German Volume Training

[future]

I use this for various reasons. Either to unload the joints from the heavy pounding of low reps, or to get some fast growth. Works for both. I only use ONE lift when doing the 10 x 10 version and it looks something like this most often:

Monday

Dumbbell Bench Press 10 x 10
Chin-up 10 x 10

Wednesday

Squats 10 x 10
Calf 5 x 10

Friday

Dips 10 x 10
Incline Dumbbell Curls 10 x 10

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Why does GVT work for some people?

Joe BB'er can squat 350 x 5, that equals 1750 lbs of tonnage. if he does a static weight 5 x 5 he will likely be using about 335 for his sets. 335 x 5, x 5 sets =8375. LOTS of tonnage.

Depending on muscle fiber composistion he can likely do about 280 x 20 if pushed, the 20 rep weight would be his starting point for his 10 rep sets. 280 x 10 equals 2800 lbs of tonnage. If he can get his 10 x 10 with this weight his tonnage for the workout is 28,000 lbs!

Thats why people that aren't overtrained into the ground grow fast on 10 x 10's.

I just had 2 advanced lifters this week tell me they have gained 4-6 lbs in 4 weeks of 10 x 10. For those that are "recovery challenged" all it does is beat them into the ground, but it is still a good switch-up routine to insert from time to time for many lifters.

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It works for about 4 weeks, and for those it works for they get stronger on it each week. It is mainly for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy while in the 10 x 10 phase (the 10 x 5's build much more contractile protein) but some contractile protein is built. Transfer to lower reps is very individualistic. Like most people sets of 10 don't help their 1rm much, for others it helps. I had a guy I used to train recently contact me that ran 10 x 10 for 4 weeks and decided to see how much strength he lost on his 1rm's To his suprise he hit PR's on squats, benches and deads. This is not something I woud count on though.

Hypertrophy work is a very different animal than strengh work. But until you are already quite strong, strength work IS hypertrophy work. Once you have a base built, then you can and probably should start playing with hypertrophy work if more size is your goal.

 

[future]

Personally, I think ironaddict's version would work the best without overtraining someone. That being said, there are a lot of other different spins on the original GVT program that address the two biggest downfalls:

1. Overuse issues concerning joints.

2. High level of boredom.

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GVT 2000

Source

Overview:

In essence, I kept the purity of the program intact. It still has the theoretical goal of doing 10 sets of 10, but with some major differences.

The program still requires you to use the same weight for all the sets, but instead of doing just one exercise for 10 sets, we're going to be doing 4 different exercises so that we use slightly different joint angles and work the muscle, hopefully, in as many ways as possible.

Here's an example of a chest workout:

Incline Bench Press? 3 sets of 10
Decline Bench Press? 3 sets of 10
Bench Press? 3 sets of 10
Dumbbell Flies? 1 set of 10

What I've done is put the "weakest" position first, and the strongest position third. Then, since pressing movements aren't, by the strictest definition, pure chest movements, I've thrown in another movement that works the chest in a way that duplicates one of the physiological functions of the chest, which is to adduct the arms (the dumbbell flies). True, it's by no means a completely balanced program ? affording equal "work" to all muscle groups ? but it at least comes close, and it's certainly more balanced than the original program.

The Poliquin version of the original program stressed a certain tempo, and I'd like to preserve those tempos. Trouble is, almost no one I ever see train pays attention to these tempos, which is a pity because it's the difference between a moderately successful program and an incredibly successful program.

I urge you to use a 402 *tempo on the movements for the larger muscles (legs, chest, back) and a 302 tempo on the movements for the smaller muscles (shoulders, biceps, triceps).

I also urge a rest period of between 60 and 90 seconds, and I urge a frequency of no more than one training session per body part every five or six days.

Here's a brief synopsis of the more important points of the GVT 2000 program:

- Ten sets of ten, albeit using 4 exercises that stress the muscles from different angles

- The weight you use for the first 9 sets stays the same.

- When you can actually do 10 sets of 10, it's time to add more weight.

- Rest 60 to 90 seconds between sets.

- Pay strict attention to tempo, using 402 for chest, back, and leg movements; and 302 for shoulder, bicep, and tricep movement.


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OVT: Optimized Volume Training

Source

Overview

For OVT, I kept the basic premise of doing 100 total reps per muscle group. This is a time-proven approach. However, the distribution of those reps is vastly different from the original GVT program.

First difference: Every set is in fact a superset of two exercises working the same muscle group. The first exercise in the superset is a big compound movement (e.g. bench press, squat, deadlift, row, even clean or snatch) and it's done for five reps using as much weight as possible. The second exercise in the superset is an isolation movement for the main muscle being worked in the first exercise. This second exercise is also done for five reps, but with a small load and a very slow tempo.

Second difference: While in GVT all ten sets were of the same exercise, we'll employ two different supersets per muscle, each superset being performed five times (50 total reps per superset). This will allow us to use four different exercises for a muscle group, which should take care of boredom and imbalances.

Third difference: In the original program, the prescribed rest interval is sixty seconds. Since we want to be able to lift a bit more weight we're going to take 120 seconds in OVT, but there's no rest between exercises in the same superset.

Fourth difference: Rather than perform all sets with the same weight, as is the case with GVT, you do use as much weight as possible and adjust the load after each set (plus or minus 5 to 10 pounds, depending on the ease/difficulty of the preceding set).

 

[future]

Simple and effective:

Monday

Dumbbell Bench Press 10 x 10
Chin-up 10 x 10

Wednesday

Squats 10 x 10
Calf 5 x 10

Friday

Dips 10 x 10
Incline Dumbbell Curls 10 x 10

 

[the_alcatraz]

Holy Repost Batman!