New Approaches: German Volume Training
The great thing about creating your own training program is that you can try new techniques to see how your body responds. One thing about our bodies that is really great is its ability to adapt to the environment. In the training realm, this can be positive or negative. In an effort to gain more muscle, or shock the system, sometimes we have to try something new. Since December, I have been doing the typical 5-6 day training split and usually sticking to one or two body parts during each session. My rep ranges are anywhere from 6 up to 15. This is 5 months of the same type of training. Lately, I have started to feel like I needed a change. Not just for physical stimulation but for my mental sanity as well! Even though I am training for another show, weight lifting is something I plan to do for life. If I want to keep going, I have to try new approaches. Bodybuilders tend to get stuck in their ways and don’t try new ways of training. But, when you think about athletes of various sports and the way they train, you can clearly see that there are many ways to elicit muscle growth. Athletes may do some bodybuilding work or they may do full body splits. Crossfit Athletes do a lot of power work and Olympic lifts and they have amazing bodies. The same applies for track and field athletes.
So…change is good. This morning I tried my first training session of German Volume Training. After thorough research, I figured out how to implement this into my regimen for the next 5 weeks. I even read an article about a figure competitor who trained this way during the first part of her prep. Several bodybuilders have used this technique as well. The plan is to lift only 3-4 days per week but that is all you need because it is so intense. In my plan, I pick 2 body parts to train in one session only using 4 exercises. BUT, I perform 2 of the exercises using 10 reps for 10 sets. That is 100 reps! It seems easy at first but once you get to the 4th or 5th set it is extremely challenging. You cannot use heavy weight…maybe use about 65% of your max. I add in a couple of auxiliary exercises with fewer sets to finish.
I am writing this post at 10 am…I worked out five hours ago at 5am…and as the time goes on, I am getting sorer! I have not been this sore in a while. I see why you can only do 3 or 4 days a week. Your body couldn’t handle more. I have also changed up my cardio routine. I can’t do a lot of drawn out cardio with this type of training. I am sticking with short, high intensity circuits, sprints, and spin class a few times a week. After these five weeks, I will be off of the GV training and will add a bit more cardio to tighten up in the last month before the show.
I am looking forward to trying more training styles in the future and learning how my body responds to each one. 9 weeks to go until show time!
“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” – Henri Bergson
Ms Bliss Fit 