- 6 months ago
jeff nipard
Datelle
sab ko helo! min ek canida ka qadarti paro badi balder hon or bin alaqwami sath par qaabl paur lieuter hon jas min bio kimasteri/kimasteri min bi es si hay or sciens ka shauq hay. min taqriban 20 sal se tarbiyat kar raha hon. majhe amid hay kah aap meri wedus se ltaf andoz hon ge!
Datelle
sab ko helo! min ek canida ka qadarti paro badi balder hon or bin alaqwami sath par qaabl paur lieuter hon jas min bio kimasteri/kimasteri min bi es si hay or sciens ka shauq hay. min taqriban 20 sal se tarbiyat kar raha hon. majhe amid hay kah aap meri wedus se ltaf andoz hon ge!
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SportsTranscript
00:00Okay, I'd like you to take a look at this set and try to answer the question,
00:05is he training hard enough to maximize muscle growth?
00:08Let's just skip ahead to the last two reps here.
00:20All right, I hope that's an easy one, right?
00:23There might be a few masochists who'd argue he could have grinded another rep,
00:26but I think most people would easily agree that Ed Corny squeezed every last drop of gains out of that set.
00:32But what about this set? This one's a bit trickier.
00:35Is Jay training hard enough to maximize growth here?
00:37Now, for a bit of context, I measured how long it took him to complete the positive, or concentric, phase of each rep.
00:43The first rep took him 0.57 seconds to complete, and that stays pretty steady throughout the set.
00:48And then you'll notice that, as he gets to these last couple of reps here,
00:51they take 0.7 seconds, and then 1.03 seconds to complete.
00:57So, was that set to failure?
00:59Could he have gone harder?
01:00Should he have gone harder?
01:02Well, let's start with what the science has to say about that first question.
01:06According to this paper from Fisher & Steele,
01:08muscular failure is when, despite the greatest effort,
01:11a person is unable to meet and overcome the demands of the exercise,
01:15causing an involuntary set endpoint.
01:17So, basically, you don't just stop because it feels hard.
01:21You stop when your muscles are physically incapable of producing enough force to move the weight.
01:26Now, practically speaking, coaches tend to break this up into two categories.
01:30There's absolute failure, which is when you just can't move the weight,
01:33even if you change your form or get other muscles involved.
01:36And there's technical failure, which is when you can't do another rep with the same form.
01:41So, once your form is altered, that would be failure.
01:43Now, most coaches tend to prefer the technical failure definition
01:47because it just feels wrong to define failure as going all out at any cost,
01:51even if you break technique.
01:53But there's a problem with this technical definition, too.
01:56The reality is that as you push toward failure, especially on free weight exercises,
02:00your form will change to some degree.
02:03So, if we allow zero technique breakdown,
02:05we risk terminating the set well before the target muscle
02:08has reached its full force-generating potential.
02:10Oh, what a loser!
02:12So, I personally like to define failure somewhere in the middle.
02:15A little form deviation is okay if it helps you crank out those extra few reps
02:18to really reach muscular failure,
02:20but once you start creating a whole new exercise just to move the weight,
02:24you're stretching the definition of failure too far.
02:27Also, since it's easier to keep form consistent on most machines,
02:30I don't think we should tolerate as much, if any, form deviation there.
02:34Now, some researchers have started to investigate failure in terms of rep speed slowdown.
02:38Basically, as you get closer to failure,
02:40the concentric will move more slowly as you grind out those last few reps.
02:44For example, this 2019 study found that on the bench press exercise,
02:48once subjects got halfway through the set,
02:50their reps had already slowed down by 30%.
02:53And then on the last possible rep, the weight was moving about 80% slower.
02:57Now, it's important to note that how much rep slowdown you see
03:00as you approach failure is highly individual
03:02and will be different for different exercises.
03:04Still, if the reps don't slow down at all,
03:07you're most likely not at failure yet,
03:09at least not using my definition.
03:11And if the reps have started to slow noticeably,
03:13you could be getting at least somewhat close.
03:15So, coming back to Jay,
03:17no, I definitely don't think this set was to failure.
03:19I think he could have done at least two or three more reps
03:21with still good enough form.
03:23So, yeah, he definitely could have gone harder,
03:25but does that mean he should have gone harder?
03:28Well, before we try to answer that question,
03:29it's important to cover a bit of scientific background
03:31and a few more examples from in the trenches.
03:34So, as far as I can tell,
03:35there are two main approaches people take
03:37to figure out if they're pushing hard enough,
03:39and they both have some science base.
03:41The first is the simplest approach.
03:42You just go all the way to failure every time,
03:45or at least most of the time.
03:46This way, you simply don't need to worry
03:48about accidentally undershooting your effort.
03:50Now, a lot of people in our science-based niche
03:52are quick to call this overzealous meathead training,
03:55but I think it's actually fairly reasonable in some contexts,
03:57and it does have some science base.
03:59I mean, you can find peer-reviewed literature
04:01suggesting that people should train
04:02to the highest intensity of effort,
04:04thus recruiting as many motor units
04:06and muscle fibers as possible.
04:08However, this recommendation is always couched
04:10within a low-volume, single-set-to-failure paradigm.
04:13So, I think this every-set-to-failure approach
04:15is a viable option for people who are very limited on time
04:19and want to get in an efficient training stimulus
04:21for the lowest possible time investment.
04:23However, I'm confident this style of training isn't optimal,
04:27especially over the long term,
04:28and that's because you're forced to keep weekly volume,
04:31or the number of sets you do,
04:32very low when taking a lot of sets to failure.
04:35And we also know from a pretty large body of science
04:38that on average, more volume leads to more muscle growth,
04:41at least up to a point.
04:42This is a figure from a meta-analysis led by James Krieger,
04:45where you can see that of the 15 studies included,
04:4811 are to the right of the center line,
04:50meaning those studies favored higher volumes.
04:52If there was truly no impact of volume on muscle growth,
04:54you'd expect to see more studies like this one to the left,
04:57and there'd be a much more random distribution around the center.
05:00But that's not the case.
05:01The overall average effect clearly favors higher volume.
05:04Now, to make this more tangible,
05:06when you break it down in terms of the number of sets per muscle per week,
05:09it's clear that doing at least 10 sets per muscle per week
05:12is better than doing 5 to 9 sets,
05:14or doing less than 5 sets.
05:15Now, I can already hear a bodybuilder somewhere saying,
05:17but Jeff, the muscle only knows failure.
05:20But we know this isn't true.
05:22A brand new systematic review and meta-analysis from Gergich and colleagues,
05:25which pooled the results of 15 studies and about 400 participants,
05:29found that similar increases in muscle size
05:31can be attained regardless of whether or not training is carried out to muscle failure.
05:34We also know from other research that those final two reps before failure
05:37are disproportionately more fatiguing,
05:40which is not good from a recovery standpoint.
05:42Now, obviously, this does depend on the exercise.
05:44Failure on a set of lateral raises isn't nearly as fatiguing as failure on a set of deadlifts.
05:49But on a per-set basis,
05:51going all the way to failure is clearly harder to recover from.
05:54So, if we can get the same hypertrophic stimulus with less recovery demand
05:58and can do more weekly volume by not going to failure,
06:01the solution is simple.
06:03We need to find a way of quantifying how hard we're training
06:06without needing to take every set to failure.
06:09And that brings me to the second, and in my opinion,
06:12more optimal approach to this question,
06:13which is getting really good at using RPE and RIR.
06:17Now, before I show you some real-life examples,
06:19give me 30 seconds on the beach to explain these concepts for those who don't know.
06:24So, RPE stands for Rating of Perceived Exertion,
06:26and it just ranks how hard your set was on a scale of 1 to 10.
06:30RIR stands for Reps in Reserve,
06:32so it's how many reps you left in the tank.
06:34So, if you had an RPE of 10,
06:35that means you reached failure and you had 0 reps in reserve.
06:39If you had an RPE of 9,
06:40that means you had 1 rep left in reserve,
06:42that would be the same as saying 1 RIR.
06:44If you had an RPE of 8,
06:45that means you had 2 reps left in reserve, and so on.
06:48Now, it's still being hotly debated
06:50just how many reps you can leave in the tank
06:51and still maximize hypertrophy.
06:54And in my opinion,
06:54this is the million-dollar question right now.
06:56For example, on the low end,
06:58some experts like Dr. Mike Zordos
07:00seem to be comfortable setting the threshold pretty low,
07:02at least in certain contexts,
07:04having said that you can grow just fine
07:06maybe 5 to 7 reps from failure,
07:08so that'd be a true RPE of 3 to 5.
07:11Dr. Eric Helms has recommended 0 to 5 reps in reserve,
07:14so an RPE of 5 to 10
07:16is a good range for hypertrophy,
07:18while others like Dr. Brad Schoenfeld
07:20seem to set the bar a bit higher,
07:21having recently made recommendations
07:23in the 1 to 3 reps in reserve range,
07:25so an RPE of 7 to 9.
07:27And maybe take the last set or two to failure
07:29on certain exercises, just to be safe.
07:31I think that these can all make sense
07:32depending on the context.
07:34For example,
07:34if you're training with sufficiently heavy weight,
07:36I think you can get a solid hypertrophic stimulus
07:39by leaving 4 or 5 reps in the tank.
07:41That's because you should activate most motor units
07:43from the first rep of the set,
07:45especially if you're a more advanced trainee.
07:47However, if you're doing lighter weight,
07:48say something over 12 to 15 reps,
07:50you really shouldn't be leaving
07:51more than 1 to 2 reps in the tank tops.
07:54But there's an obvious issue here.
07:55This RPE or RIR method is highly subjective,
07:58and if you suck at guessing
07:59how many reps you have left in the tank,
08:01you do risk falling below that bottom end threshold.
08:04This is why in another video,
08:05I touched on the importance of doing anchoring sets.
08:07If you haven't done this lately, or ever,
08:10actually do it the next time you train.
08:12Pick an exercise that you can fail safely on
08:13and go all out with good form.
08:16Call out when you think you've got
08:17two reps left in the tank,
08:18and then keep pushing to see what it feels like
08:23to truly go to an RPE of 10
08:25and to find out how close you are with your called rating.
08:27Another way to get better at this is using rep speed,
08:30which is gaining a lot of momentum in the research lately.
08:32One group of researchers even developed a set of equations
08:35that can predict how many reps you have left in reserve
08:38using velocity loss within a set.
08:40So in theory, we can use their data in this table
08:42to predict that if you're doing a set of bench press
08:44with 80% of your max and the reps have slowed by half,
08:48so 50%,
08:49you should still have 1.6 reps left in the tank,
08:52so one to two reps in reserve.
08:54And while I know some powerlifters have started using
08:56rep speed trackers in training,
08:58I think most of us should apply this research
08:59more broadly for now.
09:01One thing I think we can all benefit from doing
09:02is simply recording a set,
09:04watching it back,
09:05and observing how the rep speed changes toward the end.
09:08If you don't notice the reps slow down at all,
09:10you may not be pushing it as hard as you think you are,
09:12even if it feels quite challenging in your head.
09:15So, let's start with an example from me.
09:17This is a set of 11 reps that I did with Eric Helms,
09:19and we were aiming for an RPE of 8.
09:22What was the RPE?
09:25Call that an 8.
09:26An 8?
09:27Yeah.
09:28Is it less than an 8?
09:29It might have been a 7.5.
09:31Actually, now that I'm watching this back,
09:33I think it was more like an RPE of 6, maybe 7.
09:35So the first rep took 0.8 seconds,
09:38the second rep was 0.9 seconds.
09:39We'll fast-forward these middle reps and jump to rep 9,
09:43which took 1.1 seconds,
09:44so it is slowing down a bit.
09:46Here is rep 10, which took 1.13 seconds,
09:49so about the same speed there.
09:51And then here's my last attempted rep,
09:53which took 1.23 seconds.
09:55So when I do out the math,
09:56that's 28% velocity loss from the first,
09:59or fastest rep, to the last rep.
10:01And if, just for fun,
10:02we round that up to 30%
10:03and plug it into the squat data
10:05from the Rodriguez-Russell study,
10:06that would correspond to 3.5 reps in reserve,
10:09assuming this set was around 70% of my 1 rep max,
10:12which I think is fair.
10:13So 3.5 reps in reserve
10:15would be an RPE of 6 or 7, not 8.
10:18Now, I honestly don't think we can extrapolate
10:19this data across exercises like this,
10:22so I'm just gonna keep it in mind,
10:23but ultimately put it away
10:24for the next few examples we'll cover.
10:26And while I definitely wouldn't call this a useless set,
10:28especially when doing multiple sets,
10:30in my opinion,
10:30I probably should have done another 1 or 2 reps
10:32to get in that RPE 8 zone.
10:34Okay, next let's see an example
10:35of what zero reps in reserve,
10:37or RPE 10, really looks like.
10:39This is a set from men's classic physique champ,
10:41Chris Bumstead.
10:42So let's pay attention
10:43to how his rep speed changes throughout the set.
10:45So he's just finishing a rep 4 here.
10:47So this is rep 5,
10:49and we're at 1.27 seconds.
10:51Rep 6 is 1.23 seconds.
10:53Rep 7, a bit of a grind,
10:551.9 seconds.
10:56He's still going.
10:57At rep 8, we're at 1.9 seconds again.
11:00Now, rep 9 is considerably slower
11:02at 2.5 seconds.
11:04Now, here is his last rep,
11:05much slower,
11:06a full 3.2 seconds.
11:08And I think that's it.
11:09I don't think he could have got another rep
11:10without a lot of help from his spotter.
11:12Now, playing this back,
11:13I personally would save this level of exertion
11:15for the last set of an exercise,
11:17or he could even stop 2 reps shy of where Chris did
11:19to mitigate fatigue a bit,
11:20and then push like this
11:21in the last week of a training phase.
11:23But I still think this was a beautifully executed set
11:25to zero RIR,
11:26or maybe slightly beyond,
11:27if you think his spotter helped a bit
11:29on those last few reps there.
11:30All right, so let's see an example
11:31of what one rep in reserve really looks like.
11:33Now, in my opinion,
11:34this is where a good chunk of your training should be
11:36if your main goal is to maximize hypertrophy.
11:39So, this is a set of six reps
11:40by IFBB pro John Meadows.
11:42Let's watch.
11:44Oh, yeah, easy.
11:46Easy.
11:48Let's go.
11:49Come on, two more.
11:51Yep, one more.
11:54Nice.
11:55Easy.
11:56So, yeah, watching this back,
11:57you can see John has a very explosive tempo
11:59and pretty consistent rep speed throughout the set,
12:02and then he starts to hit the wall more abruptly
12:04on these last couple reps here.
12:06But based on this last rep speed,
12:07I'd say he could have done one more rep
12:09with a big grind,
12:10but no more than that.
12:12Okay, next let's look at an RPE 7-8 set,
12:14so leaving two to three reps in reserve.
12:16This is a set of eight reps from IFBB pro Kai Green.
12:20So, these first few reps are moving
12:21really smooth and consistent.
12:23I think he's getting a little boost from his spotter,
12:25but judging by the bar speed of these last few reps here,
12:28it looks to me like he had another two,
12:30maybe three reps in the tank.
12:32And of course,
12:32I think this is a perfectly stimulative working set,
12:35especially given the load he's moving.
12:36Okay, next I want to look at a set
12:38that probably isn't stimulative enough
12:40to maximize hypertrophy,
12:41so a set to an RPE of five or less.
12:44Now, of course,
12:45there are tons of examples of Ronnie Coleman
12:47going to an RPE 10 and beyond.
12:49I personally think he's the greatest bodybuilder of all time,
12:52and no one in their right mind
12:53would argue that Ronnie didn't train hard enough.
12:55Hey, wait, baby!
12:57Go!
12:58Woo!
12:59Yep!
12:59All right!
13:00Yeah!
13:00Yeah, baby!
13:01Woo!
13:03But as an exception to the rule,
13:05I did want to look at this set of pulldowns,
13:07because this is the type of set you see all the time
13:09where someone calls it off
13:10before they get anywhere near a failure.
13:13Now, this could have been a warm-up set for Ronnie,
13:15and he might have done 20 more sets after this.
13:17I'm not sure.
13:18But on a per-set basis,
13:20I would say this proximity to failure
13:21would be insufficiently stimulative
13:23for the average person to maximize hypertrophy.
13:26And judging by these last few reps here,
13:28I would say he still had another
13:29five to ten reps left in the tank.
13:31No real rep speed slowdown,
13:33no real grindy reps.
13:35Now, by contrast,
13:35here's the last three reps on a set of pulldowns
13:38from natural pro Alberto Nunez
13:39to a true RPE of nine or ten.
13:42Notice how he doesn't break technique at all,
13:44and really grinds out the concentric on this last rep here,
13:48which takes a full 4.17 seconds to complete.
13:52And I would say this is perfect effort
13:53for the last set of back on a pull day.
13:56Okay, now let's take a look at a set
13:57that I would say is, in my opinion, too much effort.
14:00So this is a recent set of five reps
14:02from IFBB Pro Greg Doucette.
14:04Now, I know Greg's working around an injury
14:06and hasn't squat in a while,
14:08so keep that in mind.
14:09But I did want to include this
14:10because I think it illustrates another type of set
14:12that we see very often,
14:13which is when you feel the need
14:15to push to an RPE of 10,
14:17even when it comes at a higher risk and recovery cost.
14:20So my two cents on this set
14:21would be to strip the weight back,
14:22start at something around an RPE seven,
14:24and then over the coming weeks,
14:26as you get more locked in with the technique,
14:28gradually ramp the RPE up over time.
14:30Or if you really want to take a set
14:32to an RPE 10 like this,
14:33which certainly does have its place,
14:35I'd just save it for a machine or isolation exercise,
14:38or until you get the form more dialed in again.
14:40Now, by contrast,
14:41here's a hard set of six reps on the squat
14:43from Matt Ogus
14:44that leaves one, maybe two reps in the tank.
14:47And we jumped in here on rep three of six
14:49just to save time.
14:50So this is rep four right here.
14:52Now, in my opinion,
14:53this is a more effective,
14:55but still very hard set.
14:57You'll notice his technique is completely dialed in,
14:59and while he isn't breaking his back
15:01trying to get the weight up,
15:02you can still see the reps slowing down
15:04as he gets closer to the end of the set here.
15:06Now, he pauses on this last rep,
15:08which you'll see,
15:09and that makes the concentric a bit slower,
15:11but I still think this is the perfect example
15:13of an RPE eight or nine set
15:15that should still probably come
15:17toward the end of a training cycle.
15:18Okay, and lastly,
15:19I want to look at a few examples
15:20that seem to break the rules.
15:22First, let's look at this set of deadlifts
15:23from Steffi Cohen,
15:25and I want you to watch this first rep closely.
15:30Okay, I'm going to pause it there.
15:31Actually, let's watch it back again.
15:33Okay, so after that first rep,
15:38do you think she's got another rep in the tank,
15:40or is this RPE 10 already?
15:42Let's see.
15:43So here's rep two,
15:46and rep three,
15:48and this is rep four,
15:51and rep five.
15:54She's going to keep going.
15:55Rep six.
15:56She's not done yet.
15:58That's rep number seven,
15:59and she's still got more.
16:01This is rep eight.
16:03Still going.
16:04Rep nine is finally starting to slow down a bit,
16:07and I think she's going to go for one more here.
16:09So this one is a big grind,
16:12almost a five-second rep,
16:13and she's done.
16:16So yeah, that would have been really hard to gauge
16:18based on that first rep speed.
16:20So just keep that in mind.
16:21You can't always just look at a single rep in isolation
16:23and determine RIR based on that alone.
16:26There are big individual differences with this.
16:28Okay, here's another example of when it's hard to gauge RIR
16:31based on rep speed.
16:33So this is a set of elevated dumbbell squats
16:35from IFBB Pro Sonny Andrews,
16:37where she's using a strong mind muscle connection,
16:40constant tension,
16:41and a very smooth tempo
16:42on both the positive and the negative.
16:44For the other examples we covered,
16:46I picked lifts that use a more explosive tempo
16:48on the positive
16:49because that's how the reps are performed
16:51in the studies I mentioned.
16:52But if you're purposefully modifying the concentric tempo
16:55and really emphasizing the mind muscle connection,
16:58it does make it a lot harder
16:59to judge reps in reserve using rep speed.
17:01So with all this information in mind,
17:03let's come back to this set from Jay at the beginning.
17:06Was this set hard enough to maximize muscle growth?
17:09I think yes.
17:10Even though he may not have seen
17:11as much rep speed slow down
17:12as some of the other examples,
17:14after watching hours of his training footage,
17:16I've noticed that despite his more explosive tempo,
17:19Jay seems to also use
17:20a very strong mind muscle connection
17:21and a more consistent cadence on his reps,
17:24which means I suspect he's one of those lifters
17:26that makes the weight look really easy
17:28and then when they hit the wall,
17:30it happens more abruptly.
17:31So yeah, I think this set
17:32would be maximally stimulative for hypertrophy,
17:35even for the average person
17:36lifting much lighter absolute loads.
17:39But since this is an evolving area
17:40of research and discussion,
17:42I wanna also leave the question open
17:43and pass it off to you guys.
17:45How many reps do you think he had in the tank?
17:47And was he close enough to failure?
17:48As always, I hope you guys found the video helpful
17:51and I'll see you guys all here
17:52in the next one.
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