The Science of Body Metamorphosis
- About Us
- Articles
- Can Calcium and Vitamin D Help Reduce Fat Gain?
- Coaching Clients With Obesity Course
- Do Dietitians Accurately Report Their Food Intake?
- Eat Slow, Eat Less
- Fat Loss
- FREE Research Reviews!
- General Guidelines for Training Programs
- Get Access to the Weightology Archives!
- How Successful Are U.S. Citizens at Maintaining Long-Term Weight Loss?
- Increasing Protein, or Decreasing Carbohydrate…Which Gives You a Metabolic Advantage?
- Insulin, an Undeserved Bad Reputation: The Biggest Insulin Myth, Continued…
- Insulin, An Undeserved Bad Reputation: The Finale
- Insulin…an Undeserved Bad Reputation
- Insulin…Still an Undeserved Bad Reputation After 10 Years
- Insulin: An Undeserved Bad Reputation, Part 2
- Insulin: An Undeserved Bad Reputation, Part 3…MOOOOO!!!!
- Insulin: An Undeserved Bad Reputation, Part 4: The Biggest Insulin Myth of Them All
- Insulin: An Undeserved Bad Reputation, Part 5: Addressing the Critics
- Is High Fructose Corn Syrup Worse Than Regular Sugar?
- Jello to Rid the Jiggles? The Effects of Gelatin on Weight Maintenance
- Latest Content
- Miscellaneous Articles
- Muscle Gain
- Omron Exam: How Accurate Are These Pedometers?
- Online Coaching
- Physical Activity and Weight Regain
- Podcast Appearances
- Protein Before Or After Your Workout?
- Shop
- Sitting Too Much May Be Hazardous to Your Health
- Snooze to Lose
- Speed Eating: Do You Feel Less Full?
- Test Menu
- Testing the Phillips DirectLife Accelerometer
- Thank you!
- The Pitfalls of Body Fat “Measurement”, Part 3: Bod Pod
- The Pitfalls of Body Fat “Measurement”, Part 5: Skinfolds
- The Pitfalls of Body Fat “Measurement”, Part 6: Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA)
- The Pitfalls of Body Fat “Measurement”, The Final Chapter
- The Pitfalls of Body Fat “Measurement”: Part 1
- The Pitfalls of Body Fat “Measurement”: Part 2
- The Pitfalls of Bodyfat “Measurement”, Part 4: Bioelectrical Impedance (BIA)
- The Use of Weighted Apparel During Contest Prep: The Science and Practical Application
- The Weightology Archives
- Thinking Better, Part 1: The False Dichotomy
- Thinking Better, Part 2: Confirmation Bias
- Thinking Better, Part 3: Non Causa Pro Causa
- Thinking Better, Part 4: The Straw Man
- Thinking Better, Part 5: The Ad Hominem
- Weightology Archives Terms & Conditions
- Weightology LLC Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy
- What’s In the Weightology Research Review?
- Why Is It So Easy To Regain Weight?
- Speaking
- Testimonials
- Contact
- How Much Do Variations in Physiological Testosterone Matter To Your Gains?
- Periodization / Variation in Repetition Ranges for Muscle Size: Your Complete Evidence Based Guide
- Set Volume for Muscle Size: The Ultimate Evidence Based Bible
- Training Frequency for Hypertrophy: The Evidence-Based Bible
- Post-Exercise Energy Expenditure, Part 4: The Effect of Low Volume Weight Training
- Post-Exercise Energy Expenditure, Part 6: The Effect of Weight Training Volume
- Research Review: How Much Does Weight Training Help With Fat Loss?
- Research Review: Intermittent vs. Continuous Calorie Restriction for Fat Loss
- Why Do Meal Replacements Work?
The updates are really impressive. This is the best content on training volume I have seen, you break down and explain the data very well. Thanks so much James.
Thank you Valdes!
Hello James,
Very nice work from you to summarize and analyze all of those data.
I have some questions about low responders and highly responders. As a coach those profiles could be challenging. Are their any studies about them ?
I don’t think so, but i must be really curious to see how high responders to low volume will react exposed to high volume. My intuition is that high responders may have increased diminish return but steal doing well on higher volume.
About all volume studies : did they monitor how much sleep (and quality) participant get ?
Unfortunately we don’t have any data that allows us to identify potential high versus low responders.
Most volume studies don’t monitor sleep. But it shouldn’t really matter if there is proper randomization, as sleep quality should be roughly equivalent between groups.
James, you do some seriously great work. Impressive
Thank you Chris!
Excellent review! What about time under tension? How does it affect hypertrophy? Compare e.g. the following two variants of the same exercise:
Variant 1:
1 set
10 reps
9 seconds rep duration
= 90 seconds time under tension
Variant 2:
3 sets
10 reps each
3 seconds rep duration
= 90 seconds time under tension
Let’s assume both variants are done to muscular failure. Which is more effective? Could the longer rep duration of Variant 1 compensate for the lower volume?
Hi, Viktor, TUT can be problematic because it doesn’t consider repetition tempo, which matters. For example, with a 9 second rep duration, you are likely purposely slowing the weight down on the concentric phase, which may in fact cause suboptimal motor unit recruitment. It is also unlikely you would be able to use the same load in the two situations you describe. Personally I think TUT can be a misleading variable if you don’t consider all of the other factors at play. The data tends to favor an explosive concentric (move the weight as fast as possible), and a controlled… Read more »
Unbelievable work, congratulations !!!!
Thank you, Sandro!
Hey james! Just subscribed today to your Research Review and so far managed to read this and your article about Hypertrophic Reps! Had some thoughts about maybe potentially a certain way to program for great hypertrophy in a LONG TERM. So the idea was this, If you were to do the program you wrotedown above , it would be super hard to recover from i would think (i could never do that amount of volume for many weeks before going to far), Your systemic fatique would be so high after just 1 week and after the 2nd i think most… Read more »
Hi, Elias,
Thank you for subscribing!
I think the plan you outline would work very well, and is a much more sustainable way to achieve high volumes per muscle group over an extended period of time. Really, what you outlined is a another form of specialization, similar to how I discussed specialization in the article. The example workout scheme I presented isn’t something that is meant to be done month in and month out; it would be difficult for many people to recover from.
Hello James, (or any other posters). I’m trying to download PDF copies of some of the content to transfer to my Kindle.
But I cannot find any PDF buttons for any of the articles.
I’m terribly inept with computers so I apologize for my ignorance.
Just looking around with no luck after reading “Any written content can be converted to PDF using the PDF Button. Video content can be streamed or downloaded, and PDFs of slides for video content can be downloaded.”
Hi, Chris,
I apologize. I recently moved my site from a Windows to Linux server, and it looks like my PDF plugin got inactivated in the process. I re-activated it. You should see the buttons now.
Ok, I think its an issue with browser choice. I cannot see a PDF button in FireFox nor in Silk browser (Kindle) but I jumped over to Explorer and now I see the button.
Hi James – would wonder if the studies which were examining these 25-47 set volumes are available, or those are unpublished studies themselves?
If they are not available, is data available on the intensities they used and the failure proximity in them?
Thank you!
Two of the three studies involving those volumes are available. They are:
Ostrowski et al, 1997
Radaelli et al, 2015
I discuss both of these in the article.
The third one is unpublished but should be published in the next few months. Intensity was 8-12 RM with all sets to failure.
Awesome work as always! Just curious when you have time to eat, sleep, and train (as well as other biological functions)?
Thank you Robert! It’s not easy finding time, especially with two young kids (4 and 5). I’m perpetually behind!
Hi James! I have two points I’d like to bring up: First, I think one thing many of these studies don’t take into account is the recovery factor. Sure, blasting yourself with 30-45 sets for a muscle group may lead to greater hypertrophy (as you said, likely a dose-response relationship), but in most people (save, Doug Miller lol) that isn’t a sustainable way to train. On average, what is your opinion on an “upper limit” so to speak that most people can recover from for a long period of time. My best guess would be maybe up to 30 weekly… Read more »
Your raise some great points. I’d be very curious as to what James might make of the adaptive resistance theory.
Also, in light of this meta analysis, I’d love if there could be another volume round table discussion involving folks like Bryan Haycock and Borge Fagerli who generally advocate a far lower volume approach.
Thank you Gabriel, that’s very kind of you to say. I agree that a volume roundtable would be awesome in light of this new research; although if I understand Borge Fagerli’s stance correctly, he believes that Brad Schoenfeld, James Krieger, etc. are correct that increases in volume lead to greater hypertrophy but he is just of the opinion that increasing your volume by double/triple/quadruple for an extra 10-20% in gains (zzz lol) isn’t worth it and you are better off just essentially taking a minimalist approach to training (essentially just disagreeing with the dose-response relationship over the long term). This… Read more »
Yes, this is where Borge stands. But the assumption that we see only 10-20% is not what James said. He is saying that it looks more like 50% increase with these volume increases. Which then takes the teeth out of the argument of “just not worth it” mantra.
So yeah, a 10% ROI is questionable, but for me as a BB, that extra 50% is highly coveted.
Hi, Patrick, As I noted in the article, I agree that it’s likely not a sustainable way to train over a very long period of time, and it will also depend upon the muscle group being trained as well as the exercises being used. Even within one particular muscle group, some exercises produce more muscle damage than others (e.g., overhead tricep extension vs. tricep pushdown), and so the volume may need to vary. Also, as I mentioned in the article, the probable best way to achieve very high volumes in a sustainable fashion is through specialization, doing very high volumes… Read more »