The Science of Strongman Training - Episode III: Volume

Volume is one of the most important variables in strength training, but in Strongman it becomes much more complicated than simply counting sets and repetitions. An athlete can accumulate volume through squats, deadlifts and presses, but also through Farmer’s Walk, Yoke, Atlas Stones, sandbags, loading events, medleys and conditioning. Each form of work creates a different stimulus and a different cost. The right question is therefore not simply “how much volume do I do?” but “how much volume can I convert into adaptation without fatigue exceeding the benefit?”

In general resistance-training literature, weekly volume is associated with increases in muscle mass, and the dose-response relationship is generally positive, although it is not unlimited. A meta-analysis of 15 studies and 34 experimental groups found a graded relationship between weekly sets and hypertrophy. Later research suggests that higher volumes can provide additional benefits, but individual responses vary and every additional set does not necessarily have the same value. In Strongman, the problem is amplified because the same muscle groups can receive direct stimulus from several exercises and indirect stimulus from several events.

1. What is volume, actually?

Volume can be described in several ways. The simplest measure is the number of completed sets. Another is total repetitions. Tonnage, roughly calculated as sets × repetitions × load, can be useful for tracking external workload, but it has important limitations. Ten repetitions with 200 kg and ten repetitions with a 200 kg Strongman implement are not biomechanically equivalent. Even two exercises with the same load and repetition count can have very different costs if range of motion, velocity, stability and technical demand differ.

For Strongman, it is more useful to think about volume across several axes: strength volume, hypertrophy volume, event volume, locomotor volume, repetition volume, time-under-effort volume and technical volume. A Farmer’s Walk performed for 6 × 20 m means something different from 3 × 60 m. Five Atlas Stone loads can stress certain structures differently from five standard barbell repetitions. A heavy 15 m Yoke and a lighter 40 m Yoke may produce the same total distance in a session, yet demand different combinations of strength, stability, rhythm and energy-system contribution.

Volume should therefore be interpreted in relation to the objective. For hypertrophy, effective sets per muscle group may be more informative than raw tonnage. For maximal strength, the number of high-load exposures and high-quality repetitions may matter more. For events, distance, time, loading repetitions and technical repetitions may describe the dose better. For a medley, total work duration and the number of transitions may become relevant. There is no single “Strongman volume”.

2. Volume and hypertrophy: why more can help, but not forever

Muscle mass is one of the foundations of Strongman performance. More contractile tissue can increase force-producing potential, and strength-sport research supports the importance of training volume for hypertrophy. Schoenfeld and colleagues identified a dose-response relationship between weekly sets and muscle growth. In a controlled study of trained men, the higher-volume group achieved greater hypertrophy, although the advantage for maximal strength was not equally clear. These findings explain why volume can be a powerful tool during development phases.

But Strongman is not bodybuilding. The athlete should not maximize the number of sets for every muscle independently. If quadriceps volume rises through squats, leg press, Yoke, Farmer and other events, the total cost can become much larger than a table showing “leg sets” suggests. A heavy event is also not merely a muscular stimulus. It may challenge tendons, spine, grip, cardiovascular capacity and coordination. Effective volume must therefore be viewed as a system of overlapping stresses.

This is where the concept of effective volume becomes useful. A set can contribute strongly to adaptation when it provides sufficient tension and is performed with technique relevant to the objective. As a session progresses, however, fatigue can increase faster than the stimulus. The final sets are not automatically useless, but their marginal return may decline. In Strongman, where every set can affect the next event or the next training day, this distinction becomes particularly important.

3. Strength volume: when quality repetitions matter more than quantity

For maximal-strength development, volume should allow the athlete to accumulate enough practice under relevant loads without turning every session into a maximal test. Five sets of three repetitions at an appropriate load can provide an excellent stimulus. If the load is too high and technique deteriorates, the same 15 repetitions can become a large amount of fatigue with poor stimulus quality. In a sport where body position and object trajectory matter greatly, repeatedly practicing poor mechanics under fatigue can even reinforce an undesirable movement pattern.

Strength volume should therefore be interpreted together with intensity. Two weeks containing 20 deadlift repetitions can be completely different if one is performed around 70% and the other close to 90%. A practical method is to track repetitions in intensity zones, such as below 75%, 75-85%, 85-90% and above 90%, rather than reducing everything to one tonnage number. For Strongman, this can be combined with the number of repetitions or attempts performed with competition-relevant implements.

Strength volume is also technical exposure. An athlete does not learn a Log Lift simply by occasionally lifting maximal weight. Sufficient repetitions are required to automate positioning, bracing, transition and lockout. But the repetitions must remain clean enough to be useful. Technical volume can therefore be higher at moderate intensities and lower at very high intensities. This separation allows practice to accumulate without every repetition carrying the same recovery cost.

4. Strongman-specific volume: events are not just exercises

In a powerlifting gym, a session can be described relatively easily through sets, repetitions and percentages. In Strongman, specific volume must include the characteristics of the event. Farmer’s Walk can be quantified through total distance and load, Yoke through distance, load and number of runs, Atlas Stones through number of loads and stone weights, and loading events through number of objects and travel distance. For medleys, total work duration and the number of transitions become relevant variables.

Biomechanical research on Strongman events shows why this approach is necessary. Farmer’s Walk and Yoke Walk alter gait parameters and require control of a moving external load. Atlas Stone lifting contains distinct biomechanical phases, with execution time and mechanics changing as load and fatigue increase. Tire Flip involves successive phases of force production and transfer. Therefore, two sessions with the same repetition count can create very different mechanical demands.

A more advanced approach is to keep an event-volume log. For example: Farmer 160 m at 120 kg, Yoke 90 m at 300 kg, Stones 18 loads between 100 and 140 kg, Log 24 repetitions between 90 and 120 kg. This allows week-to-week comparison and makes workload jumps easier to detect. There is no need to invent a single formula that converts every event into one number. Sometimes it is more useful to keep volumes separate when the underlying stresses are different.

5. Volume distribution: what you do in one day matters less than what you can absorb across a week

Volume does not exist in isolation. Its distribution across the microcycle can radically change the cost. Two sessions totaling 30 sets may be easier to recover from when distributed intelligently than when all 30 sets are concentrated in one day. Frequency can allow the stimulus to be divided while preserving quality. General literature on training frequency suggests that when total volume is equated, the advantages of higher frequency for hypertrophy are less dramatic than sometimes assumed, meaning frequency is primarily a tool for distributing the dose.

In Strongman, distribution becomes even more important because exercises overlap. A heavy deadlift can influence Yoke performance the next day. Farmer’s Walk can load the grip before Stones. Log and Axle can overlap shoulder-girdle and triceps stress. If volume is programmed without considering these interactions, every session may look reasonable in isolation while the entire week becomes excessive.

A useful principle is to track volumes that compete for the same recovery capacity. Heavy axial volume, posterior-chain volume, grip volume, pressing volume and locomotor volume do not necessarily need completely separate days, but they should be viewed as parts of the same budget. An athlete may tolerate a large amount of local volume in one domain and very little in another. Good programming distributes stress, not merely sets.

6. Volume, fatigue and overload: when the stimulus starts costing too much

Increasing volume is a classic progression strategy, but the increase has to match the athlete’s current tolerance. An athlete moving suddenly from two event sessions per week to four does not merely double the exercise count. Exposure to mechanical stress, cardiovascular demand, time under load and recovery requirements may all increase sharply. The IOC consensus on load in sport emphasizes the importance of rapid changes in workload and monitoring both external and internal load because problems often emerge when demand exceeds the athlete’s ability to adapt.

In Strongman, signs of poorly managed volume are not always dramatic. Sometimes the first signal is reduced velocity. Then technique deteriorates. Normal training weights feel unusually heavy. RPE rises at the same loads. Sleep and mood may worsen. An event that was previously stable becomes inconsistent. None of these signs proves overtraining by itself, but together they can indicate that the current dose is no longer producing the desired stimulus-to-recovery ratio.

This is the difference between the capacity to perform volume and the capacity to recover from volume. A very strong athlete may complete an enormous session, but the relevant question is what the next 48-72 hours and the next two weeks look like. If the volume of one day repeatedly reduces the quality of subsequent training, the total dose needs to be examined rather than the athlete’s willingness to work. In strength sports, “I was able to do it” and “it was useful to do it” are completely different statements.

7. How do you increase volume without destroying quality?

The first strategy is gradual progression. There is no universal rule saying that volume must increase by exactly 10% per week. The response depends on training history, season phase and exercise type. For a well-tolerated movement, sets or repetitions can be increased. For an event with high mechanical stress, it may be more appropriate to first increase technical exposure or maintain load while increasing distance in a controlled way.

The second strategy is separating volume from quality intensity. You can have a higher-volume day at moderate loads and a lower-volume day with high intensity and high specificity. For example, a Log can have a 5 × 5 session at moderate intensity for volume and technique, followed on another day by 4-6 short exposures at competition-relevant weights. This prevents the athlete from demanding high volume and extreme intensity at the same time.

The third strategy is autoregulation. If planned volume produces an RPE much higher than expected, the athlete does not necessarily need to finish every set simply because it appears in the program. Removing a set, changing the exercise or stopping an event can preserve the weekly objective and protect the next session. Autoregulation does not mean unstructured training. It means the structure is flexible enough to respond to the athlete’s actual state.

8. Volume should follow the objective, not the ego

During an accumulation phase, volume may take priority: more productive sets, more hypertrophy, more technical practice and a larger work base. During intensification, total volume can decrease while the proportion of specific and heavy work rises. Near competition, reducing volume becomes one of the most important ways to allow performance expression. The final week is not the time to demonstrate how much training you can survive. It is the time to arrive with enough capacity already built and enough fatigue removed.

Optimal volume is therefore a zone, not a fixed number. Too little volume can limit development. More volume can increase the stimulus up to a point, after which marginal returns decline. More still can turn stimulus into persistent fatigue. The curve differs between athletes and changes throughout the season. A beginner, a professional and a veteran with a decade of Strongman experience do not have the same volume budget, even if they can perform the same event.

The technical conclusion is simple even though its application is complex: volume must be sufficient to create adaptation, specific enough to transfer that adaptation to competition and controlled enough to be repeated week after week. Strongman is not built from the biggest possible session. It is built from the intelligent accumulation of sessions that the body can actually convert into performance.

Bibliography and sources

1. Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2017;35(11):1073-1082. DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2016.1210197.
2. Schoenfeld BJ, Contreras B, Krieger J, et al. Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2019;51(1):94-103. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001764.
3. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Krieger J. How many times per week should a muscle be trained to maximize muscle hypertrophy? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2019;37(11):1286-1295. DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2018.1555906.
4. Winwood PW, Keogh JWL, Harris NK. The strength and conditioning practices of strongman competitors. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2011;25(11):3118-3128. DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e318212daea.
5. Hindle BR, Lorimer AV, Winwood PW, Keogh JWL. The Biomechanics and Applications of Strongman Exercises: a Systematic Review. Sports Medicine - Open. 2019;5:49. DOI: 10.1186/s40798-019-0222-z.
6. Hindle BR et al. The Biomechanical Characteristics of the Strongman Yoke Walk. 2021. PMID: 33981993.
7. Hindle BR et al. The biomechanical characteristics of the strongman atlas stone lift. PeerJ. 2021;9:e12066. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.12066.
8. Keogh JWL et al. The biomechanics and physiological effects of the tire flip exercise. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2010;24(5):1223-1228. DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181cc61cd.
9. Soligard T et al. How much is too much? International Olympic Committee consensus statement on load in sport and risk of injury. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2016;50:1030-1041. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2016-096581.
10. The Resistance Training Dose Response: Meta-Regressions Exploring the Effects of Weekly Volume and Frequency on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gains. 2025/2026 evidence synthesis, PubMed PMID 41343037.