Why you must train with high volume training (if you don’t want to miss gains)

Today I want to talk about high volume training, which basically the most controversial topic in the fitness industry. Because you either love high volume training or you’ll hate it. 

There are two sides of people when talking about high volume training… One  side said that high volume is the best for muscle growth, and volume is the biggest factor of muscle growth (which is absolutely wrong!). There is also this other side that said high volume fricking sh*t! They said you will be overtrained. You will not grow any muscle, and you just wasting your time in the gym (and probably they’re Mike Mentzer’s fanboy)

So which is the truth? 

If you ask me, high volume is the best (kinda biased tho).

Why it is the best

When I got asked why high volume is the best way to train… I only have 2 answers. You receive more growth when you up that volume, and your chance of injury will significantly decrease.

Want the proof?

“‘In the old school we never got hurt’ … the younger school ripped themselves apart.” – Lee Haney (8x Mr Olympia)

When we see Arnold, Franco and all of the guys that did high volume, they never get hurt.

Because they stimulate and never annihilate the muscle.

Stimulating the muscle is this. Arnold do a set when to failure, rest, do another 2 set, and add a little bit of rest pause at the end. 

But when you look at Mike Mentzer’s training, you see him performing 1 set, then another rest pause and forced reps, then he superset it with lighter weight. That is what we called annihate the muscle.

And you see those guys like Dorian that did high volume training, you’ll see medical bill on their body. 

This is what Dorian have experienced:

• Torn left bicep: Occurred in 1994, impacting his 1994 competition.
• Left-shoulder ligament tear: March 1994.
• Left thigh tear: April 1994.
• Right-thigh tear: July 1997.
• Torn left tricep: September 1997, just weeks before the 1997 Mr. Olympia, which he won despite the injury.
• Stomach rupture: August 1997, an indirect result of anti-inflammatory medication he took due to his injuries.
• Hip issues: Had hip surgery in 1987 and a hip replacement in 2024 due to cumulative damage from years of heavy squatting. 

So now the question is… ( 5 reasons)

Why do so many people fail to do high volume training? The reasons are basic.

1. The discipline to spend that long hour In the gym

I love this pyramid of muscle strength by Eric Helms. Because he puts adherence/consistency at the most important aspect to build muscle. Because whatever you do, if you’re not consistent, you’ll.

But here’s the thing… high volume training needs 1 hour minimum to train at the gym, and for beginners it might be hard. 

2. The mental capacity to train to failure on all 20 sets

Imagine this scenario. I ask you to train 1 set until failure, I asked you to push as hard as you can for that 1 set, and I guarantee you’ll get the job done. 

But what if I asked you to do 4 sets until failure. Yes. you must spend all your energy on those sets.

I guarantee it will be hard, and moreover you know if you have bad days going on, and you’re not that motivated, it would be a disaster.

3. The work capacity to train that much volume.

99% of beginner will be wiped out after 1 set of failure. It can be because of their mental capacity, but their work capacity matters too. So you can’t just jump there and do 20 sets, you must progress with it.

4. High volume training requires almost perfect recovery & diet

When we say more volume = more growth, we must also say that more volume = more recovery. 

Now, you know what’s going wrong with you training, and this is the only solution.

The only solution to do high volume training

You must progress with volumes.

This is the step by step process: 

1. Pick a program 

• Pick a split (whatever the split is)
• Choose 2  – 3 exercises for each muscle group

2. Add 1 set every month to one of the exercises of a muscle group

So for example: 

Your back and triceps day looks like this:

• Pull ups
• Barbell rows
• Lat Pull down
• Triceps extension 
• Triceps pushdown

You start with only 1 set per exercise, then on the next you add 1 sets for only one of the exercise of a muscle group.

So, the next month, you’ll do 2 sets of pull ups, but rows and pulldown is still 1 set, and you do 2 sets of extension, but still you keep doing 1 set of pushdown.

You got my point.

And now in the next-next month, you add 1 set to another exercise, until every exercise has the same sets, then repeat. The thing is to add 1 set every month.

Conclusion

These all things can be summarize in 3 sentences.

1. Choose a program and stick to it.
2. Add 1 set every month to one of the exercises of a muscle group
3. Never rush the progress