BY: Larry Pazdra CSCS
During the
first year of weight training, results generally come fairly steadily. Size,
strength and shape all improve. However, sometime after this "honeymoon"
period our progress can slow or even come to a complete halt. At this point
our bodies have become accustomed to the regular stresses of weight training,
and our improvements hit what is called a plateau. It is at these plateaus
that changes in our regimen need to be made if we are interested in making
further progress.
Often, the response of a weight trainer to this problem
is to add volume to his/her routine. That is, if you cannot continue to
improve while doing one or two exercises per bodypart, then perhaps three,
four or five might produce results. Of course, this adds more time in the gym
to complete the higher volume of work. If you were to look around many gyms,
you'd see people who do this large volume of work on a regular basis. Some
of their routines take over two hours a day, six days a week just for the
weight training portion of the workout.
It is almost impossible for a natural
athlete (one not on anabolic steroids) to continue to grow on this
much volume if he/she is training with any intensity. With this kind of volume and with
intensity minus steroids equals a bad case of overtraining. Also, if you
notice the progress of most of these high volume trainers, you will not see
much of a difference in their physique or in the amount of weight lifted even
after six months.
HEALTHandFITNESS.com 
