The Wisdom of Train Long, Not Hard

Simple Methods to Improve Your Workouts and Obtain Better Results

     Over the years, one of my most popular articles has been my “Train Long, Not Hard” feature that I wrote for Testosterone Nation around the beginning of this century.  The title comes from a saying of Arthur Jones, the creator of Nautilus equipment and the father of so-called “high-intensity training” and the whole one-set-to-complete-momentary-muscular-failure approach to workouts.  He and Mike Mentzer are responsible for brain-washing an entire generation of lifters and quite possibly ruining real strength training, at least here in America—though I’ll save my ramblings on that for another essay or you can read my article on REAL High-Intensity Training.  Anyway, his saying goes like this: “You can either train long or you can train hard, but you can’t do both.”  Jones, quite obviously, believed that “train hard” was the answer to that conundrum.  In my article for T-Nation, I wrote that Jones was correct in his saying but not in his answer, and that “train long” is the better of the two.  In the 23 years since I wrote that piece, I haven’t really changed my mind, by the way, though I may now approach it a bit differently.  I largely feel the same way about training now as I did then with some subtle nuances after 23 additional years of lifting and training others.

     For one, I’m not entirely sure that Jones’s original statement is even correct.  I think that, given the time to develop athleticism and work capacity, a lifter can train both long and hard at the same time—that’s exactly what the biggest bodybuilders on the planet do.  Also, the statement only takes into account 2 of the 3 training variables.  In addition to volume (train long) and intensity (train hard), you have frequency (train often).  A better sentence would be this: “You can train long, you can train hard, or you can train often, but you can’t do all three at the same time.”  But you can, and should, train with 2 of the variables.  (A truly elite strength athlete can do all 3, by the way, but that’s not most lifters, so we will leave that be for this essay.)

     Really, the answer isn’t to train hard or to train long or to train frequently but to train smart and to train optimally for the goal and the result you wish to obtain from resistance training.  When I wrote in my article that to “train long” is the answer, I’m not suggesting that you just head to the gym and add more volume or to double the amount of time that you spend on a lift.  That’s not any better than deciding that to “train hard” is the answer, so you’re now going to train each muscle with 1 set to complete muscular failure and beyond with all sorts of “intensity techniques” such as forced reps and forced negatives thrown in for “good measure” or whatever.  Neither of those approaches would be to “train smart” and they most certainly wouldn’t involve “optimal” training.

     What am I getting at?  And what can you take from this?  Let’s look at some common workout approaches and then ways that we might improve them by making slight alterations.

     A common method of training is the “pyramid” system.  You see it in gyms all across the country—I suppose the world for that matter.  On an exercise—I bet you see this on the bench press more than anything else at the majority of gyms—you might start your “work” sets with a hard set of 12 reps.  You add weight and do a set of 10.  You add even more weight and do a set of 8.  Followed by more weight and a set of 6.  And so on.  Some guys might use it all the way up to a double or even a max single.  The problem, of course, is that it won’t be a max single, or a max anything else.  You are fatiguing your muscles too much, not allowing you to be able to train as heavy as you could if you managed fatigue better.  Lifters might even do this on a number of movements in the same workout and then in multiple workouts throughout the week.  They end up training long, no doubt training hard—giving it their “best” on their sets—but not training smart and optimally.

     One of the best methods that you can replace with the pyramid approach is to simply do ramps.  You won’t be training as hard but you will be training smarter and it will allow you to train longer, all without fatiguing your muscles and producing as much soreness.  You’ll also be able to train heavier and, potentially, with more frequency.  Instead of starting your sets with higher reps, adding weight, and reducing reps, just start with sets of 5 reps, even with what you would typically use for a set of 20 reps.  Do progressively heavier sets of 5 reps until they get reasonably hard.  Stop doing them, however, before you hit a max set of 5 reps.  Then switch over to triples and do the same thing.  Once you hit a reasonably tough triple, switch over to progressively heavier singles.  Stop your singles with, say, 90% of your 1-rep max, no more than 95%.

     You can also do rep ladders.  You do them similar to the pyramid sets but they prevent burnout.  In his (and Dan John’s) book Easy Strength, Pavel Tsatsouline writes this about ladders: “The ladder is an extremely powerful program design tool. It is one of the cornerstone beliefs in modern Russian sports science that the greatest performance gains can be achieved only when periods of hard training are alternated with periods of easier training—and not only during months and weeks but also during individual workouts. The Russian ladder format fulfills this requirement. It refers to multiple sets of an exercise where one variable (reps, weight, or rest periods) gets progressively harder. The ladder starts out very easy, gets progressively harder and harder, and then starts all over from the bottom. The built-in recovery periods enable the athlete to tolerate a very high volume of loading without burning out.”

     Take the pyramid approach above, where the lifter starts with a hard set of 12, adds weight and does a set of 10, then a set of 8, then 6, and so forth.  Here’s a better ladder method:  With the weight you would use for the 12-rep set, do a set of 10 reps.  Add weight and do a set of 8 with the 10-rep weight.  Add more weight and do a set of 6 with the 8-rep weight.  Now, go back to your 10-rep set and repeat the process.  You could do several ladders using the method, getting in 3 or 4 of them, all without producing fatigue.  Your total workload will end up being significantly higher than just doing one pyramid workout where all of the sets are really hard.  You’ll recover just as quick from it despite the higher workload, as well.  The problem with the more “typical” pyramid method is that the lifter also gets really sore from taking sets to failure or close.  The ladder approach is not as hard, certainly longer, but also more result-producing.  If you’re looking for hypertrophy, it’s also better for that, too.  You’re still training relatively heavy, and—if you’re looking for it in your training—you’ll also get a pump from the workout because you’ll be taking less rest between sets since you’ll recover faster.

     If you’re seeking strength, it might work even better.  For example, a workout that I have always liked for lifters seeking a combination of size and strength is a “countdown” workout such as 5x5/4/3/2/1.  You do a heavy set of 5 reps.  Rest a few minutes.  Add weight and do a set of 4 reps.  Rest, add weight, and do a set of 3.  Continue until you hit a really heavy single.  I still like it, but consider this:  Instead of doing 5x5/4/3/2/1, use the same poundages that you would use for those sets and do 5x3/3/2/2/1.  So, you do two sets of 3 with your 5-rep and 4-rep weight.  Add weight and do a set of 2 with what you would use for your 3-rep weight.  Now, your last two sets will be the exact same—a double and single with the weights you would have used for the same reps in the original workout, but those sets will be stronger and more powerful.  Now, since you’re not as fatigued, you can repeat the ladder again.  In the first workout, with the same weights, you end up with 15 reps total.  In the 2nd workout, you end up with 22 reps.  It’s not too much more than the first, but the sets are all easier and you can probably recover from it in the same amount of time despite doing double the sets.  It’s the perfect example of the power of train long, not hard.

     You can do this with straight sets, as well.  Let’s say you plan to do a 5x5 workout of straight sets with a certain weight.  Take that same weight and do 5x3.  If you chose the “correct” poundage for your 5x5 workout, you should have struggled, but still managed, your last set.  Or, perhaps, you got 4 sets of 5 but only 4 reps on that final set.  You’ll breeze through the 5x3.  Now, do another 5 sets, but this time for sets of 2 reps.  In the end, you still end up with 25 reps total—same workload but all the sets are strong and powerful.  You may end up doing the 5x3/5x2 in the same amount of time, too, since you won’t have to take as long between sets, so it’s not necessarily even training longer.  Just more optimal.

     You can also take this approach with 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps.  For instance, if you’re unaware, Bill Starr’s 5x5 training method is not 5 straight sets of 5 reps but 5 progressively heavier ones.  Essentially, his workout is what we’ve already discussed: ramps.  But try this: Take the same weights you would have done for 5 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps and do 5x5/5/3/3/2.  The first two sets, obviously, will be the same as your usual session.  Just when the sets of 5 reps start to get a little tough, you now do two progressively heavier triples.  You then finish by doing a double with a weight you would have used for your max set of 5.  Now, go back to the weight you used for your first triple and do 3x3/3/2 with the same weights.  You end up with 26 reps total—not much different from the original 25 reps of the 5x5 workout—but, again, all of the reps are strong and powerful.  If you want even more volume, you could repeat the entire 5x5/5/3/3/2 for a total of 36 reps.

     In the end, you can pretty much use the “train long, not hard” approach for any set/rep combination that you’re fond of.  Take two methods that I’ve preached multiple times: the 8x5 and the 10x3 workout.  Take the weight you would use for 8x5 and do 8x5/5/5/3/3/3/2/2.  Basically, as soon as the sets would have started to get tough with 5 reps, you drop down to 3 reps, and then finish with a couple of doubles.  You’ll breeze through the session with ease.  You could also add more doubles at the end, doing 4 or 5 of them instead of just two.  10x3?  Try 15 to 20 singles with that same weight, resting no more than 30 seconds between sets.  Your singles will be strong and explosive—the workout will feel almost too easy.  But you’ll be able to repeat it again in a couple of days, whereas with your typical 10x3 weight, you might have needed 3 to 4 days off before doing another session.

     Therein lies another benefit: more frequent training.  If you did a 10x3 session of squats on Monday, you’d probably wait until Friday before training it again.  But with 15 singles, you could do that Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week.  Do it for a couple of weeks until the weight feels almost ridiculously easy.  Add weight at that point.  Repeat.

     You can train long or you can train hard.  You might even be able to do both.  But neither are really the “best” option.  Instead, choose to train long, frequently, smart, and optimally.  That is the correct choice.  The Russians knew it was the best model since before I was born.  Now, you do too.

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