ExRx.net

Hey guys - let me just start out by saying: Thanks for having the best site(hands down) for information about weight training, and thanks for having the best exercise directory on the internet.

So, I've been reading your site, soaking in the knowledge like a spunge, and I was pretty surprised when I read all the stuff about low volume training. I am no veteran - at best, I'm a few levels above a novice(But still no beginner), so I'm willing to believe what I read when it's written by much more knowledgeable individuals(Especially when it cites sources), but it didn't stop me from being somewhat dumbfounded.

Am I *really* not misunderstanding when I understand what you guys have written like this: Only doing one warm-up set of circa 50% set weight, followed by a single set of 8-12 reps, always increasing intensity for the next workout if I reach 12 reps in one workout, will really be as good, or almost as good(By a negligible margin) as doing 3 sets of same reps?

I have almost always done 3 x 8-12 reps, sometimes even two times(E.g., go through a whole workout twice), so this is pretty hard to believe. What I would appreciate though, is that someone told me that I understood it correctly, so I don't go on and work out several times only doing one set, when I misunderstood something.

Really, though, I will be delighted if it is true, like I think it is. It will fit much better into my schedule, and on top of that, when some jackass wants to have a pissing contest and compare weights, I will be able to say much more than i would be able to say if I had to do 3 sets, heh.

Really appreciate all advice you guys can give me - and thanks again for the awesome site!

Low volume is just one approach. You will find other methods as well. It's a pretty good approach for starting out, beginner through novice. But the main complaint about it is that after your body adapts, you will probably require 2 or more work sets of that exercise. Kind of depends on you Now let's look at an example of where it might fit in nicely. You're now an intermediate, and have been doing a strength cycle for 4-5 weeks, or a higher volume (number of sets) with lower reps, say 4-6, at a higher % 1 RMcould be doing something like 3-5 X 5 to set up a strength base. Then you decide to take a low volume approach for hypertrophy and hit 1-2 all out worksets in the 8-12 rep range (after warm ups), with very high intensity for a few weeks. It's a change, and it will take a while to adapt to, and it could be useful in that situation. As Kenny and others have said, most anything will work, but nothing works forever, so forget about adopting one specific format to use forever.
Tim

Thank you for the advice.

Yes, I had no intention of continuing to do the same exercises, or even combinations of exercises forever. I am just starting, yes, a few weeks so far, and I will probably try to mix this up in a month or so.

Thanks for confirming what I thought though, but I still have one questIon:

What is RM? I know it means Rep Maximum, and I have looked at the information about it on the site(Like the calculator), but I'm not sure I understand it.

Thanks before hand =)

Rep Max is how many reps you can do at a particular weight. If you can pull 275 for 5 clean reps, 275 is you 5RM. If you can pull 315 once then 315 is your 1RM. And so forth...

Also, this is "our site" only in the sense that we are members/participants in the forum. None of the posters here are either the owners nor authors of the main site. So, "The opinions express are those of the individuals..." and the opinions in the main site are those of the owner/author.