Some ideas a took from Dr. Israetel(Son of Gimli, Son of Gloin). Not everyone will fit into this organizational structure, but it’s easier to think about this stuff if you make up some “rules.”
You have your individual workouts.
Then you have your “microcycle” or “training week” or whatever you want to call it. This is how long it takes you to work through your individual workouts. 1 week, 8 days, whatever.
Then your microcycles or “weeks” stack up to build a “month” or “block” or “meso cycle.”
Everyone can handle some number of sets per bodypart, per week. Let’s call it 10 sets. If you hit a part once a week (microcycle), you do all 10 sets on one day. If you hit a part twice a week, you do 5 sets each day. You don’t somehow get to magically double the volume, you just spread it out differently.
A pro bodybuilder told me a hypertrophy workout is 2-4 sets of 2-4 lifts per body part. So the science numbers aren’t too far off of real gym numbers. These are sets pretty close to failure.
It’s natural to gradually increase the number of sets of the “month” or “block” or “mesocycle.” Like maybe week one, just starting out, you do 8-9 sets. Then 4-6 weeks later, maybe you’re up to 10-12 sets.
To monitor how much work is too much, keep track of your resting heart rate as you sleep. The night after a workout it will go “up.” A good workout might raise your resting heart rate a few beats, or like 5% or something. Too much will raise your resting heart rate like 10%, or 5-6 beats. That’s when you know to look out.
Here’s way more.
