Pump up the Volume!

Have you reached a plateau in your strength gains?  Pumping up the volume may be the answer!  A study recently published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research showed that participants who regularly performed a routine including 8 sets of barbell back squat increased their 1 RM by approximately 19.5% in only 6 weeks.  Their 1-set and 4-set counterparts only experienced strength increases of 10.8% and 14.4%, respectively, in the same amount of time.

The details of the study are shown below:

1. 1 RM was tested prior to beginning the program.
2. Strength routine included a 2 day split (upper body/lower body), where each muscle group was trained twice a week.  The barbell back squat was the only lower back or leg exercise allowed during the 6 week program.
3. Participants warmed up with 10 body weight squats, 10 repetitions performed at 50% of 1RM, 1 repetition at 60% of 1RM, and a final repetition at 70% of 1RM. 
4. Participants in the 8-set group performed 8 sets of barbell back squat with 3 minute rests in between sets.  Each set was performed to failure.
5. At the mid-point of the program (3 weeks), the 1 RM was tested again and working load recalculated.

Although symptoms of over-training were not observed in this study, the authors do note that the length of the study was only 6 weeks and care should be taken if applied to several muscle groups at the same time and/or for longer periods of time.

Until next time!  Train hard and train smart!  Dan  

Source:  Daniel W. Robbins, Paul W.M. Marshall, and Megan McEwen, T. Effect of Training Volume on Lower-Body Strength. J Strength Cond Res 26: 34-38, 2012.