The holy trinity of making a program

Every even remotely good exercise program is based on 3 elements which constitute the foundation upon which you make modifications and add details in order to reach optimality. As with anything in the world of fitness, in order for a program to be optimal it has to be individually tailored, so a certain dose of individual variation will always exist. This foundation is made up of: volume, frequency and intensity. This piece will serve as the most basic introduction into these concepts and each of the 3 will get a separate piece because you can find a scenario where each of them is the key for further progress. Not a single one is the most important among them and they are all interdependent. Let us dive into what they are and how they impact one another. 

Volume represents the total work being done which can be calculated by multiplying the number of sets with the number of repetitions and the weight being used. For example, if someone does 3 sets of 6 reps with 100 kg on the bench press, we get the volume 3x6x100 = 1800. Please note that this is actually not the best way to define volume, but more on that in one of the future texts. Obviously, volume will increase if we add reps, sets or if we keep the reps and the sets the same but increase weight. More on weight increases in the part on intensity. In the paragraph below, we will discuss the relationship between volume and frequency.

Frequency is basically the number of times you go to the gym in a microcycle (in a week or in a period of 8,9 or 10 days, depending on how the program is set up). Before we continue talking about frequency, let us deal with the elephant in the room – volume increases if we increase frequency. Sticking to the example above, if someone does the bench workout of 3x6x100 = 1800 on Monday and Wednesday and then adds another session on Friday, the volume will obviously increase. The main thing to remember about frequency is that both practice and the scientific literature have conclusively shown that hitting a muscle group once per week is less effective than multiple times per week. This makes sense if you apply basic logic, imagine doing one giant workout in which you do all of your sets and reps for each muscle group and all of that with the adequate weight needed to stimulate growth. That workout would, in all likelihood, be too long and there is a chance that you would not recover from such exertion. Extrapolating from that, you should hit each muscle group at least twice a week, so stay away from gym “scientists” who claim that you should do a muscle group per workout (“bro split” – Monday chest, Tuesday back, Wednesday legs, Thursday shoulders and Friday arms before you go out clubbing). Needless to say, this type of training will yield results, but for the majority of the population it will be significantly better to train each muscle group at least twice in a week. It is expected that frequency goes down if you increase the volume in a session because it will simply be harder to recover and go to the gym again.

Intensity represents the load on the bar. Simply put, it is the weight you lift. Let us take a look at the bench example again, if we increase the weight to 150 kg, the trainee will probably have to decrease the number of repetitions. Say that is now 3 reps, so he does 3x3x150 = 1350. That means that with increased weight the person will have to add an additional set of 3 reps to match the previous volume (4x3x150 = 1800). Why is this important? Simply because total volume, along side progression, is the most important factor for long-term hypertrophy. If you increase intensity, the volume will likely go down and it will be harder to recover from heavier weights which means that you have to manipulate frequency.