Training Volume and Strength Gains - Is It Time You Increased Yours?

Let's face it - we all go the gym to progress.

We want more strength and more muscle (generally). 

And depending on what you train for, you may favour one of those outcomes over the other, however, this article is still important for all gym goers.

I wanted to address one study that in particular looked at the barbell squats and volume amongst (oh yesss) TRAINED subjects.

There's nothing like research that's designed well and practical to us trained folk! 

Now that I've got my excitement out of the way, let's take a look at it.  

How Many Sets Of Squats For Maximal Strength? 

This study wanted to see what results various sets (volume) yielded on the quadricep strength of trained males over 6 weeks (1).

To start with, they worked out their 1-repetition maximum (1RM) squat strength.

Then the study subjects were randomly assigned to an intensity-matched (80% of 1RM) low (1-SET), moderate (4-SET), or high (8-SET) volume condition.

So what did they find?

"In addition to significant strength increases in all groups at the end of the 6-week period, increases were observed at 3 weeks under the 4- and 8-SET conditions, which were greater than the improvement under the 1-SET condition. At 6 weeks, the magnitude of improvement was significantly greater for the 8-SET, as compared with that of the 1-SET group."

So there's no doubt increasing the amount of sets for squat strength for you trained subjects is important for strength gains. 

The authors go on:

The results suggest that "high" volumes (i.e., >4 sets) are associated with enhanced strength development but that "moderate" volumes offer no advantage. Practitioners should be aware that strength development may be dependent on appropriate volume doses and training duration.

So obviously jumping up to 8 sets for squats is beneficial, but only when you're ready for it.

But too often I see training subjects OVERTRAINING...and thinking that "more is more" which just isn't true in the context of growing muscle.

They do far too many sets each workout. How they mentally prepare for 17 + sets I'll never know, and I refuse to believe that knowing they have so many sets left even after busting out 10, they don't hold back a bit for the remainder of the workout.

It's not a good recipe for progress. They deadlift and squat an insane amount of volume, don't get their nutrition right, can't recover (or grow!) and wonder why they still haven't reached the shape they want.

Don't just train hard - train smart.

Now you'll know where you fit in this category, in terms of how many sets for squats and thus your overall workout.

So keep this in mind moving forward!

And for more information on volume and muscle growth, check out the link below.

"Stay Fit, Stay Flexed!" 

Further reading: Are you doing enough volume for muscle growth?  

Reference

(1) Robbins DW, Marshall PW, McEwen M. The effect of training volume on lower-body strength. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Jan;26(1):34-9. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31821d5cc4.