Everything Moderate

An Effective Training Approach for Muscle Growth

     I write a lot about high-frequency training (HFT).  I think it’s one of the most effective methods of training.  One of the main reasons that I write about it is because I believe it’s underused.  At least, it is among modern trainees in most gyms throughout the land.

     Because it is a really popular way to train among modern lifters, I also write quite a bit about low-frequency programs, but ones that use high-volume and high-intensity.  Since it is so popular, I figure I might as well write about good programs that use that methodology.

     But there is another way to train that can be highly effective for a lot of lifters.  It’s not flashy.  It’s not “sexy.”  And it’s without a doubt nothing new.  You might call it the everything moderate approach.  Moderate frequency.  Moderate volume.  Moderate intensity.  That’s everything moderate.

     If you have been training with a lot of high-frequency programs or, its opposite, the low-frequency approach, whether you train low-frequency with a lot of volume or a lot of intensity, or you’re one of those lifters that likes to subject yourself to pain and do a lot of both, then the everything moderate approach might be a welcome change.

     Also, if you’re after primarily hypertrophy, it might just be the best way to train.  At least, it might be the majority of the time, with other forays into low-frequency and high-frequency routines.  This is especially the case if you enjoy split training.

     I think full-body programs are great.  I really do.  Even if you love split programs, you still need to spend some time out of the year doing full-body workouts.  However, if you know you’re more likely to stick with your lifting if you’re doing a split training regimen, then you should, quite obviously, do split workouts.  My main problem with split training is that lifters don’t take advantage of more frequent training.  They tend to use “bro splits” and once-a-week-per-bodypart routines.  If you’ve been training in such a manner and haven’t been getting the kind of results you really want out of your lifting, then consider going to 2-times-per-week-per-bodypart training.  That’s moderate frequency.

     If you’re going to train using HFT, then you have to do a low amount of sets on each lift.  On the flip side of that, most bodybuilders who train their bodyparts once per week like to use multiple sets, 16 to 20 per muscle group isn’t uncommon.  You would probably do better with 7 to 10 sets per muscle group at each session.  That’s moderate volume.

     Intensity is used two different ways in training circles.  Most bodybuilders, when they utter the word “intensity,” mean how hard they’re training.  If you’re training with “high-intensity,” then you’re training to the point of momentary muscular failure or beyond.  Usually, when I use the word, I mean how it’s used in strength training, as a percentage of your 1-rep maximum.  My “high-intensity” programs are ones where you’re training somewhere between 85-95% of your max.  However, a lot of lifters—once again, ones who are after primarily muscle growth—should consider stopping their sets a couple reps shy of momentary muscular failure or use weights that are 70-85% of their max.  That’s moderate intensity.

     Some of the most effective programs in the history of bodybuilding used moderate frequency, moderate volume, and moderate intensity.  For the remainder of this article, we’ll look at some of the kinds of programs our bodybuilding, strength-training forebears used.

One Exercise Per Bodypart

     When they were preparing for a contest, old-school bodybuilders liked to use multi-exercise training regimens.  They wanted to “carve” their muscle groups or “etch” out all of the details in a muscle that they could.  But in the off-season, when they wanted to gain as much muscle as they could as quickly as they could, they used, primarily, one exercise per muscle group routines.  Sometimes, they would utilize 2 exercises, but 1 was the mainstay.

     A favorite of Vince Gironda’s was the 8 sets of 8 reps workout.*  A lot of bodybuilders prefer the 10 sets of 10 reps routine, instead.  This is largely because of the workout that Charles Poliquin wrote about in the ‘90s which he called German Volume Training—GVT for short.  I have problems with GVT.  For one, I don’t think the German weightlifting team ever really used it.  For another, it had been used a lot more by American bodybuilders going back to the ‘50s and ‘60s.  For yet another, I wrote about it in the pages of IronMan before Poliquin and I just called it the 10x10 workout, and before me, plenty of other bodybuilding writers wrote of it, as well—folks like Gironda and Greg Zulak.  But I think that bodybuilders would do better using 8 sets of 8.  I think 10x10, for the majority of lifters, ends up both overtraining and undertraining the muscles.  Unless you’re advanced enough, it’s too much volume at one time, which then causes too long between training sessions.  Now, this is largely due to the fact that lifters utilize a weight that’s too heavy.  If you’re going to do 10 sets of 10 reps on a lift, you need to select a weight where you could do 20 reps for one set if you were taking that set to failure.  This is the approach, by the way, that should be utilized any time you do 10 sets on one exercise.  10 sets of 8?  Use a weight where you could get 16 reps for one set.  10 sets of 5?  Select a weight where you would get 10 reps for one set.  You get the picture.

     Okay, back to the 8x8 program.  10 sets of 10 reps is 100 reps total on a lift.  When the weight is heavy, that’s typically too much total volume, as just mentioned.  But 8 sets of 8 is only 64 reps.  That’s more ideal.  It’s not too much.  It’s not too little.  Making it the kind of “Goldilocks” of hypertrophy.  You can do 8x8 twice per week for a muscle group and recover just fine.

     Here’s what a program might look like.  This one’s a push/pull/legs program, where you train on a 6-on, 1-off program.

The 8x8 Workout

Workout One - Push

Barbell incline bench presses: 8x8

Seated behind-the-neck presses: 8x8

Rope pushdowns: 8x8

Workout Two - Pull

Chins or lat pulldowns: 8x8

Barbell curls: 8x8

Workout Three - Legs

Barbell front squats: 8x8

Stiff-legged deadlifts: 8x8

Machine calf raises: 8x8

     You can add in some abdominal work on any, or all, of the days, depending on the kind of workout you do for them.  If you want to do 8x8 on abs, as well, then just do them on one of the days.  You could do steep incline weighted situps, for instance, as a good 8x8 option.

     You can also do an “antagonist” split if you wish.  Chest and lats, shoulders and arms, and legs, for instance.

     About every 3 workouts, rotate in some same but different movements.

     Remember: You’re using the same weight on all of your sets.  Use a weight—as I recommended if you were going to do it for 10 sets—where you could get 1 all-out, gut-busting set for 16 reps.  If this seems too light, do NOT add weight.  Simply increase the weight at the next session.  This will allow you to adapt to the moderate frequency, which is especially good if you’ve been training your muscle groups just once per week.

     Rest somewhere between 30 seconds and 1 minute between sets, depending on your work capacity.

     If you need a little bit more recovery, you can train on a 3-on, 1-off split.  I know that it’s not exactly twice per week, but close enough.

Mass and Power Together

     When I came of age in weight training, the advice was standard.  Everyone started their training journey on a full-body workout done 3 times per week.  After you did that for around 6 months, you moved on to a two-way split program where you trained 4 times per week, twice for each muscle group.  After another 6 months or so on that, you then would move on to other split regimens.  Nowadays, for some odd reason, lifters either seem to use a full-body program or a multi-bodypart-split.  They tend to skip over the in-between, intermediate stage.  The program below, however, does not.

     This program is also great if you’re after a combination of size and strength.  It utilizes one exercise for lower reps and one for slightly higher ones—with the exception of smaller muscle groups, where you do just 1 movement.  Train on either a 2-on, 1-off, 2-on, 2-off split or a 2-on, 1-off, 1-on, 1-off, 1-on, 1-off split.  I prefer the latter, but it’s completely up to you.  If you went the first route, you might train on, say, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  The 2nd route might be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

Workout One - Upper Body

Flat barbell bench presses: 4-5 sets of 3-5 reps

Incline dumbbell presses: 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps

Weighted wide-grip chins: 4-5 sets of 3-5 reps

One-arm dumbbell rows: 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps (each arm)

Military presses: 3-4 sets of 3-5 reps

Seated dumbbell flyes: 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps

Barbell curls: 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps

Skull crushers: 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps

Steep incline situps: 2-3 sets of 15-20 reps

Workout Two - Lower Body

Back squats: 4-5 sets of 3-5 reps

Front squats: 3-4 sets of 6-8 reps

Stiff-legged deadlifts: 4-5 sets of 3-5 reps

Standing calf raises (barbell, dumbbells, or machine): 4-5 sets of 6-8 reps

Seated calf raises: 3-4 sets of 16-20 reps

     All sets listed do NOT include warmups.  The amount of warmup sets needed will depend upon your strength.

     For whatever chosen rep range you are using, select a weight for your “work” sets where you know you can get all of the reps for the first few sets.  Only the last set of each movement should approach, or possibly reach, momentary muscular failure.

Bodybuilding ‘80s Style

     In the ‘90s, my workout partner Dusty and I—I miss my dear friend—utilized workouts that you just might call insane.  Before I came to my senses, and started powerlifting in the mid to late ‘90s, he and I would train with a crazy number of sets for each bodypart, and we utilized all manner of “intensity techniques.”  For the most part, it did work.  That might be because we trained with plenty of the “basic” barbell movements.  We squatted heavy, bench pressed, loved weighted dips, and worked our legs and backs hard.  On top of that, we ate.  A lot.  We easily consumed 200 or more grams of protein daily and just as easily ate at least 4,000 calories on a daily basis.  If it wasn’t for the enormous amount of fuel we scarfed down our gullets, I doubt we could have handled the monstrous workouts.  But, on occasion, we did something different.  Looking back on it, we should have done it more often.  When we needed a kinder, gentler routine, we trained on a 6-on, 1-off, or 3-on, 1-off split.  We did 3 exercises for each muscle group for 3 sets each.  Our reps oscillated somewhere between 6 and 12.  We didn’t take all of our sets to failure—maybe just the last set of an exercise.  You know, moderate.

     Truth is, we weren’t doing anything new.  We just copied the workouts of a lot of bodybuilders in the ‘80s and even in the early ‘90s, before Dorian Yates hit the scene and changed everything about training.  You often hear or read that the bodybuilders of the ‘80s did high-volume and high-rep workouts.  They sometimes did.  That’s most certainly true, but plenty of them also utilized more moderate training approaches.

     The following workout is exactly the kind that I turned to in the ‘90s when I needed a break from the “crazy” training.  With hindsight and some training wisdom under my belt, I realize that it might have been the most effective training that I did at the time.  Like the other programs here, it’s not “glitzy” or fancy.  It just works.

Workout One - Chest and Lats

Wide-grip barbell bench presses: 3 sets of 6-8 reps

Incline dumbbell presses: 3 sets of 8-10 reps

Incline dumbbell flyes: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Wide-grip barbell rows: 3 sets of 6-8 reps

Wide-grip chins or lat pulldowns: 3 sets of 8-10 reps

Low pulley rows: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Workout Two - Shoulders and Arms

One-arm dumbbell overhead presses: 3 sets of 6-8 reps (each arm)

Seated military presses: 3 sets of 8-10 reps

Standing dumbbell flyes: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Barbell curls: 3 sets of 6-8 reps

Seated alternate dumbbell curls: 3 sets of 8-10 reps (each arm)

Concentration curls: 3 sets of 10-12 reps (each arm)

Skull crushers: 3 sets of 6-8 reps

Overhead triceps extensions (cable or dumbbell): 3 sets of 8-10 reps

Rope pushdowns: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Workout Three - Legs

Barbell front squats: 3 sets of 6-8 reps

Barbell lunges: 3 sets of 8-10 reps (each leg)

Leg presses: 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Standing calf raises (barbell or dumbbells): 3 sets of 10-12 reps

Seated machine calf raises: 3 sets of 16-20 reps

Ab work of your choice: 3 sets

     For each movement, select a weight (after warmups) where you know you can get the upper rep limit of the rep range but you know it will be hard on the 1st set.  On the wide-grip bench presses, for instance, select a weight where you know you will get 8 reps, but that might be all you can get.  On the 2nd set, you might get 7 reps.  On the 3rd set, you might just get 6.  Stop a rep shy of complete failure on each set.  Once you can get 8 reps on all sets, add weight at the next session.  Use that same methodology for all exercises.

Final Thoughts

     We often live in a world of extremes.  Training is no different.  We think that we have to take everything to the limit, push all of our sets and exercises to the point of failure.  And beyond.  But sometimes, moderate is better.  In fact, it might just be the best.

*Vince Gironda actually had two different 8 sets of 8 reps programs.  The “moderate” one is the one we’ll be looking at here.  However, he also advocated an 8x8 program that was anything but moderate.  In the latter program, he had his bodybuilders train with multiple exercises per muscle group, sometimes as many as 5 or 6, with each exercise performed for 8 sets of 8 reps, with as little as 20 seconds of rest between sets.  You read that correctly.  Some of his advanced lifters did as many as 48 sets for a muscle group!  This was the kind of training that Mohamed El Makkawy utilized pre-contest.