd movement.  Here, again, he does 4 sets of 12-20 reps.

     As with cable crossovers for the chest, the one exercise he almost always finishes with for his back is the dumbbell pullover.  He performs these “cross-bench” style, doing 4 sets of 10 reps.  He keeps his elbows slightly bent throughout each repetition and gets a really deep stretch at the bottom of the movement.

Garrett's wide and developed back.

     After back, it’s time for biceps.  He prefers dumbbells at this point over barbells.  He starts each session, most often, with standing alternate dumbbell curls.  He performs 4 to 5 sets for 10-12 reps (each arm).  Occasionally, if he is looking for a change of pace, he will start his biceps workout with either barbell curls or straight-bar cable curls.

     His 2nd biceps movement is typically incline dumbbell curls.  Again, he does 4 sets of 10-12 reps.  He sometimes does these in alternating fashion, and at other times he curls both arms at the same time.

     Garrett’s final biceps movement is—again, usually—seated concentration curls.  And again, he does 4 sets of 10-12 reps for each arm, really concentrating on squeezing and contracting his biceps at the top of the movement.

     If you read my series on the workouts and training routines of the golden era bodybuilding legends, you will notice that his biceps workout is strikingly similar to Arnold and other old-school bodybuilders.  It also mirrors Steve Holman’s “position-of-flexion” training system, in that he uses a compound movement, a stretch exercise, and a contraction movement for his biceps.  For more on how golden era legends used POF, check out my article Golden Era Arm Training Secrets from June.

His arms are not massive but he still has size, shape, and symmetry.

Leg Day

     Garrett starts each leg workout with either squats or leg presses.  If his lower back feels at all fatigued, he goes with leg presses.  He does 4 to 5 progressively heavier sets of 10 reps, working up to 1 hard, but not quite all-out set.  At the moment, he feels as if he needs more hamstring development and more “tear-drop” growth on his lower quads, so he treats either squats or leg presses as more the “warm-up” for the remainder of his session.

     After the compound exercise for his quads, he does 2 hamstrings movements.  He likes to start most hamstring workouts with RDLs.  He goes heavy on these, for 4 to 5 sets of 5 to 8 reps.  He feels as if hamstrings—unlike quads—grow better with lower reps, so he likes to train heavy on this movement.

     When he’s finished with the RDLs, he moves on to lying leg curls.  He does 4 sets of 8-12 reps, taking each set a rep shy of muscular failure, but really focuses on squeezing his hamstrings hard at the top of the movement, getting an excellent contraction.

     After hamstrings, it’s time to concentrate on the lower quads.  He likes to superset sissy squats followed by leg extensions.  On the sissies, he usually does 10 reps each, though he sometimes takes them to complete muscular failure, doing between 15 to 20 reps.  He leans back quite far on these, getting a deep stretch on each rep, making the sets decidedly harder.  On the leg extensions, he usually mirrors the rep range on the sissy squats.  So, if he does sets of 10 reps on sissy squats, he does 10 reps on the leg extensions.  If he does 15-20 reps on sissies, then it’s 15-20 reps on the extensions, as well.

     He finishes off each workout with calves.  He almost always does standing calf raises, preferring them over seated calf raises or even donkey calf raises.  He does 4 to 6 sets of calf raises for between 10 and 20 reps.  Sometimes, he likes the heavier sets for 10 reps, and sometimes he likes to get a burn for 20-rep sets.  He typically alternates back and forth at each session between lower and higher reps.

     The lower body is always harder to develop for the natural bodybuilder.  You will see a lot of natural bodybuilders with a well-developed upper body and a lower body that lags far behind.  It is very hard for a natural bodybuilder to develop massive legs along with a low bodyfat.  When you see ultra-lean bodybuilders who also have huge legs, they are, in all likelihood, on some kind of anabolic.  Garrett is a testament to this.  His legs are not huge, but they are well-developed, shapely, and aesthetically pleasing.

Final Thoughts

     In Part 2, I will outline his 2-way split training.  With that workout routine, he trains 6 days per week, 3x weekly for each muscle group.  His volume is still high on those workouts, but he lets the frequency take care of growth as much as the volume.  It’s a unique training concept and plan that more natural bodybuilders would do well to heed.

     We will also discuss his nutritional philosophy, and how he eats to stay lean while still gaining muscle.  Unlike a lot of modern bodybuilders, he does not believe in bulking.  This allows him to stay in competition-ready shape year ‘round.  I think this is another concept that the natural bodybuilder should keep in mind.  Most competitive bodybuilders who do a big-time bulk in the off-season can get away with it because they use not just anabolic steroids, but other drugs come pre-contest for stripping away bodyfat.  The natural bodybuilder doesn’t have this luxury.  I think a good route to take, diet-wise, is to only eat a little over your “maintenance” calories in the off-season.  For example, if you burn 2,500 calories daily, then you don’t need more than 3K daily calories.  You can occasionally eat a lot more than that once you are already lean.  If you’re not ultra-lean to begin with, you don’t have any reason for bulking anyway.

     Until my next article—I may post some other essays before the 2nd part here—if you’re looking to build a natural physique, use some of my son’s tactics.  Instead of following a “bro split,” consider going the high-volume, high-frequency route.  It might be just the training plan you need for some renewed progress, not to mention a highly aesthetic physique.

If you have any comments or questions about my son's training, leave them in the "comments" section below. You can also send me an email if you need a more detailed response for your personal needs.

If you enjoy reading the blog, and would like to support my writing, then please consider purchasing one of my books. Click on THIS link for detailed info on all of my books currently available.