Does German Volume Training Actually Build Muscle Fast?

German volume training is (typically) where in a session, you perform no more than 2 compound exercises each for 10 sets of 10 repetitions with a 60% one-rep max load, while using 60-90 seconds of rest between sets.

This method appears to have originated from 1970's Germany, where it's believed the national weightlifting team established this method to significantly increase the muscle mass of their athletes during the off-season.

It's quite common to see individuals on the internet claiming German volume training is highly effective for putting on muscle mass fast. In this video, we aim to verify these claims with help from the scientific research.

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[usayeed]

I think if you tweak GVT such that you begin with a heavier load (75% 1RM) for the first 3 sets, moderate load (65%) for 4 sets and light load (55%) for the last 3 sets, you’ll get the best results imaginable. Metabolic stress and hypoxic fatigue are important components to eliciting a hypertrophic response, but so too is mechanical tension and load. If the weights aren’t sufficiently difficult, then you’re leaving a lot of results on the table. The reverse is also true. 5 sets of 60% 1RM for 10 reps isn’t nearly optimal enough to causing hypertrophy in trained individuals.

I personally find that Heavy weights and low volume combined with moderate weights and high volume produce the best results.

[martinroncetti]

I have tried the GVT for my legs & chest/back. For my leg training, loved it, for my upper body, far too fatiguing to do beyond three weeks. I like the idea of switching the rest period from 60-90 sec to the 2.5 min range.

[JoesFitness]

I squatted 300lbs for 100 reps just once a week and found that my pants got tighter in the legs and butt area. I don't know about studies and science but my lower back, knees and hips don't hurt as much. I am 59 years old and feel like the aging process is slowing and even reversing...

[jackcarpenters]

probably need some german 70's testosterone supplements too.

[tavastian]

Strength levels of 5 set group increase was most likely due fatigue to stimulus ratio. 10 sets of heavy bench presses is going to fry your CNS and it takes 1-2 weeks to recover from that. Due to systemic fatigue cumulation, they were not recovered enough to exhibit peak performance. = fatigue masks perfomance.

5 set group on the otherhand had much better FTS rate and were not overreaching during workouts. Just enough volume to exceed MEV (Minumum Effective Volume), but not too much to exceed MRV (Maximum Recoverable Volume)

10x10 at 60% is 100 reps of bench press, followed by another 40 reps of incline bench, . Totalling of whopping 140 reps worth of volume in a single workout. Then after few days, they had to do another 140 reps on shoulder press+ tricep pushdowns. Those triceps and front delts were working serious overtime there.

For leg they really only did 50 and 100 reps in form of leg press, so, the volume was statisticly pretty similar and so were the gains. Same for the biceps-.

This is why you must factor in programmed deload weeks or even total rest weeks to allow the cumulated fatigue to dissipate

[Muphenz]

Moral of the story, don't do your sets in one day. Spread them out throughout the week. I've always thought 10x10 way too much. The most I do for sets is 5 sets of the same exercise. Once again, this is awesome and quality content. Love the animation too.

My question is how do you progress on your big compound exercises when you're getting to the point where you're getting to your max after a few years? Do you just lower your weight and start over. Add more sets or reps? I would just worry about doing too much.

[Lynx]

Recently found the channel have been working out now for about 10 years and I very much value how you look at the research and put it into something easy to understand

[prabhukarthik]

I go to the GVT for 2 mesocycles (8weeks) per year with a week of de-load after 3 weeks of training.
I agree that first few sets are junk volume (ineffective) as they are >5RIR.
However, to counter this I modified few things:
1. Keep the intensity at ~65% 1RM, which corresponds to 15Rep Max, ensuring post 6reps it gets harder
2. U need not stick to 10reps strictly, do it until u get in 3-4 hard reps per set. (Last set the 10th rep should KILL you)
3. Increase TUT, slow controlled eccentrics (3seconds) with pause has helped me improved my technique a lot.
4. Increase your calorie uptake, rest and get extra sleep. (maybe 1-2hrs post session)

This is my experience with GVT, hope this helps, Cheers!

Love the channel💪, great work and explanation.

[morethanconquerors]

Studies are great but personal experience can often prove them wrong. Running GVT rn and my chest and back are BLOWING UP!!

[cbcsucks]

Evolutionarily our legs should be able to handle more work more often.

[saradoherty]

another great post i think its probably because the biggest driver of strength and hypertrophy is mechanical tension and german volume training seems to involve metabolic stress and muscle damage more

[thefonz]

I've been doing this for about 6 months, I don't have access to much weights so use kettle bells and bodyweight exercises like one arm assisted push ups, goblet squats etc, I'm 39 years old and 66kg with abs I was 71 kgs in January, wasn't too pleased about the weight loss but I look pretty good in the mirror

[PaulKentSkates]

For me and the few clients that could do snatch grip deadlifts with a deficit (on a podium) GVT was insanely effective. The biggest struggle was getting enough calories. We did Chinups, SGDL full depth, and push press as our main lifts, super setting the push press. And accessories to round out the work. Only 2 days out of 5 With a de-load after 4-5 cycles. The training was brutal. I can't imagine half of the test subjects would have put up with the torture. We all did 2.5 months with de-loads and never again will we return to the protocol because the work has been done and it was brutal. But we all were noticeably leaner and we put on weight as fast as beginners. Over training is a concern but we really worked to reduce it, and we didn't dad about doing a ton of isolation work outside of what was needed for function and balance. It is possible the training sgdl at greater depth contributed more than the volume as we were fairly new to training at that depth.
Over the past 6 years I have had trouble making sense of why we responded so we'll, and have theorized based on the research that maybe it would have been better with more rest, or with something around 8 reps.
I like the volume of exercises with challenging mobility I found we became more mobile. Maybe the supersets helped us gain mass in our upper bodies. I did go over our 20rm weight. We often begin failing at set 6 and rarely could manage more than 6 reps on the ninth set. Once we could do 10x10 (with literally everything we had) we would increase and become failing all over the damn place. The timing of 4-5 second eccentric was strict. The concentric was explosive as possible (which wasn't very explosive).
I have a GVT timer that I made on my YouTube channel.

[ignbilium]

One thing is for sure, if you do German Volume training, you get really good it doing 10x10 with 60 % of your 1rm

[foxdogsst]

I think a major issue is proximity to failure. To do 10x10, likely be like doing a cardio workout. So, the person my experience cardio fatigue before muscular. Also, seems like doing the same exercise 10× is a waste of time. If you think about it, if you're doing 5 sets of 10 reps but doing 3 exercises target the same muscle, that's 15 sets of 150 reps for that muscle. Which is more then the 100 reps the 10x10 would be. So, this method may not stress the muscle enough in conclusion, however, it would the cardio system.

[sonnywhitefeathermarshall]

i do the German vol training one day muscle training and one day off doing cardio..back and forth.it works for me...best training ever.

[leviathen]

it's not ten sets of 10. it's 10 sets until "technical failure". once you're form and tempo breakdown outside of the pre-set parameters, failure has been achieved.

10 sets of a perfect 10 reps is actually pretty brutal.

[azizabbas]

I think it’s great for 2-4 weeks when you’re coming back from a long break and want to regain the technical skills fast

[kelleykennedy]

I’m curious to see if tonnage was taken into account. If gvt is essentially double the tonnage it should have a profound effect. However, if the tonnage between the two groups are relatively the same, gvt just spreading the load across more sets, it would explain the similar effects.

[Kanikacyst]

I don't understand why subjects doing 5 sets of 10 with 60% max get similar or slightly more muscle gains. None of those sets were taken even close to failure, while the 10x10 groups have done at least few sets close to failure throughout their workouts. Why?