does anyone have any experienc with German Volume Training?

[appleton111]

Does anyone have any experience with traditional German Volume Training and had great results. Who else has tried this?

 

[catalyst]

Tried it about a dozen years ago in the off season (I am a powerlifter, and took a break for a bit). Gained a bit of size, but no increase on my bench or deadlift maxes, squat actually got a little worse.

 

[Thorfinn]

Depends on how you employ it and what you want out of it... lower reps higher load (less volume too) for strength gains and higher reps lower load ( more volume) for mass gains. It tends to get boring but, it works great for me... Example, I will dump pull-ups quite often for 3-9+ months and after this long layoff I usually can only do 8 pretty strictly but, after 1-2 months of GVT (10+ sets of 2-6 reps) I usually can get ~20+ reps. I use a bastardized version for bench press as my first four sets are warm-ups example: 135x10r x 2s, 185 x 5r x 2s, 235 x 5r x 2s, 255 x 5r x 1s, 275 x 5r x 1s, 285-305 x 5r x 1s, 255-265 x 5-7r x 1s = 10 sets but, first four are warm-ups... I do this 2x per week but, adjust working sets intensity depending how I feel. It is no good to go full bore all the time... Every three to four weeks I do 235 for all sets (both workouts) and tend to add a few sets if all is going well. I'm making good progress on this routine as I started with 265 x 3r as my max but, it has taken 4 months too.

If you use it for DL I would never go above 2 reps and you want that last set to be well within limits. Squats I like no more than 5 reps and again make sure you are training well within your limits so the last set you are not straining too much. Say keep intensity ~80%. Just my opinion though.

I never really go for size...

 

[zedhed]

You may wanna check out Vince Girondas 10x10. That was actually the precursor to GVT.

 

[olddawg]

done it before with some good results for the short time doing it. You need an iron will, a partner to push you would be a good idea.