Opinions on Lyle McDonald's Criticism of Schoenfeld's Studies?

Other Discussions Programming Discussion
1

Hi guys,

I found Lyle McDonald’s recent article hugely interesting:
https://bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/research-review-training/resistance-training-volume-enhances-muscle-hypertrophy-research-review.html/

Here is his conclusion:
“But what I don’t think this study in any way supports is a dose response relationship between volume and growth with 45 freaking sets/week being necessary or even useful. The other study that just came out showed a cap at 20 sets/week. The Ostrowski triceps data showed that 12-14 sets/week worked as well as 28 sets/week even if Brad’s discuss (seemingly deliberately) misrepresented it. Even the Vl/RF data is hampered hugely by the difference in starting size in both studies: the highest volume group started out the smallest and only caught up to the others.”

So I was left wondering about a few things after this:
What do you guys think about this criticism of the dose response between volume and hypertrophy?
In particular, is there a cap to the effective amount of volume in a persons training or is this still going to be subject to an individual’s training sensitivity over the long term?
And will this affect the current BBM model of programming?

Thanks in advance for the answers and I’ve been loving all the Q&As and content you guys have been putting out, keep up the great work!

2

I’m not sure I currently have the time to dissect Lyle’s dissection of another person’s research, though I’m sure we have several forum members who might have an interest in doing so.

Since our programming is generally built around increasing strength performance on the basic barbell movements, you’ll note that our programming doesn’t even come close to those proposed upper levels of training volume (in the realm of 45 sets per week).

2 Likes
3

I’m not surprised that you are busy Austin, but I appreciate the comments nonetheless!

4

Awesome! We need more debate about volume vs intensity……. Honestly, I say F the noise with this debate by staying consistent in your training and learn how YOUR body best responds to different volumes and intensities. From my own experience, once your mid-intermediate, you should be doing your own programming or hire a competent coach. Doing cookie cutter templates at this point in one’s training is not the best route IMO.

5

I agree with Lyle.

This study hasn’t told me anything other than people who are smaller can put on mass faster than those who are bigger, and that those who squat the same weight will likely have similar sized legs…