Low Volume Training: The stimulus
for growth is not duration, it's the intensity of effort.
There are three populations that share something in common when
it comes to the type of training to use: Ectomorphs, guys who are on a severe
fat loss diet, and guys who are coming off of a steroid cycle.
In all three cases the body cannot tolerate a lot of training volume. They
cannot tolerate a high volume for different reasons:
A) The ectomorph is not genetically built to handle a lot of intense muscular
work. They are built mostly for low-intensity endurance work. This doesn't mean
that they should train for endurance in the gym, quite the contrary! Since their
body is not built for strength training, the slightest amount of weight lifting
represents a high level of stress on their body.
The more volume they do, the more stress hormones they'll release (mostly
cortisol) and the harder it will become to actually add muscle to their frame.
They thus need to use a very small volume of work to avoid tipping the scale
toward a catabolic (muscle wasting) situation.
B) The guy who is dieting also has a limited capacity to tolerate training
volume because he lacks nutrients and energy intake. To lose fat you have to eat
less calories than you use everyday. This means that your energy stores for
intense muscle contractions are lower. While dieting your insulin production
also goes down. This is a good thing for losing fat but a bad one when it comes
to recovery from a workout.
Doing a lot of volume in the gym when you are depleted and less capable of
recovering is also a recipe for inducing a catabolic state. Guys who are just
starting a diet do not need to go super low in volume since their work capacity
has not gone down yet. Down the road they might need to though.
C) The guy who is just coming off of a steroid cycle is just like the two other
guys because his own natural production of testosterone (anabolic hormone) has
been shutdown by the use of steroids and will need some time to go back up.
At the same time cortisol levels are sky high... steroids inhibits the action of
cortisol. As a result the body will produce more and more cortisol. While the
steroid is in the system this won't matter. But once the guy stops using, he
finds himself with super high cortisol levels. So that guy will easily become
catabolic.
For that reason a high volume of work is the worst thing to do. Sadly a lot of
guys who stop a cycle like to perform a lot of work in the gym. This is probably
for fear of losing their gains or because when they stop using steroids it's
much harder to get a pump. They do set after set after set just to get that pump
again. Regardless of what the reason is, doing a high volume of work while your
body is recovering from a steroid cycle is the fastest way to losing your gains.
Thib Partials: Reps to failure, rest 10 secs, reps to failure,
rest 10 secs, reps to failure and then do partials to failure.
*4 'mini' sets/working set
Thib Drops: Reps to failure, rest 10 secs, reps to failure, drop 50% reps to
failure, rest 10 secs, reps to failure, drop 50% reps to failure, rest 10 secs,
reps to failure
*6 'mini' sets/working set
Difficulty-ladder based on the rest/pause method
Level 1
Rest/Pause
Perform your regular set to failure; rest 10-12 seconds then perform a few more
reps to failure with the same weight (e.g. 8 + 4).
Level 2
Double Rest/Pause
Perform your regular set to failure; rest 10-12 seconds then perform a few more
reps to failure with the same weight; take a second pause and then try to get a
few more reps still with the same weight (e.g. 8 + 4 + 2).
Level 3
Rest/Pause plus Partials
Perform your regular set to failure; rest 10-12 seconds then perform a few more
reps to failure with the same weight. Then you continue the set by performing
partial reps in the strongest portion of the movement.
Level 4
Rest/Pause plus Drop
Perform your regular set to failure; rest 10-12 seconds then perform a few more
reps to failure with the same weight; reduce the weight by 50% and continue to
perform reps to failure.
Level 5
Rest/Pause plus Drop and Partials
Perform your regular set to failure; rest 10-12 seconds then perform a few more
reps to failure with the same weight; reduce the weight by 50% and continue to
perform reps to failure. Then you continue the set by performing partial reps in
the strongest portion of the movement.
Level 6
R/P plus Drop, Partials and hold
Perform your regular set to failure; rest 10-12 seconds then perform a few more
reps to failure with the same weight; reduce the weight by 50% and continue to
perform reps to failure. Then you continue the set by performing partial reps in
the strongest portion of the movement; when you reach partial failure simply
hold the weight at the midrange point for as long as you can.
Level 7
R/P plus Drop, Partials, hold and negative
Perform the set exactly as the level 6 method but after the hold, have a partner
help you lift the bar and then you proceed to lower it down as slowly as humanly
possible.
DAY 1 - Chest & Biceps
DAY 2 - Lower body
DAY 3 - OFF
DAY 4 - Back & triceps
DAY 5 - OFF
DAY 6 - Strength day (clean and press, deadlift, some strongman stuff)
DAY 7 - OFF
To better accept taking a day off is to see it not as an "off"
day but rather as a "growing" day.
As I mentioned, you don't grow in the gym: You grow at the kitchen table and
when you rest. You can train like a madman, if you don't allow your body enough
time to recover, you'll never grow. Never lose sight that the goal of training
is not the training itself, but rather the muscle growth and strength gains you
get from training.