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Jan 9, 2023 Training Basics What’s up guys, and welcome back to ‘Training Basics’, where I cover all of the essential information you need to know to succeed on your lifting journey. Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced lifter, this series will help you build muscle more efficiently and make quicker progress in the gym in order to reach all of your fitness goals! So sit back, strap up, and pay attention, because today’s episode will tell you everything you need to know about training intensity! First 2 episodes Reps: • What are REPS? | ... Sets: • What are SETS? | ... 00:00 Intro 00:28 Sets & Reps A rep is when you perform one exercise one time by stretching and contracting your muscle fibers, and a set is just a series of reps all performed in succession. In order for a set to be productive and lead to muscle growth, it needs to be taken close to failure. That means, regardless of how many reps you choose to perform in a set, once you finish it, you shouldn’t have been able to get many more. 01:07 Effective Reps Effective reps are the last 5 (or so) reps of any set taken to muscular failure. These reps are deemed “effective“ because there is a considerable and involuntary decrease in concentric velocity as a direct result of the weight becoming difficult to lift. This in turn forces your muscles to recruit more muscle fibers, in order to produce enough force to keep up with the body’s demand. This force that is produced is called mechanical tension, and this is what stimulates muscle hypertrophy, or muscle growth. 03:57 Reps in Reserve Reps in reserve, or RIR, is the amount of extra reps you could’ve done if you went to failure, but didn’t. So if you had 1 rep in reserve, you did 4 effective reps, and if you had 4 reps in reserve, you did 1 effective rep. This is why every set that you hope to build muscle from needs to be within 0-4 RIR, because if you leave any more, you won’t have done any effective reps. 4:52 Disadvantages of Failure Although training to failure would elicit the most mechanical tension and as a result stimulate the most muscle hypertrophy, it does unfortunately also create the most amount of fatigue. If you did a set of squats for 8 reps and left 2 reps in reserve, chances are you’re probably pretty fatigued, but you’re still able to rest it off, and do another set a few minutes later. However, if you did that same set for all 10 reps, leaving 0 reps in reserve, and pushed for an 11th failing halfway through, you’re probably way more fatigued, maybe even dizzy and nauseous, and forced to rest much longer as a result. So, even though those 2 additional reps may have created a bit more stimulus since you now performed 5 effective reps instead of 3, all that extra fatigue it generates isn’t always worth it. 5:43 Advantages of Failure 1. Allows you to understand what vigorous intensity actually feels like. 2. Eliminates the need for tracking reps in reserve. 3. Allows you to get more stimulus by actually doing less. 7:40 Close to Failure (RIR) You don’t always have to train to failure. In fact, you technically never even have to, as long as all of your other sets are at least close to failure, or within 0-4 RIR. 7:54 Advantages of RIR 1. You won’t have to go balls to the wall causing you to literally fail on the last rep of every set. 2. You won’t create nearly as much fatigue both systemically and psychologically. 3. You’ll be able to do more sets in the gym. 8:33 Disadvantages of RIR You will unfortunately have to track reps in reserve, or at least have a somewhat accurate idea of how close to failure you actually are. 8:54 My Recommendation My personal recommendation is train to failure on some sets, and train close to failure on others. That way, you understand what a true set to failure feels like and subsequently how hard you need to push your future sets to be at least close to failure. Including both will also provide you with the highest amount of stimulus per the lowest amount of fatigue. Since doing all sets to failure creates the highest stimulus and highest fatigue, and no sets to failure the lowest stimulus and lowest fatigue, somewhere in the middle is most likely the sweet spot. Follow me on social media: INSTAGRAM: TWITTER: TIKTOK: @maxeuceda7?la... About Me: I’m a college student with a passion for fitness hoping to make it my career. I started training in early 2019 and have devoted a big portion of my life to it ever since. Now, with the help of this amazing community I’ve been blessed to be a part of, I will try my best to give back the information I’ve learned for those hoping to embark on a journey of their own. Make sure to leave a like if you enjoyed, comment what you want
