I have been on the German Volume training now for two weeks and find the soreness unbelievable. My question is for recovery. I find my hamstrings sore after doing quads and then three days later I train hamstrings. Isn’t this overtraining them? Same with chest and delts for my front delts are sore after chest and then we train delts 2 days later. Dont get me wrong for this program is awsome, but is the training split causing overtraining? Diet is not a problem for my protein intake is between 250-300g/day.
Your killing your self with your split.
If your doing ten sets of a compound chest movement, your shoulders are getting plenty of stimulation. Don’t do ten sets for them. Here’s the typical split for GVT:
Day 1: Chest-Back;
Day 2; Legs-hams and quads (try squats and leg curls) with 2-4 sets of 10-12 for calves and abs;
Day 3: off;
Day 4: Arms - Tri’s and Bi’s, if your doing dips here for tri’s your shoulders are getting even more work.
Day 5 and if necessary 6 off.
Also, divide your movements into A1 A2 movements so that you do a set for A1 then a set for A2, resting 90 seconds in between each. You’ll get a better workout trust me.
Hate to burst your bubble but your MUSCLES can recover within 2 hours of training if you eat right and rest. The problem is your BODY and MIND may not recover for days, so you have to evaluate yourself. I’d also stick to the good old stack that helps you recover and build quicker: 2 grams glutamine and 5 grams creatine before and after your workout.
Hate to bust your bubble, Michael, but the last time I checked your MUSCLES were part of your BODY. May I suggest you read Ian King’s book to boost your knowledge of recovery?
A couple things: the amount of protein will not accelerate rcovery faster. Remember its not what you eat but what you assimilate.
- Stick to the program only 2 weeks, in my opinion. -
Mark
Michael, did you mean 2 hours or 2 DAYS for muscles to recover. In most cases, 2 days is not enough!
Mark,
It’s interesting that you say to only train like this for two weeks. I tried the GVT 2000 program exactly the way TC outlined in his article. Day 1 was the most intense quad workout I’d ever had! At the end of the 3rd set I just knew there was no way I’d make it through the workout. But a minute or so later I was right there squating again! Of course I started out with conservative weight and STILL didn’t get 10 reps on every set! But if you can complete all 10 reps for each set then you need to add weight, right?
Well, I did feel stronger on all lifts the second week, but by the start of the third week I felt so overtrained that I had trouble sleeping! This may just be due to the fact that I normally only get 6 hours of sleep ( 6.5-7 if I’m lucky) during the week. But even with 8 hours of sleep I imagine 3-4 weeks would be my max. It’s interesting how inadequate sleep further affects your ability to get adequate sleep!