From High Volume to Fortitude

[urogenitalsubsection]

Hey everyone, just looking for some people's personal experiences. For those who have made the switch from a traditional high volume / weider type program to fortitude training, how were your experiences? Did you see new and improved gains/progress, a newfound love for the gym, etc?

I'm only asking because I tried FT, and loved it, but got "scared" that I wasn't doing enough volume to grow. In today's bodybuilding culture everyone is focused on volume, and I think I let this mindset mess with me, as I really did enjoy FT when I was doing it but still changed because I was afraid I wouldn't grow. I then switched from FT to a high volume program (modified version of Layne Norton's PHAT), and quickly noticed myself wear out and feel overtrained. I'm now going to take an intensive cruise for a couple of weeks to recuperate and "get back on track" with FT, but that thought of "what if I'm not doing enough volume to grow?" Is still nagging in the back of my head.... Especially regarding my arms, as they're one of my weaker body parts.


So, I'm just looking to see everyone's experiences from going to high volume to FT. Did you see newfound progress / gains?

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[Altamir]

I'm with Pumped on this one. Never grew well on high volume and just started to dabble in high frequency , lower volume before FT came out. Switched over to FT and I saw much better results immediately in pretty much every aspect of my training.

I have weak arms as well and yes the "limited" volume for them can be a bit intimidating. But think of it in the opposite perspective. You have but a few sets to really get those bastards to grow. You are GOING to know exactly what is working is what is not working. Forget 12 sets for biceps and doing a million different lifts, and not really know what's making you progress and what's not. You'll know what's working, and from there and draw new conclusions and continue to hone and refine. That's one of the things that I love about FT. It has variety, but really cuts out ALL the bullshit sets and lifts and gets down to "what makes you grow". This sort of knowledge doesn't come right away, and I'm still coming across stuff that's working better for me now that when I started this program 3 years ago. Just last week I did the BEST bicep pump set I've ever done for FT. Did open palm machine preacher curls with 5's into the hole. Once I couldn't do any more partials open palmed, I then closed my grip and was able to pump out another 15 partials. It was a blistering set.

[ebado]

I’m just coming out of my first FT cruise, following a 5 week blast during which I ran Tier 1 basic literally the entire time. I gained 3 lbs of straight up muscle from this blast! I made plenty of progress over the years using higher volume however would no longer get such rapid growth out of it, the frequency of FT definitely shocked my muscles with a stimulus they had never been exposed to before and they responded. I have lagging arms as well and they have definitely seen growth, again even using Tier 1 basic volume. After an FT session the question you ask yourself shouldn’t be “did I do enough”, it should be “was every set that I did as intense as possible” regardless of volume tier. IMO, there’s no need to move up in tier unless you can answer that question with an emphatic yes and also feel like you can do more sets at that same level. So far, I don’t feel as if I can (do more sets), but as long as I produce maximum intensity I’m confident that I’m stimulating growth.

[urogenitalsubsection]

I'm with Pumped on this one. Never grew well on high volume and just started to dabble in high frequency , lower volume before FT came out. Switched over to FT and I saw much better results immediately in pretty much every aspect of my training.

I have weak arms as well and yes the "limited" volume for them can be a bit intimidating. But think of it in the opposite perspective. You have but a few sets to really get those bastards to grow. You are GOING to know exactly what is working is what is not working. Forget 12 sets for biceps and doing a million different lifts, and not really know what's making you progress and what's not. You'll know what's working, and from there and draw new conclusions and continue to hone and refine. That's one of the things that I love about FT. It has variety, but really cuts out ALL the bullshit sets and lifts and gets down to "what makes you grow". This sort of knowledge doesn't come right away, and I'm still coming across stuff that's working better for me now that when I started this program 3 years ago. Just last week I did the BEST bicep pump set I've ever done for FT. Did open palm machine preacher curls with 5's into the hole. Once I couldn't do any more partials open palmed, I then closed my grip and was able to pump out another 15 partials. It was a blistering set.

This is a great response, I can really connect with it. FT is so different than what everyone else preaches today, and I think that is what is psyching me out. But from what I've gathered, as long as you train your ass off and give every set 110%, you don't need to do super high volume... And for me, I tried to do both. I tried to really train intensely AND do a ton of volume, and it just crushed me. I'd be an hour into a workout and still have 4 exercises to do, and then I'd just end up half efforting them because the last 4 had completely wiped me.....


All of these responses are great, and as someone who hasn't really found that much progress from high volume, I am really hoping that FT will be the thing that really allows me to progress.

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[urogenitalsubsection]

I’m just coming out of my first FT cruise, following a 5 week blast during which I ran Tier 1 basic literally the entire time. I gained 3 lbs of straight up muscle from this blast! I made plenty of progress over the years using higher volume however would no longer get such rapid growth out of it, the frequency of FT definitely shocked my muscles with a stimulus they had never been exposed to before and they responded. I have lagging arms as well and they have definitely seen growth, again even using Tier 1 basic volume. After an FT session the question you ask yourself shouldn’t be “did I do enough”, it should be “was every set that I did as intense as possible” regardless of volume tier. IMO, there’s no need to move up in tier unless you can answer that question with an emphatic yes and also feel like you can do more sets at that same level. So far, I don’t feel as if I can (do more sets), but as long as I produce maximum intensity I’m confident that I’m stimulating growth.

This is great to hear, and I can totally relate! I think the change will do me good honestly, and I really agree with the "was that workout intense enough" mentality.

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[Scott Stevenson]

Just wanted to thank Pumped, Altamir and Ebado for chiming in.



-S