getting stronger and volume considerations

[synnfusion]

Hi Andy, I'm a little confused about how volume relates to increasing strength. I keep hearing that stronger lifters are able to create more stress with less work, but at the same time I hear that advancing lifters need more volume to drive adaptation, much like how TM uses 5x5 instead of three sets of 5 to trigger an adaptation that now needs a week instead of 48 hours to recover from. These seem contradictory so I must be misunderstanding something.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

It is contradictory and I don't think anyone has a definitive answer. Well, let me restate. Plenty of people think they have a definitive answer, but the problem is that there are just too many damn examples to support both sides of the argument. These people generally like to make the claim that anyone getting results with the opposite way of training from what they support is either (1) a genetic freak (2) on steroids. This is a convenient way to deal with anecdotal examples that don't support your ideology of training. They are all just outliers that should be discarded.

I wrote an article about this not long ago. Here is my summary of my opinion on the matter.

1) There are obviously people who have a lot of success with both ways of training. There are genetically elite guys who train with minimal volume / minimal frequency. There are genetically elite guys who train with lots of volume / lots of frequency. There are chemically enhanced guys who train both ways. There are "average guys" who train and get results both ways. So let's just accept that both ways CAN work and move on from an either/or argument because its pointless.

2) My experience with athletes who are highly neurologically efficient / explosive / good athletes can do more with less and don't need as much volume/frequency as more "average" athletes do. I have a 20 year old shot putter that throws at OU who I've been training since he was 14. VERY EXPLOSIVE. We make our best progress training each lift heavy once per week with one work set and one back off set. But his worksets are all in.

3) Most late intermediate /advanced lifters probably do best with alternating periods of higher volume / higher intensity rather than sticking with one approach all the time.

4) Anecdotally....going back to the 1990s when I started training in serious strength training gyms, I have seen far more examples of big/strong lifters who trained on lower frequency split routines rather than high frequency full body routines. This is not an endorsement, just an observation over 20 years of living in gyms.

[synnfusion]

Awesome, thanks for the detailed response. So I guess it will require some experimentation for each of us in the long run.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

How long have you been training seriously? What are your lifts? What is your age?

[synnfusion]

27 years old, 4 years training, 365x1 squat, 485x1 deadlift, 185x1 bench. Running heavy, light, medium right now because I have anxiety/sleep issues. I have no idea why my bench press lags so much, it never seems to respond to anything.

[synnfusion]

Also, I forgot to say that I'm 180 pounds and for the four years I've been training probably only 2 of them could be considered 'serious'.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

You are almost certainly going to be in the camp of "needs more work/volume/frequency" rather than the "one all out set" crowd.

Keep the HLM routine for Squat and Deads....try moving Bench to Texas Method. Monday Volume for like 5x5 and Friday Intensity alternated between 3x2 (3 sets of 2) and 6x1 (6 sets of 1). Microload everything by about 2 lbs. Will get your Bench moving.

[synnfusion]

Will do! I actually pulled 500 this morning, so I'm the first person I've ever met to pull a 5 plate deadlift with a sub 200 bench. I'll put the bench on TM.

[George Christiansen]

Will do! I actually pulled 500 this morning, so I'm the first person I've ever met to pull a 5 plate deadlift with a sub 200 bench. I'll put the bench on TM.

This is definitely a crazy spread between bench and deadlift. More than 100lbs between squat and deadlift seems pretty crazy too.

Do you have really long arms or something?

[synnfusion]

Nope, my arm span is about an inch longer than my height (I'm 5'10"). I've literally never met anyone else in real life or online who has pulled 500 with a sub 200 pound bench. My bench technique isn't perfect but it's not that bad. I'm starting to think my pecs are genetically deformed or something haha.