What is this topic called and does anyone know where I can find some simple information to understand how to plan this whether using an accumulation block, an intensification block, or a realization block?
Volume is the most individual thing there is when it comes to training.
How much volume can one require (minimum required volume), tolerate (maximum recoverable volume) and what is optimal not only varies from person to person, it will vary for an individual throughout his training history (it can even fluctuate in the short term).
Here are some intra-individual things that can influence what the ideal training volume is:
Age (past a certain age, it is harder to recover from training)
Sex (women tend to be able to tolerate more volume then men)
ACTN3 type (ACTN3 XX people take longer to repair muscle damage than ACTN3 RR people)
Anabolic hormone levels (those with higher testosterone, growth hormone and IGF-1 levels can recover more easily and rapidly from training)
Stress levels (the more stress you are under, even psychological stress, the lower the tolerable workload is)
Immune system function (the immune system drivers muscle repair, a weaker immune system means poorer recovery)
Experience level (the more experience you have training, the more adapted your body is and the more volume it can handle. HOWEVER at one point, if you dramatically increase strength, it can increase the time it takes to recover from your heavy workouts)
There are other life/individual factors that can have a major impact:
Nutritional status (you can recover from more physical work when you are in a caloric surplus vs. a deficit)
Sleep status (the amount and quality of sleep affects how fast you can recover from training)
Level of physical activity (someone who works construction will not be able to tolerate the same volume as a store clerk)
And there are other training variables that affect how much volume you can do.
Intensiveness of your sets (the harder you push each work set, the harder it is to recover from them and the less volume you can do)
Type of exercises (its harder to recover from big compound lifts than isolation work, the amount of each affects how much volume you can do)
Training frequency (the more often you train and the less days off you have, the less daily volume you can do)
Exercise novelty (it’s easier to recover from exercises you have been doing a long time than from new ones, especially if they are complex)
Intensity/load (doing work above 90% of your max is harder to recover from than lighter work)
And there are other factors involved.
That’s why you can have two effective training systems that recommend dramatically different training volumes.
I know that this answer will probably frustrates you because it makes it seem like mastering the proper volume periodization is a lost cause. It’s not. Because you don’t have the burden of being at the optimal volume at every session for the training to “work”. The appropriate volume zone is normally fairly wide for an individual (there are extreme examples who absolutely need to keep volume minimal).
Normally 3-4 work sets of 4-6 total exercises per workout is recoverable by most (if they train around 4x per week). To that, you can have short periods of higher volume followed by a week of lowered volume.
Some recommendations I can make:
When you increase volume for 1-2 weeks, follow by a week of lowered volume (the more volume you added, the lower your go on the low volume week)
When you start a new training block, especially if it uses a lot of new exercises or methods, use a lower volume than usual
The harder you push your sets, the less total sets you should do in a workout
When you use an intensification method on an exercise (rest/pause, drop set, cluster, etc.) do less sets per exercise than you normally would
It is very effective to alternate periods of high volume/lower intensiveness with periods of lower volume/higher intensiveness. This can be from block to block or within a block.
Adapt volume depending on sleep, nutrition and feeling. The athletes I train must send me three numbers daily: 1) their body weight, 2) how good they feel on a scale of 10, 3) the perceived quality of their workout on a scale of 10. If no.2 drops down, we will lower volume same if their body weight drops down when they are not trying to lose weight. I actually find body weight to be a good measure of trainability when an athlete is not trying to lose fat. If someone is eating enough to maintain or gain body weight, and it suddenly goes down a few pounds, it often indicates under-recovery.
This is exactly what I was looking for and incredibly helpful.
To point number 7: It is very effective to alternate periods of high volume/lower intensiveness with periods of lower volume/higher intensiveness. This can be from block to block or within a block.
In regards to alternating within a block.
If using an Acc 1/ Int1/ Acc2/ Int2 layout, like the new Neurotype 2A program, would you alternate the volume/intensity within a block differently depending on if you were in an accumulation or intensification block?
Example: if in an accumulation block, the goal is to build volume, maybe something like—
Accumulation
Week one: 3 work sets
Week two: 4 work sets
Week three: 5 work sets
Week four: 2 work sets (deload on volume so there is some recovery before beginning the upcoming intensification phase)
Now, the goal of intensification will be to build intensity and by nature, even if equal to the same number of sets as the Acc. phase, the volume will be lower because the reps are lower. Could you do something like?
Intensification
Week 1: 4 sets
Week 2: 5 sets
Week 3: 2 sets (deload)
Week 4: 3 sets (heaviest week and because you’re coming off of the deload, you can realize the highest intensities of the phase)
At its base, I guess my question is, how would you periodization within the block differently if you were in an accumulation block or an intensification block?