Fantastic work, man! This video is mega helpful! My key takeaways was: If Strength focused; most important parameter is load, measured in % of 1 Rep. Max (% 1RM). Heavier load is better for strength. No apparent limit. But joint injury risk increase with heavier loads. If Muscle growth focused; most important parameter is proximity to failure. Measured in Rep's In Reserve (RIR). Proximity to failure is better for muscle growth. No found limit, so the closer the better. Also muscle growth gain is ineffective above a load of 87% 1RM. Which equats to about 5 Reps per set for equal volume load. Also training for growth becomes ineffective below 40% 1RM load. This equats to about 30 reps. Recommended rep-interval is between 5 to 20 reps, with lower reps being favorable for strength. Also: RIR (proximity to failure) has no influence on strength gain.
Thank you for actually mentioning set-to-set fatigue, which is something I don't find many people talking about and just leaves me with the impression that everyone but myself manages to do the same number of reps every set when taking them (close) to failure.
Thank you, I started gym 3 weeks ago and your content is what I was looking for. There is an infinite amount of informations about exercise but showing actual studies makes it believable ( sorry for bad english) Please do continue !
Boy, sooo much value in 15min, that's mindboggling! One of the most densly-packed, insightful videos about resistance training on all of UA-cam! Keep going mate! PS: Your channel reminds me a lot of Jeff Nippards channel, which is also top notch, but he has 4.5mio subs. You deserve the same! Did you ever analyze why you're not on par? Is it maybe that he has less graphics and more actual filming? Consider looking into that, bc the quality of your content should definately have you level with him 💪
Glad you enjoy the content! I'm guessing its because I don't have pictures and videos of jacked people in my presentations & less click-baity thumbnails and titles. But that is intentional. I have a good idea of how to maximise views & subscribers, but that's not my goal for the channel 💪
I'm glad you defined your terms, specifically that "strength" here means one-repetition maximum (1RM) strength. It makes perfect sense that regularly performing heavy low repetition work makes you better at it. There's a very technical aspect to moving one's 1RM since you only have one chance to efficiently move the load or you fail the rep, whereas there's a lot less pressure on moving each rep of a 20RM. Since the primary driver of muscle growth is progressive overload, muscular strength and size are one in the same. One must get stronger to get bigger, and if they got bigger it's because they got stronger... but that doesn't mean it has to be in low rep ranges! If my 10RM becomes my 20RM, I still got *stronger* even though I'm far from performing only a single repetition, and unless this was on a new exercise I'm learning and refining my technique, I must have grown larger muscles in order to double the number of reps performed. A question, then, would be HOW does someone get stronger to the point of progressively overloading? That would be the optimal balance of stimulative training volume, and recovery mechanisms such as nourishment and sleep.
Yes, strength is specific to the task and needs to be defined. Good question, and it doesn't have an easy answer. Although, periodization is the best answer I can give. Check out this video ua-cam.com/video/Mq0z9Dkg6Nk/v-deo.html
Great video . even for long time I have been I wanted to do build muscles so I was confused how to go about doing hypertrophy training . This video really clarified it . I will try this from next week and will let you know about the progression and also I have also started calorie surplus per day which I used to avoid before. Let see how it goes.
because there’s the least amount of muscle around the knee lol also all of these studies are subject to extreme variation despite any notion of experimental “constants”
Personally, I've transitioned to low-volume training with extremely heavy loads. Despite the intense strain on my body, it's become easier to achieve the targeted reps I set out to do. Consequently, this adherence to my plan has become more manageable. The sessions are briefer, and the gym now feels like an integrated part of my lifestyle rather than a burdensome obligation. 😅 Many Thanks for the insights though. Love from India 🙏🏻
But you also will hit your plateau sooner, because you need enough volume to grow muscle in order to gain more strength, that's why you need periodization training.
For me I find the 5 rep x 5 sets going to failure on the last couple reps in the last set to be one of the best for muscle growth over all muscles in the upper body. For legs it’s 1 set of 20 reps taken to failure. I do full body workouts and target each workout every 3rd day.
44 year old guy here with multiple bulging discs. I probably started the problem riding horses that were bucking, but twice in my life squatting more heavy in the 8 rep range (with good form), I flared up a disc problem. I also had wrist pain benching in the 6 rep range. With the science now, and knowing my back. I'd train with 12+ reps most all the time, with the occasional 10 rep sets. I wish I could go back in time, but it's better to learn this late rather than never.
Research indicates that 6-rep and 10-rep set yield similar muscle hypertrophy outcomes. Do these repetition ranges also result in equivalent fatigue profiles? Thanks
depends what you mean by fatigue. Higher reps typically produce greater acute fatigue - meaning more drop in performance of subsequent sets. Although it isn't clear if there is any difference with regards to long-term fatigue 🤔
It's not like you stop building strength just because you went above 5 either. 8-12 gets you a happy medium of results and if 8 reps is too much for you on the deadlift then your conditioning just plain sucks (also you're not doing your 5 rep weight for 8 reps, you reduce the load, genius.)
Is there a difference between lifting slow and lifting explosively? I've heard that lifting slow is better for increasing muscle mass, while lifting explosively is better for power and athletic performance. Great video👍
For muscle growth, you would want to control the eccentric (lowering phase). But for the concentric (lifting phase), you can go faster, because eventually as you get close to failure, your rep speed will decrease. This video should help ua-cam.com/video/0K1ZSPoR378/v-deo.html For athletic performance, you would want to lift fast on the concentric, and not go to close to failure, so that rep speed doesnt decrease to much.
What is the minimum level of stimulus required to maintain muscle mass? I just had surgery and cant bend, twist or lift anything over 10lbs for 6weeks so I wondering how I could maintain my muscle mass. I can walk as much as I feel up to and can start swimming after 3weeks but in terms of strength and muscle I can only do some upper body resistance band work to pump the muscles. Would this be enough to keep the muscles stimulated? 🙏🏼 hope to hear from you
The minimum requirement is highly dependent on your current training status. If your regular routine involves training 6x / week with high volume, then band work and swimming wont be enough to maintain. But if your baseline involved zero exercise, then band work and swimming will probably produce muscle growth. If any case, just do your best with what you've got. As you gradually get back to normal lifting, you will regain any lost muscle mass 👍
My biggest take away is doing reps with less than 40% 1RM won't do much for you which makes sense. So if you can military press 140lbs, doing reps with less than 85lbs won't do much for you in terms of strength or muscle growth. I am interested in other effects that might be harder to quantify like heart health, cardio, and "tightness". For instance gymnasts and combat fighters tend to do a lot of extremely high rep or equivalent, they also look so much tighter and have amazing cardio. I wonder if there's truth to this and any way to meaningfully quantify it.
Yes, training very light isnt going to be as effective for strength or hypertrophy. I havent thought about the health/cardio benefits before, but I'd assume that high-rep training is probably going to be a little better. I think fighters and gymnasts probably look 'tighter' because they are lean
idk if I should try to do low ranges or high ranges because I want to be stronger but I also don’t want to risk injury + I want to be able to have good endurance but I don’t wanna risk not getting stronger at the same time 😔
True. Higher reps or maybe cluster sets might be a good option in that regard. Also endurance for athletes will probably be trained in different ways - rather than via lifting 🥊
They failed to account for rest time between sets. I put on a lot of muscle mass by doing 2 rep sets. However I was doing 10 sets while resting for 2 minutes. Some of these studies are incomplete.
@FlowHighPerformance1 I didn't see rest periods mentioned which makes a significant difference in gains and no gains. All information is necessary in order to draw a proper conclusion. Saying lifting more weight makes you stronger but doesn't promote muscle growth isn't telling the entire truth. There are too many variables missing from the study.
@@moreforme74 Your not listening, all rest periods were taken into account, so its not an issue. You clearly can't read studies and wouldn't know what to look for.
Question: If low rep ranges are better for strength gain, wouldn't it allow you to gain a faster rate of progressive overload and therefore, over time, more muscle growth too? Or is it just that low rep ranges increases 1RM and not "overall strength"?
good question. Strength is specific to the exercise, so it would improve 1RM strength of the lift you are training. I don't think training for 1RM strength would improve you rate of muscle growth, but it is possible 🤔
@@FlowHighPerformance1 Thanks for the answer. If this assumption were to be true, it could be optimal to alternate between strength-focussed and hypertrophy-focussed training. Strength to be able to move more weight and hypertrophy to then maximize the growth with higher loads in the hypertrophy RR.
Thise studies are based on a sample of guys who are new to training, as we know they have newbie gains we want a study on a sample of guys that workout regularly
Yes, but new lifters have a greater response to training, so larger differences are often seen between training methods. It would be good to also see these interventions replicated on advanced lifters too 💪
Q: heavy load/low rep isn’t optimized for hypertrophy, but does that still result in some muscle growth? If yes, to what extent, and are there differences between heavy load/low rep hypertrophic results between compound vs. isolated exercises? And does the interset rest time and recovery time after a session play into this? Many thanks for high quality content as always ✋🏼🙏
1. yes, you will still achieve muscle growth training with less than 5 reps, just not as much 2. I wouldn't say it is different between compound vs isolation lifts 3. Check out this video for more info on rest periods ua-cam.com/video/hPZbeV5_G58/v-deo.html
Heavy load low reps is great for mechanical tension, but wouldn't elicit a sufficient amount of mechanical tension to result in optimal muscle growth in comparison to other parameters stated previously in the literature
5 reps are superior to 10-15 reps for hypertrophy. If you're doing 15 reps, the first 12 reps aren't really going anything until you approach failure. 5 reps, and you're working hard from the very start.
@@mattmanning9267 Yes, with all other factors equated, a larger muscle will be stronger. At what point did this video make a claim against this notion?
Personal favorite channel for hypetrophy training & exercise science, very underrated.
Glad you like the content, thanks for supporting the channel 👍
Fantastic work, man! This video is mega helpful!
My key takeaways was:
If Strength focused; most important parameter is load, measured in % of 1 Rep. Max (% 1RM).
Heavier load is better for strength. No apparent limit. But joint injury risk increase with heavier loads.
If Muscle growth focused; most important parameter is proximity to failure. Measured in Rep's In Reserve (RIR).
Proximity to failure is better for muscle growth. No found limit, so the closer the better.
Also muscle growth gain is ineffective above a load of 87% 1RM. Which equats to about 5 Reps per set for equal volume load. Also training for growth becomes ineffective below 40% 1RM load. This equats to about 30 reps.
Recommended rep-interval is between 5 to 20 reps, with lower reps being favorable for strength.
Also:
RIR (proximity to failure) has no influence on strength gain.
Well summarised 💪
@@FlowHighPerformance1 Thanks man! 😊
You made all those studies' content easy enough for me to understand 🙌🥇
Just keep showing up to the gym
yep, that's priority #1
Priority #2: Always follow Priority #1.
Thats crazy didnt think ab that
Stupid
Soy boy
Thank you for actually mentioning set-to-set fatigue, which is something I don't find many people talking about and just leaves me with the impression that everyone but myself manages to do the same number of reps every set when taking them (close) to failure.
Yes, performance will almost always drop-off from set to set - if you are training close to failure 💪
Which most people don't because it's uncomfortable.
2 sets per muscle group per day rules out fatigue
that's 12 sets a week within hypertrophy set ranges of 10-25 per week.
Great overall synopsis of "best rep range" for training using the most recent studies!
cheers 👍
Great video. Very comprehensive coverage on the topic!
glad to hear it 👍
Thank you, I started gym 3 weeks ago and your content is what I was looking for. There is an infinite amount of informations about exercise but showing actual studies makes it believable ( sorry for bad english)
Please do continue !
glad you find the content helpful 👍
Boy, sooo much value in 15min, that's mindboggling! One of the most densly-packed, insightful videos about resistance training on all of UA-cam! Keep going mate!
PS: Your channel reminds me a lot of Jeff Nippards channel, which is also top notch, but he has 4.5mio subs. You deserve the same! Did you ever analyze why you're not on par? Is it maybe that he has less graphics and more actual filming? Consider looking into that, bc the quality of your content should definately have you level with him 💪
Glad you enjoy the content!
I'm guessing its because I don't have pictures and videos of jacked people in my presentations & less click-baity thumbnails and titles. But that is intentional. I have a good idea of how to maximise views & subscribers, but that's not my goal for the channel 💪
this channel is extremly underrated, this is the best youtube channel ive ever came across for fitness. simply the best
glad to hear it 💪
This video made a lot of sense and I hadn't realized that low rep sets were good for injury reduction/mitigation.
Minor correction: high-rep sets are probably going to involve a slightly lower injury risk 👍
I like to vary weight and reps for each set, adding weight and reducing reps for each set until 5 reps.
I'm glad you defined your terms, specifically that "strength" here means one-repetition maximum (1RM) strength. It makes perfect sense that regularly performing heavy low repetition work makes you better at it. There's a very technical aspect to moving one's 1RM since you only have one chance to efficiently move the load or you fail the rep, whereas there's a lot less pressure on moving each rep of a 20RM.
Since the primary driver of muscle growth is progressive overload, muscular strength and size are one in the same. One must get stronger to get bigger, and if they got bigger it's because they got stronger... but that doesn't mean it has to be in low rep ranges! If my 10RM becomes my 20RM, I still got *stronger* even though I'm far from performing only a single repetition, and unless this was on a new exercise I'm learning and refining my technique, I must have grown larger muscles in order to double the number of reps performed.
A question, then, would be HOW does someone get stronger to the point of progressively overloading? That would be the optimal balance of stimulative training volume, and recovery mechanisms such as nourishment and sleep.
Yes, strength is specific to the task and needs to be defined.
Good question, and it doesn't have an easy answer. Although, periodization is the best answer I can give. Check out this video ua-cam.com/video/Mq0z9Dkg6Nk/v-deo.html
Great video . even for long time I have been I wanted to do build muscles so I was confused how to go about doing hypertrophy training . This video really clarified it . I will try this from next week and will let you know about the progression and also I have also started calorie surplus per day which I used to avoid before. Let see how it goes.
Glad to hear the content has been helpful. All the best 💪
On 12:13 distal had ~7% increase on Rest-pause, although admittedly the total is on par with the rest, still seems interesting that was skipped by.
Yes, although its hard to make a conclusion from one region of a muscle showing superior growth. Most likely it is just due to chance 🤔
because there’s the least amount of muscle around the knee lol also all of these studies are subject to extreme variation despite any notion of experimental “constants”
Awesome job!! so clear! it's impressive! thank you very much!
no problem 👍
Personally, I've transitioned to low-volume training with extremely heavy loads. Despite the intense strain on my body, it's become easier to achieve the targeted reps I set out to do. Consequently, this adherence to my plan has become more manageable. The sessions are briefer, and the gym now feels like an integrated part of my lifestyle rather than a burdensome obligation. 😅 Many Thanks for the insights though. Love from India 🙏🏻
Nice work. Yes, it's definitely important to integrate training into your life without it being a burden 👍
But you also will hit your plateau sooner, because you need enough volume to grow muscle in order to gain more strength, that's why you need periodization training.
@s9209122222 what's that?
That was great insight. Thanks
no problem
For me I find the 5 rep x 5 sets going to failure on the last couple reps in the last set to be one of the best for muscle growth over all muscles in the upper body. For legs it’s 1 set of 20 reps taken to failure. I do full body workouts and target each workout every 3rd day.
Well done, very good walk through of the scientific data.
cheers 👍
44 year old guy here with multiple bulging discs. I probably started the problem riding horses that were bucking, but twice in my life squatting more heavy in the 8 rep range (with good form), I flared up a disc problem. I also had wrist pain benching in the 6 rep range. With the science now, and knowing my back. I'd train with 12+ reps most all the time, with the occasional 10 rep sets. I wish I could go back in time, but it's better to learn this late rather than never.
yes, it's better to know later than never 💪
Thank you for another great video
no problem 👍
Your voice are totally like Coach Eugene.
Love to see it ⭐️✅
Best science best content
I have trouble choosing things so my first 3 sets are for strength and my last 4 are for hypertrophy. They kind of are the same thing anyway.
Short answer: 12
Very useful! Thank you
no problem 👍
Research indicates that 6-rep and 10-rep set yield similar muscle hypertrophy outcomes. Do these repetition ranges also result in equivalent fatigue profiles? Thanks
depends what you mean by fatigue. Higher reps typically produce greater acute fatigue - meaning more drop in performance of subsequent sets. Although it isn't clear if there is any difference with regards to long-term fatigue 🤔
Very informative keep it up 👍
cheers, will do 👍
Just stick ro the traditional hypertrophy rep range of 8-12 reps.
yep - if your goal is to maximise muscle growth 💪
8 reps on deadlift no thanks
@@FlowHighPerformance1 i dont see why you would make a big deal out of this strength vs growth, how can you get strength if you have small muscles?
It's not like you stop building strength just because you went above 5 either. 8-12 gets you a happy medium of results and if 8 reps is too much for you on the deadlift then your conditioning just plain sucks (also you're not doing your 5 rep weight for 8 reps, you reduce the load, genius.)
@@Bart0vds lol u can
waw, excellent content ! thanks
no problem 👍
Is there a difference between lifting slow and lifting explosively? I've heard that lifting slow is better for increasing muscle mass, while lifting explosively is better for power and athletic performance. Great video👍
For muscle growth, you would want to control the eccentric (lowering phase). But for the concentric (lifting phase), you can go faster, because eventually as you get close to failure, your rep speed will decrease. This video should help ua-cam.com/video/0K1ZSPoR378/v-deo.html
For athletic performance, you would want to lift fast on the concentric, and not go to close to failure, so that rep speed doesnt decrease to much.
@@FlowHighPerformance1 Thanks!
What is the minimum level of stimulus required to maintain muscle mass? I just had surgery and cant bend, twist or lift anything over 10lbs for 6weeks so I wondering how I could maintain my muscle mass. I can walk as much as I feel up to and can start swimming after 3weeks but in terms of strength and muscle I can only do some upper body resistance band work to pump the muscles. Would this be enough to keep the muscles stimulated? 🙏🏼 hope to hear from you
The minimum requirement is highly dependent on your current training status. If your regular routine involves training 6x / week with high volume, then band work and swimming wont be enough to maintain. But if your baseline involved zero exercise, then band work and swimming will probably produce muscle growth. If any case, just do your best with what you've got. As you gradually get back to normal lifting, you will regain any lost muscle mass 👍
My biggest take away is doing reps with less than 40% 1RM won't do much for you which makes sense. So if you can military press 140lbs, doing reps with less than 85lbs won't do much for you in terms of strength or muscle growth.
I am interested in other effects that might be harder to quantify like heart health, cardio, and "tightness". For instance gymnasts and combat fighters tend to do a lot of extremely high rep or equivalent, they also look so much tighter and have amazing cardio. I wonder if there's truth to this and any way to meaningfully quantify it.
Yes, training very light isnt going to be as effective for strength or hypertrophy.
I havent thought about the health/cardio benefits before, but I'd assume that high-rep training is probably going to be a little better.
I think fighters and gymnasts probably look 'tighter' because they are lean
idk if I should try to do low ranges or high ranges because I want to be stronger but I also don’t want to risk injury + I want to be able to have good endurance but I don’t wanna risk not getting stronger at the same time 😔
You can train some exercises with lower reps and some with higher reps
So if I wanna get stronger ill have to use heavier dumbells
yes, lift heavy for strength 🏋️
What about endurance, as a fighter with 5 minute rounds strength is great but endurance is a must.
True. Higher reps or maybe cluster sets might be a good option in that regard. Also endurance for athletes will probably be trained in different ways - rather than via lifting 🥊
Lighter loads for faster recovery.
do u watch paul carter/ chris beardsley?
no
They failed to account for rest time between sets. I put on a lot of muscle mass by doing 2 rep sets. However I was doing 10 sets while resting for 2 minutes. Some of these studies are incomplete.
they all equated rest periods
@FlowHighPerformance1 I didn't see rest periods mentioned which makes a significant difference in gains and no gains. All information is necessary in order to draw a proper conclusion. Saying lifting more weight makes you stronger but doesn't promote muscle growth isn't telling the entire truth. There are too many variables missing from the study.
@@moreforme74 Your not listening, all rest periods were taken into account, so its not an issue.
You clearly can't read studies and wouldn't know what to look for.
how many were actually worth doing- at all? effectiveness . . . YMMV
Tree fiddy.
Always tree fiddy
I do 3-5 reps per set
I do one exercise for 90 minutes, 2000 repetitions
sounds great
@@FlowHighPerformance1 Do you doubt or don't believe? Loop tape pull in the chair. We lose 240 grams of sweat.
heavy resistance is still the king of training, strength training reigns supreme. But the king cannot rule alone, he needs assistance
🤣
Question:
If low rep ranges are better for strength gain, wouldn't it allow you to gain a faster rate of progressive overload and therefore, over time, more muscle growth too? Or is it just that low rep ranges increases 1RM and not "overall strength"?
good question. Strength is specific to the exercise, so it would improve 1RM strength of the lift you are training. I don't think training for 1RM strength would improve you rate of muscle growth, but it is possible 🤔
@@FlowHighPerformance1 Thanks for the answer. If this assumption were to be true, it could be optimal to alternate between strength-focussed and hypertrophy-focussed training. Strength to be able to move more weight and hypertrophy to then maximize the growth with higher loads in the hypertrophy RR.
Thise studies are based on a sample of guys who are new to training, as we know they have newbie gains we want a study on a sample of guys that workout regularly
Yes, but new lifters have a greater response to training, so larger differences are often seen between training methods. It would be good to also see these interventions replicated on advanced lifters too 💪
Q: heavy load/low rep isn’t optimized for hypertrophy, but does that still result in some muscle growth? If yes, to what extent, and are there differences between heavy load/low rep hypertrophic results between compound vs. isolated exercises? And does the interset rest time and recovery time after a session play into this? Many thanks for high quality content as always ✋🏼🙏
1. yes, you will still achieve muscle growth training with less than 5 reps, just not as much
2. I wouldn't say it is different between compound vs isolation lifts
3. Check out this video for more info on rest periods ua-cam.com/video/hPZbeV5_G58/v-deo.html
@@FlowHighPerformance1 thanks for prompt reply 🙏
Heavy load low reps is great for mechanical tension, but wouldn't elicit a sufficient amount of mechanical tension to result in optimal muscle growth in comparison to other parameters stated previously in the literature
anybody else type in highland games on youtube lol
🤣
I'm eating chocolate cake.
Love that you did get in shape in the past but sorry, 6% Bodyfat looks way different.
?
@@FlowHighPerformance1 As I said.
I don’t believe there is a difference between strength and hypertrophy, as a muscle gets stronger it gets bigger simple
then why aren't bodybuilders as strong as powerlifters or weightlifters?
5 reps are superior to 10-15 reps for hypertrophy. If you're doing 15 reps, the first 12 reps aren't really going anything until you approach failure. 5 reps, and you're working hard from the very start.
there is strong evidence showing similar muscle growth when training anywhere within the approximate 5-20 rep range
say it like it’s exclusive 😑
?
Please stop with this nonsense!
Could you please tell me what nonsense you are referring to?
@@FlowHighPerformance1
The force a muscle can produce is directly proportional to its cross sectional area. A larger muscle is stronger.
@@mattmanning9267 Yes, with all other factors equated, a larger muscle will be stronger. At what point did this video make a claim against this notion?
To quote my teenager, you talk too much…get to the point please
Maybe try tik tok?
@@FlowHighPerformance1🥶
@@FlowHighPerformance1 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
3-30 reps