Bodybuilding Advice: Junk Volume is a Waste of Time
Those extra sets might be setting you back more than you realize.
“Working out” is a bad phrasal verb.
It implies work, which means different things for people. For some it’s sitting around and getting by, while others think of work as a hard and painful experience.
Work is supposed to be painful, excruciating, and stressful.
This latter form of thinking is a trap that sounds like this:
“Those sets felt easy so I should do more sets until I’m sore”.
If you’re anything like me, you want your body to burn. You want to feel the tissue tearing, joints popping, and blood rushing to your muscles.
It’s the rush of being alive that keeps us strange creatures in the gym. But I’m going to tell you that you’re doing something wrong and you won’t like me anymore.
Your Extra Sets Add Up to Junk Volume…
It’s exactly how it sounds. You are wasting your time by doing more sets than you need to.
Your muscles can only tear or start the building process in a certain amount on any given training session day, meaning that once you go past this point you are only risking soreness and injury.
Who has ever heard someone say?
“I work my legs out all the time but they don’t want to grow.”
It isn’t only legs but any muscle group or muscle. People who workout in excess are preventing muscle tissue from growing.
They probably aren’t eating right either. Your body needs the right food and nutrients to grow.
How Does Junk Volume Harm Muscle Growth?
“Junk volume, or waste volume, is any extra training done for a muscle group that has already been stimulated sufficiently to maximize the anabolic pathways. Sets done after this point have little to no additive effect to your gains and simply eat into your ability to recover.” — Tom MacCormick
Anabolic pathways are basically the building-up process of creating bigger molecules from smaller molecules. This is the process of creating muscle over time through stress and recovery.
Training is needed, Time is key.
You cannot force your body into building more than is natural or possible.
Your body can only be torn-up to a certain point. Overdoing the exercises only leads to soreness and fatigue.
This is when people are too sore to workout for a couple days or a week.
Figuring Out the Optimal Amount of Sets and Reps
The difficult and good thing about humans beings are their differences and talents.
One of these talents is our genetic makeup, where some people can build muscle and recover faster. Some people can grow much, much more.
This can either be a curse or good thing, but people need to realize that some people are just giant, muscular freaks.
This is why finding an “optimal” amount of sets and reps for each exercise is difficult. There are also other factors to consider, such as how you feel or perform during a certain day.
Have you kept up with all your macros? (Water, Carbohydrates, Fats, Protein)
All these slight differences, including sleep, affect our ability to push and our body’s ability to process anabolic processes and growth.
This is why consistency and good habits will allow for better and quicker results.
What Experts Say is the Optimal Range
“Current research indicates that anything between three to 10 sets per body part, per session, is sufficient to maximize MPS.” — Tom MacCormick
This range sounds ridiculous but it’s actually better to have this broad range when we examine this information.
Jeff Nippard also shares similar information about “junk volume” and an optimal range, and he sticks around the 6-set range, which agrees with MacCormick’s information.
This 6-set is for every muscle group, for every individual training day. It’s actually a large amount of working sets once we analyze a simple training day.
My Own Experience and Routine With the “No Junk” Mindset
“Effective volume is the amount of training that maximally stimulates the anabolic processes. In research, muscle protein synthesis (MPS), is used as a proxy for muscle growth. So, effective volume is the minimum amount of work required to maximize MPS.” — Tom MacCormick
(Push Day)Training Day With Junk Volume:
- Dumbbell chest press 5 sets(weight going from 10 kg to 40 kg)
- Dumbbell shoulder press 5 or more sets
- Skull crushers 5 or more sets
- Bench press 5 sets (90 kilos times 5)
- Tricep pull rope 5 sets
- Left and right chest pulley (lower) five sets
- Mid delt flys five sets
- Chest machine five sets
- Shoulder press machine five sets
- Dips 30 reps
(Push Day)Training Day Without Junk Volume:
- Dumbbell chest press
- Dumbbell shoulder press
- Skull crushers
- Bench press
- Tricep pull rope
- chest pulley (lower)
- Mid delt flys
- Chest machine
- Shoulder press machine
- Dips 4 sets of 5
The difference in my training now is that I have a less painful and more focused workout plan. By focused I mean that I am worried about two things.
- Getting a good warm-up in before placing lots of pressure on each muscle group.
- I am chasing after that 2–4 “effective set” range, and where at the end of the training day, I have accumulated at least 6 effective sets for each muscle group.
By looking at my chest exercises, we see that I do: dumbbell chest press, bench press, the chest crossover movement with the pulleys, chest machine, and dips.
Bench press is a controversial exercise that doesn’t maximize chest growth, and so I know that I should try and get at least 2 effective sets from each exercise.
If I made most of my sets hard then I would be overdoing sets by performing “junk volume” sets.
I would also have no idea at what number to aim for. Many train for “feel” when there are too many variables to consider.
I’ve already mentioned macros but what about caffeine. Taking preworkout and not taking it makes a difference in our ability to focus and exert power.
The Verdict that Changes the Game
By having this knowledge of an “optimal range” for sets, we can cut back and save time by understanding that we don’t need all those sets.
This also explains why some people workout for less than an hour and still get amazing results. They don’t have the time to overexert themselves and build soreness and fatigue.
They hit their numbers and move on to the next set.
Through my own experimentation, I’ve been able to lift heavier without feeling exhausted right away.
Working out now feels like I’m building my sets onto each other instead of against each other.
Things to Remember
Do not count your warm-up into these “effective” sets. Your warm-up should have you feeling ready to hold back a bus, but you shouldn’t feel like you’re already tired.
Take deep breaths and don’t stress out about lifting or losing weight. Your body needs time to change and grow.
You don’t need to change everything about your workouts but consider the amount of time you spend at each machine or exercise. Are you overdoing that exercise?
