Allistic
Iron
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2026
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you often hear lots of individuals in the weight lifting community talking about how low volume training is idea for muscle growth and strength, but is this really the truth?
well when you dive into this, you need to consider mechanical tension and systemic fatigue, every set of an exercise you do creates two competing internal environments
-hypertrophic stimulus
-neuromuscular fatigue
as in the name, hypertrophic stimulus is essentially the signal for your muscles to hypertrophy (grow). the reason many vouch for high volume training is that it gives your muscles a high rate of MPS (muscle protein synthesis), though they fail to address the negative effects in high volume training. the main issue in high volume training is that eventually you hit a ceiling where the metabolic stress (which is a buildup of lactate and hydrogen ions in your body) creates dehabilitating amounts of cellular damage, more than your body can repair (unless artificially assisted, usually through the use of steroids and amino acids) which is why for the average person, you will reach a state of functional overreach. this is where the training would basically become irrelevant. those who advocate for low volume training often use this as a way of supporting their training habits, but forget to address the other rampant issues with low volume training
-low MPS
-sharp, short lived spikes in muscle synthesis
-lack of metabolic stress and sarcoplasmic expansion
these both hinder low volume training, they don’t leave it useless, but it leaves the question. what really is optimal for muscle growth then?
medium volume training is the best, its ability to provide constant progressive overload and MPS while avoiding the constant drawbacks of low volume training attest to it as the best way of training. it allows us to maximize mechanical tension without exceeding the limits of your recovery, helping us avoid CNS, and grow more muscle.
well when you dive into this, you need to consider mechanical tension and systemic fatigue, every set of an exercise you do creates two competing internal environments
-hypertrophic stimulus
-neuromuscular fatigue
as in the name, hypertrophic stimulus is essentially the signal for your muscles to hypertrophy (grow). the reason many vouch for high volume training is that it gives your muscles a high rate of MPS (muscle protein synthesis), though they fail to address the negative effects in high volume training. the main issue in high volume training is that eventually you hit a ceiling where the metabolic stress (which is a buildup of lactate and hydrogen ions in your body) creates dehabilitating amounts of cellular damage, more than your body can repair (unless artificially assisted, usually through the use of steroids and amino acids) which is why for the average person, you will reach a state of functional overreach. this is where the training would basically become irrelevant. those who advocate for low volume training often use this as a way of supporting their training habits, but forget to address the other rampant issues with low volume training
-low MPS
-sharp, short lived spikes in muscle synthesis
-lack of metabolic stress and sarcoplasmic expansion
these both hinder low volume training, they don’t leave it useless, but it leaves the question. what really is optimal for muscle growth then?
medium volume training is the best, its ability to provide constant progressive overload and MPS while avoiding the constant drawbacks of low volume training attest to it as the best way of training. it allows us to maximize mechanical tension without exceeding the limits of your recovery, helping us avoid CNS, and grow more muscle.
