I want to do some high volume stuff and liked the updated GVT I found here where you use different exercise angles, such as incline, flat, and decline bench with one set of flies for the 10x10 on chest day.
However, I would like to take this and make it a little more back intensive and balanced than the original, like:
Day 1 - horizontal push
Day 2 - horizontal pull
Day 3 - legs and abs
Day 4 - vertical push
Day 5 - vertical pull
With 3-4 days off built in obviously.
Is dropping the single joint days for compound exercises going to kill my cns or is this viable?
I did it last summer with decent results doing a split like this:
Day 1- Horizontal push/horizontal pull supersets 10x10
Day 2- Squat 10x10, Leg Curl 10x10
Day 3- rest
Day 4- Vertical Push/vertical pull superets 10x10
Day 5- Biceps/triceps superets 10x10
I dont think working 5 days straight at a level of volume like you will be using in GVT will be very smart. When I did this, I was sleeping 10 hours a night and eating like a horse and I feel like, had I not been doing that, it would not have worked out for me very well. I did it with 1 exercise per body part like the original GVT rather than splitting it up the way CT does in his version.
thanks for the reply. glad to hear you survived a similar routine. The supersetting seems like a good idea.
I meant to say I will have 3-4 days built in between the days off, as schedule and fatigue dictate. doing 5 on then 4 off is not likely.
I would still keep the number of lifting days/week to 4, otherwise you are going to sacrifice training frequency even more. You are already only training a body part once every 7 days, you dont want to have it end up being 8 or 9.
What did was this:
Monday-
a1: DB Bench Press- 10x10
a2: BB Row- 10x10
Tuesday-
a1: Squat- 10x10
a2: Leg Curl- 10x10
Thursday-
a1: Shoulder Press- 10x10
a2: Pulldown- 10x10
Friday-
a1: Close Grip Bench- 10x10
a2: BB Curl- 10x10
I realize that Charles Poliquin isn’t the inventor of the 10X10, GVT, etc method. However, one has to admit that he is one of the most knowledgeable strength coaches out there today. I read another strength coach pointing out the flaws in the GVT program. (On a side note, I think this coach committed a grave disservice in an attempt to make a name for himself by trying to find faults with GVT). However, what that coach failed to mention was that Poliquin doesn’t recommend 52 consecutive weeks of using GVT. IMHO, 6 weeks of GVT as presented by Poliquin will not lead to any severe muscle imbalances.
Therefore, for what it is worth, the following is what Poliquin says about altering the GVT program:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=658759
Pseudo-improvements for GVT
A lot of people claim to have improved the German Volume Training, but failed miserably because they did not understand the physiology behind it.
I do not care to bore you with details, but let’s say that German Volume Training is the best apple pie recipe. One author might say you should use bananas instead of apples for an apple pie. And he would argue that the crust ruins it, and that it should instead be made into a loaf, or a mousse, or whatever.
Unfortunately, it is not apple pie anymore.
For example, performing 5 sets of 2 exercises done to failure does not equal the training effect of 10 sets of a single exercise using a load that causes fatigue on the later sets. The volume-intensity equations are completely different for the two different training systems