Volume Training for the Win

Golden Era strong

The school of thought I grew up with consisted of a combination of 1970’s Golden-Era bodybuilding and a crapload of volume. Sure, these guys did some heavy singles, but here’s the thing, the volume lent itself to a crazy level of strength. Franco Columbu competed in powerlifting. Arnold could deadlift 700 pounds and bench 500 pounds. These guys were super strong.

Westside Barbell

Westside Barbell utilizes the Conjugate Method, which means they are working up to a one-rep max on multiple variations. But after that, their volume was absurd. Many people thought that because they looked so much different than bodybuilders, that they weren’t doing any volume. But it’s the opposite, Louie had them doing crazy amounts of volume.

The evolution of volume

It’s evolved as we’ve implemented the Conjugate Method in conjunction with bodybuilding principles. This is how you get the body to change. This is how you force the body to get stronger.

Add in the resistance bands and some of the other stuff, and you become an absolute freak show. Sure, everyone has their starting point, but there are levels to everything. There’s a progression.

Volume stories

I did 800 meters of walking lunges almost every day for a few years straight. I went to a local CrossFit gym to hit a workout, and they had front rack lunge max programmed. Keep in mind, I’ve never done this exercise before. I didn’t even consider maxing out a front rack lunge before. Up to this point, I was doing just 800 meters per day with my bodyweight only.

At this particular time, my bodyweight was sitting around 200-205 pounds and feeling strong and competing at 198. I ended up beating the guy I was working out with. A guy who could clean and jerk 350 pounds. He finished at either 225 or 275 and I finished at 315 pounds. Initially, I was fucking shocked, but as I thought more about it, I wasn’t super shocked anymore because I had been doing so many lunges on a daily basis. The lunge volume was extremely similar to how Arnold and his crew trained.

Don’t be scared

Don’t be scared of the volume. You’re NOT going to get small. You’re going to add muscle. You’re going to get strong. And because I’m jamming so much blood in the muscle in so many different ways, volume is a total win. That’s how and why our bodies look the way they look. This is why I’ll continue to train this way till the day I die.