In the world of strength & conditioning frequency and volume have an inverse relationship. In other words when one goes up the other should come down.
Respecting
this relationship is important to the health and longevity of your
body, shooting for high frequency, high volume workouts is a good way
to grind your body into the ground, deplete yourself of energy and
eventually end up sitting on the side line. At the other end of the scale low frequency, low volume workouts will not get you anywhere fast.
High Frequency, Low Volume Example
This is a good formula to build strength, particularly gymnastic/calisthenic strength skills. It works well because the demanding nature of the more advanced bodyweight exercises means completing a high volume of reps per workout without technique breaking down is tricky. Instead, try practicing the moves using low reps, low sets and long rests. This formula ensure you will retain better form when practising the gymnastic strength skills and means you will have little to no muscle soreness the next day allowing you to jump straight back into another training session.
Pavel Tsatsouline has written an excellent book called ‘The Naked Warrior’ which is devoted entirely to this style of high frequency training, he even takes it a step further and suggests practising multiple times per day always at a sub-maximal volume. The basic theory is the more you practice something the better you get (or the stronger you get!)
Low Frequency, High Volume Example
When looking to enhance body composition, stimulate lean muscle development and burn fat I recommend increasing the volume (more reps, more sets and shorter rest periods.) These requirements will force you to use less demanding exercises/training loads during your workouts in order to maintain quality of movement. Depending on the muscles being worked 8-20 repetitions per set is a good fit. After completing a high volume workout using moderately heavy resistances you will almost certainly need a few days to recover. Trying to do this type of training day after day (i.e. high frequency) is a really bad idea for your health and longevity.
Take Home Message
Work out what you training for and what your time
schedule allows for and adjust the frequency/volume of your training
accordingly! Remember, when one goes up, the other should come down.
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