**Hey - many naturals are training w/ a frequency and volume that would put even the most gifted pros on steroids in the ground.
SHould lift less often than the guys that are gassed.
Many young guys would gain MORE if they figured out - HOW LITTLE THEY CAN WORKOUT AND STILL MAKE GAINS! Yes the Gym is a fun place to go, but if the point is to git big and strong as you can, staying out of the gym longer will do many good.
its not as simple as that. in bodybuilding the pendulum often swings too far...wether its john defendis crazy volume training ("intensity or insanity") or some extreme abbreviated "hittish" routine.....
many people who are into low volume and heigh intensity often say "less is more" etc...i dont agree 100% with this..
i think loading is a very important factor to make a muscle grow..certainly more important than going to failure. Going to failure too much will reduce the amount of sets you do, and thus reduce potential muscle growth. Im not saying train like a pussy with super light weights....im saying stop 1-2 reps before failure inorder to keep CNS fresh and to be able to do more sets. Certainly no forced reps (only very very rarely when "shocking" the body)
Training volume is also something that needs to be varied, sometimes higher sometimes lower, and the human body can gradually adapt to more volume (which is necessary as the human body needs increased loading as the bodybuilder gets more advanced and ads more muscle).
The training frequency is also often too low in abbreviated routines....if volume goes down it has to for a reason..and one of those reasons should be increased frequency.
if you like working out doing 25sets per body part, your probably not gonna be able to do work that body part (directly) 2 times a week. In theory tho..i think its probably better to work a muscle group more frequently , like 2 times a week, but you have to pay more careful attention to volume (the margin for error is smaller). At the same time i dont believe in the extreme frequency routines like working all muscle groups 4-5 times a week, because inorder to do that you will have to cut volume per session to a ridiculously low level. Those who are doing these extremely high frequency workout are doing full body splits out of necessity because otherwise the volume would become much too high. Full body workouts are not good for bodybuilding..too few exercises per body part and too low volume per body part (per session). I think there has to be a compromise between frequency and total weekly volume, thats why i say something like working a muscle twice a week should work very well, with a volume of maybe 8-12 sets or so. Remember to avoid failure, and all movements should be smooth and controlled and the training should be pretty fast paced.
