In VST the recovery time for a muscle is assessed independent of other factors and the recovery time is used to plan the next training session. This moment in time is referred to as the “absolute optimum” time to for restimulation. The absolute optimum time does exist, and VST is the only way to take advantage of this time for every muscle group.  The absolute optimum time is the point in time between the training stimulus (workout) and the return to the homeostatic state (pre-training norm). Each muscle has a point of overcompensation where another bout of training stimuli (workout) should best be planned so your at the top of the training bell curve.  The training stimulus results in a fatigued muscle. For some time the muscle’s output is diminished. Your body will sense this damage and set out to repair the muscle. The effect in response to this damage is for the body to repair the muscle so it’s better then its original condition. This over repair, rebuilding the muscle stronger and bigger is overcompensation. The period of overcompensation will only last about 24-36 hours and then it will slowly return to its homeostatic state. This return to its previous state is called involution, and once back to the original state you have lost the opportunity to take advantage of the overcompensation point. If you hit the muscle at the overcompensation point the muscle will be able to handle a greater load and hence greater gains. If you train before this period you will overtrain and once you have returned to the homeostatic state your back at square one. This window of opportunity VST is the only way to effectively take advantage of this time for every muscle group.

Modern training splits often result in some muscle groups being under trained and others being overtrained. This is the shortcoming of most standard split programs. You end up training at the recovery time of your slowest recovering body part and not when the muscle is at its overcompensation period. If you look at the body as five major muscle groups (chest, shoulders, back, legs and arms) that can leave up to four muscle groups under trained and one trained just right. On most modern splits legs are the slowest recovering body part closely followed by back. The currently popular one muscle per day/per week program takes this leg and back recovery into account and the rest of the program is based on leg and back recovery. On the normal five day split I often find that my legs are properly recovered but I am ready for chest in four days and arms almost every other day. Why? Because larger muscles like legs and back reach deeper muscle fibers and also require more neurological recovery time before the fiber can optimally fire again. Smaller muscles like arms and shoulders recover far more quickly due to less deep fiber stimulation and shorter neuron twigs (neurons have twigs that run along the length of the muscle fiber and branch out through the muscle. Smaller muscles have shorter twigs and fewer neuron requiring shorter recovery periods and fewer sets to stimulate growth) Yes, a case can be made for the involvement of smaller muscle groups when training a larger muscle, for example the triceps involvement in chest work, but these secondary workouts provide only moderate stimuli for growth. Even after a hard back workout to total fatigue the average trainee can do an arm workout well within the normal seven day programmed recovery threshold.  So it your training your legs just enough and your back almost enough why are you training the rest of your body not enough?

The VST program is designed to target the stimulus to the muscle during the period of overcompensation but that point is an individual adaptation and also different for each muscle. The point of overcompensation is affected by age, training age (number of years training) loads placed on the muscle, diet, fast twitch fiber distribution, sheer muscle size and the intensity of the contractions. For simplicity’s sake you can work from shear muscle size and realize a larger muscle requires more recovery then a smaller muscle. I recommend you begin with the recovery of legs and back and work around all other body parts from there. The legs and back can impede growth if trained too often by throwing the body into a catabolic state throughout the body and impede growth.

Now using the seven-day week I would begin by training the legs one day out of seven so leg would be trained once per week. For back I would start with five days between workouts as a minimum. Now most trainees fail to properly stimulate the back when training; however, a properly executed back workout would take six days minimum recover for most. Chest, although smaller then the leg and back group is densely packed and five days between would be a minimum. Shoulders are a smaller group, but over utilized in upper body training so again five days would seem proper for most. Biceps and triceps normally recover in three days and calves and forearms as little as two.

        EFFECT OF THE REPITITION ON MUSCLE FIBER SIZE  

Now that we have our schedule down lets discuss rep and set selection and workout volume. How many reps per set is a highly debated topic. In general most will tell you that the 3-6 ranges will develop strength and some hypertrophy, 7-12 range hypertrophy and 15+ endurance. Before I can recommend my preferred rep range I want to review the muscle cell. A muscle cell is comprised of many different components, each requiring a different form of stress for it to adapt. Each component of the cell makes up the overall size of the cell itself, and ultimately the size of the muscle. Muscle cells are made up of myofibrils, mitochondria, sarcoplasm, capillaries, fat deposits, glycogen, connective tissue and other subcellular substances.  The membrane surrounding the cell is the sarcolemma. Just beneath the sarcolemma are the cell’s nuclei. The fluid inside the cell contains the myofibrils and is the cell’s contractile elements. The fluid is called the sarcoplasm, and is actually a gelatinous protein substance. Tiny organelles called mitochondria are found between the myofibrils and are responsible for oxidative metabolism and production of adrenosinetriphosphate or ATP. Each part makes up an approximate percentage of the cells total size and each has a different method of overload. For example the myofibrils make up 20-30% of a cells size and are overloaded in the 6-12 rep range. The mitochondria make up 15-25% of a cells size and the method of overload is in the 15-25-rep range. The sarcoplasm makes up 20-30% and is worked in the 7-10 rep range and with exocentric training.  Fat deposits, glycogen and other subcellular substances are mostly affected by nutrition and rest factors. The muscle cell is a very complex entity and no single method of training can force an adaptive process to occur in all aspects of the cell. 

All of the cells components take up space and therefore contribute to overall muscle size. Each component responds to a different form of stress by adapting to that stress. Once adaptation has occurred a greater amount of stress must be delivered at the right time for greater development. To maximize cell size a wide variety of stressors must be applied to the cell allowing a greater number of the cell’s components to be developed. High reps, low reps, fast movements, forced reps, cheat movements, iso-tension and everything in between should be preformed to make the muscle grow.  And finally the overcompensation period must be determined for each muscle group to both recover and hypertrophy.  So as you can see limiting yourself to one type of rep pattern will not allow for maximum hypertrophy.

 REPITITION SELECTION AND HORMONAL RESPONSE (H.M.T.)
 

First lets look at the relationship between testosterone boosting and rep selection. We know through endless research that testosterone, the holly grail of muscle building hormones, it triggered through specific training. That training consists of heavy movements, specifically heavy explosive compound movements done at 85% of one rep maximum for sets of 4-6 reps. The rep speed should be constant with a explosive acceleration. Forced reps are great to increase the intensity of the exercise as well.  Testosterone boosting has long-lasting effects and the effects are compromised when too many sets of this type are done too frequently or the volume is too great.  By manipulating this rep pattern infrequently, say two to four sets of squats, deadlifts and push press per week you can maximize the effects. All high intensity training will increase your testosterone level to some degree, as long as the sessions are kept short. It will not be as potent as s testosterone boosting squat workout, but it will enable you to extend the effects of the workout as you focus on manipulating other hormones. If squats and deadlifts are out of the question then leg press or rack dead lifts can also fit the requirement, but squats and deadlifts are the king of testosterone boosting workouts, and yes ladies this means you too!

            High rep work added to your workout then followed by a carb/portein drink post training can maximize the insulin effect of muscle building. Insulin will shuttle carbs into one of two places, fat cells and muscle cells. When training depletes glycogen in the muscle and brings in as much blood as possible, i.e. High rep work, then follow the session with a high GI carb drink you can better train the muscle to store carbs in the muscle and maximize the anabolic effects of insulin. Think about your carb depletion workout’s pre contest. They are designed to do just this, and then maximize the volume with carbs and shuttle the nutrients into the muscle cell. Why do we only do this precontest? Would it not be best to throw in a few sets of this type each workout and harness the growth and recovery potential of insulin? Use a typical carb depletion workout set of high reps 15-25, and short rest fast tempo sets. Use non-traumatic movements, cables and machines, and reduce the range to increase the pump and force more blood into the muscle. Follow the workout with a high-GI carb simple protein post workout shake. An hour or two after training take in another high carb moderate protein meal.

        Muscle tension will rapidly increase the number of androgen receptors on the trained muscle and negate the effect of the cortisol receptors. By increasing muscle tension, and decreasing fiber trauma you can harness the power of the secreted testosterone, IGF 1 and GH in the muscle. The reduced fiber trauma will decrease cortisol production and receptors as the training induces fiber growth. This type of set would be the opposite of the Negative sets. You want to accentuate the positive part of the movement and negate the negative effect. The Negative workout will maximize trauma, but this workout is designed to minimize it. Movements need to be done with a 4-6 second positive, and a 2-second pause at the top and bottom and a 1-2 second Negative. Train strictly and keep the muscle under tension for as long as possible, Use static holds at the end of each set to really increase the tension on the working set, and get a maximum contraction at the top of each rep. Use movements that have the greatest range of motion and peak contractions such as leg extension and hack squats for the quads. Avoid bouncing and too many sets as long workouts this will burden recovery and release cortisol.  I would suggest 2-4 sets of this type be done every few workouts, but not the same day as negative only sets.

        As for the total volume of the workout, well that will vary based on many factors to include, number of muscle groups trained, the size of the muscle group, training age, muscle size, overload selection and nutrition factors. I would prefer to see greater intensity applied to the workout and less volume. Far more trainees are guilty of using too much volume rather then too little. When planning my training volume I prefer to look at the total training time and go from there. I feel those of an advanced training age (10+ years) should be in the gym no more then 45 min. Moderate training age (5+ years) up to one hour and novice (1+) up to one hour and fifteen min. Plan the volume according to those guidelines and you will better avoid the overtraining bug. On days where I train only one muscle group, say back, I will plan my negative sets to go along with a few low rep testosterone boosting sets, some moderate speed work in the 10-12 ranges and my high rep work. After an increased volume workout of this type it’s usually best to add another 24-hour recovery period before the next workout for that same bodypart. On a three muscle group day, say chest, shoulders and triceps, select only a few exercised for 2-3 sets each with one exercise in the 4-6 rep range, one in the 10-15 reps range and one in the 20-15 rep range. This allows maximum saturation and lower volume for that workout. Again this type of training takes some thought before each workout, but is far more effective and enjoyable then following the exact same leg workout for 12 weeks at a time.

        OVERTRAINING AND SCHEDULED LAYOFFS

There is a fine line between just the right amount of training and too much. All weight training causes stresson the body, and that stress is the stimulus for muscle growth. How the body adapts to that stress will either create a larger stronger muscle the pre-stress condition or it will trigger a stress so great the body will have difficulty adapting to it. Bodybuilders and athletes everywhere have pushed too hard and sent themselves into the overtraining spiral. Most often when they reach a platoe the natural response is to push harder, train more and take less time off. More often then not this desire to excel will cause you to succumb to the effect of overtraining. Adaptive stress can quickly become destructive stress and all your hard work will suffer. Eastern European countries in their effort to excel in the World of Athletic endeavors did much of the early research on the phenomenon of overtraining.  The Eastern European scientists defined the condition as a dip in training effect caused by an imbalance between the amount of stress applied to the body (or mind), and the individual’s ability to adapt to it. Western researchers have more clearly defined the effects of weight training and overtraining and have noted four basic types of overtraining, attitudinal, muscular, neurological and endocrine.

     Cable triceps kickback: 2 sets of 20-25 reps done in continuous tension