The 6-12 Hypertrophy Rep Range Is A Myth
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2023
- In this video, we're going to discuss whether or not the 6-12 hypertrophy rep range is a myth.
In the world of muscle growth, there are a lot of myths and assumptions that circulate. So in this video, we're going to discuss the truth about the 6-12 bodybuilding rep range and see if it's really the best rep range for muscle growth. Many will argue that higher reps are the key to growth, others say that lower reps and heavier weights are key. Who is right? - Zábava
Let's talk about the best rep range for muscle growth... here are the references from the video! Peace!
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7927075/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25853914/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24714538/
Please make more short form content !!! A platform like this lacks a creator who can give you a meaningful tip within 1 minute. Just don’t rely on it and save a full breakdown for a full vid for the viewer retention!!!
But what is enough volume?
@@RoyRope in his video on junk volume he said it's 10-20 sets per muscle per week. That's the sweet spot all experts pretty much say that too. 10 minimum 20 like max
The big question is does doing higher reps burn more calories than lower reps and higher weight when you go to failure on both
Jeff these shorts are great, While all information is valuable I feel like some core principles can get lost in longer form content
Glad you started doing shorts cuz your delivery of information is just so good and easy to understand
for real
He probably didnt mention it because of lack of time, but lower rep ranges have a detriment on hypertrophy because they normally have lower volume, and lead to you increase muscle fibre recruitment which increases the weight you can handle without increasing muscle size, so if you train for strength and dont test one rep maxes somewhat often you likely arent getting the volume or instensity you need for hypertrophy.
What you can't pay attention to a video?
@@TheTyphoon365 who hurt you?
@@TheTyphoon365 What you don't have a social life so you try to get attention in youtube comments?
I use higher rep ranges when it’s hard to maintain proper form due to a weird path of movement, like lateral raises or side leg raises
I wonder if the best way to train is breaking your sets up into warmup - low rep - cooldown/empty the tank.
With heavy weight low rep sets always feel bad to me because I either mess up my form or I feel like I can’t push to my limit far enough to build muscle. With low reps you end up plateauing on a certain number of reps for a long time.
So if you have a warmup set at medium weight 10-15reps it should help your muscles remember what good form feels like, then you go to a higher weight and try to push yourself to max, then go back down to the lower weight and rep it out until your muscles feel completely drained. I think this should hit both strength and hypertrophy. It also helps make the set take less time to execute and feel a little less monotonous due to the low reps in the middle.
I think this is a pretty typical lifting style for the extremely heavy exercises like deadlift and bench press (however the warmups don’t usually get pushed to failure), but you don’t typically see this being recommended for general exercises. Most programs suggest using the same weight and basically going to failure 3 times in a row and that just doesn’t work well for me.
I just train lateral raises in the typical 6-12 rep range because I do them with a cable which removes the weird tension curve
3kg each hand, 20 plus reps x 4 sets delt raises is humbling 😮
@@sansiveria578yeah no, 80+ reps is way too much
@@cedric9165Nah, my delts only started growing when humbling down on the weight and increasing the reps with proper form.
12 years of training and still never running out of educational moments. Thanks Jeff
U must be huge like Ronnie Coleman
@@brp1344depends, ronnie was on quite a bit of roids 😂
@@brp1344No one must take steroids to be half that big also genetics matters. I know someone who been training for more than a decade very shredded but skinny cz he never takes even creatine.
24 years of training without any supplement here and btw i am vegan too!
Used to lift mostly 5x5 for a long time, but it's so damn time-consuming. Not only are there more sets, but you need longer breaks to recover from the heavier weights. 3x8-12 is a good sweet spot to get enough volume while minimizing the risk of injuries and avoiding junk volume.
Perfectly summarized. I'll do a set of 5 here or there but 90% of my volume is in that range now.
I think 4x6 or 5x5 is great for bench, squat, and deadlift but 3x8 is best for your other exercises
@@senshi5274 Agreed.
5x5s aren't for hypertrophy
@@isthatcreed9780Trust me bro
Hi jeff, biomedical scientist here. The studies you're looking at are a joke. They are using ultrasound to measure muscle gain in subjects after only 8 weeks of training. Ultrasound does not have high enough resolution compared to MRI to detect small changes in muscle mass after only 8 weeks of training. Hence why the studies are showing no difference between the two training methods. There are in addition a ton of studies showing muscle hypertrophy is best stimulated by metabolic stress (burning sensation caused by lactic acid), time under tension and mechanical tension, all of which are only possible with high intensity, yet high volume training. Therefore, the study that says doing 7 sets of 3 reps is just as effective as doing 3 sets of 10 reps is b.s. Another problem with that study is the fact that subjects doing 3 sets of 10 reps are required to only rest 90 seconds per set which clearly shows a lack of intensity in the training when you only need 90 seconds to rest. And you even said it yourself, 6-12 rep range of high intensity training seems to be most effective. While lower than 5 reps is for strength.
Interesting take, lets see if he wants to answer this
4 months old video, so probably not@@Johanlob1
Exactly. Jeff is completely ignoring the fact that there are other systems in the body that are affected by whether you are doing heavy weight or light weight and whether you are doing high reps or low reps. One of this systems is the nervous system. If the nervous system never experiences the demand of using heavy weight near your 1RM then it won’t ever adapt to even heavier weights. Doing super high reps with light weight will never yield similar hypertrophy and strength as compared to doing super low reps with heavy weight.
@@irfuelfor me it's other way around I usually lose a rep per set more or less
Also his idea of "high rep range" is nowhere close to reality. You're trying to emulate labor conditions, which is like moving 10-30lb stones all day, or pulling on a rope to isometric limits for four hours of an 8 hours period. You don't get that with 30 reps.
Thanks man I injured my wrist a few months ago and it still hurts when I try to carry heavy weight so knowing I can do reach higher reps while still building muscle mass helps me out a lot
I find lower rep ranges fun every now and then. But they are incredibly exhausting, which is why I don't do many sets with those and instead try to get more volume in from isolations
It’s funny to see how everyone is a little different. I find high rep sets very exhausting, and trying to keep up with all my cues over 20+ reps to be unsustainable FOR MYSELF.
On my most recent meso I tried keeping my rep expectations at 10, continuously raising the weight by either 2.5 or 5 and if I cannot reach 10 reps I keep the weight until I can.
Props to you soldier, constantly plowing through hundreds of reps (With good form I assume) is something I currently cannot do comfortably!
@@jessicalloyd2330 Well, for me it gets less exhausting the more reps I have to do.
But sometimes, that's just psychology. Sometimes high reps kinda scare me off and just feel bothersome to me, that is when I switch to VERY low reps. But then, that feels extremely hard after a while, so I go back to doing medium - high reps.
So I think that partially just what's the most fun at the moment will be the least exhausting
I find high reps 20+ great since I can actually give it All without the fear of burning my CNS up, which was the case when I tried to push hard on the first heavy set, compromising all following exercises, along with making me miserable.
Exception for me is squats, 20 reps could be limited on cardio/breath so for squats I limit myself to 15ish.
@@jessicalloyd2330yep 100 percent agree
Perfect explanation.
As long as you’re doing something in the gym you’ll see some gains, and for the most part differences are minimal assuming you’re not risking injury. It largely comes down to whatever is more fun and comfortable for you, because for most people that is what will get them to go *consistently* which is the real key.
Gotta say I've watched Jeff for years and the man knows his stuff! 🏆
I love how literally everything we learned from Nippard, the “srs” gang, and so many others 10 years ago are all being debunked now as myths. Makes you wonder what we’ll learn 10 years from now
For sure you can build over any rep range. But yeah personally , I definitely also feel like there is value with the typical "Hypertrophy rep range" idea (although I'd probably extend it to like 6-15)
Any more than that and on certain lifts I can definitely feel systemic fatigue as a limiting factor along with the mechanical tension.
Any less than that and It can beat me up on certain lifts, along with sometimes reducing mind/muscle connection, as I can feel other muscles assist more when going super heavy
To me, it feels like there are certain supporting muscles or portions of the muscles that don't get fully stimulated unless I can get to the point where I'm almost failing reps but I can push through them, which is less likely to happen with very heavy weights (but also doesn't happen easily if the weights are too light).
@@AJ-on-youtubeyoure on to something there.
For heavy compounds like bench, squat, deadlift I do 3 sets of 5 after warm up
All medium weights are 3 sets of 12.
Just a preference, glad to see that whatever I do as long as I get close to failure it builds muscle
For squats I find you can hit a new weight PR every single week or 2 if you squat 1-2x a week if you work up to a max single (weight PR) then once reached lower the weight by about 20kg so you can do 2-3 reps and do that for 2-3 sets, lower it again and do 2-3 sets of 5-8 reps then drop a whole plate from whatever weight you were doing and work in the 8-12 rep range with 1-2 RIR. 7-8 sets in total is ideal but if you’re up for it feel free to do 10 total sets (1x max, 3x 3-5, 3x 5-6, 3x 8-12).
Once you reach a new weight PR the next squatting session it’s best to work in the 3-5 rep range for the starting sets but also focus more than you normally do on form and slower and smoother control.
Doing it this way you get maximal strength gains by training your body to handle extremely heavy loads, trains your body to be able to control the loads more and allows your working sets and higher rep, hypertrophy/volume based sets to be a heavier weight resulting in more muscle because of the strength.
Then move on to your other leg exercises and work between 5-8 reps with maximal power for most of the sets with 1-2 of those sets being slow and controlled in the 12-15 rep range.
5-8 reps definitely seems like the sweet spot for most exercises. You are exerting maximal power and because of how heavy the load is you don’t need to “control” how slow it goes because it’ll already slow down significantly after 4-5 reps so your body is already in a natural state of tension rather than forcing it with lighter weights. It’s beneficial to do some sets in 8-15 rep range to work on your ability to be able to control a heavy weight better.
In Spain for long years time we said methode Bilbo in this case 🏋🏻♀️
I find 1 rep times 1 set does the job for me
????
@@utliscarletaaron6287 did he stutter?!
🗿
Mike mentzer has entered the chat😂😂
@@jordanaloysius5532mike mentzer doesn’t administer cpr to those in need to avoid overtraining his chest
Do one on eggs and cholesterol
Thats a whole new cult
I don't think the cholesterol from eggs is bad
Stay away from eggs. I started eating eggs and I turned into a 5’4 manlet
@@kungfoochicken08 As a 5'4 manlet, I can confirm that I regularly eat eggs
I started eating 5 eggs a day and now I’m gay
Honestly, this is one of the best, most concise videos on this subject I've ever seen. I just wanted to know the basics, not become an expert in exercise sciences or anything. This video did it for me. Thank you for creating such great, solid content. You have a new subscriber here. 👊🏼
I haven't gone above 8 reps in years. I like to stick around the 5 to 8 range. Sometimes I'll go up to 12 on isolation exercises.
Always a good idea to change things up. Your muscles react well to change even if its not the "optimal" workout
@@rherd yea training desensitization is a thing, so its good to switch things up a bit once in a while
Yeah bro 5-8 is where ive noticed the biggest gains for me personally. Def the sweet spot.
You're in the hypertrophy rep range so 8 reps is all good, as long as the form is good. Although you do need a deload week, as the CNS system will become fatigued, and you'll be more prone to injury.
@HadynsTVdoc what's a deload week and how often I need to do it. It sounds like ur saying train less hard/longer
Literally the only guys advice I follow. Incorporates actual scientific based studies not bro science
btw your voice is actually really calming to listen to. It's soothing!
Very informative short, thanks babe!
That’s good to know because I have a work related back injury and am finally able to start exercising after two years.
Intensity is always the most important part
It's a relief to learn that you can vary your training to a certain degree to do it the way that is most enjoyable for yourself and nevertheless getting your progress. Thank you for enlightening!
A lot of the info on your channel over the last little bit is great timing for me. Had a long term injury and have been very sick, easing back in and doing things smarter is a must for me. I appreciate the work you do. It really cuts through a sea of bro science
It would be interesting to find muscle group specific studies.
it depends on ratio of fast twitch to slow twitch in a given muscle
@@TinCanTapi was about to comment that, exactly, there arr studies on this and its kinda cool to use lower rep ranges with muscle groups with more fast fibers and higher reps with muscles with more slow fibers
@@TinCanTapalso need to consider safety of the joints involved. Example would be don't do high rep range with your elbows
@@philmcgroinI would have thought the exact opposite, preferring lighter weights for tricep extensions and exercises that are hard on the elbow
@@AS-bu9rw Exactly. Higher reps prevent cartilage breakdown by inhibiting inflammation. I like to do compounds in the 8 to 10 range and isolations such as triceps extensionsin the 12-20 range.
I hate how well you convey your message in such a short and concise manner! I need more info XD
I'm starting out and I keep encountering strains and pains that slow me down. I don't want to permanently injure myself, but I wanna grow.
Thanks for the advice! I'll get back to it. No excuses now.
Loving the short uploads
Missing a key point here. The more weight you do the less likely you are to reach true failure. You may not be able to do another rep of your 1rm while still being far from true failure. The increments are too wide.
This
Really hope you keep delivering on shorts because it has been such a saviour recently
i always felt that but never had the scientific confirmation, thanks
“6-12 reps is a myth”… “but it’s kind of actually the best way to workout”
In a sense you are underlining Heavy Duty practiced by Mike Mentzer and others.
Learning alot from you Jeff 👍
You Mike bootlickers are delusional inserting you and Mike in everywhere when its not even related.
There is no "in a sense" here.
Mike trained following the principle of minimal dosage response training while Jeff training following maximal recoverable volume.
So no in zero sense.
Jeff rocked the green posers stringers
Yep, this makes sense because I've found it to be true through trial and error. In fact, when I started doing sets in the 10 - 15 rep range I got stronger because I wasn't getting injured (I'm in my late 40s). I wish I would have known this when I was younger because I injured myself too many times with heavy weights. I'm stronger now than I was in my late teen years when I had been lifting for 5 years.
I tend to do better at the 10-12 rep range. I'm older now, so I injure easier as well as it's more taxing on my body if i go to a lower rep range. Anything with higher reps, I don't feel the first couple of reps when lifting, so it makes me feel like it's junk volume until you reach halfway and you start to feel the weights.
That’s the muscle endurance coming in. An example I’d use to remind myself is this: if I have I to play a 40 minute basketball game then I’d hope that the first 20 minutes feel easy.
But I still have to play the first 20 minutes to get to the point where I’m really tired at 38 minutes. Doesn’t mean the first half was a waste or not building me stronger
I love low weight high rep, the range of motion and mind muscle connection you get are unmatched.
Quality of rep is also very important, which is what makes studies so difficult because it's very hard to measure the "quality" of someones rep. Are they keeping tension on eccentric and concentric? Is there a pause on contraction? Are they swinging or using momentum? Best thing I tell my clients is dont over think it, if you're putting effort in and not risking injury you are going to have a positive effect. Mind muscle connection is something that can't really be taught, it has to be felt, and that takes time.
Can't weight to watch more of these shorts!
The broski who made fall in love with training again👊🏾
I like this break down man. I'm in roughly the same breakdown for my workouts.
Easier to go to failure on low reps because the muscle actually gets tired. With lower weights you feel the burn and it takes mental fortitude to get to muscle failure.
Don't know why more people don't get this
factual
You're not hitting true muscle failure on those lower reps.
Lower rep ranges to failure also tend to stress the ligaments and tendons more, so doing that often can lead to injury.
warm up properly, stretch, you will be fine
Also builds strength in those ligaments and tendons over time and will age well
I don't think that's a real concern if you are using proper form.
Nope not if your form is right with proper form it's shown to strengthen them
@@skylermccloud6230 exactly, idk why people just spew out their completely incorrect info like its fact lmao
Do one on frequency and if it's necessary. Huge views you'll get
It's a good thing this was a short video. I would have been mad if I watched a long one only to come back to 6 to 12 reps.
Please address rep ranges for different muscle groups and fast vs slow twitch.
This is a life changer, imma reduce my weight to work around my should we impingement, thank you!!
Indeed right, but it needs to take into account the fatigue
I love this! I normally go for 10 reps (generally 8-12) since it’s a little quicker and works for me, but if I have an injury, like you said, I like doing a little lighter to ease back in. This vid shows that you don’t have to change your weight just because you did 15 reps. If 15 felt good to you, go ahead! You’ll still get results
as a beginner in calisthenics, im glad i could just increase the reps and still make gains. when i first started, i was able to do 3 sets of 8 reps pushups, now i can do 14 reps per set. id probably wait till i can do 30 reps per set before i progress to another harder variation of the same exercise. this is really helpful, thanks!
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 One of the best ways to gain muscle mass is to do periodization and avaliations. Periodize the number of repetitions and vary exercises so that your body becomes increasingly harmonious.
i don't know what you are thinking but these shorts are a godsend.d straight and concise to the point.
My ego lifting side thanks you now ill do 10 sets of one reps
This subject matter is crucial based on my particular situation. I’m 44, had 25 unsuccessful knee surgeries from age 27-42. I finally found a dr who was willing to do knee replacements, and it was absolutely the right choice. Now most of the arthritis pain is gone. Yet because of so many unsuccessful knee surgeries in the past, all my muscles have completely atrophied over the years, upper and lower, almost to the point where I am legitimately disabled. Trying to build back basic muscle only seems possible sticking to very very low weights and very very high reps, never less than 30-40. Anytime I try to raise the weight significantly and target the 8-12 rep range for failure, it never feels right, there’s alot of discomfort all throughout my body. I can do the 8-12 pretty easily, but I never feel the correct muscles being activated, only systematic failure and the bad kind of pain (not the good muscle burn I get from doing high reps low weight) It’s a tremendous fuckin challenge having to do every body part very low weight, very high reps, due to systemic failure. Yet through tedious trial and error, it’s the only way my muscles grow back without tearing the shit out of my joints. Right now since my cardiovascular is low too, I workout once every 4 days, give it every ounce of energy I got on my workout day. It takes about 3 full days to recover, which is frustrating because I’m so anxious to build back my cardio now that the knee replacements have corrected my lifelong anatomy problems……..So 2 questions, any insight on how I can get more cardio in without frying my nervous system trying to train to often? And 2nd, which is better for building quads after knee replacements, squats or leg press? Consensus might say leg press is easier, but it’s very difficult finding a functional leg press machine that doesn’t aggravate my knees. Squats actually feel a little more natural, but I don’t really feel any quad burning, since they’re so weak & atrophied. I’m sure there’s a leg press out there that could help but I’ve yet to find the right one. I hate the diagonal leg press, and hate the horizontal one where you’re on a sled and start out with your knees retartedly bent towards your chest. I need the horizontal one where you push out, and the weights move forward, not me moving backwards
Im learning so much thank you
Great insight here. Thanks.
Could you do a video on tips and tricks to working around injuries?
It definitely is hard to only do a large amount of reps for each exercise. It makes working out take so incredibly long
I have eds, and my muscles are pretty weak, combine that with my stretchy ligaments, and it means that I can only do a light weight, so a lot of reps are needed
It is nice to know that I will still be building muscle, though, so thank you for this video! It definitely helped clear up some questions I had :)
Bro as someone who just got injured i needed to hear this my strength on my left tricep dropped hard
Usually the recommended is to use low reps for compound exercises to build less fatigue and use higher reps on isolated muscles to prevent injury
Dude, great info! I’ve always worked with 5x5s for powerlifting because they seem to be the “gold standard,” but I never knew why. I may have to start switching it up depending on my mood and how I’m feeling each day!
It seems strength needed for powerlifting and hypertrophy needed to bodybuilding are two different things. I'm not sure how significant the difference is for average fitness enthusiasts, but the moments when hypertrophy and strength don't correlate might be worthwhile to some people, such as powerlifters
@@ismailahmad9597 @jeffnippard What does the science say about this? Is muscle growth muscle growth, or are different set sizes better for different types of muscular use cases (strength vs aesthetic)?
Your yt shorts are golden, Jeff. Please keep em coming 🔥
I see many people talking about 2 sets of 2-6 reps till failure being all we need. Would love to see your take on it.
time under tension can boost muscle growth as well so its also beneficial to do more reps to failure or at least use negatives to extend the muscle’s time under tension
My favorite workout is Smolov: 6x6, 7x5, 8x4, 10x3. Sure, it's lots of sets, but no other program has ever built so much strength in me. In 4 months I am now repping my previous 1 rep max in a 6x6 set.
As of late, I have been doing a "Starting Strength" program with just the barbell - All sets of 5. I have been thinking about increasing reps to 6, 7, or 8 instead of increasing weight in the linear progression format I have been. I am getting stronger, but of course would like to get bigger as well.
Cant wait for the new program to drop i’ve been looking for a decent pure bodybuilding program for a while
Agree, what about when I used to cycle 10 miles a day! Do tons of reps and get really muscular , lots of failure when the wind is blowing , but’s it’s a thousand reps it more
I cycle through different rep ranges around every month. I been absent to the gym for a while and just started back up. Currently hitting 8-12 rep range as I retrain my body for endurance and strength training for familiarization. For strength explosiveness, I'll hit high sets low reps heavy weight. And some isolation exercises, I hit anywhere from 10-15.
Ite true! All you need is a weighted stretch or whatever the current fitness trend is, I dunno, early it was training once every epoc like mentzer but the optimal seems to have changed again
I do various set and rep situations depending on the week. Its generally a 4-5 week cycle. 1st week is 1 rep maxes for main movements, 2nd week is 3x10 at 75% max to build a base, 3rd is 8-12rep at 85%-65%, 4th is 3x8 @85%, 5th is 3x12@65%. Ive found i can usually increase my main movements by 5%-10% by the next max week at this rate. Of course thats just my program, and it obviously includes axillary movements to strengthen the fine muscles and group work as well.
I found that higher reps with slightly lower weight are better for the legs and slightly higher weight with lower reps are better for the arms by nature of how we use those muscles in day-to-day life.
That mic quality is amazing. Anyone know what mic he's using?
That lat machine looks so good
Thanks jeff
I’ve been going to the gym consistently for about a month now and I’ve been doing 5x15 with most of my workouts. If I push for a little bit heavier weight then I lower the reps to 10-12. So far this is working well for me and I’m already seeing some results so I’m looking forward to what my further results will look like as time goes.
I am so happy, that my dad is in the military, because they’re getting fit not for commercial issues, but because of survival issues. There’s no bs. They’ve been saying these things for decades.
My dad got natural pretty big with just a 12kg dumbbell.
Still gonna do 6-12, might mix it with lower rep range now cos of this video
7x3 will take SO much longer to finish the exercise from adding up the rest between each set
I do 1 set, moderately heavy weight, 6-10 reps to failure, w/ progressively heavier weight each set cycle. For me that's all I need. I work @ a pretty labor intensive (high volume) job already, so I rest 3 days between workouts. Getting the biggest growth of my life @ 40 right now.
Lots to think about here. I go for time efficiency
For my first set of any certain muscle group I do a warmup set that becomes a working set. This is by using a lighter weight that starts to get difficult around 15 reps, I find that around 15-20 reps is enough to get that muscle group warmed up so then I’m confident that when I go past that to near failure at around 30 reps I won’t hurt myself. So I can warmup and do a working set in the same set.
Another factor would be what percentage of your one rep max you’re lifting at.
Also, you’re set and rep range along with tempo will influence whether you’re developing slow twitch, fast twitch, or FOG muscle fibers.
I just do 3 sets of 3-5 reps on most exercises then another 2-3 sets in the 5-8 rep range and 1-2 sets in the 8-15 rep range. Significant gains in strength and pretty fast muscle growth too. Get both endurance and heavy load strength. This is per exercise but I typically only have around 5 different exercises a session on PPLR.
Every 2-3 weeks I’ll work up to a 1 rep max with most exercises. If I hit a new PR then I’ll try and hit it again and try and get an extra rep. If that fails I’ll just hit a new rep PR on a slightly lower weight then the week after that hit a new weight PR again.
When I’m hitting PR’s every 2nd week and once I achieve it I lower the weight slightly and try and get 3-5 reps for a couple of sets then lower the weight again and do 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps.
So every week I’m working on total strength but on PR weeks I tend to stick around 3-5 reps for at least half my sets while my other weeks it’s typically 5-8. I always do at least 1-2 sets, usually 3 very slow and controlled in the 8-12 or 10-15 rep range.
Sometimes instead of working with 2-3 sets of high rep ranges I’ll just do one massive drop set starting at my max or slightly below until I can’t even physically do the movement without any weights anymore.
This is the way to build both muscle and strength and has worked extremely well for me compared to any other way I’ve ever worked out before.
Going for 1 rep maxes every session and trying it on the same exercise 2-3 days a week locked me in a very long plateau and I wasn’t even building strength. I was attempting a new PR, failing, lowering the weight and go to failure, lower the weight, failure and repeat etc. Now going for weight PR’s on an exercise every 2 weeks I’m successful most of the time. I also keep 1-2 RIR for squats and bench. This works best for me. I go to failure on every other movement including pull-ups and OHP. For OHP after going for a max I usually just lower the weight and for 3 sets do a challenging but easy enough weight to do 5 sets with 1RIR. Final sets I lower it again and go 5-12 rep range to failure.
Strength and muscle is built in every rep range. Just focus on lifting heavy weights close to failure and don’t go to failure every single set. I love going to failure but for bench especially I find 3-5 reps and leaving 1-2RIR results in the best gains.
Best results from my experience is:
3 sets of 3-5 with 1RIR (as fast as possible)
2 sets of 5-8 with 0-1 RIR slow on way down, pause, explode on way up)
2 sets of 8-15 with 0-2 RIR (slow on way down, optional pause and either explode or controlled on way up).
Avoid actually failing on bench and squat, allow yourself to fail if you’re going for a new rep PR at most once a month with a spotter so you can actually make the most out of the last rep with a slight assistance.
The best way to implement this imo is doing your compound lifts with heavy weight since compounds lead to more growth than isolation and compounds are already more fatiguing than isolation movements you double down on it and plus who doesn’t like to have a big SBD. THEN do your isolation movements with light weight high reps and good form controlling the eccentric and all that fun stuff
Higher reps will preserve joints better. Lower reps will build more strength. Both valid, depends on your goals.
I like to do 5X8 or 5X10 just cause.
I think the best way possible is to vary the reps ranges in the same workout
For example a good push session for me its like
3x 6-8 Bench
3x 10-12 incline bench
2x 10-12 military press
3x 10-15 Lateral rises
3x 10-15 triceps excercise
i think lateral and tricep can stay in that range forever. BUT you can rotate the first 3 compounds movements load from day to day.
so you came second day and:
3x 6-8 incline bench
3x 10-12 Bench
2x 10-12 military press
3x 10-15 Lateral rises
3x 10-15 triceps excercise
12-20 is my sweet spot on most movements, below 10 on most exercises I don't feel shit and often dont get sore at all or not in the target muscle
I think it just depends per person, but also your own preference. For me, I like to switch between 4x10 and 5x5 reps every six weeks.
My personal favorite is 3 sets of 5 on compound lifts and 3 sets of 7-8 on more isolated movements
For over a year I've been training to failure with a very slow rep cadence as well as attempting to remove as much momentum from my lifts as possible. I lift lighter weights for many of my lifts but I've built more muscle than I have from other types of training. I discovered this training methodology after becoming injured.
Mix them, use certain ranges for certain moves. Go heavy progression with squats, mid with lunges and high for extensions etc.
Do you have any videos on rep tempo and eccentric training?
Can you elaborate on the working around an injury part? How should I program my sets?
It's all about context really. The reason I use the 6-12 model is really simple. I tell my clients aim for 4 sets, 10 reps. I tell them if by set 4 you feel completely dead and cant even do 1 rep, than it means you went a little to hard and we should try decreasing the weight. If they finish set 4 and feel like they can do another one, than we went to light.
Basically 10 reps/4 sets is a very easy number to track your progress and adjust. And I feel most long term gym goers knows this
I've gotten better results from max ot and bigger leaner stronger 4-6 reps
Good to know, thanks! I think the main downside of high reps is just that it takes longer. For a lot of people, 5-12 reps is perfect because it'll be very efficient use of limited gym time.
I do both at the same time. Last week on flat dumbell press i did 70 for 2 sets of 9 then did 75 for 6 reps then 80 for 4
Hard to reach the same intensity with high reps too, 20 reps when failure is 22 is tough to perform and even gauge.