I’ve ranted about the workout-recovery moving target: Your best number of sets per week and optimal intensity for hypertrophy can vary…
A new study makes those factors a little less blurry: Exploring the Dose-Response Relationship Between Estimated Resistance Training Proximity to Failure, Strength Gain and Muscle Hypertrophy. Robinson, et al. 2023.
The researchers determined that the closer you train to failure, the fewer sets you need for optimal growth. That’s something Mike Mentzer and Arthur Jones were saying 50 years ago: “You can train long or you can train hard, but you can’t do both”…
That’s because while going to failure or very close—one rep short—produces more neuromuscular fatigue, it also maxes out more high-growth fast-twitch fibers at the end of each set…
The researchers say that if you go to failure or very close, you get the best gains with about 12 sets per week per muscle—that’s per week, not per workout…
Stopping three reps short of failure is much less taxing and allowed for more sets—about 20 per week for the same muscle gain. More sets are necessary to get at all of the growth fibers due to “sub-failure” sets.
So if you’re going all out at your workouts, training each muscle twice a week with six sets per workout is around your optimal hypertrophy formula.
The Old Man, Young Muscle workout prescribes three to four all-out sets per workout for each muscle, yet it has yielded great gains for many, myself included (see the cover of the diet ebook below). Why?
We’ll look at the factors you should consider to require less volume for more mass in the next training newsletter. Hint: One is the urge to watch “Matlock” and “Golden Girls” reruns.
Your Efficient Mass-Building Handbook: For complete mass workouts that include Speed Sets, the ideal exercise for each muscle, and the best stretch and contracted add-on moves, get your copy of Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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No Weights? No Worries!
One way you’re guaranteed to pack on stacks of muscle is through a process called muscle protein synthesis (MPS), which more than doubles 24 hours after an intense workout…
Until recently, MPS was only elevated when trainees would lift 70-90% of their one-rep max…
That’s not only dangerous for your joints, but it also sets you up for high injury risk every time you exercise…
It used to be believed that training with your own bodyweight couldn’t get you the same results as training with your 70-90% one rep max… Until NOW.