Training system | German Volume Training

GERMAN VOLUME TRAINING (GVT) | 10 SETS PER EXERCISE

THE BACKGROUNDS

German Volume Training dates back to the 1970s and was used by German weightlifters to build muscle in the off-season. It was later taken up again in the United States by legendary trainer Vince Gironda and today by the respected strength coach Charles Poliquin and used for supporting athletes. Due to its German roots, the name "German Volume Training" (GVT) was created.

The GVT aims to build muscle as quickly as possible and is aimed primarily at advanced athletes. The system cannot be recommended for beginners because the intensity is too high and there is a very high risk of overtraining.

THE BASIC PRINCIPLES

German Volume Training, which is similar to volume training, is, as its name suggests, about sets and as many of them as possible. The system prescribes ten sets for each exercise, each of which should be performed with ten repetitions. Since this type of training is very hard, but also very effective according to GVT, the training weight should be 60 to 70% of the maximum weight (maximum weight = the weight with which a clean repetition is possible), which corresponds to a moderate range.

A maximum of 2 exercises should be chosen per muscle, one basic and one isolation exercise. The rest time between two sets is prescribed and is one minute. To ensure that this is adhered to correctly, the use of a stopwatch is recommended, which is generally a good idea. If you manage the 10x10 system with a training weight, it should be increased in the next training session, although the increase should be fairly small. Carles Poliquin recommends an increase of just 4 to 5%. Since rapid and maximum muscle building is the main goal, extensive endurance sessions should be avoided.

Each muscle group should only be used once per week and a rest day is prescribed after each training day. If this is not adhered to, muscle growth can stagnate due to fatigue and negate the effect of muscle building. 10 sets per exercise sounds like a lot at first, but this number is put into perspective by the reduced choice of exercises. With 20 sets per muscle, significantly more sets are still completed than is the case with HIT, but fewer than with typical volume training, where more than 30 sets are often done for one muscle. If muscle strength decreases during a set, the training weight should not be reduced under any circumstances, only the repetitions of a set.

The GVT assumes a training period of 6 weeks. Afterwards, it is recommended to continue with conventional muscle building training in the repetition range of 8 to 12 repetitions or to resort to other training methods. This is therefore not a system that claims to enable permanent progress, but is clearly only designed for a limited area, which makes it useful at best for overcoming plateaus.

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Because of its few exercises, the GVT is very simple and clear, but also quite monotonous, which means that motivation quickly disappears. It is also difficult to achieve a holistic strain on an entire muscle with just two exercises. The GVT is not suitable as a long-term training system, but at best as shock therapy to stimulate new growth in the muscles. The GVT is more suitable for weightlifters than for bodybuilders, since for the former group only a few exercises, such as squats, cross-legged raises and bench presses, are important anyway, and so the small number of exercises does not have a negative impact. Since the GVT is neither designed nor suitable for long-term use, it can only be recommended to a limited extent.