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I am often asked to compare and contrast High Intensity Resistance Training Protocols to High Volume Training Protocols and the results produced by High Volume workouts.  Dr. Doug McGuff explained this very well in an article he wrote.  The following is a selection from that article. 

"If what you say is true, why have these other training methods produced so many athletic and bodybuilding champions?" The answer is a statistical term called Selection Bias. People with above-average potential for athletic excellence and bodybuilding are easy to recognize, as they are usually amazingly muscular before they even touch a weight. These people are naturally drawn toward sports and when exposed to any form of training they grow muscle quickly. These people select themselves out as athletes and bodybuilders and pursue these activities for the simple reason that it is easy for them to do well at them. Naturally, they assume their results are due to their superior effort or training techniques when the truth is that they would have excelled if they had taken the garbage down to the curb once a week. The test of a training technique's efficacy is not how it performs on a genetic anomaly but how well it performs on those of average or below-average genetic potential. High-intensity training will win hands down every time.

As pointed out in the Introduction to Body By Science, it is a natural mistake to seek advice from those with superior physiques or athletic ability, as their extraordinary physical capacity and physiques are the result of random statistical variation within the species and often have been produced in spite of (rather than because of) their training techniques. Remember, 99% of people die in bed; but that doesn't mean we should assume beds are killing people. For a genetically gifted individual, even if they understand the science behind a high-intensity training approach, many will reject it for reasons they can't name. Why is this? Primarily owing to the fact that if one is gifted in any endeavor, one will be inclined to make it a vocation (or at least devote a large part of one's time to it). Consequently, it will come to make up a large part of your identity. In most such endeavors large time requirements are necessary to actualize one's potential. Paradoxically, in athletics and particularly in bodybuilding it actually is a requirement for a small amount of time to be spent training in order to produce results. For someone who feels he has the potential to justify devoting his life to bodybuilding, learning that best results will be produced with little time commitment can be psychologically devastating. Such a person is now left with a huge void to fill. Rather than using this time for more meaningful and challenging endeavors, most such people will turn their backs on the facts. Instead, they will look to their own superior physiques and use their perceived results to justify hours spent in the gym, fortunes spent on supplements, and entire weekends spent preparing and freezing meals for the next week.

This "you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink" situation also exists among the less genetically gifted - but for another reason. They recognize that if a more scientific approach to training improves their results and their rate of progress it may also end up pointing out the limits of their potential. Many prefer hype and empty promises to facts because it allows them to hold on to their fantasies longer. Many commercial interests in the bodybuilding field deeply understand this phenomenon and are getting rich off of it. There are multitudes of "horse and buggy" bodybuilders who are rejecting the automobile and airplane because they know it won't carry them to the moon.

If you are like most fitness enthusiasts, you are probably dissatisfied with your current rate of progress. If so, then take heart from the fact that you are probably nowhere near your final muscular potential; but also realize that if you had truly great potential you would already be massive beyond belief, no matter how you trained. 

Once you have done the considerable soul-searching required to put your goals in proper perspective, then you are ready for action.  Schedule an appointment today with an RPFitness personal trainer to learn more about how to maximize your workouts and develop the body you have been looking for.