Hey Jay, I've been doing HIT for some time now. I'm just a recreational lifter, never did serious bodybuilding or any peds.
I'm naturally on the slender side but want to build strength and size. I'm 41 yrs old, 5'7, 155 lbs. I started out only being able to get 4 reps max at my heaviest with 50 lb dumbbells on incline dumbell press.
I know that is embarrassingly light but it was all I could do. I've been doing 2 warm up sets, then going all out with HIT on my heaviest set to failure. I'm now doing 60 lb dumbbells for 9 reps. So strength has gone up with the simple progression each week.
However, I'm here because I think volume training might benefit me more long term and I'd like to switch over to it. I'm just unclear how I should structure it. I read a lot of your material so my understanding is this:
For incline db again as an example, I would likely start off with 2 warm up or feel sets, and then do 4 sets of 8 to 12. So for me it would be 40 lb dumbbells on my first set of 12? I'd have to leave some fuel in the tank for my next sets, right? Is the goal to be around 3 reps shy of failure?
Because then I'd probably use 50 lb dumbbells instead. I'm just unclear on the weight I should be using for this and each set, I need some kind of marker to aim for since I'm not going to failure.
I'd also like to track my progress week after week. Previously with HIT, the tracking was pretty simple. One week I got 60 lbs dumbbells for 6 reps to failure. Next week was 7 to failure. And so forth.
Id just like a way to track my progress and what should I be aiming for. I'm familiar with the volume cycling you talk about like week 1 is 4 sets, week 2 is 5 sets, week 3 is 6 sets, then deload to 3 sets. I guess I'm just not clear on the weights to use.
Thanks a lot Jay.
