High Frequency GVT Program Overview

We’re taking a short break from full-body training for a week to introduce more volume. Namely, German Volume Training – GVT for short. GVT is a simple concept, but it’s anything but easy.

Here's what it is: 10 sets of 10 reps per exercise – 10x10.

Yes, it’s A LOT. After all, the name of the program includes the word “volume,” not to mention it’s German! If the name isn’t enough to strike fear in your heart, it will hit you shortly after you dig in at the squat rack for set #1 of 10 reps and realize you have to somehow complete 10 of these sets and get every last rep – 100 total.

GVT has been around for decades and is still a popular training protocol. Why? Because it works. The high volume translates into maximum muscle growth, and it's also great for fat-burning. All those reps performed on every exercise burns a tons of calories (and fat)!

GVT may sound like Hundreds Training , since it entails 100 reps per exercise, but it’s different for one main reason: The weight is heavier. More weight for more volume (10 true working sets per exercise) is why I’m not designing GVT as a full-body program. But I’m getting about as close as I can – my High Frequency GVT program follows a 2-day split done three times in the span of a week. That’s six total workouts, each muscle group trained three times.

Five muscle groups (more or less half the body) will be trained per workout – chest, back, shoulders, traps, and abs on days 1, 3, and 5; and legs, calves, triceps, biceps, and forearms on days 2, 4, and 6. If you’re training Monday through Saturday and taking Sunday off, the week (training split) will look like this:

Workout 1 (Monday): chest, back, shoulders, traps, abs

Workout 2 (Tuesday): legs, calves, triceps, biceps, forearms

Workout 3 (Wednesday): chest, back, shoulders, traps, abs

Workout 4 (Thursday): legs, calves, triceps, biceps, forearms

Workout 5 (Friday): chest, back, shoulders, traps, abs

Workout 6 (Saturday): legs, calves, triceps, biceps, forearms

GVT Guidelines

In all six workouts, each of the five muscle groups trained will get one exercise. Like I said earlier, 10 sets of 10 reps will be performed per exercise. But how much weight you use and how long you rest between sets will be important for maximizing the effectiveness of my GVT program.

Weight Selection: For each exercise, pick a weight that you'd normally be able to do for 15-20 reps. This will probably be somewhere around 60%-70% of your one-rep max (1RM), give or take. This may sound light, but the goal is to complete 10 reps on all 10 sets, and going too heavy won't allow you to achieve this.

Rest: With GVT, you're allowed more rest than with Hundreds, but not that much more. Rest 60 seconds between all sets.

Sidenote: My general recommendation for GVT is slightly heavier weights and longer periods – weight you can do for 12-15 reps, resting 2 minutes between sets. But for this program, I'm dropping the weight and rest periods slightly to make the workouts go faster. If you have extra time to train and like the thought of going heavier, feel free to adopt the general recommendations.

Rep Counts: You'll do 10 reps – no more, no less – on every set. If you feel like you can do more on those early sets (which you will), don't. Stop at 10. The early sets will serve as a warm-up. Perform these reps explosively to recruit maximum fast-twitch fibers for more muscle and more strength.

Trust me, the reps will get more and more challenging later on. Speaking of which, if you're unable to hit 10 reps on the later sets, use the rest-pause technique as needed to hit 10. For example, if you can only get 7 reps on a set, rest 10-15 seconds after rep #7, then bang out three more reps. That said, if you're failing before the 10th rep on any of the first five or so sets, it probably means you went too heavy and need to lighten the weight.

These are pretty much all the details you need – moderate (but challenging) weight, moderate rest periods... and hit 10 reps on all sets!

I'll be posting all six of my High Frequency GVT workouts on both Facebook and Twitter as part of my ongoing "Train With Jim" series. If you miss those, all workouts are included below.

Enjoy the volume of GVT – and the increased muscularity!

GVT Workouts

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