Bill Starr’s High-Volume, High-Frequency Training

Some Thoughts on High-Volume, High-Frequency Training, Bodyweight Workouts, Program Design, and Progressive Resistance

     Bill Starr is primarily known for his 5x5 training and his heavy-light-medium system of strength training.  Most of the articles that I write here on Starr revolve around those methods, as well, including an entire book I wrote on his methodology, The Strongest Shall Always Survive: Lifting Lessons from an Iron Legend.  Starr was a one-time world-class Olympic weightlifter and a world-renowned strength coach.  When it came to the athletes that he trained, it was all about increasing their strength and performance.  But he also wrote a lot of articles for the major bodybuilding rags that ruled the magazine rack during his lifetime.  When I was young, for instance, I knew of him only because of his many articles in Ironman magazine and MuscleMag International.  Starr was well aware that most of those readers weren’t interested in dominating on the weightlifting platform or on the gridiron.  Instead, though many of them were interested in getting stronger, most of his readers were more concerned with how they looked.  Trust me, when I was a teenager and picked up my monthly MuscleMag International copy at the newsstand, I wanted big muscles more than anything else.  Starr knew that.  So he dedicated a lot of his writing to blending together his principles of strength coaching with the aesthetic goals that the magazine readers were interested in.

     Starr also knew that, no matter the goals, lifters needed to use progressive resistance in order to continue making gains.  But he didn’t think the approach of most bodybuilders was the “right” way to go about doing it.  By the 1990s, when it was hard to not find a Bill Starr article in one of the magazines each month, the general consensus around “proper” training was much the same way as it is now.  A lifter needed to train hard and heavy (usually with some kind of split system) and then give his body enough time to “recover and grow” before training it again.  At each workout, you then need to either increase the number of reps, increase the weight, or do the same workout but do it in a shorter amount of time, but not add any additional sets or lifts.  Although that can work, it only does so for so long.  And often when lifters stop making progress, they start taking more time off between workouts, thinking that they need the extra “recovery” time as they get more “advanced.”  Often as not, they also couple those less frequent workouts with more “intense” but brief training sessions.  Starr disagreed with that approach.  I do, as well.  A lifter needs more work, not less, as he gets more advanced.  He also needs to cycle his training loads and build up his workload through increasing his work capacity.

     Although Starr was well-known for low-rep strength workouts, when it came to building muscle, he was also a big proponent of not increasing the weight in workouts but, instead, increasing the reps and pushing up the total reps in a workout, or over the course of an entire day.  With his methodology, it was also important to look at the total work not just in a session or a day but over the course of several weeks of training and throughout a training cycle.  Because of all of this, he often favored high-volume, high-frequency workouts.  He even favored bodyweight training for a lot of lifters, which might be surprising if you only know Starr through his “big 3” of squats, power cleans, and bench presses in his The Strongest Shall Survive book.

     Starr particularly liked high-volume, high-frequency bodyweight workouts (or light barbell or dumbbell lifts) for older lifters, guys recovering from injuries, or anyone with a busy, hectic schedule.  In his article “Progressive Resistance Training” from the June, 2001 issue of Ironman, he tells this story about a good friend of his: “My longtime friend, Jack King, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a perfect example.  After recovering from a near-death experience, he found he couldn’t do any free weight exercises for his upper body: no flat benches, inclines, declines—nothing.  So how in the world was he going to improve his chest, shoulders, and arms?  That was important to him because he’d switched his interest from Olympic weightlifting to competitive bodybuilding.  Without arms, shoulders, and a chest, he wasn’t going to have much of a chance.

     “He experimented, failed, experimented some more and, finally, came up with an exercise he could do without pain that brought him the desired results.  It was a form of pushup, in which he placed his feet on a bench and did partial movements while he gripped blocks to take the pressure off his wrists.  By adding reps, he slowly but steadily worked up to where he could do 4 sets of 150 reps.  It worked great for him because he won a great many physique titles, including the Masters Mr. America.”

     There are a couple of interesting points we can take from this tale.  For one, if you have an injury, there is always something you can find to do.  It’s a matter of experimenting and not giving up until you find whatever that something is that will work for you and your particular injury.  For another, Starr believed you can build a lot of muscle by doing very high-repetition workouts.  In fact, for older lifters—and this was how Starr trained late in his life, once he was past 60—he thought the best method of training was daily, full-body workouts comprised of all of the “big” basic lifts, but with ultra high-rep sets; 50 to 100 reps per set wasn’t uncommon in his routines.

     Here’s another story that I found even more interesting.  It has some important lessons for anyone who has a busy work/home life schedule and has also gotten out of shape: “I saw a great example of progressive resistance at work when I was in the Air Force, stationed in Iceland.  A corporal had allowed himself to fall into a terrible physical state.  Upon arrival at the island, he’d stopped all forms of exercise and started indulging himself to the maximum.  Within 6 months, he’d gained 50 pounds, all of it ugly weight.  When he became eligible for a furlough back to the States, he altered his lifestyle.  It seemed he’d only been married a week before he shipped out to Iceland, and he wanted to look his best when he went home.  He stopped drinking alcohol, cut back on his eating, and started doing one exercise—pushups.  His reason for choosing them was different from Jack’s.  We didn’t have a bench in our tiny gym, and he recalled how effective pushups had been for him in basic training.  He was in such sad shape that all he could manage the first time was 15 reps, but he had a couple of things going for him.  He was extremely motivated, and he was only 19.  Slowly but consistently, he added more reps to each set, then started doing multiple sets.  Every time I saw him on the base—in the rec room, the mess hall, the barracks—he’d drop down and do a set.  He got to where he could do 75 in a set, and over the course of a day he’d do more than 1,500.

     “He was using progressive resistance training just by increasing his reps, and he altered his physique in a remarkable way.  I’ve never seen anyone transform his body so radically, so rapidly.  After less than a month on his pushup blitz, he had muscular arms, chest, and shoulders.  In the process of doing so many reps, he also tightened his midsection, and his upper back stood out in relief.  He looked as though he’d been doing some serious advanced-level bodybuilding for some time.  Few people can duplicate what he accomplished because most lack his intense motivation.”

     The truth is that that kind of training is probably better for a lot of your average trainees than the workouts they’re doing at the gym (high-volume but infrequent training) and believe will transform their bodies even better.  But it shows you the value of high-frequency training—the guy was essentially doing multiple but short workouts throughout the day—coupled with minimalistic lifts.  In his case, just one, the pushup.  If you want to attempt to duplicate it, a good plan is to start with doing, say, 100 reps of pushups each day along with 30 to 50 chins; I think doing a little more than just pushups is a good idea.  This is great for home training.  All you need is a bar or some sort of apparatus for doing the chins and you’re good to go.  For the pushups, since you’ll do more of them, you can even do those while you’re at work, whether it’s on your lunch break or just getting in a few reps when your boss isn’t around.  Select a number of reps that you want to do and just get those numbers each and every day.  After a week or two, increase the number of reps.  Something such as this over 6 weeks would work well:

Week 1: 100 pushups, 30 chins per day

Week 2: 140 pushups, 40 chins

Week 3: 180 pushups, 50 chins

Week 4: 220 pushups, 60 chins

Week 5: 260 pushups, 70 chins

Week 6: 300 pushups, 80 chins

     Now, if you do have the “intense motivation” of the corporal in Starr’s example, then by all means, add even more work to each week of training.  You could increase your number of pushups by 10 or even 20 and your chins by 5 each day.  But the above example is doable by just about anyone.

     What are some other benefits to this kind of training?  Starr has some insights.  “That sort of approach to progressive resistance is often very helpful for anyone who’s coming back from an injury, especially one that requires surgery.  It’s not always a good idea to involve the attachments in the early stages of rehab, but getting blood to the damaged area helps the healing process.  Trying to use resistance, in any form, too soon, can be counterproductive.  It’s often better to use bodyweight and progressively add reps in order to increase your work volume.

     “That approach also fits the needs of someone who has a chronic joint problem, usually from a former injury or as the result of arthritis.  I once trained with a 50-year-old man who was a victim of arthritis.  He loved to bench press and did just fine until he moved past 205.  He’d spend the next few days gulping down aspirin and unable to sleep.  He asked my advice, stating that he really wanted to stay with the bench press, if at all possible.  I suggested he use light weights and steadily increase his workload by performing more and more reps.  At his first session, he did 135 for 5, 10, 15, and, finally, 20 reps.  I had him work his way up with progressive resistance to make sure his muscles and joints were warped up thoroughly before his last set, which was the most difficult.  Even though he only used 135 pounds, his total workload was greater in that rather simple workout than it had been when he used heavier weights.  Only the intensity was decreased, which was a deliberate strategy aimed at protecting his joints.

     “He stayed with those numbers for a month, as I wanted to make certain that he established a firm base before moving up.  Then he slowly added weight on his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th sets—not much, just 5 pounds.  When he could do 20 reps with the heaviest weight, he’d increase the poundage.  After 6 months, he was doing 185 for 20 and could have handled more, but he wisely stayed under his max.  The results were impressive.  Because he’d increased his workload, he was giving his chest, arms, and shoulders more direct stimulation, and they responded accordingly.”

     With all of this talk of being out of shape and coming back from an injury, or just old age, you might think that this kind of training is only for lifters who have no choice otherwise, but that’s not the case.  There have been some mighty impressive athletes, lifters, and even celebrities who used similar training to build their strength and increase their performance.

     A friend of this blog, Terry Miller, a retired member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), having served 30 years in Canada's national police force, recently sent me a copy of his book Uncomplicated Conditioning - Minimum Space, Minimum Equipment: Developing Strength, Capacity, and Endurance for Tactical and Occupation Outdoor Athletes, and it’s packed with some of the workouts of legendary athletes and lifters, not to mention some great training advice.  Here are a few workouts of some of those legends (all words in the italicized parts that follow are Miller’s):

The Great Gama
     The Great Gama (born Ghulam Mohammad Baksh Butt (1878–1960). The ultimate testament to minimalist conditioning, and known globally as "The Great Gama."
     Widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Gama retired undefeated after a career spanning over 50 years.
     At his peak, Gama’s legendary high-volume bodyweight routine built immense endurance and functional strength. His daily training regimen included:

● 5,000 Hindu Squats (Baithaks)

● 3,000 Hindu Push-ups (Dands)

● 1 to 4 miles of roadwork

● 3 to 4 hours of live wrestling practice

● Supplemental work: Heavy rope climbing, pull-ups, dips, and digging the earthen wrestling pit with a heavy spade.
     This brutal routine—totaling over 8,000 daily repetitions—forged a level of raw capacity so profound that Bruce Lee later integrated Gama's methods into his own training.
Masahiko Kimura
     Masahiko Kimura (1917–1993) is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most feared judoka in history, largely due to his superhuman physical conditioning, legendary grip strength, and fanatical training regime. Known as "Demon Kimura," he was famously undefeated from 1936 to 1950 and was known for causing concussions in sparring partners with his signature Osoto Gari (major outer reap). His training was so intense that karate master Mas Oyama stated Kimura was the only person he ever saw who trained harder than himself. At the height of his career, Kimura's training involved nine hours of practice per day, six days a week. His regimen blended traditional judo randori (sparring) with extreme conditioning. Kimura's daily training included 1,000 push-ups or Hindu push-ups, 200 squats with a log or partner on his shoulders, 200 situps, 1 km of bunny hops (to replicate this training method, you would need to complete approximately 1,000 to 1,500 jump squats or 1,200 to 1,800 air squats in a training session), 100 repetitions of Judo throws, 500 hand strikes on a makiwara (karate striking post). Kimura also incorporated strength training with weights in his training regimen, in the form of the barbell press, in an era when it was uncommon for judoka to use barbells. His diet supported this training, consisting largely of rice, pickled vegetables, and dried sardines. There is a phrase in Judo and jiu-jitsu circles, "Before Kimura, no one was Kimura, after Kimura, no one is Kimura", which refers to Kimura’s unmatched supremacy from 1936 to 1950.
Jack LaLanne
     Jack LaLanne (1914–2011) was a pioneering American fitness expert who revolutionized health by promoting daily, high-repetition bodyweight exercise and functional nutrition long before modern gym culture existed. His routine emphasized overall durability, often spanning grueling two-hour sessions. He relied on rapid calisthenics circuits featuring push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, air squats, and jumping jacks executed with zero rest.
     A classic "LaLanne-Style" circuit involved 30 push-ups, 30 squats, 30 sit-ups, and 30 seconds of jumping jacks, repeated continuously until reaching up to 1,000 total repetitions per session. The legendary depth of LaLanne's conditioning is perfectly illustrated by his "1,000-Repetition Challenge." At age 45, he successfully completed 1,000 push-ups and 1,000 pull-ups in just 1 hour and 22 minutes.
     LaLanne trained nearly every day, emphasizing that high-volume calisthenics, running, and swimming was essential for injury-free living. Driven by the philosophy of "exercise is king, nutrition is queen," his calisthenics doctrine was simple: no equipment, no excuses.

     Those three just scratch the surface.  If you want to know about the training of other legends such as Max Baer, Rocky Marciano, Vince Gironda, Karl Gotch, Dan Gable, Mike Tyson, and Herschel Walker then get your hands on a copy of Miller’s book (more details below).

     Although I’ve primarily discussed bodyweight training here, keep in mind that you can apply these methods to your weight workouts.  To get the best results out of training, most lifters need more than just bodyweight training.  Now, do not get me wrong, either—if you absolutely love training with nothing more than pushups, dips, chins, bodyweight squats, Hindu squats, bodyweight lunges, and bodyweight Cossack squats then, by all means, stick with those movements.  But most lifters, to build a complete physique, need free weights.  Again, you don’t need much—stick with the basic barbell, dumbbell, and kettlebell lifts and their variations.  Although Starr wrote about pushups in his two examples earlier, he also never wrote a program solely devoted to bodyweight training as far as I know.

     There are some different ways that you can hybridize your bodyweight training with your weighted sessions.  If you want to train at home with limited equipment, and limited weight, then purchase a light pair of dumbbells or kettlebells.  You can do pushups, bodyweight squats, and chins for your “core” lifts using bodyweight and then use the free weights for shoulder and arm work.  Here would be a good workout for 5 to 6 days a week of training:

Pushups

Chins

Bodyweight squats

Walking lunges

Dumbbell overhead presses

Dumbbell curls

Dumbbell floor skull crushers

     You don’t need a bench or any other equipment for this workout; just a pair of dumbbells.  As far as what you do at each session, follow something along the lines of my suggestions above for just training chins and pushups.  Slowly push up your volume on each training day until you’re doing hundreds of reps on each movement.

     For more programming design and workout ideas using bodyweight workouts and/or high-volume, high-frequency training, check out these past articles of mine.  There’s a ton o’ information here:

Bodyweight Training Using the Heavy-Light-Medium System

The High-Frequency, High-Volume Training Strategy

Bodyweight Training and Beyond

Bodyweight Training and Beyond, Part 2

Bodyweight Training and Beyond, Part 3

Bodyweight Training for Building Muscle

     I would encourage anyone interested in the subjects in this essay to purchase Terry Miller’s Uncomplicated Conditioning.  Click on the link where you can find more information about it on Amazon.

     And if you want more Bill Starr, then be sure to buy my The Strongest Shall Always Survive: Lifting Lessons from an Iron Legend.  It contains all you need to know for designing a 5x5 program, implementing Starr’s heavy-light-medium system, and Starr’s more advanced methodology.  You can find more info about it and all of my other books by clicking HERE.

     Of course, as always, if you have comments or questions, leave them in the “comments” section below or shoot me an email if you prefer private correspondence.