High-Volume High-Intensity Power Training, Part 1

 Throughout the course of my lifting career, I've tried quite a few programs, putting them to the test where the "rubber meats the road" so to speak: the gym.  I've had some misses (Mentzer-style H.I.T. training would be a good example) and I've definitely had surprising successes, such as Sheiko-style training programs, which - when I looked at them on paper - I thought there was no way in hell his programs would work.  But, much to my surprise, I got stronger (and bigger while eating hardly anything) on a Sheiko program.

Matthew Sloan warming up for a big deadlift session.

I've often had success, too, with programs that are wildly diverse.  I built a lot of muscle mass with one-bodypart-per-week programs when I was much younger - more than 25 years ago!  And I've built an impressive amount of strength using very high-frequency training.  When I squatted and deadlifted well over triple my bodyweight in competition, I used HFT - Sheiko, Smolov, and my own Power Volume Training program, to name the systems used.

But I must admit that early on in my strength and power career - and this was probably a carryover from the sort of training success I had while bodybuilding - I achieved good results from using a lot of volume and intensity with very low frequency.  (In the mid-90's, these were also the programs that I wrote about in the pages of Ironman Magazine.)

I've written extensively before about the need to regulate the three variables of intensity, frequency, and volume if you are to achieve good results in the gym.  Unless you are an advanced athlete that has built up the work capacity to train with all three variables at a high level, then you must keep one of the three variables low.  This means that you can either use high-volume, high-frequency with low-intensity (the hardest of the methods to use - I rarely ever recommend such a training regimen), high-frequency, high-intensity with low-volume (the method that I recommend the most often and always will) or you can use high-volume, high-intensity with low-frequency, which is the training that is the cornerstone of the programs in this series.  (On another note, there is also a "fourth way" of using a moderate amount of all three variables.  For instance, if you were to use a three-way split and train on a 6 day on, one day off rotation, using about 9 sets per bodypart and taking each set a few reps shy of momentary muscular failure would fit this fourth mode of training.)

For this series of articles, I'm going to show you the best way to use high-volume, high-intensity, low-frequency training to build a butt-load of strength and power.  The program that I'm going to present here is NOT for building muscle - although that may be a very welcome side-effect.  Also, for the sake of clarity, brevity, and simplicity, I'm going to focus on building strength for powerlifting in these articles.  The training program presented will focus on increasing your strength on the three powerlifts: the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift. If you are interested in increasing your strength for, say, Olympic lifting or for "functional" strength in strongman-style competitions, then you can always substitute power cleans in place of deadlifts and standing overhead barbell presses instead of bench presses.  Stick with the squats no matter what.

The Basics of the Program

Without further ado, let's get right into the basics of the program.  First off, keep it simple by training each of the core lifts only once per week and on the same day of the week (at least at first).  Train three days per week, and take a day off after each session.  The most popular days would be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, especially if you want to take the weekends off from training.  Train your squat on Monday, your bench press on Wednesday, and your deadlift on Friday.  This also allows three days of rest for your lower body after Monday's sessions, and two days off after your Friday session - it will also help that you are not training your lower body even indirectly on the weekends.  (Even though Wednesday will be an upper body session, your lower body will still get some indirect work since you want to use plenty of leg drive on your bench presses and you want your body to work as an "entire unit" during upper body sessions, which means that your lower body will get stimulation no matter whether its being directly trained or not.)

Make sure that you are focusing on what I call the "Big 5".  This means that, even though you are primarily training your powerlifts, you still want to do the following: 

1. Squat something heavy.

2. Pick heavy stuff off the ground.

3. Press heavy stuff overhead.

4. Drag or carry heavy objects.

and

5. Eat plenty of calorie-dense foods every day of the week.

This doesn't mean that you have to do all of the top 4 above principles at every single workout session, but it does mean that you need to do them either (a) throughout the week or (b) every couple weeks at the minimum.  (Needless to say you take care of points 1 and 2 above by simply squatting and deadlifting.)

Details of Each Session

One of the great things about this training program is that it is simple and easy to follow.  Don't get me wrong, it is not - under any circumstances whatsoever - an easy program.  It is extremely taxing, especially on squat and deadlift days.  Although there may be a chance that - despite how taxing it is - you actually enjoy the bench press days.  But that's only one day each week, which means that the other two days are not necessarily going to be enjoyable, unless, like me, you're a bit of a sadist when it comes to training.

Start with the Squat

Since the first training day of the week will be the squat workout, we'll use it for an example of how to train.

First things first, you are going to squat a lot - or bench press a lot or deadlift a lot, etc.  In fact, if you choose to not add any additional assistance exercises to the program, that will be perfectly fine.

For your main exercise of each day, you are going to perform a "One-Exercise-Per-Bodypart WORKOUT OF THE DAY"!  (In the past, I may have even ranted and raved on this blog about how much I loathed Crossfit and other "WOD" programs, but trust me, this one is going to be different.)  I believe that the best WOD to start with is what I call "5,3,1 Ramps".

Let's say that you can squat 250 pounds for a max of 5 reps.  Then your first 5 sets of your workout might look something like this:

Olympic bar x 5 reps

135 x 5 reps

175 x 5 reps

205 x 5 reps

225 x 5 reps

The last set of 5 should be tough but definitely NOT "all-out".  After that, you can move to some triples:

235 x 3 reps

245 x 3 reps

255 x 3 reps

And, finally, finish off with a couple of relatively heavy singles.  The singles should actually be easier than the sets of triples:

270 x 1 rep

285 x 1 rep

In Summation

I hope this gives you a good idea of what the strength trainee should be doing if he/she wants to develop a lot of strength and power through a high-volume, high-intensity, low-frequency strength and power program.

In Part 2, I will give you a boatload of "Workouts of the Day" to choose from for all of your 3 core lifts.  Until then, train hard, eat big, and relax and take it easy when you're not training.