Probably best to first discuss the various problems with extremely, extremely high frequency (Bulgarian sucks!!
1) It's more likely you'll get overuse injuries from this than high volume. It takes awhile for tissue to increase elasticity during a workout. That's great for muscle microtrauma; that's bad for your tendons and ligaments.
2) Anytime you significantly increase sarcomere disruption, you're also frying the E-C system, which prevents you from training frequently.
3) The more often you train, the more likely you'll reach systemic overtraining (namely, elevated cortisol levels.)
4) The metabolic work initially creates a negative net effect between protein synthesis and protein breakdown. Performing one curl set every 60-90 minutes would not significantly dampen protein synthesis levels in the biceps. Deadlifting every hour could effectively lower protein synthesis rates altogether.
5) Even everyday training will boost daily BMR significantly as well as deplete glycogen stores rather quickly. Going twice-a-day training, which is not unusual for collegiate sports as well as pro, requires major caloric intake. If you're not doing that, high frequency will kill ya.
6) It's mentally exhausting. Have YOU tried Poliquin's one-day arm cure?
7) Finally, the sheer amount of loading you impose on a muscle, be it from volume or frequency, eventually increases RBE more. I feel that whatever frequency you do (same with volume for a bodypart), you want to try to mantain it or something near it.
Advantages to bleeding edge frequency (Bulgarian rawks!!
1) Summation effect. This can be minimally met by switching between morning and evening 3x-a-week workouts. Again, this is really the most basic and effective optimization technique you can do for your HST routine.
2) Acute effects from each workout. Temporarily higher IGF-1, testosterone, etc. responses will usually overcome elevated cortisol levels.
3) More potential loading due to better managed CNS. Obviously, it's easier to split up 10 sets into 2 consecutive days than to do all of them at once.
4) More acute effects of loading per set. I tend to feel that more microtrauma is generated from, say, 10 sets of a load spread over one day (i.e. Poliquin Arm cure) than 10 sets performed contiguously for a bodypart (Poliquin GVT.)
5) Increasing volume or frequency will make your sets more amenable to sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.
6) Better nutrient partioning effect.
7) If you take two workouts with the same volume and the same caloric bulking diet, the more frequent one will create less "wasted calories" (less fat) and perhaps facilitate more efficient upload of glycogen than the less frequent one.
8) Training twice a day -- be it a split, full-body, or whatever -- can be a surreal experience. You become your workout, mate.
Specific questions:
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]How does this affect RBE?
Any increase in your loading parameters (volume, frequency, weight) will ultimately increase RBE; in a sense, RBE is the success and minimal standard of your exercise. The relationship between stimulating muscle damage and the RBE is a feedback loop whose
net effect becomes more pronounced over a time-lapse. Because RBE has relatively fixed time-lapse adaptations (RBE can have a more pronounced effect but -- for the sake of our training system -- it doesn't occur "faster" or have "shorter" periods), high frequency will still let you train
ahead of those adaptations, and to change up your progressive load as often as you would on a regular program. The problem, IMO, then is about mantaining that frequency (as well as other loading parameters) in order to fight off the more marked degree of RBE manifest. If you were to train, say, 12-x-a-week, then switch to 3x-a-week, you may have to use much larger load increments to compensate. As with any strategy you apply to HST, you want to establish a control of all other variables whereby progressive load becomes your only significant dynamic variable. That leads to . . .
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]How and when do you schedule rest days?
Most practical is probably 3x-a-week, two-a-day. This covers the summation effect, gives you more rest days to recuperate, and enables better glycogen replenishment. However, one should probably at least eat 1000-1500 calories above maintenance during their two-a-days. If a person is training once everyday, then they should consider looking at a daily 750-1000 caloric surplus, at least through the 10s and 15s. And if you go for the Bulgarian blaze of glory with 10-12x-a-week training, may Allah and 1500 calories be with you!!
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Knowing that frequency helps regulate volume, how do you control volume?
I feel frequency always has precedence over volume; however, I don't look at volume until the end of your routine. Below entails my high-level thinking into workout planning and how it relates to volume and frequency..
Exercise selection has first priority.
1) You select your compound movements according to bodypart coverage and isolation movements which are the primary bodypart exercises.
2) You then consider isolation movements with stretch-point characteristics. Both this and the following step fall out of the scope of your inquiry -- but, more often than not, you will simply choose a few movements for specific bodyparts rather than pick a whole fleet of single-joint exercises.
3) You finally consider isolation movements with peak-contraction characteristics.
4) Try not to choose more than 20 exercises for your routine. If you do, consider a split.
The key thing here is that frequency and volume doesn't really figure into the total # of exercises in your routine. It's really about familiarity, preference, and priorities. Some people will prefer a basic core routine; others will have a lot of specialization. There are good reasons for both, but ultimately you shouldn't let frequency or # of sets/exercise figure into your thinking.
Having set up your routine, then you look at what would be the most frequent and feasible schedule. In order of preference . . .
1) Every other day training at about the same time. (Least effective)
2) Every other day training with alternating AM/PM scheduling. You'll get a summation effect.
Note: Most trainees will want to achieve at this level regardless of their exercise selection. Therefore, if you have too many exercises to prevent you from training often enough for the summation effect, you'll want to back track the exercises until you can achieve at least this level. That is the big exception for workout planning.
3) 5-6x-a-week, every day training. You may get an enhanced summation effect as well as increased loading.
4) 3x-a-week, two-a-day training. Same as 3) plus better management of CNS and metabolic resources.
5) 10-12x-a-week training.
6) Ultra-high frequency bodypart specialization.
7) Lance's IV drip fantasy.
(Most effective?)
Finally, having set up your frequency, you look at additional volume. You consider that you would want to at least mantain either a constant or increasing # of sets throughout your HST cycle. If you start with 2 sets for 15s, you want to mantain at least 2 sets for 10s and 5s. Fatigue management strategies are out of the scope of your inquiry, but I argue that you never, before this stage, consider the # of sets you ultimately want to hit the bodypart. Volume comes last. The reasons ultimately point to sacroplasmic vs. sarcomere hypertrophy, which is another discussion.
cheers,
Jules
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