I seem to not know when to stop. I take all of my sets to failure. I do all lifts 3 sets of 15-20 reps. Should I be backing off to have 1-2 reps RIR? I just don’t know if I can feel/tell when I’m in that 1-2 RIR range. I need some guidance, please.
At those rep ranges chances are you are not hitting true failure. Most people stop with higher rep ranges as the burn, pump, and mental aspect gets to be too much.
If you truly hit failure on your first set at 20 reps you would not be able to get 15-20 reps on the next 2 sets.
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That’s correct. I usually hit failure at about 20 reps on my first set. Then, on my second and third set I reach failure on a lower rep range.
What rep range do you suggest? 10-12 and hit failure on 12 for all three sets?
What rep range?
That would still not be failure in my opinion. If you hit “failure” on your first set at 12 reps and then are able to get 10-12 reps on the following sets then you did not hit failure on your first set.
The issue isn’t the rep range, it’s how hard you’re pushing
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Second set probably close to 15-18, then third set 13-15. It varies, but if I get over 20 on any given set, I up the weight the next session for that exercise.
I do not think you are reaching true failure but, the rep range may be keeping you at a lower RPE/RIR which could work for you. Just not my preference. If you are getting results and feel good keep at it.
I guess what I am really getting at is this:
about 2 years ago, I never trained to failure. I started and felt like my gains shot through the roof. This naturally made me realize I wasn’t training hard enough the prior 8 years (yikes!). So, now that I train to failure on all of my lifts, I feel like my CNS gets fatigued very quickly. I never used to have to take deload weeks prior to this failure training. I now do need these deload weeks and can feel the fatigue and CNS troubles when I need the deload week. So, this is why I’m questioning if my high rep ranges and going to failure on everything is an issue. I also would like input on what better rep ranges should be and how/when in my set I should be hitting failure. I hope this all makes sense!
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Start increasing weight. You will find your RIR pretty quickly.
If your doing 20reps your not hitting failure as others have said.
Spend a week or two finding how much you can push in the 8-10 rep range. If your hitting 10 increase until you can’t get passed 8. When you hit 10 again at the new weight repeat.
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I’m coming from a pure powerlifting perspective so it might be different if you’re bodybuilding but I still think it’s generally the same, enough so to mention it. This is really flawed thinking and it’s hard to get out of this type of mindset because American Culture is very much about going 110%. It’s about the right amount of work with the right type of work.
I’d go down a checklist. If sleep, nutrition, stress and external factors seem to not affect training, then start looking at your training. Frequency is easy to manipulate without changing huge variables.
If you’ve made great gains Training to failure, keep it up. I do the same thing and I don’t question it. Just enjoy the gains brother! Things don’t always have to be changed
Even for hypertrophy goals in mind, correct?
And you experience the CNS fatigue like I mentioned?
If you want hypertrophy your gonna stay in the higher rep ranges which means you won;t get to true failure. In this case I would use intensifiers like drop sets.
If you want to use the lower rep ranges you will more strength orientated but you can use intensifiers like drops, backoffs or rest/pause for hypertrophy goals.
IMO you have a great physique with a solid foundation. I think you could make some great strides with a proper build period of increased food heavy weight followed by a cleanup period with dropping food back a bit and moving back to the higher rep ranges with your new found strength.
I’m not saying full on get fat bulk. I’m suggesting strategically raising cals as needed to facilitate good tissue growth with minimal fat gain.
One side of pendulum swing.
The other side of the pendulum swing.
Maybe somewhere in the middle might solve the CNS overload. You could do the first body part to failure, and the following body parts as you previously did. Then rotate the order of body parts trained, so that all get to-failure training and RIR training.
Disclaimer: I never made 20 reps a portion of my training program, so all of that is uncharted territory for me.
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I do not agree with this.
Other than cable lateral raises I have not gone above 10 reps in quite some time. I stick to 5-9 reps. There are times I have added in muscular endurance work but, it tends to be BW exercises.
Unless by low reps you meant 1-3.
To put on muscle, you are going to have to get strong especially for naturals.
He has already had issues with fatigue (most likely caused by the high rep work), adding in intensifiers to lower rep work will just make it worse.
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What do you consider the lower rep ranges? I was thinking of backing off from my 15-20 range to 8-12
Of course there are outliers and we are all different. I’ve made a general statement. When i’m trying to build muscle I will stick to the 6-8 or 8-10 rep range. When dieting or maintaining or looking for conditioning i will typically work in the 10-12 or 12-15 rep range.
If he is having fatigue issues he is most likely overtraining or not eating enough for what he is doing.
As far as I know @rgruntorad does not have a training log we can look at so advice can only be offered on his statements and his questions in the posts he makes. Seeing what he is actually doing would go a long way in answering his questions.
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This is going to sound insulting.
But you’re trying so hard to hit failure that your workouts are suffering.
The super sets, the lack of rest periods, the high reps, it’s like your training is designed to get to failure on the first set and then just never stop to rest, recover and Attack the next set.
Like you’re constantly having to lower the weights instead of driving them up.
You’re generating all this “metabolic stress” like working your energy systems. And it’s working Great. You’re walking around muscular and super lean and probably in great shape cardio wise.
The only problem is you’re not building the muscular power and bulk you want. So it feels like something is Off in your training.
If you want to smash through to new strength, you’ll need to lift heavier weights. Generally, that means lower reps, longer rests, and less sets to failure. Like you can’t exhaust yourself on the first set, or even the first couple sets. You need to use RIR on the warm ups, so you can build to a challenging weight and fail at like 8-10 reps, on like the 4th or 5th set.
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