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Volume is a term used in weight training to define the amount of work done, like the number of repetitions (reps) done on a particular exercise. Gains, on the other hand, refer to the physical outcome of working out. Weight is self-explanatory: it’s an object for building strength or gains.
How Volume Affects Gains
Volume is a major component in muscle gains or hypertrophy and helps to build endurance, too. It's easily one of the best methods to progress in your weightlifting or bodybuilding journey and promote hypertrophy goals.
In terms of endurance, volume is key, as you need to work the muscles to exhaustion to build tolerance. The same tactics carry into cardiovascular endurance. For instance, if you are a dead lifter, working higher volumes will prompt your lungs and heart to work even harder. Over time, the body adapts to this volume, indicating cardiovascular endurance and fitness.
To Lift Heavy or Light?
The debate between higher volume and lower weight and lower volume and higher weight has endured for as long as the cereal before or after milk argument. And we are here to put it to rest.
Whether you are a weightlifter or bodybuilder using steroids Canada to build muscle mass, what you lift and how much of it is lifted plays a role in the level of gains you can muster. On their own, anabolic
steroids mimic the effect of testosterone, helping to boost muscle growth and development if the naturally occurring former is incapable of providing desired effects. A study on the effect of volume and weights on gains found that low weights and higher volume are just as capable as higher weights and lower volume.
The research, one of several, conducted at McMaster University in Ontario found that fatigue is the biggest player in deciding gains. As long as you work the muscles to exhaustion, higher or lower weights don’t matter.
These findings were derived from studying 49 men around the age of 23. The participants were split into two groups and made to do a total-body resistance training spanning 12 weeks. The higher volume low weight and low volume higher weight groups lifted to fatigue, each performing four exercises, including machine-guided shoulder press and knee extension, barbell bench press, and inclined leg press.
When the study wrapped up in 12 weeks, the authors studied the participants for muscle mass growth, finding that both put on the same amount of gains in terms of size and strength. The only notable difference was among the lower volume group for bench pressing.
The study concluded that the equal weight gains revealed that total volume is all that counts in the end, as long as muscles are duly fatigued.
What Does it Mean for Lifters and Bodybuilders?
The fact that weights are not the primary markers for gains is good news, particularly for groups that aren’t yet prepared for the heavy weights or are incapable of pulling them off.
It also presents good advice for lifters, bodybuilders, and trainers who believe that heavier weights are key to gains and push themselves or others in that direction. It also encourages older groups and people with injuries or joint problems to still exercise.
This lot often doesn't think working out is for them anymore. But learning that lower weight and higher reps can also lead to muscle gains could be music to their ears.
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