Deutschland is renowned for its efficiency, and that also extends to the gym.

German volume training (10 sets of 10 reps) is one of the best ways to gain size and strength, and it’s a technique which has been used by almost every bodybuilder and strength athlete over the last half a century.

This program gives you all the advantages of classic “old-school” German volume training, as well as few neat modern “twists” to help you carve a bigger, more powerful body!

Program length: 8 weeks.
Frequency: 4 workouts per week.
Session breakdown: You’ll do 10×10 on a compound lift, then a series of regular sets/reps to finish off the target muscle group.
Rep ranges used: Low, moderate, and high.
Muscle buster techniques: German volume training (GVT), dropsets, crazy 28s.

Workout Calendar

This is an 8-week program, and you’ll hit the gym x4 days per week:

• Monday: Legs
• Tuesday: Chest, biceps and abs
• Wednesday: Off
• Thursday: Back, triceps and abs
• Friday: Shoulders, traps and abs
• Saturday: Off
• Sunday: Off

There’s enough recovery days here to let you shuffle the order of the workouts if you so choose. I’m one of those freaks who enjoys starting the week with a nasty leg session (!), but if you prefer having your Monday as “international chest day” then go for it.

What Is "German Volume Training"?

This is a strength training method which dates back to the 1970s, first popularized by Rolf Feser (German national weightlifting coach) and later by Vince Gironda (American fitness industry legend).

You’ll perform 10 sets of 10 reps on this one, so it’s gruelling work, and the theory behind it is as straightforward as you’d expect:

Lots of volume + Heavy weights = More muscle growth!

Putting A New Spin On An Old Classic

You won’t be performing German volume training (GVT) per se, instead you’ll be doing Howe German volume (HGV).

You see, over the years I’ve been able to tweak the traditional GVT formula and then trial and error it with the 1000s of PT clients I’ve helped in the gym, so what you see here is a new “spin” on the old classic formula.

I wanted to take what was originally a strength training formula and recalibrate it to focus primarily on building muscle, so that’s what I did!

• Compound lifts for 10×10 sets

Most people get GVT totally wrong.

Their enthusiasm causes them to just jump in and start blasting 10 sets of 10 reps on absolutely everything, and it either causes them to get injured, or they fail to see results because their body is unable to handle the sheer amount of volume they’re doing.

You will not make the same mistake!

Instead, your 10×10 sets will only ever be done using compound lifts – and there will never be more than one of these per workout.

The goal of GVT is to trigger the body’s metabolic stress pathway, and these exercises give you the biggest bang for your buck, so it makes sense to focus your efforts on absolutely nailing these movements with everything you’ve got! (1, 2)

• Isolation exercises are not 10×10 sets

Isolation exercises will be done outside of your GVT work, so you’ll still be hitting each muscle group with sufficient volume to ensure it grows.

These sets will alternate between high rep phases and low rep phases, so that you can reap the rewards of training each muscle across multiple rep ranges throughout the program and add more variety to your workouts.

Muscle growth is the goal here, not just strength, and all of these elements combine to give you not just a great German volume training program, but a great training program PERIOD!

Weight Selection Advice For 10x10 Exercises

If this is your first time using GVT, it’s probably unlike anything you’ve ever tried before.

In traditional workouts you’d normally expect to increase the weight with every new set, but with GVT I actually want you to keep the same weight throughout all 10 sets.

You see, it’s not about “maxing out”, it’s about building muscular endurance, and we achieve that via the sheer volume rather than the amount of weight.

That’s why I recommend selecting a weight you’d usually expect to hit x15 good reps with, and keeping that weight for all of your GVT rounds. You’ll grow stronger as you move through the program, so you can increase this on future workouts – but KNOW that you must still adhere to the rest periods and you must use the new weight for all 10 sets!

A Solid Foundation For Building Muscle And Strength

GVT is the centrepiece of this program, but there’s also a few other methods hiding in the background which can take your results to a new level.

Let’s look at those now.

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