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Acceptable amounts of volume

How much is too much/not enough/just right?

jcgadfly
jcgadfly g Jeff Craft
192 Post(s)
192 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: May 5, 2015
Posted

I've been doing a program where I do 4-5 exercises 4x/week. Each exercise has a varying number of sets and reps (3-5 sets 6-14 reps)

lately I've been adding back some 5/3/1 lifts and accessories to build some strength - this brings me up at times to around 50 sets per session.

Is this level of volume too much for this old man? 

Old enough to know better, young enough not to care. I'm an eternal rookie - As soon as I stop learning I start dying.
jmboiardi
jmboiardi p John M Boiardi
2.6K Post(s)
2.6K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: October 10, 2013
Posted
Posted By: jcgadfly

I've been doing a program where I do 4-5 exercises 4x/week. Each exercise has a varying number of sets and reps (3-5 sets 6-14 reps)

lately I've been adding back some 5/3/1 lifts and accessories to build some strength - this brings me up at times to around 50 sets per session.

Is this level of volume too much for this old man? 

Jeff,

 

It depends on what you have made your body adapt to, how much nutritious food and rest you get, and your level of mental focus to push beyond your "perceived" limits. We are the same age and I too train 4 days a week. Each one of my workouts is a minimum of 500 total reps and sometimes 650 across 4 muscle groups and abs. I also do 10-12 minutes of HIIT sprints on the treadmill 3 times a week after each workout. I can say I have no issue with the volume and recover fine. There are times where I need to take an extra day or two and sometimes a week off every so often when my body tells me it needs more rest.

 

The bottom line is the human body can handle quite a bit of volume regardless of age (but relative to age) if given proper nutrients and rest.

 

John

34 years of lifting and nutritional experience and resident "old man" :-) MS Athlete and past Super Hermanite since 2013.
muscular strength
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