How to Cycle Training Volume (Example Programming Model)

One of the most difficult tasks for an intermediate or advanced lifter is the management of training volume.

We all know that to varying degrees volume is a necessary component of continued progression on the barbell lifts.  We also know that a lot of volume is difficult to recover from.  There are a myriad of factors that play into how we handle training volume including age, gender, level of training advancement, absolute strength (do we squat 300 or 600?), and our level of General Physical Preparedness (i.e. our fitness – Are you in shape to train?).

Typically lifters will try to progress their volume work in a somewhat linear fashion.  So if volume squats are on Monday for 5x5x315, then the following week we do 5x5x320, and the week after that is 5x5x325 and so on and so forth.  This simple approach works pretty well for new intermediate lifters as it’s just about as simple as novice programming.  But of course we all know that this method can’t go on forever and so lifters often have to “reset” their volume day loads every 6-12 weeks to keep from burning out and regressing.

As a lifter grows in strength and in his ability to create stress, more fluctuation in the nature of the training stress is usually warranted.

This is where a 3-week volume cycle becomes very very useful.  As a general rule of thumb I like to keep volume work between 75-85% of 1RM and total workload between 15-30 total reps, although certain lifts might benefit from a little less or a little more.

In addition, volume work set/rep schemes can also be “auto-regulated” a bit depending on the lift and the physical state of the lifter on a given day.  In other words, if the goal is ~25 reps at 75% of 1RM, then 5×5, 4×6, 6×4, or 8×3 all might be suitable for that day.  5×5 is always a good go to set/rep scheme, but what if the lifter is feeling exceedingly strong on that day?  Perhaps he can shorten the workout a bit by eliminating a set and just doing 4×6.  What if he’s off just a bit and can’t manage that 5th rep on his sets….6×4 would be fine.  What if he wants to keep rest time down and focus on explosive bar speed…..8×3 will allow for that, or even borrow from Westside and hit a session of 12 doubles on a 60-90 second clock.

In fact, the system that I use is heavily influenced by what Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell advocates.  According to Louie’s writings (which can at times be all over the map in terms of specific recommendations) he advocates a 3-week wave that looks like this for Squat Volume:

Week 1:  12 x 2 @ 50% 1RM

Week 2:  10-12 x 2 @ 55% 1RM

Week 3:  8-10 x 2 @ 60% 1RM

Of course, Louie’s lifters are mainly training for geared power lifting so bands are added to these percentages making them actually quite a bit more than 50-60% of 1RM at the top of the movement.  At Westside they also use a variety of specialty bars, boxes, and all sorts of other equipment that make his exact programming model totally unnecessary and overly-complicated for 90% of the audience that is reading this article.

But we can certainly borrow this concept from one of the strongest gyms in existence and apply the fundamental concept to an intermediate Raw Lifter.

The first thing to square away is that for your volume lifts you don’t need boxes, bands, chains, or specialty bars.  I am not opposed to those things in general, but I reserve them mainly for assistance work and/or variations to use on a max effort day, since you can’t really max out every week on the primary lifts (squat, deads, press, bench).

Volume Day is the day where we want to really grease the groove of our focus lifts and practice our technique, so practice the volume days without altering your mechanics with specialized equipment or varying the mechanics of the lift.

Second, for building muscle mass, I’m a fan of keeping volume day reps in the 3-6 range.  I’m not opposed to Dynamic Effort work, but I don’t rely on it exclusively for volume days for a prolonged period of time.  In PPST3, there is an example program of how to work Dynamic Effort training into a cycle if you are interested.

All that being said, lets look at how we might set up a 3-week Volume Cycle for a raw lifter.

Week 1:  75% of 1RM – Goal of ~30 reps.  In general I like to use 5 sets of 6 reps.  If you are used to doing just 5×5, that added rep on each set will be quite noticeable.  It makes the workout quite a bit harder, but most can handle it at this intensity which is fairly low.  You’ll find this easier on Bench/Press and harder on Squats but it’s manageable and it creates a pretty high “stepping off point” for week 2, so you can actually notice (and appreciate!) the drop in volume.  If it’s too much then 5×5 is fine.

Week 2:  80% of 1RM – Goal of 25 reps.  To me this is the meat and potatoes week where higher intensity / higher volume really intersect.  Most of the time we’re aiming for 5×5, but if you have a little less energy, 6×4 also works.  Admittedly we don’t do much 4×6 or 8×3 work on this day, but you can experiment.

Week 3:  85% of 1RM – Goal of 15-20 reps.  This week tends to have the most variability in terms of performance.  Generally we are working in sets of 3-4 reps per set.  So 4-5 sets of 4 work well or 5-6 sets of 3.  Again, this is influenced by both the lift and the lifter, their absolute strength and level of fitness.

How to progress…..

Since this is a percentage based approach you can obviously just reset your %’s every time you hit a new max single on a lift.  For an intermediate lifter you can hit a new heavy single every 4 weeks and re-adjust your %s based on your performance.

Or you can simply add small amounts of weight each time you come through the cycle.  So 2 cycles might look like this for a lifter with a 500 lb Squat:

Week 1:  5×6@375

Week 2:  5×5@400

Week 3:  5×4 or 6×3 @425

Week 4:  5×6@380-385

Week 5:  5×5@405-410

Week 6:  5×4 or 6×3 @ 430-435

On Heavy Squat days where you aren’t training volume you should be hitting lifts at or above 90% of 1RM on the main lift or a close variant of the lift such as a box squat, front squat, pin squat, specialty bar squat, etc.  This will help preserve your ability to strain against maximal loads which is a skill set that much be practiced with some degree of frequency if you want to lift big weights.

There are lots and lots of ways to integrate this into a training program depending on how you have things set up.

The following is how I have things set up in my Online Coaching Club.  I’m using just the Squat and Deadlift as an example.

I set things up on an 8-week cycle which creates a manageable amount of frequency for the lifters in my club, most of whom are over 30, and many of whom are well over 40.

Week 1:

Monday:  Deadlift Intensity

Friday:  Squat Intensity

Week 2:

Weds:  Deadlift Volume (75%)

Week 3:

Mon:  Squat Volume (75%)

Friday:  Deadlift Intensity

Week 4:

Weds:  Squat Intensity

Week 5:

Monday:  Deadlift Volume (80%)

Friday:  Squat Volume (80%)

Week 6:

Weds:  Deadlift Intensity

Week 7:

Monday:  Squat Intensity

Friday:  Deadlift Volume (85%)

Week 8:

Wednesday:  Squat Volume (85%)

Week 9:  Repeat Cycle

This system creates an environment where lifters can train “all out” on volume and intensity days and performance is rarely compromised due to an overload of frequency, which is, in my opinion, what overtrains most 30+ lifters the fastest.

One other thing we do though is place a Light Squat or Squat Variation on most every deadlift day for a medium amount of volume and intensity so that the lift doesn’t detrain.  I also place a Deadlift variation (stiff legs, snatch grip, etc) on most squat days, also at a moderate volume/intensity to preserve performance on that lift as well.

This means that lifters will perform high-stress Squat and Deadlift workouts 3 times every 2 weeks with a continuous fluctuation in the exact nature of that stress.

In my opinion this is probably the number one way to avoid stagnation in your lifting without continual resets or switching to a new program every few months.

If this type of programming sounds like what you might need, you might consider giving my Online Coaching Club a try.