Volume ladder training protocol for massive development

There is a particular key to training a martial art well, and that key is repetition. In Yin Style Baguazhang, things are no different, and as every practitioner knows, massive repetitions of the basic drills and exercises are expected and required to move forward. Of course, these repetitions cannot be performed blindly if development is desired; there must a be a constant endeavor to improve coupled with smart training techniques and constant refinement. Still, doing huge numbers of repetitions is a daunting task that can begin to feel like grinding, possibly leading to burnout, stagnant training, or frustration. A bodybuilding protocol called the "volume ladder" can be implemented, however, to help with this situation.

What is a volume ladder?

The volume ladder protocol is one in which a large number of repetitions of an exercise is performed in a sequential way that confers a substantial number of psychological benefits. In essence, the idea is to do a very large pyramid. With weights, it is typical to use a weight that is roughly 60% of your one-rep-max on a particular exercise, and then you follow the protocol of:
One rep, short rest, two reps, short rest, three reps, short rest, and so on up to ten reps, then count down nine reps, short rest, eight reps, short rest, and so on until just one rep again.
In total, if climbing a simple ladder like this to 10, you will perform one hundred repetitions of an exercise in a relatively concentrated time. This protocol can be successfully applied to training in Yin Style Bagua, particularly when getting the will up to do long, grueling sets to failure seems out of reach.

The two main psychological advantages to the protocol seem to be in constant doability and in a pleasant end experience. What this means is that since each set is small (meaning well within what is normally considered doable), there is no time during the training when it feels insurmountable. This is excellent for keeping motivation up and to finish the huge workout you've planned. A positive end-experience of any event has been scientifically proven to have a huge psychological impact in how good or bad something is perceived and strongly increases the likelihood that it will be repeated again soon.

This protocol, it should be noted, is time-consuming and very physically demanding. It is also used particularly in bodybuilding at times when growth seems to have plateaued and is used to stimulate new muscle growth. It is not generally advised in a weightlifting capacity to use this protocol solely for extended periods of time.

Important note: If doing this protocol with weights, including the big saber, expect rather severe soreness. Not only is this effect reported commonly, after doing this for the first time with dumbbell bicep curls about two weeks ago, I was unable to straighten my left arm all the way for four days and had residual muscle soreness in both arms for six, the left arm maintaining soreness and tightness for ten straight days. I did it with sets of three body-weight squats (so 3 squats, then 6, etc, up to 30 and back down) and couldn't navigate stairs correctly for a few days afterward. To my credit, I did 300 body-weight squats in just under 10 minutes in the workout, the first time I'd done that many in a single workout in a couple of months.

I've found it very useful to modify this protocol for some of the exercises in some or all of the following three ways:

1. I do not limit myself to climbing to 10. If starting with 1 and climbing to last number n, you will do n^2 total repetitions. This secretly tells us that most of the work is in the higher numbers. For instance, in going only from 1-5-1, the total is only 25 repetitions, only a quarter of 1-10-1. 
2. I also do not limit myself to starting with 1 as it is annoying in some exercises, so, for instance, I might do 3-12-3 or something like that.
3. I do not always count by 1's. In fact, with many exercises, I count by 3's, 5's, or 10's. For instance, in counting by 5's, the repetitions look like this: 5, 10, 15, ..., 50, 45, ..., 10, 5. The total number of repetitions there (if going to 10x5) is 500. I'll be denoting this with #x(1-10-1) to indicate counting by #. Sometimes I combine these three modifications in various ways, according to where I expect to find the challenge.

How can the volume ladder protocol be used in Yin Style Baguazhang training?

The normal method of training in Yin Style Baguazhang is to go to the point of failure or near-failure on an exercise, rest, and then repeat it, and so this should be the emphasized manner of training. That said, here's some ways that I've experimented with adding volume ladder training to my baguazhang training lately, outside of in my extra-curricular conditioning workouts. I've actually found success with it in every aspect of my training.

Volume ladder strikes, combos, drills, and forms:

 This is perhaps the easiest way to introduce the method to your training, conceptually speaking, although it seems very, very weird to do it the first time, particularly when you're used to training in the usual capacity. The idea, it seems, it partly to pre-fatigue yourself in the smaller sets counting up, do a number of working sets near the top and coming back down, and then to finish strong with smaller sets on the way down, and it works. For me, the going starts to get rough usually on the 7th or 8th set on the way up (if I can do that many! note below) and continues all the way until the 4th from last set on the way down. That gives me 9-12 "work sets" in which I feel like I'm pushing myself.

With strikes, I've found that using the multiples method is very useful. For instance, doing 5x(1-10-1) on each side with basic strikes yields 1000 total strikes and an awesome, concentrated workout. It feels very odd doing only 5-10 on each side before stopping at the beginning, but in those sets I can really concentrate closely on finding the feeling of the technique. Then I can carry that into the longer sets later and use the shorter sets near the end to really solidify and refine what I learned. It seems to be a very effective method, and it's harder than it sounds even if the largest set has only 100 strikes in it--which is completely doable. Doing this for all basic three strikes across a palm (I prefer to do it rotating) makes for a rather incredible strikes workout with 1500 strikes on each side. It takes, accordingly, a bit over an hour to do it, depending on how long your rests are and what kind of cadence you keep.

This is also successful with stepping. In the box step, for instance, 1-10-1 can be the number of times you go around the box in each direction before switching sides. In the three-step, it can be the number of times you go one way and then back the other.

With combos, cut it back a little, maybe 2x(1-10-1).

With forms, I've only tried 1-10-1 on each side, and it's harder than it sounds. It takes nearly an hour (or more) to finish, but at the end, you've performed 100 repetitions of a given form on each side, which really seems to help to develop it and make it regular. Since my other "hard" forms workouts in the past usually do well to get 25-30 repetitions of a form in, this is a substantial improvement! In fact, of all of the methods of the art that I've tried the protocol with, this one seems to be the one that sticks out as "being made for it."

Standing strengthening volume ladders

It is easy to overdo this. It seems deceptive to start out so easy, but even doing 10x(1-10-1) (measured in seconds on each side) takes a long time--over half an hour--and is very hard. As all of the sets are short, this really allows full intensity throughout every set.

Volume ladders in circle turning

This use is also very, very deceptive. I've only used it, so far, to count revolutions, something I usually don't like to do while turning these days. It is a very interesting way to break up the turning practice. Doing just 1-10-1 revolutions (in each direction before going up to the next number) takes somewhere around 15-20 minutes, depending on your pace, and nets 100 revolutions on each side. 2x(1-10-1) is actually quite hard in Lion and puts the total turning time up near 35 minutes. I do not rest by putting my hands down between sets when turning; I just change sides (rather a lot).

For some reason that I haven't identified, all of the switching sides seems to actually make this harder than the usual turning practice while giving extra practice on the direction changing methods. Additionally, the short-term of each set seems to encourage more intensity in the posture, and so the development is probably good. This protocol, for what it's worth, is much easier to do in Phoenix than in Lion, though I haven't had time to investigate that yet.

Note about unorthodoxy:

This method is not orthodox, and I don't think it should be the primary method of training. Still, I think it's useful. The usual method is to go as long as you can on every set. With circle turning and standing strengthening practices particularly, going maximally before switching or resting is very valuable and must be the primary form of training. Think of volume ladders as a supplement to jump-start a practice that is stagnating, particularly in the matter of willpower to keep grinding.

Volume ladders with the big saber:

Here is where I think the volume ladder protocol really shines. Doing big saber drills with the protocol seems to be one of the best ways for gaining a lot of strength relatively quickly. I do most of the drills in 1-10-1 fashion (each side), although with tracing the saber, I go in 3x(1-10-1) usually, resting as little as possible. It's a hard workout.

I'd encourage everyone interested to give it a try!