If you happen to read through all the blogs and books on this website, you may have noticed that there are a variety of training methods and workouts; some of which may seem to offer contradictory information. This is especially true in regard to whether to include a lot of training volume before reaching your heaviest set (also referred to as your top set), or after reaching your top set.
A Lot Of Warm up Sets
The methods that include a lot of training volume before you reach your top set are usually based on doing a lot of warm up sets with a lot of reps before reaching your heaviest set.
Minimal Warm Up Sets
The methods that emphasize the accumulation of training volume after reaching your top set generally consist of a minimal warm up that leads up to a top set. After doing your top set, the weight is decreased in order to do some “back off sets” with lighter weights. The purpose of the back off sets is to provide sufficient training volume for an effective workout.
The Question
Which is the right method? Should you include most of your training volume before you reach your top set, or after? Both methods have produced great lifters.
Those Who Prefer a High Volume of Warm Up Sets
Richard Hawthorne is a world record holder in the deadlift and gets a ton of training volume in by doing up to ten sets before reaching his top set. I refer to this method of working out as “Giant Pyramid Training” (see the home page for a book on Giant Pyramid Training). Eric Spoto is world record holder in the bench press and is another example of a lifter who includes a ton of training volume before reaching his top set.
Those Who Prefer Back Off Sets
There are lifters who prefer a different method. Mike Tuchscherer is an outstanding powerlifter and coach. Sometimes he works up to a top set weight which he then repeats for several sets with the same weight. Other times he works up to a very heavy top set weight and then decreases the weight to do several back off sets for added training volume. either way, he gets most of his training volume in after reaching his stop set weight. Max Aita is another great lifter/coach who seems to prefer this method.
Know Your Personal Training Capacity
Since there are great lifters from both schools of methodology, it’s hard to say whether it is best to get your training volume in before your heaviest set, or after. I have a common belief about both methods; the belief being that you must know your optimum training capacity for sets, reps and training volume. I believe that both methods will work when you take this into account.
Having stated the common link that must be present in order for both types of training to work, one of the main purposes of this article is to say that precision point training makes room for both methods. Precision point training is not a specific predetermined workout, rather it consists of concepts that can be applied to many different types of workouts.
It is possible to include a lot of training volume before you reach your stop set and still finish strong. This would be the ideal within the context of precision point training. However, if you do so many warm up sets that your strength is severely compromised when you finally reach your top set, your training strategy will probably backfire. Likewise, if you do so many back off sets that you are struggling to lift a lighter weight that is normally easy to lift, you are probably overtraining.
It is also possible to under train. For example, if you finish your workout, but you could have done more sets at full strength, you have fallen short of the training capacity that you are capable of regardless of which training method you use.
The Key to Both Methods
When it comes to how you should perform your warm up sets, I know there are times that I warn against wearing yourself out with a lot of warm up sets. This is true of the Strength To The Max books as well as some of the articles on this webiste, but the methods taught in these books include back off sets. If you choose not to do any back off sets, and you have a high capacity for training volume, then you may find it beneficial to do a high volume warm up, which is the basis of the book, Giant Pyramid Training. Whether you prefer to accumulate your training volume before your top set, or after, the key is to train according to your own workload capacity, and to still be close to full strength when you finish working a muscle group. Best of training to you.
Resources and References
Richard Hawthorne, a world record deadlifter, explains his high volume warm up starting at 1:20 into the video.
When watching the following video, notice the massive amount of warm up sets and reps that Eric Spoto does as he works up to his heaviest set.
The Low Volume Minimum Warm up
The Starting Strength Warm up Method is based on using a minimal warm up that does not produce fatigue.
The following link provides a calculator that calculates the poundages for your warm up sets: Warmupreps.com
Repeat Sets and Drop Load Sets
Mike Tuchscherer explains two different types of sets including “repeat sets,” and “drop load sets.” Repeats sets are based on working up to a top weight and repeating several sets with the top weights, thus they are called repeat sets. Drop load sets are based on working up to a top weight for just one set and dropping the amount of weight by 5% for any additional sets. I have been referring to these as “back off sets,” in this article.
Repeat Sets
Drop Load Sets