This is the best take I’ve heard on this topic. If people follow this advice and just keep it sensible, they’ll be a lot better for it. Instead of being dogmatic and being “the volume guy” or “the intensity guy” focus on what mix of volume and intensity you need at this time and progress that. Appreciate the video as always!

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Exactly. Thanks man. Let's all just get jacked no matter how we get there 💪

So Faz knows how to program and coach. I am past my prime, He was able to increase my bench, my squat, my deadlift, and my OHP by doing minor tweaks in volume. I am doing arguably less volume than before, but I am progressing better. He really knows his shit...

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Rui! I actually mention you in the video, near the beginning I can't recall the timestamp but you're there!

Young chaps who have come into lifting in the last 3-5 years (The Brad vs Lyle era) have only heard about volume, maybe a little about intensity, and certainly very little about frequency. So, they assume that volume is the only thing that matters, and don't learn about the relationship between the three. (Side note: God it felt good to hear someone say "the quick lifts" lol).

@Fazlifts

3 ай бұрын

The quick lifts by the 'lemon fresh' lifters 😉

I really like what you said about not being married to one camp or the other, and the individual lifter finding their own training volume sweet spot to further their own progress. As for me, I’m currently on the low volume, high intensity route simply because it fits into my life better, and so far it’s working.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Perfect. That's the bottom line, if it's working stick with it.

Your volume recommendations for 2x a week is very much in-line with where I've been happiest with doing an upper lower split. I'm at around 8-12 sets per week for most of my upper body groups, 6-10 sets per week for my lower body groups and a little higher for arms, which I'm trying to bring up (10-14 sets). I have a dedicated arm day now, which helps when I do ~14 sets of biceps / triceps a week. I absolutely can't tack on 5-7 sets of bis and tris at the end of an upper workout... they're just not useful at that point. I've settled on 2-3 sets of arms on my upper days, and 7-8 sets of arms on a dedicated day. I briefly tried 10-12 sets on a dedicated day and it felt like those later sets were just garbage. I'd bet all of these numbers might drift a little higher as I get more time training, but probably not by a huge amount. I'll figure that out when I get there based on what I need to do, in order to improve 💪

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

I think that sounds ideal 👌

@seawhales1000

3 ай бұрын

me too. I've thought of doing a torso/limbs split so I could have more of an even volume across days, but I like the upper-lower split. so I've done mentioned by adding a shoulders/arms day. 2-3 hard sets of arms on an upper day after chest and back is hard enough lol

This video is music to my ears Faz lol I'm the kind of guy to push "too" hard too often, so my volume is very limited! Like 8-10 for chest and arms, a bit higher for back and delts (like ~12, most of the time) and 6-8 sets for quads/hamstrings. Only that during a week and i grow best. Calves and abs i basically do 8-12 sets as well, but spread out more with more frequency

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Well hey it's working for you!

I think exercise selection is also a variable for volume manipulation. For instance my back can recover from kelso shrugs fairly easily, therefore I can use higher volume. If I were to do the same on rows, there will be a significant decrease in performance and I will be mentally exhausted till the next session. I would love to hear your thoughts on this sir!

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely :) I will cover that in a separate video on exercise selection, I have to keep these videos on topic otherwise they get unreasonably long.

@Balachiang

Жыл бұрын

Thank you sir!

ahhh to be early 20's again 😢

The parts about volume lessening the impact of increasing load, and also having a foot in the area of little niggles/pains appearing have given me food for thought - notes have been taken. Excellent video.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Awesome I'm glad it resonated

The sprinter vs marathon runners argument is still alive and well

@Fazlifts

4 ай бұрын

Sadly, lol 😂

Can't wait to get into this video later today! Thanks Faz!

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Enjoy!

You know what’s interesting? The idea of fluid volume is exactly what NH talked about with evolving rep ranged and evolving sets. Cool to see this shared view!

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

I like NH 😃 So I'm glad he shares the same view. He's a good dude.

Great video Faz! I remember what you said some time ago that doing high volume is harder than most of these one set all out workouts.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

That's also true, a lot of these intensity bros are just gaslighting the real hard work which is doing many, many hard sets.

Best advice out there. Volume is a tool loyalty to results. As an anecdote a few months back I was struggling to break to 225 for 3x10. But I was only doing that twice a week. Then I switched one bench day to incline bench press and added 3 sets of incline machine press too. Progress is smooth. Switched to close grip bench - easier on shoulders. And now I’m close grip benching 255 for 3x5-8 - first set is 8 2nd 6 3rd 5 reps. And progress doesn’t seem to slow down.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely! Great example

This is very nuanced and necessary for people to know!

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Thank you Sawyer!

HeyFaz I have tried low Volume but find as I transitioned from novice to intermediate I needed more volume over time for more stimulus to Grow💪🏽

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Definitely man I find the same with my clients.

Very wise insight into volume. My personal view is very similar, I'd only add that stopping training time to time (every 6-12 weeks) for a period (about 10 days) is a superb undervalued tool that allows one to lower dramatically the volume needed to induce hypertrophy. Thus you can get the same or more with much less volume and time. And especially dor those who are either short on time or have recovery issues, aches and pains or poor sleep, too much stress, this is a huge win. Scientifically this is called mtor resensitization, I can say thanks for it Migan of the 3d alpha channel. Disclaimer, no, during 10 days there will be 0 muscle loss, but you can take this time to boost your cardio a bit wisely (zone2) or have a lower carb period to gain back insulin sensitivity.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Interesting stuff!

My last mass phase I was working in the almost 15 sets per muscle group per week and felt I was recovering enough but not progressing enough, yet I stuck to it because most people hailed this number as perfect or high end. The research says 20 per week but everyone thought that that was a bit too high, this upcoming mass I'm gonna be experimenting with 20-24 per week, because as you said, be married to the results, not the number of sets. Experimentation I think is something a lot of lifters have to work on, including me, god knows I've asked a couple of folks what they thought of this approach, kinda wanting to get their approval. I'd love to see a video on experimentation by you. Also the first video I catch of you live after subbing, gonna binge some of your vids because you're a pretty down to earth dude.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

It's also a problem that prominent influencers will misinterpret the research so that creates this entire wave of misrepresentation. So don't feel too bad. Lots of bad information in this space. However to your idea for next mass I personally don't feel 20-24 will be all that productive unless it's for 1 area specifically like a specialisation.

@JuliusCaesar103

Жыл бұрын

@@Fazlifts it's most definitely a specialisation phase, and only for my chest with 3 times per week frequency. And definitely most people misinterpret which is why I'm gonna experiment more. Eric Trexler put it beautifully some time ago, that science does averages, but individuals fall on all spectrums.

Haven't watched it yet so I have nothing witty to say but I'm here for the algorithm 👌🔥

Very good video, enjoying the barbarian routine I find 4 days in the gym is perfect amount of days for me.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Yes I think Barbarian is about ideal for 4 days. Thank you for supporting my work 🍻

I struggle with increasing volume and keeping intensity in check. I've always been the type of lifter that needs to be held back. Not macho or tough guy crap, I just enjoy pushing intensity.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

- Highly motivated clients need holding back. - Unmotivated clients need pushing. Always been true!

For the volume algorithm

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

🍻💪

thanks Faz comment for algo you're a beast

Jogged my memory here. True. Volume was not accounted for in my past starting in '83. It's more of a trophy imho these days. 😊 The focus was more hard bench hard squats hard shoulder press. Also lateral flyes and curls.

@OverTheHillTraining

Жыл бұрын

But good explanation of the though complexities using reps ranges and volume. Many influencers push cerrain rules but only succeed in confusing listeners. You don't.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Thanks man!

Happy Friday Faz 💪

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Have a great weekend brother 🍻😊

For the algorithm Great video Faz!

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

🍻👍

I recently cut volume to 4 sets or muscle from doing 6-8 previously. And results have been better. Each muscle only 1 x week

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Awesome 👌

I need to sign up for some Faz coaching

Another excellent video breakdown of what should be obvious but unfortunately clearly isn't I've been waiving my volume up and down depending on how fatigued I am and it seems the best of all worlds, on normal sessions it will be the topset/dropset then backdowns for moderate/low volume and then on days where I'm tanked it will be super minimalist one set to failure then go home

People don't typically include the lifter's body weight when comparing a squat to a machine leg press. Every body part above the knee is being lifted and is part of the load.

@BuJammy

3 ай бұрын

Ha! Good one.

ty

So actually what i struggle with the most is not the actual volume per say that i am doing too much or not .. but the exercises themselves per day .. i sometimes don't know if maybe i am doing too much and it's too "Taxing" and i need to cut back down .. So for example my "Upper back day" is : 1:Conventional DeadLift + Neck 2:KROC Rows + Calves 3:Front Squats + Forearms 4:Power Shrugs (160kg) + Abs (3 sets each except Kroc rows only for 2 sets it's a killer) even tho i think it's going alright i am always question it if it's *Too Taxing* ...

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

So this is more of a problem of exercise selection. The Kroc rows and power shrugs are far too much systemic stress for the questionable stimulus you get. It is always fat powerbuilders who promote this stuff and you are better than that Abdo. Tssk tssk tssk Abdo I have taught you better than this, what happened. I will have to fly over and force you to do heavy compound rows with full range of motion and control, every day until you learn.

@Abdo.R.Mohamed

Жыл бұрын

@@Fazlifts haha i am sorry master forgive me ...

Once the kids are in bed this video is being devoured. However in the meantime, have an algo pop

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Enjoy!

@StrongandConditioned

Жыл бұрын

@@Fazlifts superb video. Really helpful mate. The point you made about only having programs back in that day really struck a chord with me. To be honest man, i miss those days

This wil be a good one 💪

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

I was very happy with this one :)

Hey Faz. To your point about maximizing progress: let’s say that one’s recovery abilities allows for one to recover from say 10 sets per week for a given muscle. If we could still grow from 8 sets (or even 6), would you recommend downscaling the volume and increasing it at a later point in time?

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Yes 😊

@jordanjacobs157

Жыл бұрын

@@Fazlifts thanks coach!

No idea how dumb of a question this is going to be but better get it out the way with now lool Is there any issue with frequency above 3x a week ? Say I run an 8 day a week plan like ( ULU OFF ULU OFF ) Is there anything wrong with this ? My first and last upper of my half weeks have a primary focus. Like Upper 1 would have one back movement for 3-4 sets and 6-7 sets for chest. The next Upper would be reversed and more back focus with chest getting the lesser sets. These days pretty much have an equal amount of shoulder, tri and bi work 3-5 sets per session. what issues if any would I be expected to run into with something like this ? cheers for the amazing video! was a great watch :)

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I can see what you're trying to do. You want greater frequency for the smaller areas and lower for legs. Makes sense. I think it could work! As always though attempt it and be very objective with what's working.

@Davichiz

Жыл бұрын

@@Fazlifts thanks for the reply, will do !

I left a question on our check in form which you have just about answered. I have raised my dumbell lateral raise by 2.5kg and my form has gone to pot. Can I assume that next week we will be doing the lighter weight again but for more sets?

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Perfect example of this Steve. I'd pull it back to the 12.5s which were done with good form, and try to work your way up 4 sets of 10-15. That'll give you a much larger buffer, so the next time we reapproach the 15s we can handle them better.

Hi Faz, quick question on sets per muscle group per session. Lets use shoulders as an example. Say you do behind the neck press x 4, upright row x 4, face pulls x 4. That is 12 sets on that session for 1 muscle group. I find this very easy despite pushing it hard. I actually combine this with back. Would you feel that is too much volume for 1 muscle group in a session. I tend to do 10-12 sets per muscle group per session, but never do 1 muscle group per session. In your opinion is that too much? I feel I push myself very hard.

@Fazlifts

4 ай бұрын

Are you progressing in weight and/or reps week to week?

@liamburns8554

4 ай бұрын

@@Fazlifts very slowly. I think you have instantly highlighted a fault. I do pay attention to the compound movements in regards to progression, but treat the smaller targeted exercises more as trying to push reps and a burn. Maybe I need to treat them as the same as compounds

@Fazlifts

4 ай бұрын

Yep that'll be it

I kinda hate where we are right now due to scientific literature on exercise science. We all know by now that science says that more volume is better and that it’s a dose response relationship. But at the same time, these studies are done on recreational lifters or untrained lifters so those recommendations can’t be effectively used for advanced athletes so it gets a bit confusing to what approach one should take. Is it possible for you, Faz, to maybe discuss anecdotal evidence on what actually works, for hypertrophic and strength, training to failure or not to, low vs high volume, high frequency vs low frequency, should you use a phasic approach, should you have mesocycles and then repeat the program or keep programs open ended and just keep adjusting as you go. I know you have covered these topics in the past, but I would love to watch a video from you that would cover all these in one video to give us general guidelines on how to structure our workouts/programs.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

My friend I appreciate your replies always but it does appear you haven't watched the video, almost ALL the information contained here in this video is my own anecdotal experience. I realise it's a long video but do watch and don't get hung up on my brief mention of the research at the beginning of the video.

@lefonwastaken3393

Жыл бұрын

@@Fazlifts yes, I’m halfway through the video right now. Ill be sure to leave more questions if you don’t mind me asking, if I’m confused about something. Thank you for the response 👍🏻

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Any time :)

@lefonwastaken3393

Жыл бұрын

@@Fazlifts okay so have one question 😅 Regarding effort. You talk about volume and that its not always constant and goes up and down to ensure progress. Do you think the same should be applied to effort? Like starting off with 3 RIR leading to 0 or would you recommend keeping it constant? I would consider myself a late intermediate lifter and I’ve been stuck on 100kg seated OHP for quite a while now (shoulder pressing and shoulder development in general is my main focus) and I can’t seem to progress. I use dynamic double progression to know when to up the weight. But recently I’ve actually started to regress in reps. Do you think this is due to always training at 0 RIR, is it because I’ve overreached and need a deload, should I be smarter about training and not always train at 0 RIR? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I train each muscle twice a week, around 12 sets a week.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Good question. I experimented heavily with both decreasing RIR and increasing volume over the course of a meso cycle. My conclusion based after a year of experience is that both are unnecessary and potentially counter productive. Train to failure or as close to it as you safely can. Beyond failure is mostly unnecessary. Train with enough volume to see tangible and regular increases in strength.

06:54 - Even this underlying assumption is disputed or at the very least not greatly supported by the research. Not to say it won't be in the future but 'hardness' of the sets as defined as their proximity to failure seems to be based on the level of motor unit recruitment and more importantly the 'tension' the fibres experience. This underlying assumption re tension is based off of the force-velocity relationships performed with single events (isometric contractions or dynamic movements for single or low reps). Those are not the conditions in bodybuilding, where a load is used repetitively. As fatigue builds it seems completely reasonable that tension, force and velocity decrease coupled with a reduced unit firing rate. I'm not saying I don't do the same. I still use loads to achieve a specific proximity to failure in rep ranges from 5-30 reps but it's questionable if this proximity actually holds any scientific validity as things stand. In fact what we see is that when you do equate volume, the results are the same and probably for a reduced injury risk. These studies have some combination of obvious limitations like study length and participant experience but they are there all the same. 12:35 - Forgive me, this is the first time on your channel. I'm just making the assumption that you and your client are interested in hypertrophy. I'm curious then why the bench press number matters at all or why it's given primacy at least. You're using this as an example of why additional volume should come about through necessity. I'm trying to understand why the same doesn't apply to load. I'm sure that isn't what you're saying. If you're client was interested in strength as an outcome then I would get this but outside of that I don't really understand. I'm not saying novices need high volumes but that doesn't mean that this client wouldn't have benefitted from a higher volume earlier in this period. Their relative intensity could still be increasing week on week with the addition of load and/or reps but when folks are saying 'it's all about recovery', they're generally saying nowadays that If you can do more and recover from it then your body is telling you there is additional stimulus being left on the table that you could be doing to grow. The primacy of load progression, so long as the load is already sufficient for adequate tension doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me personally. Not that it isn't a viable way to go and I don't think you aren't saying that the intensity progression is the sole panacea of growth because you are still advocating for increasing volumes. I can see that there can be limitations re training clients, time being a big one. In that context it makes sense. 20:37 - Injury is much more correlated with load than it is volume. Bodybuilding is super safe wrt injury. I can see how you would land at this notion if you give primacy to load progression first and then add volume of those now higher intensity exercises. I think this discounts a large swathe of other possibilities. Exercise selection is probably the biggest confounder here. Adding another set of super heavy squats is probably more injurious but I think most people advocating waves of quicker volume progression are more reasonable than that. If you wanted to increase the volume for your quads for example, you would probably look to other exercises first that weren't as systemically fatiguing and have less potential for injury etc. Something where you have more support like a leg press, hack squat, pendulum squat, lunges, extensions etc. This issue only arises if you have poor exercise selection when choosing what to increase volume on. Coupled with waves of increasing volume would likely be a shorter accumulation/deload paradigm to allow better joint recovery. What research we have is showing that having shorter accumulations with quicker increases in volume with more deloads vs slower accumulation and fewer deloads doesn't have a detrimental effect on hypertrophy and could have better outcomes through super compensatory effects of an unsustainable final week before deloading. 26:40 - Agree on per session volume. Usually any more than 8 sets seems like you get into junk volume territory. Split across 2 exercises, that is plenty per muscle group. Frequency is just a function of volume requirements. If you need more volume and you're already topping out your per session volume then it's time to think about adding another day for it. This is also a function of recovery capabilities. My side delts and biceps can recover from massive amounts of work. I'm recovered again by the end of the next day. You're just leaving gains on the table if you aren't adding in more days for it. It's why outside of the beginner phase i'm not a massive fan of strict splits. They can be biased towards something like 'lower' or 'pulling' but add in the volume you need for some muscle groups as your demands require. Just at the end though, again, an increase of strength is merely a byproduct for me in hypertrophy. Not the goal. The allure is there. It's easy to track. It's only being used here as a proxy for growth though because that is slower and harder to measure. Putting weight on the bar isn't the goal. Growing muscle is. In the end progressing all of these parameters (load, reps, sets) in an autoregulatory way seems the best approach. Will a load increase decrease your intra set volume? Add a rep. Will adding a rep, take you outside your desired rep range? Add some load. If neither of them are true you can experiment adding a little of both. Are you recovering well in time for your next session and aren't getting proxies you associate with growth (pumps, mind muscle connection etc)? Think about adding a set here and there. Cycle down again for your next meso but a bit higher than the one you just did and rinse and repeat. Thanks for the great video. Happy lifting!

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

You've put a lot of time into this reply. Welcome to the channel, do stick around 🍻

hey faz, is there any difference in recovery between training 4 days vs 6 days if i distribute the same work over 6 days, muscle gains is my only goal. whats your experience training so many of your clients. I have a home gym so driving to the gym is not an issue. thanks

@nmnate

Жыл бұрын

The more frequently you exercise, the more your programming has to adapt to individual muscle group recovery. In my personal experience, 3 days a week is pretty easy to program and recover from (FB rest FB rest FB, etc), 4/5 days a week is a little more reliant on alternating big muscle groups (A/B workouts, etc), and 6 days a week would require probably A/B/C type workouts. At higher frequency I find there's a balance between when I can train legs and back. I highly prefer not to do a big pulling workout the day after I do RDLs (especially snatch grip). But I can do a low to moderate amount of back volume and go into a hard lower body workout the next day. I'd probably suggest that you experiment and see which you prefer. Spend at least 3 months doing 4 days a week (i.e. UL) and another 3+ months doing 6 days a week (i.e. PPL). You might consider using the same overall volume for your muscle groups as a little bit of a control. If you're experimenting with your volume at the same time, it'll be hard to compare your progress / recovery.

@rajdeepghosh4672

Жыл бұрын

@@nmnate yes, i am planing on trying out some sort of 6 day program, i don't like ppl i am doing 4 day upper lower and planing on either doing 6 day upper lower or 5 day upper lower, 3 upper days and 2 lower body days a week. the main reason for me to add training days so that i can get quick workout sessions, also planning on doing supersets..

@nmnate

Жыл бұрын

@@rajdeepghosh4672 Gotcha. I'm currently enjoying a 5 day upper lower, currently doing upper-lower-arms-upper-lower-rest-rest. I'd put one rest day in the middle of my week if I didn't enjoy the machines at my work-gym so much. I've been running this for several months now and it's been good to me 💪

@rajdeepghosh4672

Жыл бұрын

@@nmnate that's a good template, going to try something similar, 3 times a week frequently for arms will be productive.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Nmnate has given you great answers already. I'll just add that in general 6 days will allow for greater quality of sets. I generally prefer that.

My favourite approach is wave loading or step loading volume Week 1 3 sets week 2 4 sets Week 3 5 sets Week 4 More weight, less reps 3 sets, week 5 4 sets, Repeat for eternity

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

I think that's very sensible. I touch on that briefly in the section on 21:57

7:43 they're looking at the chicken without looking at the egg. you can only recover once breakdown occurs

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Exactly 🍻

Even in strength sports, tonnage is problematic if you work in more than one rep range. Nominally, 60kg x 10 is the same tonnage as 120kg x 5, but the latter is a far, far harder set.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Yep, very true. At the moment I do default to hard sets to count volume, I don't think that's a perfect system either but in combination with RiR or RPE it seems decent.

👍👍👍

For the algo

Easy subscribe

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Welcome to the channel Dawson

Volume manipulation is a tool in a toolbox.

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely, hopefully you have watched the video as I discuss this at 21:57

200lb bench, "you've reached your genetic potential" 😂

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

Crazy right!

@Syncrono

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely

Intensity supercedes volume

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

All of your training videos have at least 5 reps in the tank.

@stevenjezyk9435

Жыл бұрын

🤔

I still don't get the last step related to frequency. if for example we are referring to a full body 3x a week, aren't 5 sets per muscle group potentially too many and lead to a lack of recovery? If I had to choose between 7-8 sets 2 times a week and 5 sets three times a week to manage 15 sets, I would choose 2x a week frequency. Aren't FB 3x a week approaches more efficient when used with low to medium volumes? I was planning on using a full body program 3x a week hitting each muscle group with 3 hard sets every workout..

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

I think 3 x 5 sets is fine as a general rule however individual volume tolerance will apply. You also have to factor in much work you are able to do per session if this is for every bodypart. But overall no, 15 sets split across the week 3 times has been great for me in the past. If you want to do 3 sets per muscle that's fine that's stage 1 of my Wizard routine, just remember base it on results.

@GB-ld6lf

Жыл бұрын

@@Fazlifts thanks for the explanation!

Golden tidbit central 🪙💰🌟

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

🙏🍻

For the algo

@Fazlifts

Жыл бұрын

🍻👌