I think you would really benefit from starting a daily log showing your training/diet.
Also, I just feel like if I don’t go to failure on all sets, I don’t get out of the lift what I want. I feel I’m not getting a good workout if I leave some in the tank on my work up sets.
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Do you say this because you want to be proven wrong about this, or is this more a psychological aspect of your training that you are unwilling to compromise on?
I guess I’m asking if this is a moot thing. Something I shouldn’t be worrying about as 1 set per exercise at failure is going to result in hypertrophy.
Well, here are some athletes that pretty much never train to failure and show hypertrophy development.
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You don’t need to go to failure for hypertrophy.
As @RT_Nomad said, lift heavy and gain strength now and then you can lift heavier for more reps later and grow your muscles.
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Generally, keep the reps consistent as you work up.
Like Hammer Strength Chest Press
1 plate per side x 6
2 plates per side x 6
2 plates and a 25 x 5 and you go for 6 next time.
Theoretically, there might be a program where you did more than 1 set at your top weight. And in that theoretical program, MAYBE you could do a set with that top weight not to failure, with lower reps before a set with that top weight that went to failure.(Like “Greyskull” routines) But if that was the case, it would be clearly spelled out in the program.
In response to the OPs first post:
A smarter way of doing this would be a one prolonged set strategy, I often use in periods after a layoff. Sort of a planned, controlled AMRAP with rest pause combined drop sets, for one set per muscle group, full body session (8-10 sets in total).
First, decide how many reps you want to do on an excercise (20 reps). Then choose a weight you can do about 10-15 reps with. Either continue with the same weight (rest pause) or drop some weight (drop set) repeatedly, until you reach the desired number of reps (3-5 minisets normally). It’s all a matter of keeping fatigue under control, while maintaining high intensity. Maybe this is an untimed cluster set variation?
You may experiment with (or better learn to handle) RIR with this approach. It’s a no brainer for hypertrophy, but I’ve found it can’t be used for more than 3 sessions a week, over a period of 2-3 months before adaptations occur (similar to ANY programming).
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That third set is failing at 5, right?
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You are never going to perfectly guess that.
It is better to keep a rep range.
ex:
warm up 6 reps
warm up 3 reps
top set failure 5-8 reps
back off set failure 5-8 reps or 8-12 reps
If you 6 reps on your top set keep the same weight until you get 8. Same for the back off set.
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The “back off set” is something that I dropped in my late 30’s.
After I finished my heaviest set, I simply went to the next exercise in that body part. And my final body part exercise was never used one that I ever got close to failure.
That can work to but, if you are doing U/L and 4 sets for chest per session you may just want to do 2 exercises instead of 4.
It will save time, and you will be fresher for the given exercise if you save it for the next session.
The more advanced you are the more variety may be needed so 1 set per exercise might be better.
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I had done many sets to get to the last set. Maybe as few as 2 or 3 were working sets. I counted all 2 RIR as working sets. The final set could be to failure. If I did reach failure, that was my last set of that exercise.
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For sure, lifting heavier with low reps, not to complete exhaustion Feels different. And resting longer between sets Feels different. You’re not working your muscles in the same way. There is less burning, you’re not out of breath, you sweat less, etc etc.
It feels different because you’re working your muscles in a different way. You’re trying to train them to support bigger weights and produce more force quickly and to grow. Not to simply run out of oxygen and then stored glycogen as quickly as possible.
It’s not a “bad” workout, or an “ineffective” workout. It’s just not interval-cardio with weights, so it won’t feel like what you’re used to.
Also, remember you don’t have to do all the lifts “heavy”. After you do the strength lift (like Chest press x 6) you can finish up with lighter weights, to failure, on stuff like flies.
Alright, can we try and sum this all up?
I am going to back off to 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
I am going to work up to failure on my third and final set.
Set 1=10-12 reps with around 4-5 RIR
Set 2=increase weight and do 10-12 reps with around 2-3 RIR
Set 3=increase weight and hit failure as close as I can at 12 reps.
Increase weight if I get more than 12 reps on the next session.
I would suggest looking up John meadows high evolutionary. It’s a great plan to grow on and it uses the lower rep ranges and explaines exactly how to do every exercise and what rep ranges to work in… I’ve used it a couple times with success.
I think it would get you going in the right direction.
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Pretty sure he already got all this advice from @davemccright.
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I guess I am just reinforcing then. It would be a great fit for him I think.
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No I agree with you mate, was more thinking that sometimes we are just screaming at the wind.
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That’s a good call. I think I’m going to potentially be running this program again soon. I think he could really stand to benefit from the understanding of how to layout and structure training. For some additional education, his book, “The Brutality of Mountain Dog Training” gives a great breakdown on the logic behind how everything is structured, along with some scientific evidence to back up what he’s saying. Super underrated Training book.
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