GVT back and biceps

German Volume training is a good protocol to make your back and biceps grow. 10 sets by 10 repetitions are tough but get results. Make sure that your diet matches up with your plans. This will be one of the main deciding factors. The back is usually quite hard to train while the biceps is easier but yields lesser strength gains.

What are your goals

Why are you looking at German Volume training? Do you want to have a stronger back? Do you want a bigger biceps? Why do you want these things? Do you feel inadequate? Do you have to put on weight for your sport? Whatever it is, be very specific about why you are doing something. The why will keep you going when it gets hard. When you have to get up at 5.30 am to hit the gym. When you get a cold and want to stay at home. I see that a lot of beginners spent too much time on the how and not enough on the why. Avoid that mistake. The three main interests in fitness that I see are:

Looks
Performance
Health

If you all about looks, your ideas will be modeled by what you see on your screens. The YouTube channels you watch. The Instagram people you follow. Be prepared that achieving these conceptions will be hard. You only see the best and worst parts of people in public. They don't broadcast the daily grind. Especially when you want to look like the movie stars. You have to follow a very strict diet. You might take performance-enhancing drugs. You will get operated on just for the sake of looking pretty. You might starve yourself. This road is not necessarily healthy or brings about the best sports performance. The mental pressure is high and unforgiving. The reward is wealth and popularity.

If you are all about performance your main interest will be the next competition. That next personal record to make it on the team. You will pick your exercises based on how they make you better at your sport. Start to measure how quickly you are getting better. On this road intensity is key. You will be in pain from training so hard. Injuries will creep up here and there and you have to deal with them. You might take an entire cocktail of supplements to beat the competition. To be the greatest of all time. Otherwise, why do it? Your choices might not be the healthiest at all times. You will not care about looks. Food will become the fuel for your ambition, but not the main concern.

If you are all about health you will take the middle road in fitness. You will avoid the extremes. The main aim will be the balance. Diets will be tried out and changed. A yoga mat will be placed somewhere near your television. You will never be the best looking or have the most trophies. The good thing about this is that you will not care. You are after the peace of mind. You can sleep at night without feeling haunted by your own ambition.

As you are researching GVT for back and biceps you are probably mainly into looks. You might be into performance depending on your sport. Stop and reflect on what you are going to do with your big biceps and back. Will that be fulfilling? Why are you doing it?

German Volume Training

German Volume Training is one of the most popular hypertrophy programs out there. There are many different version of it. I will introduce you to my personal favorite template. With this, I managed to gain 2.5kg of muscle in a month. The template is

10 repetitions
10 sets
60% of one repetition maximum
30 seconds of rest between sets

You can free weight training or machines with this. I did the barbell back squat, barbell bench press and barbell deadlift. Other options are the leg press, leg curls, lat pull downs and rowing machines. If you focus on free weights your training has a bit more of a bias towards strength. If you mainly use machines it has more of a bias towards bodybuilding.

The biggest advantages of German Volume Training are its simplicity and effectiveness. There are many reports of German Volume Training working to build muscle. You also do not have to think too much about how to pick your loading. That makes it an excellent program for a bulking cycle. Keep in mind that the main driver of growth is food, not training. So get that part right first before you move on to training.

The biggest disadvantages of German Volume training are its boredom and the time it takes. 10x10 is tough and boring. Especially when you do it for months on end. It gets results, but it is anything but exciting. The other downside is the time it takes. If you take 2 minutes of rest between sets you already spent twenty minutes at the gym for one exercise.

To progress on German Volume training increase the weight by small increments as the additional weight will be multiplied by 100 for your total volume. Once you start failing to complete all repetitions and sets stay at this weight. Perfect it and work at it until you deserve to go up another 2.5kg.

Back Training

The back is one of the hardest areas to train effectively. There are many different exercises you can do with the template I gave you. Some of them are:

Barbell conventional deadlift
Barbell Sumo deadlift
Barbell row
Lat pulldowns
Machine Rows
Glute Ham Raises
Reverse Flys

Whatever you do, start with the big movements on the day. Work from there to the more isolated exercises to get the most bang for your buck. If you have any questions about picking your exercises to write me an email to pascal@marathon-crossfit.com.

Biceps Training

I am personally not a huge fan of biceps training as it takes a lot of time and you do not get a lot in return except a bigger biceps. As I am not into bodybuilding there is not much to be gained for me. I still have nice arms, even though I do not pay special attention to them. Exercises you can do for your biceps and triceps are:

Pull-ups
Dips
Preacher curls
Hammer curls
Reverse curls
Crock rows
Close grip pulldowns
Cable works

Stay at it and measure the inches on your biceps to check your progress. If you want a defined biceps that pops you have to look into extracting water from your body and dropping below 10% body fat. The 10x10 protocol also works here.

Can GVT grow your back and biceps

It is the best program that I personally know for this purpose. Pick the exercises which address these areas and do them consistently. Measure progress by taking pictures, using the weighing scale and looking at the inches gained. The most important component in this is food. When there is no food, there is no growth. Spent time on your diet and hit the gym every day working hard. The rest will take care of itself in a couple of years.