Is there a trade off between effort and volume for hypertrophy?

[gapdee]

So I have been following the general advice of taking sets to failure (or close to failure) and doing a good amount of volume (20 sets per week) for my legs and glutes. But I am noticing I am sore when I take sets to (or close to) failure AND do 10 sets per leg day. I am not sore if I dont push to near failure on those 10 sets. And I am also not sore if I only do 8-9 sets. And I have been doing the same workout for the past 3 weeks. I read that soreness is generally bad because it means I damaged my muscle perhaps too much for hypertrophy?

So I assume I need to cut down either the volume or effort. Or am I fine doing what I am doing now? Which would be best for hypertrophy?

My workout for reference

High bar squats (4 x 4-6reps)
BB reverse lunges (3 x 8-12reps)
B Stance RDL (3 x 8-12reps)

Also I do band exercises at the end, which Bret contreras said were penalty free, usually 3-4 sets of 20 reps on Lateral band walks or seated hip abduction against a band .

 

[barefootinbeth]

@gapdee I think the soreness is fine as long as you're not overdoing the volume to the point it's significantly impacting your next training. My assumption has always been that if you're going for hypertrophy then the soreness is a good thing? I could be completely wrong here.

When going for strength, then yeah you don't want the soreness and you nearly never want to be going to failure.

 

[shekinahglory15]

@gapdee DOMs are not an indicator of progress or growth, just soreness. Unless you’re overtraining or injuring yourself (in which case you risk negative progress), it’s mostly about what you’re willing to have to deal with outside the gym and arguably how long it’ll take to reach your goals. DOMs also tends to go away after doing the same training repeatedly, you may not have gotten there yet.

 

[banneh]

@gapdee Yes there definitely is.

Read about HIT training for example. This involves all out training, often negatives with training partners as well, and it is definitely not done in a volume warrior type of training.

To get some good perspectives I recommend watching training videos done by John Meadows (YouTube; just watch several videos and pay attention to how he organizes his training/uses all out sets), Revive Stronger podcast (specifically generally the ones with Mike Israetel in them), and the 3DMJ (3D muscle journey) podcast with episodes featuring relevant discussion topics.

Is soreness a good thing? Current research is showing NO relationship mechanistically between muscle damage and hypertrophy. That is not to say however that the soreness is not a good indicator that you worked hard (it is, and could predict hypertrophy), but just that damage does not cause hypertrophy.

Quick TLDR: If your soreness is getting in the way of productive training sessions, you should probably lighten up the volume/check technique/check exercise selection and sets.

Oh, and make sure your recovery is on point duh.