More volume when on cycle

[JoePaul39]

I am running a program that Is heavy in volume. For example, on shoulder/biceps/triceps day it has one do like 70 sets (though many of these are supersets so it doesn’t take as long) with reps in the 6 to 12 range. Last time it took me a full hour and 40 minutes to complete and I took 45 second breaks between sets. I know If natty this would be overtraining due to the duration of time and volume, however roids are supposed to enable one to increase volume so do you think this routine would still be ok ? It was designed by the Terrminator Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I was thinking of cutting my rest breaks from 45 seconds to 30 seconds between non supersets, but thought this might be too short as I am not looking to cut.I should note I am not very fatigued after the workout and do get plenty of sleep and have a sedentary job and eat right which helps for recovery.

 

[BMW4Life]

Intensity >> Volume

 

[BMW4Life]

I've grown a lot more for eg. Working my ticeps twice a week (UL split) so on heavy days it's 3×5 cgb with 315 and on the second upper day it's 3x12 skull crushers. It has done more for me than any of those high volume workouts.

To each their own obviously, and everyone gas different genetica, but yeah.

 

[JoePaul39]

Intensity in program is high too as it involves supersets till muscle failure.

 

[JoePaul39]

Here is the program https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/docs/2014/arnoldblueprint_mass_phaseone_v1.pdf
The volume isn’t too big in week one but progressively gets more each week. I was splitting the workouts to twice a day in the gym to keep each workout under 60 minutes with six hour to 8 hour breaks between sessions, but going to the gym to lift twice a day got old so now I just combine it into one. If I wasn’t on cycle I wouldn’t even attempt such a program but it is a proven fact steroids enable you to do more volume.

 

[BBiceps]

Well, it’s great that you think you can’t “overtraining” on roids but to honest, if you’re not “very fatigued” after that long session you’re not going heavy enough. If you going heavy enough you can be “very fatigued” in less than half that time.

 

[Mathb33]

Intensity in program is high too as it involves supersets till muscle failure.

Intensity means maximum effort aka doing too sets nearly as 80-85% of your max. It’s litterally impossible to do high intensity and high volume. It’s one or the other. I do high intensity and after 6 to 8 sets per muscle I am crushed and need to nap. You can’t do 15-20-25 sets with intensity. Physically impossible! Volume can work for certain people tho I am not disputing that

 

[JoePaul39]

Ok taking intensity out of the picture do you think that is too much volume?

 

[JoePaul39]

Intensity means maximum effort aka doing too sets nearly as 80-85% of your max. It’s litterally impossible to do high intensity and high volume. It’s one or the other. I do high intensity and after 6 to 8 sets per muscle I am crushed and need to nap. You can’t do 15-20-25 sets with intensity. Physically impossible! Volume can work for certain people tho I am not disputing that

Ya definitely not doing 80 to 85 percent max on each set. Training till failure but have to lower the weight after a couple sets to do the same amount of reps. Guess I misdefined intensity as “training on a set till muscle failure” not by total of 1 rep max load per set.

 

[Mathb33]

Ok taking intensity out of the picture do you think that is too much volume?

I think what’s commonly known as training high volume is generally 16-20 sets per muscle. Maybe you could do a little more but 70 sets seems absolutely crazy to me. That’s like 3 hours of working out if you take a min break between each set… just my opinion tho!

 

[JoePaul39]

I think what’s commonly known as training high volume is generally 16-20 sets per muscle. Maybe you could do a little more but 70 sets seems absolutely crazy to me. That’s like 3 hours of working out if you take a min break between each set… just my opinion tho!

That’s kinda what I thought the first time I attempted the routine and saw how long it took lol! They say don’t go like much over 60 minutes in the gym and I take 45 second breaks between sets and even with supersets involved to shorten time it takes upward depending on the body part from an hour and 20 minutes to an hour and 45 minutes. Granted the 70 sets total was for arms (including biceps, triceps, forearms), shoulders, and abs, but still you would think something like 50 sets would suffice total for all those. Maybe I will stay on the program since I am seeing results but chop off some of the sets. I don’t know.

 

[JoePaul39]

What do you guys think of either shortening rest periods from 45 seconds to 30 seconds to reduce total workout time or instead splitting the workouts into two with 8 hour breaks in between? Third option is just to eliminate some of the isolation lifts thereby still doing the same amount of compound volume or the simplest alternative is just cut a few sets from each lift, Thoughts?

 

[Jeremyk1]

I remember reading about Serge Nubret working out for like 6 hours a day. He would just do very light weight, not go to failure, and very strict reps getting a good pump. On the other hand, I saw something once about Mike Mentzer doing a single set, saying that the first few reps were the warmup and then push beyond failure with rest pause sets or have a training partner assist the positive portion of the rep. I think he later changed that and started including more warm ups. But it just goes to show how far people can go in either direction and still get fantastic results. To me, it’s silly to ask if something is “too much volume” just because it depends on you, how you’re training, and hundreds of other considerations. If it’s working, great, if not, maybe try something else. For a long time I did workouts very similar to how Arnold laid them out in his Encyclopedia for Modern Bodybuilding with super high volume. I also read about high intensity training and Mike Mentzer, Dorian Yates, and Arthur Jones, and did very heavy weights with very few sets, pushing to failure and beyond. Personally, both brought results, and now I’ve ended up somewhere in between. At the end of the day, you need to see how it works for yourself.

 

[Nac]

I suspect there is going to be alot of junk volume in a program like that. Generally speaking, most guys will find their "effective" volume somewhere in the range of 10-20 sets per bodypart per week.

Another problem I'd say a program like that Blueprint has is volume generally should be periodised. Like running high doses of gear, high volume is just not sustainable for periods of time. Unless of course you are Mythical Arnold, who eats dbol by the handful and has the luxury of being able to spend most of his day at the gym.

 

[Smont]

My opinion here, your more likely to overtrain on steroids then you are natural.

When your on gear you have the ability to train more and harder, but that's also the problem. In a short period of time your strength and muscular endurance goes up quicker then your body had ever seen and you're cranking out more weight for more reps and more sets and therefore you're going to be more likely to overtrain because it is so much more than you're used to.

With that being said, overtraining. Is very unlikely to happen for the large majority of people, in the simple fact of the matter is the large majority of us lack the mental willpower to push ourselves hard enough to actually overtrain. Not many of us are ever truly hitting failure. When we think we've got one or two left in the tank you've probably got five or six.

 

[Smont]

I remember reading about Serge Nubret working out for like 6 hours a day. He would just do very light weight, not go to failure, and very strict reps getting a good pump. On the other hand, I saw something once about Mike Mentzer doing a single set, saying that the first few reps were the warmup and then push beyond failure with rest pause sets or have a training partner assist the positive portion of the rep. I think he later changed that and started including more warm ups. But it just goes to show how far people can go in either direction and still get fantastic results. To me, it’s silly to ask if something is “too much volume” just because it depends on you, how you’re training, and hundreds of other considerations. If it’s working, great, if not, maybe try something else. For a long time I did workouts very similar to how Arnold laid them out in his Encyclopedia for Modern Bodybuilding with super high volume. I also read about high intensity training and Mike Mentzer, Dorian Yates, and Arthur Jones, and did very heavy weights with very few sets, pushing to failure and beyond. Personally, both brought results, and now I’ve ended up somewhere in between. At the end of the day, you need to see how it works for yourself.

The reason surge had to train so much is because his weights were too light. It literally took him all those sets to do enough damage to grow. Ain't nobody got time for that lol

 

[Smont]

I remember the late great mountain dog John Meadows talked about why really light weights to grow is a bad idea. If you can curl a barbell with 100 lbs 12 times to hit failure or close to failure. Then using a super light weight like 30lbs can still work, but you probably won't reach failure because your going to run out of endurance before the muscle hits failure. If you can curl 100 for 12 you can probably curl 30 for like 60 to 70 reps. But you probably won't make it that high before your endurance runs out

 

[Smont]

I am running a program that Is heavy in volume. For example, on shoulder/biceps/triceps day it has one do like 70 sets (though many of these are supersets so it doesn’t take as long) with reps in the 6 to 12 range. Last time it took me a full hour and 40 minutes to complete and I took 45 second breaks between sets. I know If natty this would be overtraining due to the duration of time and volume, however roids are supposed to enable one to increase volume so do you think this routine would still be ok ? It was designed by the Terrminator Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I was thinking of cutting my rest breaks from 45 seconds to 30 seconds between non supersets, but thought this might be too short as I am not looking to cut.I should note I am not very fatigued after the workout and do get plenty of sleep and have a sedentary job and eat right which helps for recovery.

I'm looking at that program and I can't help but feel like not only did Arnold "not" make that, but whoever did tried to throw in a bunch of random rep schemes and try to make it look special lol.

If I were you I would follow the basic outline, swap exercises out if needed and trade some volume for intensity if you feel like it's too much volume. At the end of the day the only thing that matters is you reach some form of progressive overload, you did an extra set or an extra rep or added 5 lb to the bar. If you do one of those every workout, and your diet matches your goals you're going to be fine

 

[BBiceps]

First of all, what’s your goal? Do you want to build muscle, strength or lose fat? Figure that out and then you have your answer if you should do more volume.

 

[JoePaul39]

First of all, what’s your goal? Do you want to build muscle, strength or lose fat? Figure that out and then you have your answer if you should do more volume.

Gain muscle while minimizing fat. As others have said that can be done with volume or less sets and more intensity. My only concern about the program is you always here “don’t stay in the gym much more than 60 minutes because beyond that will probably be wasting any time above that with fruitless effort and risk overtraining”, but I don’t have any symptoms of overtraining and am getting results so I’m just going to continue the program till the cycle is over in 5 weeks.

 

[BMW4Life]

Honestly, why not get the best of both? I use a PHUL (Power Hypertrophy Upper Lower) split. Two days a week (Monday and Tuesday) are my strength days, these days focus solely on intensity. No reps over 5/8 depending on the exercise, 5 exercises (CGB, Deadlift, Squats etc). Wednesday rest/only LI cardio. Thursday and Friday is focused on volume, more machine/cable work, 10-15 reps etc.

 

[BMW4Life]

When bulking I apply the same principles as above, but on a PPL, so the first round PPL is strength/intensity focused, second round is hypertrophy/volume focused.

 

[KvanH]

My opinion here, your more likely to overtrain on steroids then you are natural.

When your on gear you have the ability to train more and harder, but that's also the problem. In a short period of time your strength and muscular endurance goes up quicker then your body had ever seen and you're cranking out more weight for more reps and more sets and therefore you're going to be more likely to overtrain because it is so much more than you're used to.

With that being said, overtraining. Is very unlikely to happen for the large majority of people, in the simple fact of the matter is the large majority of us lack the mental willpower to push ourselves hard enough to actually overtrain. Not many of us are ever truly hitting failure. When we think we've got one or two left in the tank you've probably got five or six.

I agree with the more likely to be overtraining on gear. The term overtraining is not the best though in this regard. Maybe a term under recovering is more suitable, or something

I do find your assesment of ability to hit failure a bit odd though. In some certain excercises it absolutely is tough to hit true failure. Like leg press, I could probably get multiple reps, after the reps where I start to feel like dying, if someone 'forced' me to. And doing squat to failure would be very difficult for sets of more than 5 reps or something. In deadlift it's tough, but when form starts to go out the window, wouldn't that be considered hitting failure? In most of the other excercises, I think it's very easy to hit failure. When the spotter has to lift the bar on bench press, cause' you can't complete the rep, that's failure right? Or when you can't complete a bicep curl, without arching your back, it's failure right? And so on.

Am I thinking it differrently?

 

[KvanH]

Honestly, why not get the best of both? I use a PHUL (Power Hypertrophy Upper Lower) split. Two days a week (Monday and Tuesday) are my strength days, these days focus solely on intensity. No reps over 5/8 depending on the exercise, 5 exercises (CGB, Deadlift, Squats etc). Wednesday rest/only LI cardio. Thursday and Friday is focused on volume, more machine/cable work, 10-15 reps etc.

Sounds quite like the PHAT by Layne Norton. I'm doing a form of it now.

 

[Smont]

I agree with the more likely to be overtraining on gear. The term overtraining is not the best though in this regard. Maybe a term under recovering is more suitable, or something

I do find your assesment of ability to hit failure a bit odd though. In some certain excercises it absolutely is tough to hit true failure. Like leg press, I could probably get multiple reps, after the reps where I start to feel like dying, if someone 'forced' me to. And doing squat to failure would be very difficult for sets of more than 5 reps or something. In deadlift it's tough, but when form starts to go out the window, wouldn't that be considered hitting failure? In most of the other excercises, I think it's very easy to hit failure. When the spotter has to lift the bar on bench press, cause' you can't complete the rep, that's failure right? Or when you can't complete a bicep curl, without arching your back, it's failure right? And so on.

Am I thinking it differrently?

I guarantee that when you think you can't complete another rep, if someone put a gun to your head and said keep going you could probably do 5 more. Yes I know that scenario is extreme, but my point is people think they can't do another rep when they absolutely can. They are not even close to failure when they give up because they think they can't get another rep. This is especially true if you train alone. I train alone 90% of the time. And on any day I have a spotter or someone working out with me I can magically do 3-4 reps more on most lifts that day. The large majority of ppl including myself do not have the ability to reach failure. Your mind is telling you it's time to stop but your muscles have way more in the tank

 

[Jeremyk1]

Gain muscle while minimizing fat. As others have said that can be done with volume or less sets and more intensity. My only concern about the program is you always here “don’t stay in the gym much more than 60 minutes because beyond that will probably be wasting any time above that with fruitless effort and risk overtraining”, but I don’t have any symptoms of overtraining and am getting results so I’m just going to continue the program till the cycle is over in 5 weeks.

I know one reason a lot of people say “don’t go over x amount of time in the gym” is just because of cortisol increases. To me, it’s silly, exercise prevents cortisol from catabolizing muscle. I’ve also seen people say that if you can keep training that long, you aren’t training hard enough. That’s going to be too individual dependent though. And even still, Dorian Yates, who was known for his short, super intense workouts, would have around 45 minute gym sessions. It’s really just not a big deal. If you enjoy your program or get results or whatever, go for it. Some people still seem to have a “everything is overtraining” mentality.

 

[KvanH]

I guarantee that when you think you can't complete another rep, if someone put a gun to your head and said keep going you could probably do 5 more. Yes I know that scenario is extreme, but my point is people think they can't do another rep when they absolutely can. They are not even close to failure when they give up because they think they can't get another rep. This is especially true if you train alone. I train alone 90% of the time. And on any day I have a spotter or someone working out with me I can magically do 3-4 reps more on most lifts that day. The large majority of ppl including myself do not have the ability to reach failure. Your mind is telling you it's time to stop but your muscles have way more in the tank

Don't mean to drag this topic too much, but I feel like replying at least once more. When doing some kind of excercise where you don't get crushed under the weights or hurt yourself, if you fail to lift it, I can't see how I could do one more rep, when I'm trying my hardest, but can't complete the rep. Just can't get the weight from A to B. Or when the spotter has to step in, when the weight starts to lower, despite my 'best' effort. Unless you mean I just don't have the mental capacity or mind muscle connection to command my muscle cells via my nervous system enough, but that kind of goes beyond strenght training, imo. Like to the area of "a mom lifting up a car to save her child" type of thing. The way I see it, if you try your hardest to lift the weight, but can't complete the rep, you've reached failure, by definition.

But I'm not looking to argue and I get your point and for some excercises, like the leg press, it aboslutely applies.

 

[Smont]

Don't mean to drag this topic too much, but I feel like replying at least once more. When doing some kind of excercise where you don't get crushed under the weights or hurt yourself, if you fail to lift it, I can't see how I could do one more rep, when I'm trying my hardest, but can't complete the rep. Just can't get the weight from A to B. Or when the spotter has to step in, when the weight starts to lower, despite my 'best' effort. Unless you mean I just don't have the mental capacity or mind muscle connection to command my muscle cells via my nervous system enough, but that kind of goes beyond strenght training, imo. Like to the area of "a mom lifting up a car to save her child" type of thing. The way I see it, if you try your hardest to lift the weight, but can't complete the rep, you've reached failure, by definition.

But I'm not looking to argue and I get your point and for some excercises, like the leg press, it aboslutely applies.

I feel like it applies to every exercise, most coaches feel like it applies to every exercise. You failed to lift it because your brain told you that you had enough not because your muscle physically can't do it. I'm not saying that's the case for everyone every single time. Even something as simple as a dumbbell curl. If you perceived that you hit failure on rep 10 and your life depended on doing another rep (if you don't get another rep someone's going to pull that trigger and blow your brains out) don't you think you could probably squeeze out one more? I bet anything that you could. And again well I know that example is extreme it shows that you can still do more even when a few seconds ago you thought you couldn't. You ever been in the gym and have an exercise you regularly fail on 10 but maybe there's some hot chicks staring at you and you go 10 lb heavier and still get 10 when there's no way before you could have did that? Or have you ever worked out with a friend and say you're both doing dips and he challenges you to see who can do more and you just so happen to set a personal best record that day. It happens all the time your brain will tell you you've had enough way before your muscle actually fails.

 

[Smont]

If you can't get the weight from a to b it very well might mean that you hit failure. But for the large majority of people they've given up and they think they can't do it because they're not trying hard enough. Also there's a thing called momentary failure. If you're lifting a 50 lb dumbbell and on rep number 10 you absolutely cannot get one more, that doesn't mean your muscle hit failure it means you failed momentarily with 50 lb you could drop the weight and squeeze out more reps.

 

[Smont]

@Mathb33

Am I explaining this wrong, I know you know what I'm trying to say. Help a brotha out

 

[Smont]

@KvanH

I don't want you to think I'm trying to be a know it all or prove you wrong. It's really not even about right or wrong. I just think I might not be doing a good job explaining. It's a good topic. I think many of us including myself think we work out really hard and give it our all. But are we really? How often do we leave the gym exhausted, tired to the point you don't even feel like doing anything for the rest of the day and you just need to take a nap. I know there's many times I finished a workout and I feel like I got a great workout in, but then 2 hours later I'm at the boxing gym working out for another hour and a half. If my weightlifting session was really given its all there's no way I'd be at the boxing gym 2 hours later, it just wouldn't be possible

 

[KvanH]

I don't think there's anything wrong with your explanation. We just have a different apprehension on what the term failure means in strenght training. I may very well be wrong on how the majority of experts think of the term failure.

 

[KvanH]

If you can't get the weight from a to b it very well might mean that you hit failure. But for the large majority of people they've given up and they think they can't do it because they're not trying hard enough. Also there's a thing called momentary failure. If you're lifting a 50 lb dumbbell and on rep number 10 you absolutely cannot get one more, that doesn't mean your muscle hit failure it means you failed momentarily with 50 lb you could drop the weight and squeeze out more reps.

Well in that case I have been of course talking about momentary failure. You can go 'beyond failure' with drop sets, assisted reps and stuff like that. When talkikg about 'failure', how I've used to think about it.

 

[Smont]

Well in that case I have been of course talking about momentary failure. You can go 'beyond failure' with drop sets, assisted reps and stuff like that. When talkikg about 'failure', how I've used to think about it.

Even with momentary failure I think a lot of ppl quit when they still got another rep or 2 in the tank. I think it's a big reason why people say there not making progress. The point you made with leg press, like the differences between a bench press and a squat versus a cable press down or a bicep curl. I have to 100% agree that it is much easier to hit failure on those exercises. But I still feel like a lot of ppl don't push themselves hard enough to hit failure on those exercises too. Next time you're at the gym take a look around, there's no shortage of people stopping their sets early. Sometimes in between my sets I'm watching other people do their sets, And when they wrapped the weights or put the dumbbell down I can't help but thinking, man, you could have did at least 3-4more.

Rest pause sets are probably my favorite tool because I feel like they can help many ppl reach failure. Even if you didn't hit failure on that set of 10-12 or whatever and you take a 10-15sec rest pause then keep going and repeat, sooner or later it's inevitable you're going to hit failure.

On the other side of the spectrum, Jay Cutler in several interviews said he doesn't think he has trained to failure more then a handful of times in his life. Most of this sets he would stop with two or three reps left in the tank. To him volume was more important.

 

[Jeremyk1]

On the other side of the spectrum, Jay Cutler in several interviews said he doesn't think he has trained to failure more then a handful of times in his life. Most of this sets he would stop with two or three reps left in the tank. To him volume was more important.

Jay, at least for part of his career, worked with Hany Rambod who was big on pumps for training. But a lot of top tier guys train short of failure. I’ve read that Frank Zane usually did about 90% effort on each set, rarely training to failure. And Lee Haney was the guy who said “stimulate, don’t annihilate.”

Personally, I train to failure, partly because I read so much from Arnold early in my training career, but I also just can’t stand leaving a workout thinking I could have done any more.

I guess it depends. I don’t think you could necessarily say one is better than the other. That’s also why I compared Serge Nubret to Mike Mentzer. One trained 6 hours, 6 days a week, the other trained for about 10 minutes every 6 to 8 days. Both were near the very top of bodybuilding at their time. There’s so many different ways to train that all “work” to a degree. To me, it’s the most interesting and frustrating thing about bodybuilding!

 

[Smont]

Jay, at least for part of his career, worked with Hany Rambod who was big on pumps for training. But a lot of top tier guys train short of failure. I’ve read that Frank Zane usually did about 90% effort on each set, rarely training to failure. And Lee Haney was the guy who said “stimulate, don’t annihilate.”

Personally, I train to failure, partly because I read so much from Arnold early in my training career, but I also just can’t stand leaving a workout thinking I could have done any more.

I guess it depends. I don’t think you could necessarily say one is better than the other. That’s also why I compared Serge Nubret to Mike Mentzer. One trained 6 hours, 6 days a week, the other trained for about 10 minutes every 6 to 8 days. Both were near the very top of bodybuilding at their time. There’s so many different ways to train that all “work” to a degree. To me, it’s the most interesting and frustrating thing about bodybuilding!

All the guys who trained with Mike mentzer said he was full of ****, he didn't do those little short training sessions he talked about. He was notorious for doing like 6-8 "warm up sets" before his set to failure but he wouldn't count those sets. For the large majority of his career he was in the gym just as much as every other bodybuilder was back then. Then towards the end after he retired it was training other people around the time he was hooked on meth lol, he started advocating less and less and less training for his clients.

I'm not taking anything away from what you said, I believe you're pretty much correct but the whole Mike menser thing was completely exaggerated by himself.

 

[Smont]

There's also a video interview with Lee priest that really resonated with me, when he was asked if you should only train for a hour a day 4-5 days a week his response was.

How many people became world class athletes training 4-5 hours a week, none of them. What makes you think you can build a world class physique in 4-5 hours a week ....

 

[Smont]

At the end of the day, much of this stuff is opinion. I think if you wanna be the best at something, or be the best you can be at something. You need to find out what is the maximum effort you can put into it before it's counter productive. That means maxium training. And to maximize your training you need to be getting 100% out of your food and recovery. Then you need enough drugs to get the maximum effects from your food and training.

It's 100% food, 100%training, 100% drugs and supplements. You gotta do 100% of everything to get 100% of your possible results.

 

[KvanH]

Even with momentary failure I think a lot of ppl quit when they still got another rep or 2 in the tank. I think it's a big reason why people say there not making progress. The point you made with leg press, like the differences between a bench press and a squat versus a cable press down or a bicep curl. I have to 100% agree that it is much easier to hit failure on those exercises. But I still feel like a lot of ppl don't push themselves hard enough to hit failure on those exercises too. Next time you're at the gym take a look around, there's no shortage of people stopping their sets early. Sometimes in between my sets I'm watching other people do their sets, And when they wrapped the weights or put the dumbbell down I can't help but thinking, man, you could have did at least 3-4more.

Rest pause sets are probably my favorite tool because I feel like they can help many ppl reach failure. Even if you didn't hit failure on that set of 10-12 or whatever and you take a 10-15sec rest pause then keep going and repeat, sooner or later it's inevitable you're going to hit failure.

On the other side of the spectrum, Jay Cutler in several interviews said he doesn't think he has trained to failure more then a handful of times in his life. Most of this sets he would stop with two or three reps left in the tank. To him volume was more important.

Oh, I have no doubt many (not advanced) lifters pussy out way before hitting failure. I think I'm not myself, but who knows

Btw, most of the time I don't hit failure on most of my sets. Maybe a few sets inside a workout. I put emphasis on progressive overload and if getting more reps with the same weight requires me to go to momentary failure, then I do it (or think I do). Many times if I can get more reps, than last time with leaving a rep or two in the bank, I think that's great and leaves me room to improve next time. The next time it may require me to hit failure or close to it, in order to get more reps in, than last time. If that makes sense. It also depends on what kind of training regimen I'm doing at the time. I like to switch things up from time to time.

I like rest-pause too, it's a great tool.

 

[KvanH]

I hope @JoePaul39 don't mind this derailment

The way you describe your current workout, it's not something I'd do personally. BUT you said it's working for you, so what I think doesn't matter.

 

[Smont]

I hope @JoePaul39 don't mind this derailment

The way you describe your current workout, it's not something I'd do perdonally. BUT you said it's working for you, so what I think doesn't matter.

I mean, we're not derailing it too much lol. It's all still relevant to volume and intensity I

 

[Mathb33]

@smonth you’ve been explained everything very well and very clearly honestly. I think it’s safe to say that for everybody in bodybuilding though when they say failure they mean failure on a specific weight so that would be momentary failure. Say I’m done 5 plates each side on the hack squat, I do 12 and the 10th rep takes me a good 2 secs to go back up, the 11th would take me a good 3-4 seconds to squeeze out with everything I have and the last rep would barely go up like my life depending on it I would consider that failure. Of course you could lower weight and do a few more and reach total failure but that’s not what most people are referring to as failing. I do a total failure set per big muscle pretty much every working but only 1 because I think it’s extremely taxing and it would be virtually impossible to do that for many sets nor do I think it would be beneficial. So I would day what I mean too is failure on a particular weight so momentary failure