The High-Frequency, High-Volume Training Strategy

Some Thoughts and Tips on How to Design a High-Frequency, High-Volume Workout Program

     I believe some of the best training programs available are ones that utilize high-frequency training (HFT).  I think that many lifters, bodybuilders, and just casual trainees believe that they are so-called hardgainers for one simple reason: they’ve used low-frequency programs (whether they were high-volume workouts, high-intensity routines or a combination of both) and could never get good results.  Many of these same lifters, if they were to engage in HFT, may discover that being a “hardgainer” becomes a thing of the past.

     The one issue, however, that I have found with HFT is this: lifters often find it hard to properly program.  And because of this lack of understanding, they either use it improperly and then give up on it too soon or they never give it a chance in the first place.  In this essay, I want to show you how to program high-frequency, high-volume, low-intensity workouts.  If you’re after muscle mass over all else—in other words, if you’re not as concerned with strength but are more concerned with simply looking good—then high-frequency coupled with high-volume might just be the way to go.  This is opposed to high-frequency, high-intensity but low-volume programs.  If you’re interested in that form of training, then read one of my many articles on easy strength.

     Before we proceed any further, we need to discuss the 3 training variables of volume, frequency, and intensity, and how they must be manipulated for good program design.  Since I have discussed this quite a bit in other essays and articles before this one, if you are familiar with my thoughts, then you can skip ahead to the next paragraph.  If you are not familiar, or if you need a refresher, then pay attention.  First off, when I refer to “intensity” here, I do not mean the way that it is used by modern bodybuilders or the majority of our lifting population.  It has nothing to do with how “hard” you train.  Intensity simply refers to how close to your 1-rep maximum you are training.  If you are training above 90%, you are most definitely in the “high-intensity” camp.  Okay, with that said, for a program to be successful, 2 of the variables need to be high—or 1 high and the 2nd moderate—and the remaining variable should be low.  The exception is if all of the variables are ”medium.”  Training programs that don’t work are ones where only 1 of the variables are high and the other 2 are low or ones where all of the variables are high.  And, believe it or not, more lifters than you (or I) probably realize, do attempt those strategies.  If you train each of your muscle groups multiple times per week for multiple sets, all with “heavy” weights (heavy is relative; so heavy for you) then your program will fail.  Conversely, if you train with only 1 of the variables high and the others low—such as you find with most “HIT” programs, like the ones Mike Mentzer recommended late in his life—your program will also fail.  Now, it must be said that either one of those strategies can work short-term.  The reason that some lifters try a HIT program, and get fantastic results, is because they (generally) spent weeks or months beforehand training with an “everything high” approach.  Opposite of that, training with all of the variables high will also work short term if you were training with an “everything low” method beforehand.  But neither of those will work for long; only over the short term, though they may, indeed, work amazingly well during that short-term use.

     This isn’t the essay for discussing all of the different programs you can use by properly manipulating the 3 variables.  If you’re interested in that, then read this article:Mass-Building Variety.  Now, let’s turn to the purpose of this essay, how to make a high-frequency, high-volume, low-intensity routine work for you.

     Despite its proven track record of producing big-time results, most lifters, I believe, don’t utilize HFT because it is possibly of all programs the hardest to program—you can’t just start going to the gym every day and working all of your muscles for multiple sets.  That will quickly leave you spinning your hypertrophic wheels.

     Another reason that lifters don’t use this form of training is because, if they do start a program, they (most of the time) do too much too soon.  You need to condition yourself to the frequency and the volume by starting with a relatively low volume—of daily, or near-daily, training—then slowly push up your volume.  Now, let’s look at how a trainee might go about doing just that.

     Because of modern training culture, most lifters, when they first begin a program, will be quite sore the day after training even with only a moderate volume session.  So, when you first start a HF/HV program, you need to do way less than you (probably) think that you should do.  Select a handful of exercises.  A good selection would be a squatting movement, an overhead pressing movement, a vertical pressing movement (bench presses), a lower-body pulling movement (such as a deadlift variation), and an upper body pulling movement (chins or rows, for instance).  You can also add a curling exercise and an abdominal exercise if you want, though you don’t have to (at least, at first).  Do a basic, all-around warm-up and then do 1 set of each exercise for somewhere between 10 and 30 reps.  The discrepancy in rep ranges will depend, simply, on how heavy you want to train or the exercise selection itself.  Older lifters, or anyone coming back from an injury, might want to do all of their sets closer to the 30-rep range.  If you’re younger, or don’t have any injuries and know that you can handle the daily training, you might just do 10-12 reps on each movement.  Stop once the set starts to burn, not until you reach momentary muscular failure.  You may approach failure, but you should have several reps left “in the tank.”  Repeat the exact same workout 5 to 6 days in your first week.  For the first week, don’t even attempt to add reps to the exercises.  Just get the same number of reps in without fail.

     If you only train 5 days instead of 6, don’t train all 5 days in a row.  You don’t want to “de-condition” your body by taking off 2 days straight—yes, that can happen.  So, don’t train, say, Monday through Friday and then take the weekends off.  Rather, train something like Monday through Wednesday, take off on Thursday, then train again on Friday and Saturday before taking off on Sunday.

     On the 2nd week of the program, repeat the workout for another 5 or 6 days, but add a 2nd set to all of the movements.  On the 2nd set, stop several reps short of the number of reps you performed on the 1st set.  Let’s say that the 1st week, you did one “working” set of front squats for a set of 20 reps.  In the 2nd week, you might do a set of 20 and then a set of 15.

     In the 3rd week, add another set to all of your lifts, and, on the 3rd set, drop your reps below the number used for your 2nd set.  So, in this case, your front squats might look like this: 20, 15, 12.  Also, in this week, train 6 days even if you were doing only 5 days the 1st 2 weeks.

     For the 4th week of the program, do a back-off week.  Do the same work you did in week 1 or even a little less.  To get a feel for what this looks like “on paper,” your 1st 4 weeks of training might look like this:

Week One - 5 days a week

• Front squats: 1x20

• Military presses: 1x15

• Bench presses: 1x15

• Double kettlebell deadlifts: 1x30

• Inverted rows: 1x20

• Barbell curls: 1x15

• Steep incline sit-ups: 1x15

Week Two - 5 days a week

• Front squats: 2x20,15

• Military presses: 2x15,12

• Bench presses: 2x15,12

• Double kettlebell deadlifts: 2x30,25

• Inverted rows: 2x20,15

• Barbell curls: 2x15,12

• Steep incline sit-ups: 2x15,12

Week Three - 6 days a week

• Front squats: 3x20,15,12

• Military presses: 3x15,12,10

• Bench presses: 3x15,12,10

• Double kettlebell deadlifts: 3x30,25,20

• Inverted rows: 3x20,15,10

• Barbell curls: 3x15,12,10

• Steep incline sit-ups: 3x15,12,10

Week Four - 5 days a week

• Front squats: 1x15

• Military presses: 1x12

• Bench presses: 1x12

• Double kettlebell deadlifts: 1x20

• Inverted rows: 1x15

• Barbell curls: 1x12

• Steep incline sit-ups: 1x12

     In many ways, the first 4 weeks of training should simply prepare you for more voluminous workouts.  From this point on, you should still follow the same cycle of hard, harder, hardest, and then easy over 4 weeks of training.  You can also start adding in some additional movements and sets to the exercises you are already using.

     Now, for however long you train with it, your program might look like this for the remainder of running it:

Week 1 - 5 days a week

• Front squats: 3x20,15,12

• Military presses: 3x15,12,10

• Bench presses: 3x15,12,10

• Double kettlebell deadlifts: 3x30,25,20

• Inverted rows: 3x20,15,10

• Barbell curls: 3x15,12,10

• Steep incline sit-ups: 3x15,12,10

Week 2 - 5 days a week

• Front squats: 3x20,15,12

• Sissy squats: 2x15,10

• Military presses: 3x15,12,10

• Bench presses: 3x15,12,10

• Dips: 2x12,10

• Double kettlebell deadlifts: 3x30,25,20

• Double kettlebell cleans: 2x20,15

• Inverted rows: 3x20,15,10

• Barbell curls: 3x15,12,10

• Steep incline sit-ups: 3x15,12,10

Week 3 - 6 days a week

• Front squats: 4x20,15,12,10

• Sissy squats: 2x15,10

• Military presses: 4x15,12,10,10

• Bench presses: 4x15,12,10,10

• Dips: 2x12,10

• Double kettlebell deadlifts: 3x30,25,20

• Double kettlebell cleans: 3x20,15,12

• Inverted rows: 4x20,15,10,10

• Barbell curls: 4x15,12,10,10

• Steep incline sit-ups: 4x15,12,10,10

Week 4 - 5 days a week

• Front squats: 2x15,12

• Military presses: 2x12,10

• Bench presses: 2x12,10

• Double kettlebell deadlifts: 2x25,20

• Inverted rows: 2x15,10

• Barbell curls: 2x12,10

• Steep incline sit-ups: 2x12,10

     At this point, you should know how well your body responds to this sort of HF,HV training.  You should know whether you need to do more or less, whether you should continue using the same exercises or switch over to something new.  Although the frequency should remain high, just how high will be up to your personal response.  You may discover that 6 days is perfect or you might find that you need even less than 5 days a week.  Some “low-volume lifters” that I have trained did well with only training 4 days per week on a similar routine to what is above, occasionally dipping down to 2 or 3 days when they felt as if they needed even less total volume.  Conversely, other guys find that they need to maintain 6 days per week in order to net constant gains.

     If you’re interested in seeing how HF/HV training might work for you, then give my program ideas here a solid go, especially if you have been using the much more common low-frequency styles of training and haven’t been getting good results.  If you’re after physique development above all else, this might be the best training you can do.

     I am currently working on a series of articles (on SERIOUS strength and power training) and I plan on releasing the first part in the next couple of days.  However, I am ALWAYS looking for ideas, so, if you have an essay idea or a subject that you would like me to write about, then please email me your suggestions.  As always, of course, if you have any questions or comments about this article, leave them in the comments section below, or if you want a more personal reply, shoot me an email.  I typically get around to replying within a day or two.