I read the article on shifting tension and it gave me a lot to think about. I like the idea of constantly rotating my rep ranges and lifting for different purposes week to week. My goals are bodybuilding in nature and one concept that has given me problems has always been volume. What I mean is how should volume change in a plan that focuses say two weeks on higher rep/hypertrophy work and then one week on lower rep strength work. Would benches and squats go from say 310 to 83 keeping the volume and exercises about the same? Furthermore, is lifting to failure advisable during the strength portion?
I’ve done lots of different splits (total body, upper/lower, various 3 and four day splits) and all work pretty well for me. What I want to be sure of is that I’m not doing to much or too little training. Generally, I just lift for 30-45 minutes and get in as many exercises as I can that fit into that days split. I rarely feel sore. I don’t know if I’m going to easy or if I’m training too much despite this.
I’m just looking for some general guidlines regarding volume and/or number of exercises per muscle group. I hear a lot of different things. Four exercises, 3-4 exercises per set, etc.