My results from a low volume and frequency program (with measurements)

[angelica009]

@harpazo777 Yesssir ! Favourite split I’ve tried

 

[steverod]

@angelica009 Currently doing a high-intensity (top set-back-off set) bro split on a cut and have seen similarly great results, i.e., strength and reps going up on nearly all lifts while scale weight is dropping and physique tightening up. People need to stop disregarding these kinds of approaches as ‘suboptimal’ and give them a go, at least for a training block or two - you might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[angelica009]

@steverod Yeah I agree - in fact this experience has made me far more skeptical of how dogmatic some of the people I followed were about training

 

[steverod]

@angelica009 Totally, the evidence-based stuff in particular seems to turn guys into the training equivalent of bible-thumpers.

 

[sentosa]

@angelica009 I'm very curious to see how this works for you over the next year or so. I ran a very low volume program about a year ago for 6 months and saw great gains. However, over time I noticed they tapered off and I had to increase volume again to keep progressing. I went from doing 105-35-95 sets per week. I wonder if the gains we see from dropping volume down like this are essentially a benefit of volume cycling. So its not that doing 30 sets a week is optimal but rather CHANGING from higher volume, to lower volume, and back up to high volume again is whats actually doing the work here.

 

[angelica009]

@sentosa Could very well be, and I’m interested too - I’ll def raise volume as needed and at least then I’ll know the extra sets were required

 

[haroldgreen]

@angelica009 Gonna experiment with something like this while cutting, thanks!

 

[angelica009]

@haroldgreen Enjoy ! I’m gonna be cutting soon too and will keep this split in place - the shorter sessions lend themselves well to some form of 15-20 min cardio afterwards which is nice too if that’s something that needs to be added

 

[stickywicket]

@angelica009 Intriguing. I’ve always wondered what the results would be with something like this, or even a bro split, and going balls to the walls on the sets.

 

[angelica009]

@stickywicket Me too, it’s ultimately why I decided to give it a go. I always heard critiques that no one seems to back up this sort of training with actual results, so thought this would be interesting. Only time can tell if this training will still be effective in the longer term

 

[stickywicket]

@angelica009 I’ve been debating going from PPLPP to a bro split. First my legs stopped recovering from 2X a week, and now my upper body is starting to feel it. Been training almost 30 years, so maybe it’s all I need at this point.

 

[angelica009]

@stickywicket Might be worth a shot, you’ve got more experience than me so you’ll know best. One thing I think about is that it takes at least a couple of weeks with no training to lose muscle, so hitting them once a week at least guarantees recovery in some regards. For some people maybe they regress faster so it doesn’t work, but it seems to really well for me

 

[stickywicket]

@angelica009 It’s like everything else- everyone is different. Some people do awesome 3x a week, and others once a week. At this point, I’m just content keeping what I’ve built, and trying to stave off Father Time

 

[angelica009]

@stickywicket Yeah gotta agree there, people get jacked on so many different methods

 

[abovethewaves]

@angelica009 Almost identical to Dorian’s Olympia split.

I tried Dorian’s back day today, except I added a back off set of 12-15 reps after the 6-8 rep set. I still feel like I didn’t do enough . Is that a normal feeling?

 

[angelica009]

@abovethewaves Honestly depends on how deep you pushed those sets, and how much volume you were doing before. If you used to do much higher session volume with high intensity, it’s definitely gonna feel like you didn’t do enough. For me I just focused on the log book - if I was progressing then I basically didn’t care how I felt after ahah

 

[freedominlight]

@angelica009 "If you miss a session, its a lot worse than typical training were you would hit the muscle again later that week. This time, it could be 14 days before training it again"

But what is bad about that? In my experience that is even better.

You may lose neural efficiency, but I assume you care about hypertrophy rather than lifting how much weight. In terms of muscle detraining and deflation it takes more than a month.