Originally Posted by Darkhorse

Good grief.. High volume routines straight from Arnold's Encyclopedia is the LAST thing 80% of the population needs.



Listen, the human body adapts to a certain rep range in as little as six workouts. Using a pyramid scheme (15,10,8,6,6,3) is extremely suboptimal for naturals given that it's way too difficult to be progressive vs. keeping it static. "Shocking" your muscles is an old school train of thought. High volume routines work extremely well for pro's for the obvious reasons (supplement cabinets, genetics, super supps). You can throw all the volume you want at the problem, but that's a finite solution. The only infinite solution is obviously LOAD. If I take 10 twins, and put them all on that five day split, 2 of them at best would see some gains. If I take those same 10 twins, put them on a protein intake of twice their bodyweight, and bring their squat up 50 lbs, bench 30, and deadlift 100 lbs using LESS days in the gym, and MORE reliance on strength, guess how many see muscle mass? My point is trying to do 15 sets per bodypart is something that's YEARS down the line as it's primarily for weak points (if any) vs. 0-5 years hands down. I myself am up through 257 lbs currently, natural, and hitting the gym a grand total of 3 days per week. More is almost never better.