What is missing in all this discussion and something I've repeated a few times but is seeming to be ignored is the importance of smaller jumps.
To train like this it is pretty much mandatory to have a way to make smaller jumps. If you have 2.5 lb plates use them..if not get some. Even fractional plates have a valid place for this QVT.
Everybody seems to be emphasizing 10lbs jumps. I do not understand this compulsion and staying to that kind of jump makes it much harder. So, with all this in mind, and all that has been said in mind, I am going to try to explain this one more time, the best that I can. BUT, Azzy, I want you to realize that this explanation is about "getting the most out of it" and it does NOT mean that there is necessarily a wrong way to do this if one follows the basic guidelines. So, this session looked very productive to me.
Okay, here is the part that is missing for EVERYONE:
- QVT is not about simply building up from light to heavy as possible weights using one to three rep sets. It is about gathering as much volume in the 80% or ABOVE range while maintaining quality, etc.
- I had said before for one to START at about 80% of a guestimated "max". If one doesn't know his max he can find a relative max on the first session and go with that..but a roundabout guess based on previous experience is fine. Because this is NOT percentage based..you just need an idea of where the weight range should be.
- SO, starting out with some very light weight that ends up being 55% of your sorta max and then doing QVT from there is not as productive as warming and acclimating to around 80% of your sorta max and then beginning QVT.
- This allows you not to waste volume on very light weights. You will be warming up at the beginning with slightly more reps then going to less reps, and then since you are only going as heavy as around 80% you will not need much "acclimation". However…sometimes a slightly heavier lift before one begins the actual working sets of the QVT can be helpful.
- Once you have warmed up enough and are ready to begin at that circa 80% mark, if you ONLY use 10lbs or more increments..you will not have much room to gather volume. Okay. Smaller jumps mean MORE volume. You can build up quickly to the 85+ range and then to the 90% and a bit beyond and stay within this range for longer.
- This is NOT about just building up to a heavy weight. You do build up to the heaviest weight you can manage with good form but that is not the goal. The goal is as a lot of volume in the 85% to 100% range. Of course, when I say that it becomes confusing because we are not really going by percentages so those numbers are projected from your guestimated max..so what we are REALLY saying is that we want as much volume as possible in the STRENGTH TRAINING Range. In other words…heavy but quality..the QUALITY doesn't just mean quality as in performance, it means quality as in intensity. Because for strength training purposes…a bunch of volume with light ass weights is not QUALITY. It's just volume.
So smaller increments are good. I hardly EVER use more than 5lbs jumps for QVT. - The hardest thing to get is when to move one, what reps to use or not use, etc and how much volume are we going for. Well there is no set volume. When you dial it in as well as you can, the volume will always be high relative to this kind of weight range. Compare it to some typical strength training workout using rep maximums where the median intensity is 70 to 80% at most where you get 24 to 30 reps. Here if you get 18 to 24 reps in the 80% or above range..that is a LOT of volume. It's all about the median intensity. That is what your body is adapting to.
Let me harp on this a bit more because it is important to understanding why this works the way it does and how it does what it does. Like, for instance, Joe mentioned that this is a go to method for coming back to a lift after detraining it or maintaining it. Well, in fact, it can help you recover your previous levels with that lift much faster than otherwise is done. Why? Because you spend a lot of time, right off the bat in the proper range to recover that ability.
One would repeat QVT a couple to three times for this purpose. Since the "quality" is self-adjusting and you are going for good performance, not just weight on the bar, the first session will reflect where you are at at that time. And the next will build off of that and so on. So this is different than just building up from some lighter weight to your previous 1RM over a course of several weeks. You are dialing in where you stand AS OF NOW and building off that. Not guessing or dong needless backtracking.
But why this works is because of the median intensity..the overall challenge. Not how heavy the last set is.
