need help in switching to higher volume training

[exlax]

aight guys, i've been doin high intensity training for a while now, bout a couple years. Most body parts are 3-4 sets and 4-6 reps.

Things have slowed down for a while now so I'm trying to increase volume to change things up. However, maintaining intensity is so instictive to me im maintaining it even with the higher volume training. The result has been i'm COMPLETELY worn out after about 30 minutes on whatever bodypart i'm workin out.

it seems even though i'm going down on weights, it still hasn't allowed me to increase the amount of reps I can do. It's weird, I guess my muscles have just been trained to give it all in short bursts.

Here is an example of my back workout today.

Deadlifts, 3x8 2x6

4 sets of the following
Reverse grip shoulder width lat pull down - 8 reps, heavy weight supersetted with wide grip lat pull down - 10-12 reps, light weight

after that, I was COMPLETELY worn out, I did do a couple more exercises like t-bar rows and cable rows but even with low weight I was just too exhausted to do anything worth while.

Any help is appreciated, thanks guys!

 

[exlax]

bump

 

[Madcow2]

A lot of factors go into this.

First thing, when expanding work capacity (i.e. volume or workload), it has to be done systematically over time. If you are used to doing X each week, your body simply won't tolerate starting a program that has you doing 2X a week.

Incidentally - volume, frequency, and intensity are parameters of a program. Intensity is not defined as a preceived effort (a la "dude that was intense") but as a quantitative measure of the weight being used relative to 1RM. So 3 sets of 10 with 60% is 30 reps at 60% of a 1RM with that particular exercise - these combine to calculate workload/tonage which can be tracked over time.

Second, for anyone but a novice, it's not enough just to go in and work hard and hope that you come back stronger/bigger and keep the weights moving up linearly workout to workout or even week to week after a while. You need a plan for progression and this plan should account for your tolerance to workload. In addition this plan will need to change over time as you become acclimated to training stimulus. In other words, your weights will increase and your workload will be expanded over time. A beginner might be able to set up a program where they break through records 2-3x per week. Later on it might be 1x per week. Further out programs are set up with some form of periodization to drive progression over 4 and 8 week periods.

What I'd really suggest you do is head to my webpage and read through a lot of the training theory articles and topics that are linked there (they link back to here). I have several marked as "essential" reading with a bunch of ****asterix**** around them but they are all important - if you have a real interest in learning and understanding you will be like a kid in a candy store. There's a lot of info there and I think that if you spend some sincere time reading it (a lot of links are very quick reads), you are going to come away with a ton of knowledge and a whole new understanding of training.

http://www.geocities.com/elitemadcow1/table_of_contents_thread.htm

 

[TheOak84]

id say keep high and low reps... i do... ill do ex. flat bench 3x5, incline db 3x8, dips/db fly 2-3x15

the evercises change, but the reps stay the same, except for the first exercise which i switch between 3x3-3x5-5x5-5x3

i can still gain strenght, while working on endurance

 

[perp69]

I found that when I switch from low volume to high the first week is exhausting (fatigued,light headed, almost vomit) , especially deadlift day. After that I have no problem but I do thank god when my deload week gets here because I will be worn out!!!