Volume, intensity, and frequency are three core concepts of any training plan. They all have an impact on each other and can be manipulated in different ways in order to receive certain desired outcomes. If you want to make the most of your programming, understanding these concepts and their relationships between them is very important. Sure, you can make solid progress without really understanding these concepts and just training hard while being consistent along with doing proper exercises. However, if you want to make more advanced levels of progress, it’s extremely beneficial to be able to manipulate these concepts and use them to your advantage.
Let’s start with volume. The simplest way to think of volume is the total amount of training you do. This can be broken down simply to total sets. Volume is typically tracked as sets per week and sets within a session. Not all volume is created equally in terms of its stimulus magnitude. For example, doing one set of 10 pushups is not going to create the same stimulus as doing one set of 10 reps on a bench press with 225 lbs. The bench press is going to be more systematically and locally disruptive in terms of its effect on the person preforming the exercise. To put it into numbers, volume can be defined as sets x reps x weight. This can be useful in comparing volumes of different exercises in loads but for most practical purposes, your primary concern should be per session and weekly set volumes. For a comprehensive guide on volume, check out Renaissance Periodization's volume landmarks.
Chart Overview of Dr. Mike Israetel's Volume Landmarks
Intensity is up next. Intensity is pretty simple. It pertains to how hard you train. Training hard and within close proximity to failure would be categorized as high intensity training. Training further away from failure would be categorized as low intensity. At first you might think well duh, let me just train as hard as possible all the time and that way I will get the best results. In theory, yes if you were a machine. The problem is you are not, you are human and even if you are the most genetically gifted athlete on the planet, you can only handle training at high intensity for so long and continue to make progress. This is why it’s important to understand how to use and manipulate intensity within your programming.
Intensity has an inverse relationship with volume. Typically, lower training volumes allow for higher levels of intensity whereas higher volumes require a generally lower level of intensity. That’s not to say that higher volume training doesn’t require effort, but high intensity and training to failure must be used more sparingly as volumes are driven up. There are a few ways we can think about intensity in terms of measuring it. One popular method is the RPE scale which stands for rate of perceived exertion. The RPE scale goes from 1-10 with 1 being extremely easy and 10 being maximal effort. Another way you can think about intensity is weight. For example, if you do an exercise for 10 reps with 100 pounds and it is relatively challenging, dropping the weight to 60 pounds while still hitting 10 reps will be a noticeable drop in intensity. To learn more about the relationship between volume and intensity, check out this article.
Last of out of three concepts is frequency. Frequency is how often you train a specific body part or movement. I currently train 6 total days a week. My sessions are divided between upper and lower, hitting each 3 times per week. This gives me a frequency of 3 times per week which is considered to be moderately high. Frequency is almost entirely co dependent on the previous concepts of volume and intensity. Your frequency should accommodate how you have your volume and intensity planned out. Generally higher frequency is seen as a tool to increase overall volume.
Think of it this way, would you rather do 20 sets of chest in one workout on Monday, or divide those 20 sets into 2 sessions occurring Monday and Thursday with 10 sets each day. Unless you’re just a masochist, I’m going to guess that the answer would be the latter option. You could even divide it up into 3 or more sessions if it is done correctly. Is that ideal for everyone, no but having a frequency of at least twice per week is better than once. Higher frequencies may also mean that you have to dial it down on the intensity. If you train to failure or very close and train very frequently, it is possible that you will halt your progression rather quickly or just physically burn out so to speak. For a discussion on what frequency is best for you check out this article from Renaissance Periodization.
Jeff Nippard perfectly explains the volume and frequency relationship
Now that you know what these concepts are, how do you implement them in your own training? How much volume should I do? How hard do I train? How many times a week to I train? Most experts recommend performing 10-20 working sets per week , meaning hard sets. Now you have to ask yourself how hard do I typically train and consider that doing more volume will require you to carefully monitor your proximity to failure and be more conservative with the use of failure in your training. For volume its wise to start near the lower end if you have less training experience and even if you are somewhat well trained, choose a more moderate volume and adjust based on how you feel. If you do more volume train relatively close to failure and if you train with lower volume still train relatively close to failure but consider that this lower volume may allow you to train harder and go to failure more often. Finally adjust your frequency somewhere between 2-4 times per week. If you plan to do a higher volume of training higher frequency may be better. Everyone is different, you are n=1 at the end of the day, so experiment with different volumes, intensities, and frequencies to find out what works best for you. Track your progress, record your lifts, and take notes of what is and is not working.
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