Nice Biceps

Question: When training for strength what’s more important, volume or intensity?

Answer: In general, a beginner will need more volume at a lower intensity. This is because a beginner will be able to make gains in strength and hypertrophy using higher reps. This is more efficient and safer than maxing out all the time. Now when I say a higher volume, this doesn’t give you license to spend 3 hours in the weight room. It simply means that he is going to perform a workout with a smaller percentage of his max and his target reps are going to be higher.

As one becomes an intermediate, the intensity becomes more of a factor. As an advanced lifter, someone that has been training at a high level for a long period of time, he needs to regulate his training so that his volume is high enough to maintain his potential but low enough for recovery.

This gets kind of complicated, but understand that a high level athlete (of any sort) can’t be on overdrive the entire time. He needs to idle and then bring up his intensity. The problem, and the hardest thing to do in sports, is figuring out how high or low to idle.

99% of people in the world won’t have to worry about this, but this gives you an understanding of the training process.

In regards to volume and intensity, the two problems that most often see is this:

• Beginners use all intensity (maxing out) and little volume.

• Intermediate lifters using all volume (doing nothing less than 10 reps) and no intensity.