Volume at Different Intensities?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

Ive been wondering this lately, as im thinking of switching to an even higher frequency plan, and thus instead of workout volume, i may need to use weekly volume as a monitoring device.

Im not sure if these are rules, but i have heard this in the past.

  1. For strength - 80%+ of (1rm)workout volume of ~10-20rep

  2. For size - 65-85% of 1rm workout volume of ~25-50+ rep

Now these factors will vary based on the individual, and the exercise/body parts involved, but should be close enough for estimates.

Ive been reading in “Science and practice…” about the training intensity used by USSR olympic team for snatch and clean and jerk. According to the book, the most common training intensity is around 75% of training maximum. Im guessing that this is less due to the technical nature of these lifts, but I feel I’ll want to spend most of my training in the 75-90% of 1rm range.

Now back to volume.

So say im training at around 90%, i might do 10 singles normally. That would be a workout volume of 10 reps. I could probably handle this type of workout 2-3 times a week tops, thus i might say my weekly volume @ 90% would be 20-30 reps.

At a training intensity of 80%, i might be able to do 6-10 sets of 3. I could maybe handle this 2-3 times a week as well. That would be approximately 50-75 reps weekly.

90% ~ 20-30 reps weekly
80% ~ 50-75 reps weekly

Those are definately estimates at best, but should be accurate enough for my purposes. Now if i were to work out with a higher frequency, each muscle up to 5 times a week, I might possibly keep the weekly volume the same, and divide it throughout the week.

@ 90% 4-6 reps per workout
@ 80% 10-13 reps per workout

I would probably use both of these rep ranges, so possibly train twice a week at 90% and three times a week at 80%. I think then its possible that I would be able to do a slightly higher workout volume.

What do you guys think? 4-6 reps seems pretty low for a workout, even at 90%. Any advice?

2

I am no expert. For all I know, you out-lift me by a ton. I’ll tell you want I’ve noticed…

I used to follow Westside and 90%+ was not done in high volume. You work up to it, hit 90%, whatever you can do for a single, move on. Low Volume. Works for some…

I moved over to a cycle where I would do 5x5 one week, 4x4 the next, 3x3, etc. I found this process VERY BAD for doing higher volume at 80%.

Sheiko, so far, for me has worked very well, forcing me to always do 15 reps at 80%+

Olympic lifting is a lot different from a strengh sport in that its much more speed/technique oriented. You can basically train oly lifts very heavy constantly due to the type of lifting it is. Not training heavy w/ oly lifting wouldn’t benefit anyone.

Powerlifting / heavy lifting, at least for me, helps in terms of triples and doubles, not singles.

Are you talking about oly lifting since you’re doing 5 lifting days? If so, ignore the powerlifting stuff I mentioned. Heck, ignore everything if thats the case. I’m thinking in terms of powerlifting.

Please specify what specific sport you’re addressing.

3

Im not training for a specific sport. I do both olympic lifts and powerlifting type lifts.

I think I answered my own question by reading more of Science and practice of strength and conditioning and the articles on the westside site.

Im gonna spend the majority of my time around 75%, but will have ME days, and DE days.

Im no expert on oly lifting but I would think 1-3 reps with 75% would be a good load to practice form, and build speed at the same time.