My question: If you switch from a high volume routine (12-15 or more sets per muscle, once a week) to a low volume routine (4 sets per muscle with statics, RP, etc.) must you also increase the frequency with which you hit each muscle?
In other words, does it take longer to recover from lots of submaximal sets than it does a few high intensity sets? If so, would hitting a muscle with four intense sets just once a week be considered “undertraining?”
High intensity (low reps) at the same frequency sure kicks my ass harder than high reps
Not necessarily. It depends on how intense your training and how many sets your taking to failure, if any. Intensity, volume and frequency are all inversely related. So its possible to drop the volume and raise the intensity, and not have to change the frequency.
It also depends what your trying to accomplish. IMO higher intensity lower volume work is done better with TBT. But this would basically be an even further drop in volume, with an increase in frequency.
[quote]mwyatt wrote:
My question: If you switch from a high volume routine (12-15 or more sets per muscle, once a week) to a low volume routine (4 sets per muscle with statics, RP, etc.) must you also increase the frequency with which you hit each muscle?
[/quote]
No. Some systems like Mentzer’s “Heavy Duty” are all about high intensity low volume low frequency. Now, I personally haven’t used HD, so I can’t say that it works.
But like Dankid said, it depends on the relationship between how many (work) sets you are doing, how far beyond failure you are taking them and how long your body needs to recover.
There are different viewpoints on this subject. Some like Waterbury feel that you can do submaximal sets and still train frequently (since they won’t tax your CNS as much as maximal/to failure and beyond sets will). They might argue that you could recover from high(er) sets of submaximal sets than from low(er) sets of maximal reps.
Others feel that you can recover faster from lower volume, high intensity work than you can from higher volume, low(er) intensity work. Though in these cases generally they aren’t talking about stopping the set a rep or two short of failure on the low(er) intensity sets like CW does.
Unfortunately there are different definitions of “intensity” and depending on which one you are using the answer will change. Intensity could mean % of 1RM; it could mean in relation to muscular failure/fatigue; it could mean amount of work done in a certain period of time; etc…
So you’ve gotta be a little more specific when you say “submaximal” vs “maximal”.
Even better would be doing low volume, with sets being taken just short of failure. Do 4-5 sets per muscle three times per week. It is what ives me the best results. As you are doing high volume training right now this kind of training will really give you results. Going from high volume low frequency to low volume high frequency will certainly make you progress, until your body adapts to this kind of training of course.
Programs should always be designed in the stimulation/restoration rate