Load and Volume Calculations

I like to calculate total volume by mulitplying reps by weight.

i would like to bring in a variable so that the calculations more accurately reflect the intensity and degree of stress on the body.

for example i was thinking something like this

5 sets of 5 reps deadlifts at 100kg

5(5*100) = 2500

but something like single leg, leg press for three sets would be

3(1050) = 1500
1500
2= 3000 (becuase both legs are trained)

but leg presses are way easier even at high inensity than deadlifts soo…

the question i have is how can i get my numbers to more accuatly reflect total stress? i was thinking of using a mulitple or somehting depending on the difficulty of the exercise

i.e

Deadlifts again

5(5*100) = 2500
2500 * 1.5 = 3750

any ideas?

i was also thinking of using percentage of 1RM as the multiple.

i/e

1000kg worth of deadlifts at 90% 1RM would be
1000 * .9 = 900

this would differentiate between numbers that are at a higher “intensity” than those that are not.

any thoughts people? i’m not really sure on if it is possible to get a number to reflect what i would like but i thought i would give it a go.

if anyone has any other way they calcualte their load/volume/intensity then feel free to post it.

Only done it rarely and usually only for the big lifts (SQ, BP, DL ) but I have done it for all my lifts in a session / cycle.
Conclusion its a waste of time and a distraction from lifting. (SQ, BP & DL were interesting around a competition.)

Forget trying to add in arbitrary ‘factors’
Volume is reps x weight for each set added together.
Intensity is %age of the 1RM for that exercise. If the exercise doesn’t lend itself to 1RM evaluation, don’t bother trying to calculate intensity.

You might be interested in working out volume above, say, 85% intensity and maybe average load (weight) used in ‘work sets’ i.e. above 85%.

Remember, don’t get lost up your own arse!

Try Prelipins table

Better bet would be count reps in % bands.

I have just read Boffin post and its spot on!

[quote]milimber wrote:
I like to calculate total volume by mulitplying reps by weight.

i would like to bring in a variable so that the calculations more accurately reflect the intensity and degree of stress on the body.

for example i was thinking something like this

5 sets of 5 reps deadlifts at 100kg

5(5*100) = 2500

but something like single leg, leg press for three sets would be

3(1050) = 1500
1500
2= 3000 (becuase both legs are trained)

but leg presses are way easier even at high inensity than deadlifts soo…

the question i have is how can i get my numbers to more accuatly reflect total stress? i was thinking of using a mulitple or somehting depending on the difficulty of the exercise

i.e

Deadlifts again

5(5*100) = 2500
2500 * 1.5 = 3750

any ideas?

i was also thinking of using percentage of 1RM as the multiple.

i/e

1000kg worth of deadlifts at 90% 1RM would be
1000 * .9 = 900

this would differentiate between numbers that are at a higher “intensity” than those that are not.

any thoughts people? i’m not really sure on if it is possible to get a number to reflect what i would like but i thought i would give it a go.

if anyone has any other way they calcualte their load/volume/intensity then feel free to post it.

[/quote]

huh, if you start calculations like that, you wont have any time to train… and even worse… you wont progress, cause your head is gonna be lost in all those calculations…

normally total/average volume/intensity is calculated only for big main lifts…

everything else is put under assistance WORK… look at boris sheiko’s workout… example…

bench workout may be 5x50, 4x60, 2x3x70, 3x3x80, 2x2x85 or whatever? he will do all calculations… and put them in a chart…

but after that his programs call for 5x10 od lets say some chest isolation work and the same for triceps work… in his charts he’ll only put these as assistance lifts, 10 sets (5 sets for tris, 5 for pecks)…

now I dont excatly remmember how sheiko puts it, and I’m too lazy to get my ass of this chair to look in his book, but this is retty much that… main lifts are calculated everything else is assistance work…

first, I dont know why would you need that for assistance exercises, they’re just there to assist…

main ones are the lifts you need to improve…

if you use that stress coefficients like you said, and lets say give 1 to deadlift, 0.6 for leg press and calculate stress only by multiplying…

i dont think that can be accurate… first many muscles are involved, with different capabilities…

your body is changing, so what you do once, wont matter in few weeks, some muscles will develop different qualities than others, depending on the way you train…

so at the end… I mean if you look at it by stressing the muscle you cause stress, and thats it…

numbers means shit… because 7x3x200kg is 4200kg, so you have some stress coefficient… and you’ve been doing this routine for 3 months (ie. doing triples)… after 3 months I dont think triples will cause any major stress…

I can bet that if I get you under the bar and make you do 20x160kg, which is 3200kg your body is going to be under more stress than with those 4200kg, exercise is still the same, so it coefficient for multiplying, number is totally different as well as stress…

you can clearly see than numbers dont really matter for stress… but again if you do those 20 rep sets, after 6-7 weeks there would be minimum stress cause you’re getting used do it… but then a maximum single at lets say 250kg will get you pretty “stressed up” after a high-rep routine… and the number is even lower…

see my point?

just calculate volume/intensity for the main lifts, so you can use it as a method for progression… as far as stress, you cant really know that…

if you come up with something and it works, let us know :)…

gavra

An article on using Prelipin’s:

http://ambesc.com/lifting/prelipins.pdf

i dont think prilepin is what he wanted… he wanted to have stress coefficient for different exercises… so he can know under how big stress his body was…

well, explained well in the article, but I still dont understand, if you already have a need to really do calculations like that, like which is harder 5x2 or 2x5… then do whole job…

I think it depends on rest periods… if you do 5x2 in 10 minutes, and 2x5 in 15 minutes, which you think is going to recruit more muscle?

he overcalculated himself there… if it says 15 lifts is optimal for 80-89% what a fucking is wrong with that… do 15 lifts between 80-89%… you can do it 5x80, 4x82, 3x85, 2x87, 1x89 or whatever…

important thing is to train between 80-89% and to get 15 reps, you wont feel the same every day, so you cant do the same workout every time… but as long as you’re between 80-89 and getting 15 lifts you’re OK as far as table is concerned…

thats the way the table is written, so interpret it in the simple way possible… maybe you cant do 15 reps with 89% every workout, but as long as youre i between the target wone, you’re doing OK…

gavra