Philip Pape 0:01

Happy Tuesday everyone . This is another bonus episode , and today is election day here in the US , where lots of us have an important choice to make . But I'm not talking about politics today , don't worry . I did want to get your attention , but mainly to distract you from the politics and talk about a different , important choice outside of the voting booth , and I'm talking about a decision for your training and for growing big and strong , for growing muscle and improving your fitness , and that is the age old debate of volume versus intensity , Something I've been thinking a lot about lately , as I recently started a new training program myself and I'm also now in a bulking phase , and there's a lot of debate as to the best approach . Right , Because we have individuals at different training levels , different goals , and also what you've done in the past should inform what you do next , because there is a history component , an adaptation component to it . That's important , and so let's talk about the two options here . You know , as if they were candidates in an election .

Philip Pape 1:01

But in one corner there is volume . Volume meaning work , more reps , more sets . You know kind of the long game of getting a lot of tonnage in your workouts , which can be brutal for some people , but it can also be a massive stimulus for growth . And so volume is really about putting in steady work , building up that base of strength , laying down a foundation , having a skill component to your lifts by exposing your body to the movement patterns time and time again , and it's how you get that . Um , you know , brick lane approach to muscle growth , the kind of boring but frequent and uh , work centered approach , if you will . So that's volume , just to simplify it . Then , on the other corner , we have intensity , Intensity meaning weight on the bar , right Fewer reps , heavier weights , sometimes maxing out , sometimes getting close , working in that high percentage of your max , and also trying to increase the weight on the bar . And it is really about expressing strength and showing what you're capable of at that peak , that capacity , and hitting those top-end lifts to use what you've built to express power and strength .

Philip Pape 2:17

And so the question is which is better ? And of course I think you know my answer it doesn't come down to one or the other , does it ? And it'd be great if politics could work that way , if we could all just get along . But you know it doesn't work that way . And so , when it comes to volume versus intensity , I think the best result comes from knowing when to shift gears between them , sometimes when to blend them across weeks or blocks or cycles of your training , or even uh phases of your training . When we talk about multiple uh blocks strung together , and also what I alluded to before , which was it matters what you just did , it matters where you've come from , because if you're doing the same thing over and over again , that itself can cause stagnation and plateauing and and and prevent you from being able to make progress . And this is where variety itself not for its own sake , but variety for mixing up the stimulus and allowing you to re-attack something that is somewhat detrained in you , whether it's volume or intensity can be a really powerful approach .

Philip Pape 3:22

And again , that's what I've been thinking about a lot lately , because I , for example , have not focused a lot on going after peak strength on my main lifts in quite a while for different reasons , Part of it being I recovered from surgery and I didn't want to , you know , injure myself again . But for whatever reason , I have gone through a period where I focused on more on muscle mass and hypertrophy and using top sets , back offsets , things like that , and now I want to cycle into a period of volume followed by intensity , with a very deliberate approach to push up my main lifts squat , deadlift , press overhead and this also keeps things fresh . It keeps them sustainable , as in , you're going to keep wanting to go to the gym , You're not going to feel discouraged . You're not going to get tired of just doing fives all the time . Fives . You're not going to get tired of the same rep ranges or the exact same programming . And just because you are sick of doing the same thing over and over again , because it barely gets you results , doesn't mean someone can criticize you or judge you for that and say well , do you just need to grind it out ? You just need to push it through Like that's . Your problem is you're not sticking with it . No , I'm talking about the person listening here who is really good at sticking with something for weeks at a time , making progress , and then realizes that there is some value to switching to something else for a while , to kind of cycle through that building of base and peak performance , and then your body gets the best of these different amazing worlds of strength training that foundation and then the peak and expressing that foundation .

Philip Pape 4:58

So what's the takeaway here ? The winning choice is a balance and also rotation between the things that are going to make you grow the most right now for this cycle . This block , this phase , Whether it's volume , intensity or some combination of the two . You can use them together . Do not fall into a camp , Do not fall into the fallacy that one is superior to the other . It's all going to depend on context , your own history , where you are right now , what your goal is , so that you can keep growing and stop hitting these walls and stop failing reps in the gym , because that is not the goal of training is to fail reps , it's to execute and actually proceed .

Philip Pape 5:35

And when you're working in the gym because that is not the goal of training is to fail reps , it's to . It's to execute and actually proceed . And when you're working in the volume range , that's going to be submaximal , that's not going to be cranking out one RMs all the time . When you're working in , you know strength or peak or intensity phase , the goal then is to express and increase that weight on the bar . So cast your vote for the smart strategy , the one that adapts and moves with you , and then get out there and vote for gains . And let's get stronger together and just show up like , just show up to the voting booth of strength and you're going to get there and stick with me as we do that . Thank you for listening to wits and weights . If you're voting today , um the all I can say is enjoy , enjoy it , enjoy the entertainment and , um , good luck . Okay , We'll talk to you next time here on wits and weights .