More With Less

The Magic of High-Volume but Minimalistic Training

     As I have pointed out more often than I can count, there are many ways and multiple paths to achieve your physical goals, whether it’s strength, power, more muscle mass, less bodyfat, or a combination of several of those goals all at once.  The key to achieving your goals, whatever they may be, lies in the proper balance of volume, frequency, and intensity, but some training plans are decidedly better than others, depending on your genetics, training history, and whatnot.  In my last essay on balance, I briefly mentioned that if I absolutely had to select one training methodology over anything else, it would be the “sub-maximal effort” method.  With strength and power roots in Eastern European countries, mostly countries from the former Soviet-bloc, this method basically involves doing multiple sets of low reps with weights that are not quite maximal—hence the name.  Almost completely unknown in the training world when I first started using it in the ‘90s, it has a dedicated (if small) following among lifters at this point in the 21st century, largely due, if I had to hazard a guess, from the writings of Pavel Tsatsouline along with powerlifters who have taken up Russian-style routines such as those created by the legendary strength coaches Sheiko and Smolov.  I was one such powerlifter.  Using Sheiko’s training methods in the first years of this century opened my eyes to a training world I never knew existed, one that has the capability of packing on mass like nothing you have ever tried.

     When lifters debate training methods and what works the best—the loudest and most vociferous debates always revolve around hypertrophy more than strength—there are typically two camps.  One one side of the ring you have the proponents of high-volume, multi-set workouts who believe in “thrashing” a muscle (or muscle groups) with many sets of many exercises, usually in the goal of attaining a massive pump along with hitting that muscle group(s) from multiple angles in order to build a “complete” physique.  On the other side, you have the proponents of the opposite—bodybuilders who believe in doing minimal sets and minimal exercises for a muscle group.  Although this latter group might believe in “hard” training, they decidedly believe that lifters—especially so-called “hardgainers,” a term I generally loathe for reasons outside of the usual and obvious—need less volume, less exercises, less sets, and just less training overall.  But perhaps there is a better way that doesn’t really fit into the training “paradigm” that these lifters believe causes muscle growth to occur.  (This isn’t the essay for it—I will save this for another one—but part of the problem is the paradigm or “view” itself among many bodybuilders over what produces hypertrophy in the first place.  The general view is that a muscle “grows” because it is given a stimulus, followed by rest, followed at the next training session by some sort of “greater” stimulus; the idea of “progressive resistance” training.  I, however, believe that this view is not entirely correct, and is the reason for lack of effective training programs.  But this is not the time or place for this peripheral digression, so back to our current article…)

     Most lifters don’t think that “high-volume” and “minimalistic” go together.  I, on the other hand, do.  It is, in many ways, the best manner to sum up the sub-maximal approach of the East European strength athlete.  It’s also the training that bodybuilders from that part of the world utilize.  It’s not uncommon to find Slavic weightlifters and bodybuilders training alongside one another.  But this is also not an entirely “Eastern” methodology.  It’s the kind of training espoused by Anthony Ditillo in the ‘70s and ‘80s, in his many training articles and workout programs, but he was doing nothing more than building upon the methods used by some of the greats that came before him such as the Canadian weightlifter and strongman Doug Hepburn and (perhaps) the greatest bodybuilder of all time, John Grimek.

     Even if your goal is pure aesthetics, which means that you’re a “bodybuilder” whether or not you ever plan on stepping onto a physique stage, you will reach your goals faster if you were to employ a workout routine that uses only a few exercises, a handful at the most, though you may get better results from even fewer movements, for multiple sets of (fairly) low reps.  One of the simplest and most result-producing workouts you can perform is to do 8 sets of 5 reps on one exercise.  The volume is high enough to elicit hypertrophy gains but the reps are also low enough that you will build strength.  To paraphrase the words of Pavel Tsatsouline, “if you get a pump with heavy weights, you will get both bigger and stronger.”

     Select only 2 or 3 exercises to use at each workout and do 8 sets of 5 reps on each one.  You can only do those exercises for your entire program, especially if you want to go the full-body route, or you can do 4 to 6 movements for the routine and follow a 2-way split.  Here are a couple of programs that would work well:

Full Body Routine

     Do the following 2 to 3 days each week.  You could train, say, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or just Monday and Thursday if you know that less training works for you.  You could also rotate between 2 and 3 days of training from week to week.  For the first week, you might train M-W-F, and the 2nd week you might only train M-F, and then alternate back and forth in that manner week in and week out.  If you don’t mind training on different days of the week throughout a training cycle, you could also train on a 1-on, 2-off schedule or—and I think this might be the most ideal as a great balance for most lifters—train on a 1-on, 1-off, 1-on, 2-off schedule.  Whatever you select, here’s what you would do at each session:

• Front squats: 8x5.  Select a weight where you could get 10 reps if you were doing the movement for one all-out, gut-busting set.  Stick with the weight at each session until all 8 sets feel relatively easy and then add weight at the next session and repeat the process.  Follow this system on each exercise.

• Weighted dips: 8x5

• Close-grip weighted chins: 8x5.  You can select weight lat pulldowns if you aren’t capable of 10 reps with your bodyweight on chins.

     I like these movements because most lifters do proper form better on these than some alternatives.  Anthony Ditillo preferred them over other good movements, such as bent-over rows and bench presses because, to use his words, he said that when many lifters used rows and benches, they “strained” instead of “trained” because they were more likely to cheat and use improper form on the other movements.  Nonetheless, assuming you will use proper form, feel free to substitute the chins and dips with a rowing and bench pressing movement.

2-Way Split Routine

     Use the same method with this program.  Here, you can train 1-on, 1-off, and just stick with that throughout the cycle or you could follow a 2-on, 1-off schedule if you know you respond better to slightly more work.  Conversely, if you know that, once again, you respond well to less work—some trainees are what I refer to as “low volume lifters” who get better results with less—you can also just train 3 days per week, such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  With this latter suggestion, each workout gets 2 days of training the first week and 1 day of training the next, rotating back and forth from week to week in this manner.  Here’s the routine:

Workout 1

• Weighted dips: 8x5

• Weighted chins: 8x5

• Barbell curls: 8x5

Workout 2

• Front squats: 8x5

• Stiff-legged deadlifts: 8x5

     On either of the above programs, feel free to add in some abdominal work and/or some loaded carries of your choice.  Do NOT overdo these movements, however.  When you finish each session, you should feel good, as if you could have done significantly more had you wanted to.  An hour after training, you should feel almost refreshed and have a hearty appetite, ready to scarf down plenty of muscle-building fuel that will be needed for consistent progress and gains.

Slow and Steady Wins the Hypertrophy Race

     The above workouts represent the “everything moderate” approach that I’m always preaching and that was used by many of your old-school bodybuilders and strength athletes of bygone eras.  However, it does require, in the words of Bradley Steiner, the “mature muscle man” who understands his body well enough that he doesn’t do too much or too little.  Some lifters, even ones who do know their body well enough, prefer a more “systematic” method of increasing weights.  The workout below takes this approach.  It is very similar to what was recommended by Doug Hepburn but was also used by bodybuilders such as Dave Draper in his early years.

     Here, you utilize the same workout as either one above, and train on the same schedule, whatever schedule that you select.  However, instead of doing 8x5 and just adding weight whenever you feel like it, you use the following system:

1st workout: 8x5

2nd workout: 7x5, 1x6

3rd workout: 6x5, 2x6

4th workout: 5x5, 3x6

5th workout: 4x5, 4x6

6th workout: 3x5, 5x6

7th workout: 2x5, 6x6

8th workout: 1x5, 7x6

9th workout: 8x6

     At that point, you add weight to each movement and repeat the entire process.  Stick with the routine for 9-12 weeks.  By then it will probably have run its course—there are lifters who can stick with it for longer and continue to make progress—and you will need to switch over to something new.

One Exercise Only

     Many Russian and other East European powerlifters have achieved great results, and even became world champions, by doing nothing but the 3 powerlifts in their training.  To paraphrase Sheiko: “If you want to squat more, you’ve got to squat more.”  This won’t work for everyone—some powerlifters need at least one or two auxiliary movements to work on weak points—but it’s a good way to train, even if it’s only for brief periods.

     Here’s an example of a bench-only program that you could try.  It would work well for the squat, too, perhaps even better, but I understand how much a lot of lifters want to improve their bench press, so here’s an example of a 4-days-per-week, heavy-light-medium-light program that will not only increase your bench but add upper body muscle.

Monday - Heavy

Bench press: 8x5.  Use the exact same methodology on this day as the 1st 2 programs above.

Tuesday - Light

Bench press: 8x5.  Use 70% of your weight from Monday.

Thursday - Medium

Bench press: 8x5.  Use 90% of Monday’s weight.

Saturday - Light (to medium)

Bench press: 8x5.  Use 80% of Monday’s weight.

     Stick with the same weight for 2 weeks straight of training.  At that point, you should naturally feel like adding weight in the 3rd week.  Your 3rd week’s weight doesn’t have to be much of an increase—no more than 10 pounds should suffice.  By the way, and as a brief aside, it might take you 2 weeks just to adapt to this training if you’re not accustomed to high-frequency training in the 1st place.  If that’s your personal case, don’t attempt to add weight until the 4th week.  Also, you might consider doing a “break in” of 2 weeks before you start the program outright.  If you decide to go this latter route, then spend 2 weeks doing 3 days of training and make all of them the “light” session (Tuesday) above.

     You can stick with this program for 8 to 12 weeks.  Twelve weeks would be about the maximum that it will probably work.  At that juncture, you probably need to switch to something else, even if it’s just a different set/rep range.  You might want to try running it using 8 sets of 3 reps, for example.  If you decide to do that, then select a weight for your 8x3 where you could get 1 all-out set of 6 reps.

The Sum of Things

     I’ve really just touched the tip of the muscle-building iceberg with some of my suggestions here.  8x5 (or 3) is just one of the many set/rep ranges that you can use.  Anything between 8 and 15 sets (sometimes higher, if you just want to experiment with really high sets) and 1 to 5 reps will work well.  Try some of them to see what works well for you.

     High-volume and minimalistic may seem oxymoronic to a lot of lifters.  But you know better.  Now, all you have to do is get to the gym and apply it.  If there’s a method that’s near magic when it comes to muscle-building, this might be it.

For more muscle-building articles, essays, and workout programs, check out the My Books page of the blog, where you can find more information on all of my books, each one of which is PACKED with ideas and routines for building size and strength.