I had more joint issues lifting high volume than I do now lifting low volume, high intensity. All that repetitive motion from doing 30-50 reps per 5 exercises? That's how people get carpal tunnel, right? Working with the same, constant repetitive motions, etc., over and over and over and over...fuck that noise! Now I do proper warmups, and one heavy ass 12-20 rep, rest-paused working set per one exercise, per body part. My 40 year old joints do much better with this type of training.
Oh, and today when I did my 16 rep (8-5-3) rest-paused set on bench, I did 5 lbs more than I did last time on that exercise. Could I have done 10 lbs and still hit my target rep range (not my 1RM, mind you)? Probably, but if I didn't and failed I'd probably go back 5 lbs on it the next time, so why skip that step? Now if I would have been able to hit like 24 RP reps last time, then I probably would have bumped it up by 10 lbs this time.