So last time in Categories of Weight Training: Part 4, I continued with the discussion of hypertrophy by addressing the issue of volume. In that article, looking at a recent review paper by Wernbom, I threw out a value of 30-60 repetitions as giving the apparently maximal growth response. Before I move on to other topics, let me clarify a few issues. Then I’ll look at training frequency and exercise selection.
Training Volume Revisited.
First and foremost, something I idiotically left out of the article but got asked about on the forum and in the comments, that volume recommendation of 30-60 reps is PER MUSCLE GROUP. Not PER WORKOUT total. So if you were working 4 muscle groups or something in a workout, that’d yield a total of 120-240 repetitions. How many sets that would end up being would, of course, depend on the reps per set.
Now, one complication here is the issue of overlap between muscle groups since most people aren’t training single muscles at once. … Keep Reading