Previously I have written about training intensity and frequency and, in that vein, I want to talk about training volume. I’ll be focusing on the weight room and, as much as anything, this is hopefully a background article for something longer I might actually eventually write. As with my article on intensity, what I will primarily be doing is looking at some of the different definitions of volume that are out there along with pros and cons of their use.
The FITT Equation
In the realm of exercise, one of the oldest used descriptions of training is usually called The FITT equation (I believe it’s been expanded in recent years). The letters stand, respectively for Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type. Let me define each but reverse the last two.
Note: Yes, I know that T T has no implied order except that it was always described as Frequency Intensity Time Type so I am technically reversing them.
Frequency is simply the number of times per week training is done. This can refer to total number of sessions per week, the total number of sessions of a given type of training per week, the number of times a given muscle group or exercise is trained per week and others.