If you’re deliberately and dedicatedly hitting the gym in the hopes of adding muscle mass, but still not seeing results, it’s time to step back and think. Which of these twelve common mistakes are sabotaging your gains?

Common Muscle-Building Mistakes

• Failing To Plan
• Volume Control 
• Lack of Progression 
• Quasi-Cardio Workouts
• Tip-Toeing Around Tension
• Always Testing, Never Training
• Program Sampling
• Stale Programming 
• Forgetting the Food
• Sleep Struggles
• Excessive “Advanced” Training
• Impatience

Failing To Plan

Beyond the obvious need to schedule time for the gym, many lifters fail to make progress toward muscle-building goals because their training is disorganized. Haphazard workouts might burn some calories, stimulate a decent pump, and deliver a nice hit of “feel good” neurotransmitters, but real progress is made when your training is intentional and thought-out.

The Problem

By failing to plan your weekly training, you leave your workouts to chance. Some body parts may receive less-than-optimal training volume (sets and reps) while others are overworked.

Unlike specialized hypertrophy programs that intentionally underload one area to allocate more training to a lagging muscle group, unplanned training tends to be consistently inconsistent, resulting in inferior gains all around.

Training loads may go untracked, resulting in failure to recognize leading indicators of progress, such as the ability to perform more repetitions with a given weight or the ability to lift more weight. You may also miss leading indicators of accumulating fatigue and under-recovery, which might otherwise be addressed by program adjustments or a deload.

The Solution

Lifters serious about building muscle must structure their training, and following an effective training split is a good start. Training splits help lifters get organized and stay organized by assigning a focus to each workout.

For example, in a push/pull/legs split, your first workout of the week focuses on upper body pushing movements, which would tend to target chest, front delts (shoulders), and triceps. The second workout hits upper body pulling exercises, such as rows, pulldowns, and pull-ups, along with biceps and rear deltoid (shoulder) work. And, you guessed it, the third workout is leg day. 

Once each workout has a focus, even if that focus is a full-body workout, the desired weekly training volume for each body part can be allocated to each body part. Appropriate training volume for building muscle is discussed in the next section, but if you’re not planning or tracking your training volume, you’ll never know whether you hit the target.

Once you’ve established your split, you need to plan and track the specifics of each workout. At a minimum, this should include:

• Exercise selection
• Number of sets and target repetition range for each exercise
• Actual number of sets and repetitions performed
• Weight used

Keep records in your phone (i.e. using an app) or use a tried and true pen and notebook.

Volume Control

Resistance training volume refers to the amount of work accomplished in training. “Volume load” includes the number of sets, number of repetitions, and load for each exercise performed. (1) Volume load is a key determinant of hypertrophy (muscle gain). (2)

Weekly training volume load, rather than daily volume load, is a more important factor in hypertrophy training. (3) That is, whether each muscle group is trained once, twice, or three times per week, the recommendations below on appropriate weekly training volume still apply.

The Problem

Lifters run into trouble when they overshoot or undershoot effective weekly resistance training volume. Like many biological processes, the relationship between weekly volume and muscle gain appears to follow a two-tailed, bell-shaped curve — a “Goldilocks” scenario.

Perform too little volume and you’ll fail to make progress or even backslide. Perform too much volume and you’ll run the risk of non-functional overreaching, or declining performance that only rebounds to baseline after prolonged recovery. (4)

The Solution

To avoid missing out on gains due to insufficient volume or unsustainably high volume, you first need to have an idea of baseline training volume. A simple way of calculating volume is by totaling the number of weekly sets per major muscle group. (1)

According to an expert consensus statement on hypertrophy, 10 weekly sets per major muscle group is a good minimum target for trained individuals. As a general rule, total weekly sets should not increase more than about 20% per month of training. (5) While greater increases in volume may be sustained during planned “overreaching,” these temporary periods are typically followed by a deload, or a pre-planned reduction in training volume and intensity. 

Don’t fear deloads. During a deload, dramatic reductions in training volume are common. Weekly volume may be reduced by approximately 50%. Lifters may be wary about aggressively reducing volume during deloads for fear of losing muscle; however, research shows trained individuals maintain strength and size for at least two weeks of no workouts. (6) During a deload, you’re still active and training.

Deloads are time-limited — typically one week or so. Deloads allow for recovery from hard cycles of training. Following a deload week, lifters are anecdotally more sensitive to training volume, allowing them to “reset” weekly training volume back toward moderate volume (e.g. 10 to 16 weekly sets). 

The question of top-end weekly volume may be of interest, too. Although some lifters may benefit from higher training volumes, it is likely not necessary for most to push past 20 or so weekly sets per muscle group, especially if other training variables are progressive over time.

Lack of Progression

The same sets, reps, and weights that built your current body will not build your dream physique. This is because our muscles, like all biological systems, reach equilibrium (i.e. homeostasis) quickly if not provided with progressive training stimuli.

The Problem

Informed by the tenets of the general adaptation syndrome (GAS), which describes how living organisms respond to stressors, non-progressive stimuli result in an eventual plateau of biological responses. (7) For hypertrophy training, this means non-progressive workouts will eventually become non-productive workouts and you’ll stop seeing muscle gains.

The Solution

The simplest solution to non-progressive training is to ensure you are either adding volume (sets and/or reps) or load to your lifts regularly.

Although any decent, ready-made program will already incorporate progression, a simple method of progression for building your own program is to start by identifying a weight for each exercise that allows you to perform a number of repetitions toward the bottom of your target repetition range for moderate effort sets.

For example, a lifter wishing to program neutral-grip lat pulldowns in the eight to 12 repetition range might determine she is able to use 165 pounds (75 kilograms) for 8 reps while having two or three repetitions left in reserve.

Now, each week, she can either add one repetition per set or add 2.5% to 5% more weight — she can either progress to 165 pounds for nine or more reps or 170 pounds for eight reps. She will continue to add repetitions or weight until she’s unable to remain within the target repetition range. Then it’s time to take a deload period of approximately one week and restart.

Alternatively, if you feel you are not ready for a deload, simply adjust your target repetition range to accommodate a longer period of progression (12 to 15 repetitions, in this example).

Quasi-Cardio Workouts

Working up a sweat and getting the heart pumping are features of many intense sessions, and most lifters value that type of training. Supersets, which pair exercises back-to-back thereby minimizing rest, are a mainstay of many of these intense workouts. (8)

But some lifters take “minimal rest” too far. If rest between sets is limited to the point where workout quality or performance suffers, the workout may fail to achieve its ultimate purpose: building muscle.

The Problem

To be clear, the problem isn’t lack of rest between sets, per se. It’s the resulting loss of training volume and/or intensity that inevitably occurs after not taking enough rest. (9)

Reducing rest periods will play up the cardiovascular challenge of the workout. While cardio is very good for overall health, it is not the ideal type of training for building muscle. Moreover, “lifting light weights fast” or “lifting with minimal rest” is unlikely to be optimal cardio for most. Rhythmic or cyclical exercises tend to be more suitable (e.g. rowing machine, jogging, cycling, swimming, etc.).

“Frankensteining” a cardio-like, resistance training workout will not allow adequate recovery of the phosphagen and anaerobic alactic energy systems which predominantly fuel traditional resistance training. This results in lost repetitions and/or necessitates use of lower loads. Since volume load drives hypertrophy, short rest intervals ultimately lead to inferior growth. (9)

The Solution

Outside of very specific scenarios such as supersets, ensure you are getting adequate rest between sets to maintain desired training volume throughout your hypertrophy workout. Take a minimum of two minutes rest between sets of multi-joint exercises and 60 to 90 seconds between sets of single-joint exercises. (5)

Tip-Toeing Around Tension

Those with hypertrophy goals lift weights to expose their muscles to tension. When exposed to tension, muscles experience a complex cascade of mechanical, neural, and chemical events that culminate in elevated rates of muscle protein synthesis and protein turnover. (10)(11) The end result, ideally, is bigger muscles.

The Problem

Mechanical tension is thought to be a key driver of hypertrophy. (11) However, lifters can be very efficient at working around mechanical tension, especially when sets get challenging. By using compensations or work-arounds that make repetitions easier, they end up taking tension off the target muscles.

The Solution

Develop a strong mind-muscle connection and don’t cheat yourself out of tension. From the beginning of each set, focus on controlling the negative (or eccentric/lowering) phase of the exercise. You might even linger a bit slower during the most challenging portion of the motion. For example, when lowering dumbbells during a lateral raise, focus on controlling the initial descent. 

As your set continues, disallow any compensations — don’t cheat! Keeping your form clean in the face of fatigue, burning muscles, and impending muscular failure is challenging, no doubt, but it can be mastered.

If, for example, you are performing dumbbell front squats as a quadriceps-focused leg exercise, continue to drive your knees forward as you squat down, shifting tension into your quads. Do not allow yourself to sit back into your hips during the final challenging repetitions. 

If you are new to the skills of pushing through tension or still developing the mind-muscle connection, consider certain machine-based exercises, which instill confidence and include built-in safety measures.

Always Testing, Never Training

Some lifters can’t resist training too heavy, too often. For many, nothing feels better than hitting a heavy personal best or maximum on a squat, bench, press or deadlift. But maxing out is not necessarily the same as productive training. Unplanned “YOLO sets” can sap energy, rob you of volume load, interfere with readiness to train, and ultimately detract from your hypertrophy gains.

The Problem

While there is an appropriate time and place in any program for maxing out, it is typically during a period of planned overreaching or testing to establish percentages and working weights.

Heavy singles, doubles, even triples can result in lower volume loads, a key driver of hypertrophy. (2) This is because maximum or near-maximum low-rep sets may detract from, or take, the place of sets in the five-to-30 repetition range, which are most efficient for accumulating volume load. 

Performed too frequently, heavy maximum sets might spur non-functional overreaching. Researchers reported non-functional overreaching (i.e. lack of gains) among trained squatters performing three sessions per week of two singles at 95% of one-repetition maximum (1RM) and three singles at 90% 1RM after only three weeks. (12)

Another study compared a volume load equated program using three sets of 10 repetitions versus seven sets of three repetitions. The groups gained equivalent muscle over eight weeks, but the group performing heavy triples for seven sets reported more symptoms associated with overtraining, like joint pain. (13) 

Ultimately, heavy training can sneak up on you. Although it may be possible to achieve equivalent volume load and growth with heavy maximum sets, they may not be as efficient in the long-term as “hypertrophy-style” sets in the moderate to high-repetition range.

The Solution

Heavy, maximum effort sets (i.e. less than three repetitions) should be few and far between when you’re in a dedicated hypertrophy program. You do not need to max out every week.

True 1RM testing may not even be necessary for the hypertrophy-focused lifter. Programming based on multiple repetitions maximum (i.e. 5RM, 8RM, 12RM, etc.) is just as effective as percentages of 1RM, and arguably more specific to the repetition target of the sets commonly performed during training.

Plan to regularly test 8RM to 12 RM for your primary lifts approximately once or twice per four-to-six-week training cycle. On days your program does not call for maximum effort sets, resist the urge to max out.

Program Sampling

Countless training programs have potential to help you reach your physique goals. However, constantly sampling from the endless menu of workouts circulating through social media and fitness publications is a sure-fire way to slow your progress.

The Problem

With each new exercise or exercise variation, we ask our neuromuscular system to tackle a novel movement skill. Motor learning, or the process of learning a new movement skill, takes time.

If you’re constantly changing up your workout, you never approach the crest of the learning curve. Meaning, you will not get the most of your training because you haven’t spent enough time with each exercise to maximize technique, repetitions, and loads. (14)

The Solution

Think of each exercise in your workout as an investment. Keep an exercise in your workout portfolio long enough and you will experience compounding interest in the forms of technical proficiency and muscular adaptations associated with the exercise.

Keeping relative consistency allows for progressive overload, an essential feature of effective training. For hypertrophy, progressive overload is accomplished by gradually exposing your muscles to greater demands over time.

Once you develop or identify a workout program you enjoy that’s specific to your goals, see it through for at least four to eight weeks. How do you know when it’s time to shake things up? When training gets stale. And this next section just so happens to explain more.

Stale Programming

Variation, while potentially counterproductive if applied excessively, may play an important role in preventing stalled progress. (14)(15) Variation can take the form of changes in programming variables such as sets, repetitions, and load. (16) Or, variation can be accomplished via exercise selection. (15) Your program should include both sources of variety.

The Problem

Without some variation in your training, stagnation is likely to occur. Stagnation can be mental or physical. Repeating the same workouts week-in and week-out can drain motivation to train, while highly varied programs are shown to enhance motivation. (17)

Physically, our muscles will become accustomed to the stale stimulus, as discussed in the previous “Lack of Progression” section. Moreover, muscles may grow preferentially at specific regions in response to certain exercises. With varied exercise selection, more robust growth throughout the muscle has been shown. (14)(18)

The Solution

Vary your training systematically, not haphazardly. Consider a planned, or periodized, program. If you are drawn to lots of variation or need frequent changes to stay motivated, consider a program with an undulating periodization scheme — In these programs, volume and load are varied frequently (e.g. daily or weekly). (19)

For example, one workout might call for three sets of 12 repetitions, the next workout might be four sets of eight, and a third workout might be five sets of five repetitions. Although not specifically designated as a hypertrophy program, one example of a daily undulating program is the Conjugate Method popularized by powerlifters at the famed Westside Barbell. 

For others, a more traditional approach, such as linear periodization, may suffice. Programs that are linearly periodized gradually increase load while gradually reducing volume. (19) A systematic review comparing undulating periodized training programs with linear programs showed no difference in hypertrophy outcomes between the two periodization styles. (19) 

Periodization seem too complicated? Fortunately, true periodization may not be necessary for hypertrophy. (16)(20) But variation is still important. First, make sure your program is progressive by adding volume or load when training gets easy.

Next, consider including multiple exercises for each body part. Not only does this decrease boredom, but it may also lead to fuller muscular hypertrophy. (14)(18) For example, you might include spider curls and incline dumbbell curls, either in the same workout or throughout the week, to hit your biceps at different muscle lengths.

Finally, switch out your exercises for different variations when you begin to plateau — Changes might be as often as every four to eight weeks, or as seldom as every twelve to sixteen weeks.

Forgetting the Food

As the saying goes, you must eat big to get big. Elevated rates of muscle protein synthesis following resistance training are thought to be the key driving force of muscle gain among consistent lifters. (10) The raw materials for elevated rates of protein synthesis largely come from dietary protein, the most important macronutrient for hypertrophy-focused lifters.

The Problem

Although 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram body mass per day is commonly cited as a target for maximizing muscle gain, resistance trained individuals may benefit from substantially higher intake. A target of 2.0 to 2.2 grams protein per kilogram body mass may be more appropriate. (10)(21) Many lifters fail to consistently reach this target.

The Solution

While many lifters are not interested in tracking all macronutrients, focusing on optimizing protein intake may be the most practical and impactful step. A simple strategy to reach a protein target of 2.0 to 2.2 grams per kilogram body mass — roughly one gram per pound body weight — is to divide target protein intake across the number of meals you plan to consume each day.

For example, a 200-pound lifter might plan to consume four meals containing approximately 50 grams of protein each. Alternatively, this lifter could consume three meals at approximately 50 grams of protein each, a post-workout shake containing 30 grams protein, and a snack containing another 20 grams. 

To effectively meet your protein target, you will need to familiarize yourself with the protein content of the foods you commonly consume. Before long, you’ll begin to memorize the protein contents of foods you commonly eat. 

For example, a single egg has six grams, a quarter-pound of beef has approximately 25 grams, and a small can of tuna fish also has 25 grams. Those with health conditions, those seeking meal plans, and those looking to optimize other facets of their nutrition, such as nutrient timing, should consult a registered dietitian, ideally one with experience with physique athletes.

Sleep Struggles

When it comes to fat loss, a common platitude goes: “Abs are made in the kitchen.” But when it comes to building muscle, a more correct claim is: “Muscle is made in the bedroom.” Recovery between workouts enables consistent high-intensity training, and recovery depends on adequate high-quality sleep.

The Problem

Sleep deprivation is known to blunt muscle protein synthesis (the building of new muscle). Just a single night of sleep deprivation has been shown to reduce the rate of overnight muscle protein synthesis by 18%. (22)

Another study showed five nights of partially restricted sleep (four hours in bed) resulted in significantly reduced muscle protein synthesis compared to matched groups getting a full night’s sleep (eight hours in bed). (23)

Over longer periods of time, even modest restrictions in sleep duration may have profoundly negative effects on your ability to gain muscle. Beyond sleep duration, the quality of sleep may also affect adaptations from hypertrophy training.

The Solution

To improve sleep, focus on three areas: Preparation, duration, and conditions. 

First, ensure you are “winding down” in the hours prior to bedtime. Whether it’s the blue light from electronics or the highly stimulating nature of the information and activities performed with these devices, minimizing screen time before bed seems pertinent. Moreover, avoid alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine in the afternoon and evening hours. (24)

Make every effort to get into bed early enough to allocate approximately eight hours to sleep. Yes, there are likely individual differences in the total duration of sleep required, but eight hours is a good baseline goal for most.

Finally, ensure the conditions of your bedroom are conducive to sleep. Make every effort to create a cool (i.e. approximately 64 degrees Fahrenheit or 18 degrees Celsius), dark, and comfortable environment for sleep. (24) Blackout shades, earplugs, fans, and/or air conditioning units can be helpful.

Ideally, the bedroom is kept free of electronics which might interrupt sleep. Sleep can be improved with planning and attention, resulting in a fuller night’s sleep and ultimately, a fuller muscular physique.

Excessive “Advanced” Training

Drop sets, forced reps, rest-pause, heavy negatives, and supersets are typically categorized as “advanced training techniques,” a classification that may sound alluring. Equally alluring is the fact that more than 80% of competitive bodybuilders use these techniques in “most but not all sessions.” (25) Advanced training techniques are fun and can increase motivation to train. (5)(26) But here’s the rub. You might already be using these techniques too often.

The Problem

Most lifters interested in building a muscular physique do not engage in competitive bodybuilding, a sport characterized by common use of anabolic androgenic steroids that likely allows individuals to tolerate (and thrive) under punishing training regimes. Therefore, most lifters should not attempt to train like competitive bodybuilders. 

While research on advanced training techniques is sparse in some areas, studies on drop sets and supersets tend to show similar muscle gain to traditional set configurations. (5)(26)(27) Keep in mind, training studies on advanced training techniques are time-limited — typically six to ten weeks in duration.

Because many advanced training techniques push the lifter past failure or dramatically reduce rest intervals, it may be difficult to sustain frequent use of these techniques in the long term without accumulating fatigue. With accumulated fatigue, performance in subsequent workouts begins to suffer, which may ultimately hinder gains.

The Solution

Advanced training techniques should be used judiciously. Limiting use of advanced training, particularly techniques that extend sets beyond failure (i.e. drop sets and forced reps), to primarily single-joint movements and machine-based exercises may help to manage the burden of fatigue. (5)

It may be wise to limit use of advanced training to the final set of a given exercise or to a defined period of intentional overreaching, such as the final week of a training cycle. (5)

Finally, while survey data indicates most competitive bodybuilders use advanced training techniques, they tend to use these techniques with primarily single-joint exercises. Biceps curls, triceps pushdowns, and pec flyes are the most common. (25)

If you wish to employ advanced training techniques frequently, go ahead and take this lesson from their playbook: Use advanced training primarily when training smaller muscle groups and for isolation-type exercises.

Impatience

Real talk: building muscle is painfully slow. Young, healthy newbies (individuals beginning an organized hypertrophy program for the first time) are a population expected to make the most rapid gains in muscle mass.

This is the “newbie gains” phenomenon. However, as your training experience increases, gains are slower and harder to come by.

The Problem

Rates of hypertrophy are relatively slow and highly individual. In a clever study design, variability in hypertrophy between individuals performing the same progressive training programs was 40-times greater than variability within individuals when the individuals performed different progressive protocols on left versus right limbs. (20) 

Further emphasizing variability within individuals, a small study on 24 “newbie” lifters reported a 10.7% average increase in muscle cross sectional area after ten weeks of hard training. But this average is somewhat misleading, as “high responders” grew nearly 15%, while just under a third of the individuals (“low responders”) lost muscle size throughout the study, albeit this change did not reach statistical significance. (28)

Altogether, research hints that individual features are more important than the specific nuts-and-bolts of the hypertrophy program.

The Solution

Fortunately, there are no non-responders to progressive hypertrophy training. (20) But if you are a low responder, also known as a “hard gainer,” or even an average responder to training, you’d better get comfortable playing the long game.

Practice setting expectations and goals in terms of longer timeframes. For example, an average experienced lifter not enhanced by anabolic steroids might reasonably set a goal of gaining four or five pounds of primarily lean muscle mass per month.

However, for a known low responder, a more realistic goal might be to add two pounds of muscle per month. Or better yet, aim at twelve solid pounds of muscle in a year. Rather than frantically seeking the next best program or supplement, most lifters would be better served thinking about gains in terms of months, years, even decades. Settle in and enjoy the progress.

Finally, there’s one silver lining for “hard gainers.” Although they tend to gain muscle more slowly, “hard gainers” shed muscle more slowly during periods of detraining. (28)

Avoid Roadblocks on Your Journey to “Gainzville”

Building muscle is an arduous journey but a rewarding one. A muscular physique affects your self-esteem, how you are perceived in the world, and your overall health. If you’re not getting where you want to go, now’s the time to re-examine and tinker with your programming, your habits, and even your mindset.

References

1. Nunes, J. P., et al. (2021). Equating resistance-training volume between programs focused on muscle hypertrophy. Sports Medicine, 51, 1171-1178.
2. Carvalho, L., et al. (2022). Muscle hypertrophy and strength gains after resistance training with different volume-matched loads: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 47(4), 357-368.
3. Grgic, J., Schoenfeld, B. J., & Latella, C. (2019). Resistance training frequency and skeletal muscle hypertrophy: A review of available evidence. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 22(3), 361-370.
4. Bell, L., et al. (2020). Overreaching and overtraining in strength sports and resistance training: A scoping review. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38(16), 1897-1912.
5. Schoenfeld, B., et al. (2021). Resistance training recommendations to maximize muscle hypertrophy in an athletic population: Position stand of the IUSCA. International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, 1(1).
6. Hwang, P. S., et al. (2017). Resistance training–induced elevations in muscular strength in trained men are maintained after 2 weeks of detraining and not differentially affected by whey protein supplementation. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 31(4), 869-881.
7. Kraemer, W. J., & Ratamess, N. A. (2004). Fundamentals of resistance training: progression and exercise prescription. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 36(4), 674-688.
8. Iversen V.M., et al. (2021). No time to lift? Designing time-efficient training programs for strength and hypertrophy: a narrative review. Sports Medicine, 51, 2079-2095.
9. Longo, A. R., et al. (2022). Volume load rather than resting interval influences muscle hypertrophy during high-intensity resistance training. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 36(6), 1554-1559.
10. Joanisse, S., et al. (2020). Recent advances in understanding resistance exercise training-induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy in humans. F1000Research, 9.
11. Wackerhage, H., et al. (2019). Stimuli and sensors that initiate skeletal muscle hypertrophy following resistance exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology.
12. Fry, A. C., et al. (2000). Impaired performances with excessive high-intensity free-weight training. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 14(1), 54-61.
13. Schoenfeld, B. J., et al. (2014). Effects of different volume-equated resistance training loading strategies on muscular adaptations in well-trained men. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 28(10), 2909-2918.
14. Kassiano, W., et al. (2022). Does varying resistance exercises promote superior muscle hypertrophy and strength gains? A systematic review. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 36(6), 1753-1762.
15. Fisher, J. P., et al. (2018). Periodization for optimizing strength and hypertrophy; the forgotten variables. Journal of Trainology, 7(1), 10-15.
16. Grgic, J., et al. (2018). Should resistance training programs aimed at muscular hypertrophy be periodized? A systematic review of periodized versus non-periodized approaches. Science & Sports, 33(3), e97-e104.
17. Baz-Valle, E., et al. (2019). The effects of exercise variation in muscle thickness, maximal strength and motivation in resistance trained men. PloS one, 14(12), e0226989.
18. de Vasconcelos Costa, B. D., et al. (2021). Does performing different resistance exercises for the same muscle group induce non-homogeneous hypertrophy?. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 42(09), 803-811.
19. Grgic, J., Mikulic, P., Podnar, H., & Pedisic, Z. (2017). Effects of linear and daily undulating periodized resistance training programs on measures of muscle hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PeerJ, 5, e3695.
20. Damas, F., et al. (2019). Myofibrillar protein synthesis and muscle hypertrophy individualized responses to systematically changing resistance training variables in trained young men. Journal of Applied Physiology, 127(3), 806-815.
21. Mazzulla, M., et al. (2020). Protein intake to maximize whole-body anabolism during postexercise recovery in resistance-trained men with high habitual intakes is severalfold greater than the current recommended dietary allowance. The Journal of Nutrition, 150(3), 505-511.
22. Lamon, S., et al. (2021). The effect of acute sleep deprivation on skeletal muscle protein synthesis and the hormonal environment. Physiological Reports, 9(1), e14660.
23. Saner, N. J., et al. (2020). The effect of sleep restriction, with or without high‐intensity interval exercise, on myofibrillar protein synthesis in healthy young men. The Journal of physiology, 598(8), 1523-1536.
24. Bird, S. P. (2013). Sleep, recovery, and athletic performance: a brief review and recommendations. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 35(5), 43-47.
25. Hackett, D. A., et al. (2013). Training practices and ergogenic aids used by male bodybuilders. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 27(6), 1609-1617.
26. Krzysztofik, M., et al. (2019). Maximizing muscle hypertrophy: a systematic review of advanced resistance training techniques and methods. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), 4897.
27. Angleri, V., Ugrinowitsch, C., & Libardi, C. A. (2017). Crescent pyramid and drop-set systems do not promote greater strength gains, muscle hypertrophy, and changes on muscle architecture compared with traditional resistance training in well-trained men. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 117, 359-369.
28. Räntilä, A., et al. (2021). High responders to hypertrophic strength training also tend to lose more muscle mass and strength during detraining than low responders. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 35(6), 1500-1511.

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Forced reps, also known as “assisted reps,” are a popular intensification technique performed by lifters to extend an exercise set past muscular failure.(1)(2)

By forcing you to work past your limit, forced reps have the potential to unlock new muscle growth. But as with any form of advanced training, this technique must be used appropriately. Here, you will find practical and evidence-based recommendations for integrating forced reps into your lifting routine.

Guide to Forced Reps

• How Forced Reps Work
• How to Perform Forced Reps
• Physiological Effects of Forced Reps
• Who Should Perform Forced Reps
• Programming Recommendations for Forced Reps

How Forced Reps Work

Forced reps enable a lifter to perform additional repetitions past the point of muscular failure. Anecdotally, they’re among the most challenging and motivating methods of training. Better yet, there’s developing mechanistic support for their effectiveness.

To perform forced reps, you lift to momentary muscle failure and then use external assistance to immediately continue performing more repetitions. Unlike drop sets, another common intensification technique, there’s no need to strip plates off the bar, move the pin on the weight stack, or exchange your dumbbell for lighter ones.

With forced reps, your training partner simply steps in to assist you to perform the additional repetitions. Specifically, your training partner provides just enough help to allow you to grind through the “sticking point,” or most challenging portion, of the repetition.

Forced reps are thought to accelerate muscle growth via increased metabolic stress.(2) Additionally, forced reps may allow you to reap benefits from greater repetition volume, more time under load, and an intensified lifting experience.

How to Perform Forced Reps

Forced reps require the assistance of a training partner to enable the set to continue past failure. An attentive, relatively strong, and highly motivating training partner is worth their weight in gold.

Once you’ve secured a quality training partner, you must communicate before the set of forced reps begins. Discuss the exercise to be performed, how you would like your partner to assist your forced reps, when your partner should begin assisting, and how many forced reps you plan to perform past failure. Here’s exactly what you need to cover with each topic.

Exercise Selection

Non-ballistic free weight and machine-based exercises work best for forced reps. The technique can be performed with single-joint or multi-joint exercises. Among the countless exercises that could be selected, common exercises used for forced reps include pull-ups, seated overhead press, Smith machine squats, bench press, leg press, leg extensions, biceps curls, and leg curls.(3)(4)

Some exercises, however, are difficult or downright ridiculous for use with forced reps. For example, it would be very awkward for your partner to assist you in performance of forced reps for deadlifts. Even many free weight rows can be awkward to assist. Machine-based rows, landmine rows, or chest-supported T-bar rows tend are better options because they allow your partner to maintain favorable body mechanics while assisting the forced reps.

Carefully consider the exercises you select for forced reps. Obviously, each exercise should target a muscle group or movement pattern you wish to overload, but if taking a specific exercise beyond failure seems sketchy, find an alternative movement or skip it.

How Forced Reps Are Assisted

Instruct your partner to provide the minimum amount of assistance necessary to allow you to continue the set.(1)(4) The specific technique for applying assistance varies based on the lift. The technique for assisting forced reps is generally consistent with technique for spotting, though exercises not traditionally spotted will require some creativity.

Your partner should assist from the barbell during upper body barbell exercises, from the wrists during dumbbell presses, and through the torso during pull-ups, dips, squats, lunges, and step-ups. Note: assisting (and spotting) the latter two exercises is technically demanding and requires practice to perform safely.

For machine-based forced reps, technique will vary based on the exercise and equipment design. Be sure that your partner is positioned out of harm’s way and does not get their limbs or digits caught in pinch points on the machine.

When Forced Reps Are Assisted

Experienced lifters can pin-point exactly where in the repetition they will tend to “fail” during common exercises. This part of the lift is called the “sticking point.” When your repetition grinds to a halt in the sticking point, your partner will help you through it.

Inevitably, the sticking point occurs during the concentric (positive or lifting) phase of the lift. This is because muscle contractions are 20-50% stronger during the negative (eccentric or lowering phase) than during the positive.(5) Assuming fatigue affects both phases of the exercise equally, you will require assistance during the concentric phase of the exercise and little to no assistance during the eccentric.

The sticking point varies by exercise, but in general it occurs near the bottom, stretched position of presses, dips, and squats, and toward the top, contracted portion of the repetition for rows and pull-ups.

Although your partner should remain attentive to your performance through the entire repetition, you should clue them in to the specific point of the repetition they are most likely to be needed, to create a smoother and safer forced rep experience.

Determining the Number of Forced Reps

Finally, before starting your set, inform your partner how many forced repetitions you have planned.

Although you may not be able to predict the exact number of straight, unassisted repetitions you will be able to complete before failure, you must decide how many forced reps your partner will facilitate once you’ve reached failure. A skilled training partner will then fine-tune the amount of help provided to ensure you are successful yet thoroughly challenged. An unskilled training partner will shout, “Now three more,” when, in fact, you only have one more.

A discussion on programming recommendations for forced reps is provided below. But first, let’s explore the physiological demands of forced reps and determine for whom they’re best suited.

Physiological Effects of Forced Reps

As you might expect, forced reps impose considerable demand on the body and increase the need for recovery.(6)(7) They also stimulate acute changes in testosterone, growth hormone, and cortisol levels.(7)(8) This section examines the effects of forced reps and their potential significance to hypertrophy (muscle-building) and performance.

Neuromuscular and Metabolic Effects of Forced Reps

Immediately after working sets, forced reps cause greater reductions in muscle activity compared to traditional sets to muscular failure.(7) These changes have been measured experimentally via surface electromyography (sEMG). Although sEMG is not necessarily a measure of recruitment, these reductions may hint to the presence of neural fatigue as the central nervous system becomes progressively less able to stimulate motor units.(6)(7)(9)(10)

Prolonged and repeated muscle contractions occur during forced reps. Therefore, they are thought to exhaust more pools of muscle cells than traditional sets.(8) After performing forced reps, substantial fatigue occurs to the working muscle.(6) Calcium is an ion essential to muscle contraction, and its release may be impaired during fatiguing muscle contractions. (10)

Metabolites such as hydrogen, lactate, and inorganic phosphate are produced during repeated muscle contractions with minimal rest.(7)(10)(11) Although these metabolites may hasten fatigue, the metabolic stress they induce may enhance hypertrophy.(10)(11)(12)

Mechanical Effects of Forced Reps

Three related studies reported greater short-term reductions in maximum strength following forced repetitions compared to traditional sets to failure.(6)(7)(8) The earliest study compared two “leg day” workouts of squats, leg presses, and leg extensions — one used forced reps for every set and the other ended sets at muscular failure. (7)

Both workouts resulted in reductions in strength for up to 72 hours for both types of training, but forced reps caused greater reductions in strength during, immediately after, and twenty-four hours after the workout.(7) A later study showed decreased force production for the first 500 milliseconds of muscle contraction following forced reps.(6)

Altogether, these findings illustrate the effectiveness of forced reps for training fast twitch muscle fibers, which tend to have great potential for growth but prolonged recovery demands. (6)(13)

Hormonal Effects of Forced Reps

Forced reps are associated with robust anabolic hormone responses including increased serum testosterone, free testosterone, and growth hormone.(7)(8) Increased cortisol, a catabolic hormone, has also been reported following forced reps.(7)(8)

Resist the temptation infer any long-term outcomes from these findings. The relationship between acute hormone responses and desirable training outcomes (e.g. hypertrophy) remains questionable.(12)(14) Spiking certain hormones, like testosterone, briefly during or after exercise is quite different than maintaining elevated hormone levels throughout the day or week.

Who Should Perform Forced Reps

For muscle growth, the superiority of training to failure relative to not-to-failure has been questioned, both by gym rats and proverbial lab rats. (3) Forced reps take sets to the point of failure and blow right through it. To be clear, no one “needs” to perform forced reps to make gains, but it can be a useful technique to spark new muscle growth after stagnating and it can reinvigorate a stale period of training.

Although there remains a lack of research supporting most “advanced training techniques” such as forced reps, there is plenty of anecdotal and physiological support for their use.(1)(12) However, forced reps may benefit some trainees more than others.

Consider Your Training Goal

You probably associate forced reps with bodybuilding. Spoiler alert: That’s probably the best use of this training technique. Individuals training for strength or power are best served focusing prioritizing not-to-failure training.(3)(15)(16)

Interestingly, some research showed small improvements in bench press three-repetition maximum (strength) and bench press throw (power) following six weeks of forced reps. (4) Unfortunately, the forced reps strength-boosting study did not measure muscle hypertrophy.

For those looking for muscle gain, forced reps are more appealing, and there is a strong case for using forced reps for muscle gain based on volume. Resistance training volume is closely related to hypertrophy. More volume is associated with more muscle gain.(17)

While there is undoubtedly an upper limit on this relationship, a lifter will complete more total repetitions (and thereby, more total volume) using forced repetition sets than an equal number of traditional sets.

Additional volume also appears to explain the hypertrophy benefit of to-failure training compared to not-to-failure training.(18) Along the same lines, the additional volume completed past failure during forced reps may result in superior muscle gain for a lifter who would otherwise have stopped at or before failure.

Consider Your Training Status and Experience

Since beginners are extremely responsive to resistance training, it’s not necessary or prudent to program to-failure resistance training, let alone forced reps.(19)

On the other hand, intermediate and experienced trainees often require more variability in their training.(20) That is, more frequent changes in volume, intensity, and other resistance training parameters are indicated. Since forced repetitions are an intensification method that also promotes additional repetition volume, they may be appealing for more advanced lifters.

Lifters with longer training histories have been shown to experience greater androgen responses (testosterone and free testosterone) and growth hormone release than novice lifters when training with forced reps.(8) Although we must interpret these acute hormonal effects cautiously, as previously noted, it is suggested that well-trained and experienced lifters may preferentially benefit from forced reps.

Programming Recommendations for Forced Reps

Forced reps undoubtedly cause high levels of fatigue, but if you’re an advanced lifter, you’re probably thinking, “I’ve been training for umpteen years. Pfft, I can handle it.”

While advanced lifters may stand to benefit more from forced reps than beginners, research shows they also experience more profound neuromuscular fatigue following forced reps.(6) This is probably because advanced lifters are better able to tap into high threshold motor units and get more out of their sets. Basically, advanced lifters are better trained, but also better able to bury themselves under fatigue.

When fatigue outpaces recovery for too long, bad things happen. There’s the potential for non-functional overreaching, which results in non-productive training and, as a cantankerous soup vendor might say, “No gains for you.”

Even more haunting is the threat of true overtraining, which results in decreased performance even after recovery.(21) Informed programming and a well-designed approach helps to avoid these undesirable effects.

Number of Forced Repetitions

How many reps should you “force” per set? Even if you complete just one or two forced reps, you’re still doing more than a traditional set to failure. The published research protocols cited throughout this article included an average of three or four forced reps per set.(4)(6)(7)(8)

This seems like a reasonable recommendation. More forced reps result in a more intense set and, presumably, greater recovery demand. Diminishing returns can be expected as you add even more forced reps, because your training partner invariably does progressively more of the work for you. Don’t let your set of bench press forced reps become their set of barbell row forced reps.

So, for the sake of your next training session, gains, recovery, and your lifting partner, limit forced reps to five or fewer per set.

Number of Forced Rep Sets

To mitigate the risk of non-functional overreaching and overtraining, plan your forced reps sessions, and remember, there’s no need to get greedy. Previous research on forced reps compared three groups who performed short-duration training cycles of forced reps.

One group performed an average of one set of forced reps per session, another group hit an average three forced rep sets per session, and the final group completed an average of four forced rep sets per session. Remarkably, all groups improved similarly over the course of the training study.(4)

The take-home message? There does not seem to be an additive benefit to multiple sets of forced reps. An intelligent lifter might plan forced reps for only the final set of an exercise during a time-limited intensification block of training.

Frequency of Forced Rep Sets

While advanced trainees can thrive during short-term periods of high-intensity and high-frequency training, it certainly isn’t the rule.(22) Data from acute studies on forced reps suggest 48-72 hours of recovery should be allocated between workouts including forced reps.(4)(7)(8)

Don’t use the technique every day of the week. Even when targeting different body parts, the cumulative fatigue (both muscular and neuromuscular) will quickly get to be too much to recover from and your performance, and results, will suffer for it.

Training Load for Forced Rep Sets

An important consideration for forced reps is load, or training weight. How heavy should your forced rep sets be? Although they can certainly be effectively performed using very heavy loads, forced reps are best programmed using moderate loads. A general recommendation is to use your 6RM to 12RM load. That is, select a weight you’d normally lift between six and 12 times before failing.

As previously established, forced reps are best for those with hypertrophy goals. Considering that muscle growth occurs across a wide range of repetitions and loads, the use of very heavy loads unneeded.(16)(23)(24)

Moreover, assisting forced reps with very heavy loads is more technically demanding for your training partner. Extremely light loads, while easier for your training partner to handle, take more time and are likely to result in prolonged fatigue relative to heavier loads.(25)

Periodizing Forced Reps

Throwing an occasional set of forced reps into your normal routine is likely harmless and good fun. But forced reps, like other intensification techniques, are best programmed judiciously and for short, focused periods of time.

For example, you might add forced reps during the final week before a deload. Or program forced reps regularly across a four- to six-week hypertrophy training block intended to produce overreaching. In both cases, gains are made during recovery. If you’re going to train hard using forced reps, plan to recover harder with sufficient sleep, high-quality nutrition, and relative rest.

Force Gains with Forced Reps

Forced reps, or assisted reps, are a technique well-suited for intermediate and advanced lifters who want to gain muscle, have a trusted training partner, and are willing to take their recovery as seriously as their training.

References

1. Hackett, D. A., & Amirthalingam, T. (2015). A brief review of forced repetitions for the promotion of muscular hypertrophy. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 37(5), 14-20.
2. Schoenfeld, B. (2011). The use of specialized training techniques to maximize muscle hypertrophy. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 33(4), 60-65.
3. Willardson, J. M., Norton, L., & Wilson, G. (2010). Training to failure and beyond in mainstream resistance exercise programs. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 32(3), 21-29.
4. Drinkwater, E. J., et al. (2007). Increased number of forced repetitions does not enhance strength development with resistance training. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 21(3), 841-847.
5. Schoenfeld, B. J., et al. (2017). Hypertrophic effects of concentric vs. eccentric muscle actions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 31(9), 2599-2608.
6. Ahtiainen, J. P., & Häkkinen, K. (2009). Strength athletes are capable to produce greater muscle activation and neural fatigue during high-intensity resistance exercise than nonathletes. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 23(4), 1129-1134.
7. Ahtiainen, J. P., Pakarinen, A., Kraemer, W. J., & Häkkinen, K. (2003). Acute hormonal and neuromuscular responses and recovery to forced vs. maximum repetitions multiple resistance exercises. International Journal of Sports Medicine, 24(06), 410-418.
8. Ahtiainen, J. P., Pakarinen, A., Kraemer, W. J., & Hakkinen, K. (2004). Acute hormonal responses to heavy resistance exercise in strength athletes versus nonathletes. Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology, 29(5), 527-543.
9. Vigotsky, A. D., et al. (2018). Interpreting signal amplitudes in surface electromyography studies in sport and rehabilitation sciences. Frontiers in Physiology, 985.
10. Wan, J. J., Qin, Z., Wang, P. Y., Sun, Y., & Liu, X. (2017). Muscle fatigue: general understanding and treatment. Experimental & Molecular Medicine, 49(10), e384-e384.
11. Goto, K. et al. (2005). The impact of metabolic stress on hormonal responses and muscular adaptations. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 37(6), 955-963.
12. Schoenfeld, B., et al. (2021). Resistance training recommendations to maximize muscle hypertrophy in an athletic population: Position stand of the IUSCA. International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, 1(1), 1-30.
13. Lievens, E., et al. (2020). Muscle fiber typology substantially influences time to recover from high-intensity exercise. Journal of Applied Physiology, 128(3), 648-659.
14. Schoenfeld, B. J. (2013). Postexercise hypertrophic adaptations: a reexamination of the hormone hypothesis and its applicability to resistance training program design. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 27(6), 1720-1730.
15. Izquierdo, M., et al. (2006). Differential effects of strength training leading to failure versus not to failure on hormonal responses, strength, and muscle power gains. Journal of Applied Physiology, 100(5), 1647-1656.
16. Pareja‐Blanco, F., et al. (2017). Effects of velocity loss during resistance training on athletic performance, strength gains and muscle adaptations. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 27(7), 724-735.
17. Schoenfeld, B. J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. W. (2017). Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(11), 1073-1082.
18. Vieira, A. F., et al. (2021). Effects of resistance training performed to failure or not to failure on muscle strength, hypertrophy, and power output: a systematic review with meta-analysis. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 35(4), 1165-1175.
19. Lasevicius, T., et al. (2022). Muscle failure promotes greater muscle hypertrophy in low-load but not in high-load resistance training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 36(2), 346-351.
20. DeWeese, B. H., Hornsby, G., Stone, M., & Stone, M. H. (2015). The training process: Planning for strength–power training in track and field. Part 1: Theoretical aspects. Journal of sport and health science, 4(4), 308-317.
21. Bell, L., et al. (2020). Overreaching and overtraining in strength sports and resistance training: A scoping review. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38(16), 1897-1912.
22. Zourdos, M. C., et al. (2016). Efficacy of daily one-repetition maximum training in well-trained powerlifters and weightlifters: a case series. Nutricion Hospitalaria, 33(2), 437-443.
23. Lasevicius, T., et al. (2018). Effects of different intensities of resistance training with equated volume load on muscle strength and hypertrophy. European Journal of Sport Science, 18(6), 772-780.
24. Schoenfeld, B. J., et al. (2021). Loading recommendations for muscle strength, hypertrophy, and local endurance: a re-examination of the repetition continuum. Sports, 9(2), 32.
25. Haun, C. T., et al. (2017). Molecular, neuromuscular, and recovery responses to light versus heavy resistance exercise in young men. Physiological Reports, 5(18), e13457.

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The post Forced Reps — What They Are and How to Use Them appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Maybe a hard economy forced the fire sale of your once epic home gym. Maybe you’re making do at a poorly equipped hotel gym. Or maybe you’re on a road trip with limited space for strength equipment.

No matter the scenario, these single-dumbbell workouts will help you turn strife into strength, lean times into lean mass, and hardship into a hard body. But don’t expect charity gains. You’re going to have to work for it.

Best Single-Dumbbell Workouts

• For Muscle Gain
• For Fat Loss
• For Conditioning
• For Strength

Best Single-Dumbbell Workout for Muscle Gain

Training to put on muscle without the niceties of a fully equipped gym? Fortunately, muscle gain occurs across a wide range of repetitions and using weights ranging from light to heavy (e.g. 30% to more than 80% of maximum). (1)(2)(3)(4)

As such, a single dumbbell of moderate weight may be the most utilitarian tool for whole-body hypertrophy training. With thoughtful exercise selection and a time-saving strategy like agonist-antagonist supersets, you’ve got a no-frills recipe for growth.

For this single-dumbbell hypertrophy workout, a moderate weight works best (e.g. 15 to 50 pounds). Training to failure is not “required” for noteworthy gains. (5)(6) For best results with limited equipment, however, you will need to take these sets to a high level of effort. (4) That is, each set should approach failure. Select a number of repetitions that leaves between one and four repetitions “in the tank.”

Build Size with One Weight

This full-body workout uses paired exercises and an emphasis on single-arm or single-leg movements to get the most from minimal equipment. Begin targeting the back and chest. Like a standard row, the wide dumbbell row hits the mid-back (middle trapezius and rhomboids) but may better train the rear deltoids. (7)(8) Elevating one hand during the push-up will increase the difficulty of the exercise by achieving a greater stretch across pectoralis major (chest) in the bottom position.

Next you’ll tackle legs. During the single-leg Romanian deadlift, you can use a sturdy object, such as a chair or bench, for balance assistance and to keep the focus on your hamstrings rather than stabilizing muscles. But be disciplined. Do not push with your support hand.

You’ll end the session with some direct arm work. You’re welcome. By bracing your upper arm against your thigh during the concentration curl, you eliminate “cheating” from body sway and shoulder flexion. The long head of triceps is lengthened across the shoulder during the overhead triceps extension, making this exercise superior for muscle growth. (9)

Wide Dumbbell Row

• How to Do it: Brace your free arm on a flat bench with your feet in a stable stance. Grab the dumbbell with your working arm and pull it “up and out.” In the top position, your elbow should be nearly in line with your shoulder and away from your ribs. Keep your torso level and avoid rotating as you pull and lower the weight.
• Sets and Reps: 3 sets to muscular fatigue, per arm. Depending on the weight of your dumbbell, repetitions may range from six to 30 or more.
• Rest time: No rest between arms. No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Single-Arm Emphasis Push-Up

• How to Do it: Lie on the ground with one hand on the dumbbell and the other hand flat on the floor. Keep your spine and legs straight as you lower into a deep push-up. The chest of the elevated hand will be put into a significant stretch. Press up until the non-elevated hand is locked out. Perform an even number of repetitions with each hand elevated.

• Sets and Reps: 3 sets to muscular fatigue.
• Rest time: No rest between arms. Rest 90 seconds before repeating the previous exercise.

Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift

• How to Do it: Stand near a chair or the back of an incline bench while holding a dumbbell in one hand. Use the bench, as needed, for stability. Lift the leg of the working side slightly off the ground and softly bend the opposite knee. Bend at your hips as you “reach” the dumbbell toward your foot on the ground. Allow your working-side leg to rise into the air behind you. Keep your torso straight and don’t bend at the spine. Pull your torso back to stand upright.
• Sets and Reps: 3 sets to muscular fatigue, per leg. Depending on the weight of your dumbbell, repetitions may range from six to 30 or more.
• Rest time: No rest between legs. No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat

• How to Do it: Face away from a flat bench while holding a dumbbell in one hand. Place the same-side leg behind you, resting your shoelaces on the bench. Squat down with your front leg and allow your back knee to drop to the floor. Keep your shoulders pulled back and your torso upright during the movement. Drive through your front foot to stand upright.

• Sets and Reps: 3 sets to muscular fatigue, per leg. Depending on the weight of your dumbbell, repetitions may range from six to 30 or more.
• Rest time: No rest between legs. Rest 90 seconds before repeating the previous exercise.

Concentration Curl

• How to Do it: Sit on a bench with your feet wider than shoulder-width. Grab a dumbbell with a palms-up grip in one hand and rest the triceps of that arm near the same-side knee. Curl the weight toward your face. Don’t allow your legs or torso to swing the weight up. Lower the weight to full straight-arm extension.
• Sets and Reps: 3 sets to muscular fatigue, per arm. Depending on the weight of your dumbbell, repetitions may range from six to 30 or more.
• Rest time: No rest between arms. No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Single-Arm Overhead Extension

• How to Do it: Sit upright on a flat bench. Press a dumbbell overhead with one arm. Keep your torso tight and upright. Lower the weight behind your head until your hand is roughly in line with the top of your head. Keep your elbow pointed generally toward the ceiling, don’t allow it to move significantly. Only your hand should move with the weight.

• Sets and Reps: 3 sets to muscular fatigue, per leg. Depending on the weight of your dumbbell, repetitions may range from six to 30 or more.
• Rest time: No rest between arms. Rest 90 seconds before repeating the previous exercise.

Best Single-Dumbbell Workout for Fat Loss

Circuit training, a method of exercise that links multiple exercises together with minimal rest between each, is effective for improving body composition. In addition to decreasing body fat percentage and increasing muscularity, circuits may also promote modest improvements in aerobic fitness and strength. (10)(11)

Single-dumbbell exercises are ideal for circuit training because they require minimal setup. Machine-based circuit training obviously requires plenty of equipment, but it also requires monopolizing more than one’s fair of the gym. Single-dumbbell circuit training can just as easily be done in a small corner of a busy gym or a lonely motel room.

One-Dumbbell Fat-Burning Circuit

A light dumbbell works well for this whole-body resistance training circuit — 10 to 30 pounds should work for most lifters, depending on your strength and fitness level. It uses a descending repetition scheme, with each exercise performed for progressively fewer reps, to accommodate fatigue as you continue to work.

Perform the exercises in order, rest briefly, and then repeat the entire sequence for a total of three rounds.

Single-Arm Dumbbell Row

• How to Do it: Take a staggered stance with your front foot next to the dumbbell. Your working arm will be opposite your front foot — left foot forward with your right arm working, and vice versa. Brace your non-working forearm on your front thigh. Grab the dumbbell with your working arm and row toward your back hip. Maintain a neutral grip with your palm facing your leg. Lower the weight to a full stretch, nearly reaching ankle-level.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 30 per arm.
• Rest time: No rest between arms. No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Single-Arm Floor Press

• How to Do it: Lie down with the dumbbell in one hand and your elbow resting on the ground. Bend your legs with your feet flat. Press the weight above your chest to full lockout. Lower under control. Do not bounce your arm off the ground between repetitions.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 25 per arm.
• Rest time: No rest between arms. No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Goblet Squat

• How to Do it: Stand up while holding the dumbbell in the “goblet position,” supporting the dumbbell with both hands in front of your chin or neck. Keep your elbows close to your torso. Squat down as low as possible while keeping your upper body vertical. Keep your feet flat on the floor throughout each repetition.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 20
• Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Dumbbell Good Morning

• How to Do it: Hold the dumbbell to your upper chest using both hands. Slightly bend your knees while pushing your hips back and bending at the waist. When your upper body is nearly parallel to the ground, “pull” with your glutes and hamstrings to return upright. Keep a neutral spine during the movement. Don’t allow your back to round forward.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 15
• Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Single-Arm Arnold Z Press

• How to Do it: Get on the ground in a “long-sitting position” with your legs extended in front of you and your upper body straight. Hold the dumbbell in front of your working-side shoulder with your palm facing your body. As you press overhead, rotate the dumbbell so your palm faces forward in the top position. Reverse the movement as you lower the weight.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 10 per arm.
• Rest time: No rest between arms. Rest 60 seconds before repeating the first exercise.

Best Single Dumbbell Workout for Conditioning

A complex is a series of lifts performed in immediate succession with the same piece of equipment. Barbell and kettlebell complexes are extremely popular, and for good reasons. They train all major energy systems, build multi-joint strength, and fortify your grip. But the humble dumbbell does not get the notoriety it deserves for complexes.

As a unilateral (single–arm) implement, it hammers the core while its balanced center of mass may be more user-friendly than a kettlebell for certain Olympic lift-inspired exercises, such as the dumbbell snatch.

One-Dumbbell Conditioning Complex

The exercises in this conditioning complex are power- and strength-based, which would tend to tax the quick-energy phosphagen system when performed in isolation. However, as the repetitions and rounds of the complex add up, you will lean hard into the anaerobic glycolysis and aerobic systems. Meaning this single-dumbbell complex is a multi-functional conditioning workout.

Perform all repetitions with the dumbbell in your left hand, followed by all repetitions with the dumbbell in your right hand, before immediately moving on to the next exercise.

Dumbbell Snatch

• How to Do it: Start with the dumbbell in the “hang position” between your knees — your feet should be slightly wider than shoulder-width and your palm facing your body. Drive through your hips and knees toward the ceiling. Carry that momentum through the dumbbell as you “zip” the weight in front of your midline and “flick” it into the overhead position. Lockout with a straight arm. Lower the weight with control to the starting position and repeat.
• Sets and Reps: 3 to 5 x 4 per arm.
• Rest time: No rest between arms. No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Front-Loaded Reverse Lunge

• How to Do it: Hold the dumbbell at shoulder-level with your thumb near your shoulder. Step backward into a deep lunge position with your leg on the same side as the weight. Keep your torso upright and resist the weight pulling your upper body to the side. When your rear knee is close to the ground, drive through your front leg to return to a standing position. Perform all reps with one leg, then switch hands and repeat with the opposite leg.
• Sets and Reps: 3 to 5 x 4 per leg.
• Rest time: No rest between legs. No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Dumbbell Push Press

• How to Do it: Combine a mini-squat and ballistic overhead press to drive the weight overhead. Begin with the dumbbell near your shoulder and your palm facing your head. Squat down several inches before exploding upward as you press overhead to full lockout. Lower the weight under control.
• Sets and Reps: 3 to 5 x 4 per arm.
• Rest time: No rest between arms. No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Single-Arm Overhead Squat

• How to Do it: Challenge your trunk stability and shoulder complex mobility with this full-body squat. Press the weight to lockout overhead and widen your stance. Squat as low as possible without moving your locked out arm overhead. Keep your torso as upright as possible and resist any rotation or twisting.
• Sets and Reps: 3 to 5 x 4 per arm.
• Rest time: No rest between arms. Rest 90 seconds before repeating the first exercise.

Best Single Dumbbell Workout for Strength

Heavy bilateral (double-limb) movements with barbells and machines tend to be the go-to exercises for strength in traditional gyms. But if all you’ve got is a single dumbbell, you’re going to have to make it work.

An effective strategy for enhancing strength is “accentuated eccentric training.” Accentuated eccentrics apply greater loads during the negative or lowering phase of the exercise than those applied during the concentric phase. (12) Weight releasers are commonly used for accentuated eccentric training, but this specialized device only works for one repetition, as the extra weight is jettisoned at the bottom of the first repetition. More importantly, it’s not compatible with dumbbell training.

Fortunately, accentuated eccentric loading can be accomplished by performing a unilateral, or single-sided, exercise with the assistance of the other limb during the concentric (lifting) phase. In plain English, you will use your off-side arm or leg to “help” during the upward phase of the lift and lower the weight with only your working side.

Build Strength with Just One Weight

Just as training to failure is not essential for muscle hypertrophy, it is not a requirement for strength. (6) You can and will build strength with not-to-failure sets of these exercises as long as your dumbbell is moderately heavy (e.g. 30 to 70 pounds, depending on your strength).

Half-Kneeling Single-Arm Overhead Press

• How to Do it: Kneel on the ground with the weight on the same side as the down knee. Use your off-side arm to assist in lifting the dumbbell from the bottom of the movement to lockout. Lower the weight using only your working-side arm. For each repetition, use the non-working arm to help lift the weight.

• Sets and Reps: 2 to 6 x 4 to 6 per arm.
• Rest time: Rest two minutes between sets.

Skater Squat

• How to Do it: Stand on your working leg while holding the dumbbell in the front rack position, hugged to your upper chest with both hands. Squat down until your off-side knee gently contacts the floor. Dig your off-side foot into the floor to assist back to a standing position. If you are unable to perform skater squats with control, place a pillow or stack of textbooks under your off-side knee to limit the range of motion.

• Sets and Reps: 2 to 6 x 4 to 6 per leg.
• Rest time: Rest two minutes between sets.

Single-Leg Good Morning

• How to Do it: Begin standing on one leg with the dumbbell in the front rack position, hugged to your upper chest with both hands. Hinge forward at the hips with minimal knee bend. Allow your back leg to rise into the air until your torso is nearly parallel to the ground. In the bottom position, bring your off-side foot to the floor to assist your return to a standing position. Perform all reps with one leg before switching sides.

• Sets and Reps: 2 to 6 x 4 to 6 per leg.
• Rest time: Rest two minutes between sets.

How to Warm-Up for Single-Dumbbell Workouts

A typical warm-up consists of five to ten minutes of general aerobic exercise followed by several lighter sets of the exercises that will be included in the workout. Since you’ve only got one dumbbell, cardio equipment and lighter “work-up sets” are out of reach.

However, even in these desperate times, a warm-up is important to get the most out of your workout. Consider jogging or ropeless jump rope (“pogo hops”) to elevate your body temperature.

For squats, lunges, Romanian deadlifts, and good mornings, a bodyweight warm-up of three sets of 10 to 12 reps should suffice. For non-bodyweight exercises, perform non-challenging, low-repetition sets of the primary movements you will train in the workout.

One Weight is All it Takes

Performed with intent and intensity, single-dumbbell workouts can build muscle size, promote fat loss, improve conditioning, and develop strength. These workouts can be useful when you find yourself in less-than-ideal scenarios where equipment is limited or you can deliberately program a single-dumbbell workout as an exercise in minimalism. Benefits of single-dumbbell training include versatility, the potential for unilateral loading for a challenging stimulus to the core, and the ability to efficiently perform accentuated eccentric exercises. Next time you are “down to your last dumbbell,” a single-dumbbell workout might change your outlook from grim to grateful.

References

1. Lasevicius, T., et al. (2018). Effects of different intensities of resistance training with equated volume load on muscle strength and hypertrophy. European Journal of Sport Science, 18(6), 772-780.
2. Jenkins, N. D., et al. (2017). Greater neural adaptations following high-vs. low-load resistance training. Frontiers in Physiology, 8, 331.
3. Schoenfeld, B. J., et al. (2021). Loading recommendations for muscle strength, hypertrophy, and local endurance: a re-examination of the repetition continuum. Sports, 9(2), 32.
4. Pareja‐Blanco, F., et al. (2017). Effects of velocity loss during resistance training on athletic performance, strength gains and muscle adaptations. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 27(7), 724-735.
5. Vieira, A. F., et al. (2021). Effects of resistance training performed to failure or not to failure on muscle strength, hypertrophy, and power output: a systematic review with meta-analysis. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 35(4), 1165-1175.
6. Grgic, J., et al. (2021). Effects of resistance training performed to repetition failure or non-failure on muscular strength and hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sport and Health Science.
7. Hedrick, A., & Herl, M. (2021). Technique of the Unilateral Dumbbell Wide Row. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 43(4), 121-123.
8. García-Jaén, M., et al. (2021). Electromyographical responses of the lumbar, dorsal and shoulder musculature during the bent-over row exercise: a comparison between standing and bench postures (a preliminary study). Journal of Physical Education and Sport, 21(4), 1871-1877.
9. Maeo, S., et al. (2022). Triceps brachii hypertrophy is substantially greater after elbow extension training performed in the overhead versus neutral arm position. European Journal of Sport Science, 1-11.
10. Ramos-Campo, D. J., et al. (2021). Effects of resistance circuit-based training on body composition, strength and cardiorespiratory fitness: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Biology, 10(5), 377.
11. Schmidt, D., Anderson, K., Graff, M., & Strutz, V. (2015). The effect of high-intensity circuit training on physical fitness. The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness, 56(5), 534-540.
12. Wagle, J. P., et al. (2017). Accentuated eccentric loading for training and performance: A review. Sports Medicine, 47(12), 2473-2495.

Featured Image: Arsenii Palivoda / Shutterstock

The post 4 Workouts With a Single Dumbbell for Muscle, Fat Loss, and More appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Performing supersets instead of straight sets can help to reduce your training time by nearly 50%. (1) Supersets might even boost performance via a phenomenon called ‘potentiation’ when used correctly (more on this later).

By integrating cutting-edge strength and conditioning research and applied physiology, you can harness this powerful (and fun) technique. After a brief review of how and why this method works, you’ll discover recommendations for each type of superset and programming guidelines based on your training priority — strength, power, and size. You’ll also find sample supersets to plug into your training split immediately.

• The Three Types of Supersets Explained
• Better Results with Less Fatigue
• Paired Exercises for Power and Size
• Programming Supersets for Your Goals
• Sample Supersets

The Three Types of Supersets Explained

A superset is when you perform one set of an exercise followed by one set of a different exercise with no rest between sets, as opposed to doing an exercise, resting, and then doing another set of the same exercise (known as straight sets). Those two exercises can either be for similar body parts or different body parts.

Supersets can incorporate multi-joint (compound) exercises, single-joint (isolation) exercises, or one of each. The programming specifics will determine your overall results. These distinctions between different types of supersets are not pedantic semantics. There are important differences regarding how the body performs and responds to these techniques.

Agonist-Antagonist Supersets

• What It Is: The most common type of superset includes two exercises that train opposing muscle groups — a chest exercise followed by a back exercise or a quad exercise followed by a hamstring movement. This method is more technically considered an agonist-antagonist superset.
• Why It Matters: Training muscles on opposite sides of the body in superset-fashion may be most intuitive, because it manages fatigue in different muscles. You can minimize peripheral fatigue, the type that develops in engaged muscle fibers, by following this superset structure. However, we must also consider central fatigue, which is related to neurochemical mechanisms in the spinal cord and brain. Training large muscle groups through large ranges of motion and training to failure may accelerate central fatigue.
• Try It: Consider pairing two single-joint exercises or a multi-joint exercise with a single-joint exercise. If you must pair two multi-joint exercises, avoid taking sets to failure. Examples of agonist-antagonist supersets include: Bench press and barbell row, pulldowns and the overhead press, dumbbell curls and triceps pressdowns, leg extensions and leg curls, or chin-ups and lateral raises.

Alternate-Peripheral Supersets

• What It Is: Supersets can also be performed with two exercises that alternate between the upper and lower body movements, technically called alternate-peripheral supersets. (2)
• Why It Matters: Alternate-peripheral supersets are another way to avoid excessive peripheral fatigue. However, because the exercises cover both the upper and lower body, you must also pay attention to synergist muscles that support the body when choosing exercises. An alternate-peripheral superset that taxes the trunk extensors (lower back), such as bent-over rows and deadlifts, will result in poor performance due to low back fatigue. Similarly, avoid pairing abdominal exercises with overhead presses because core stability is essential for safe overhead pressing.

• Try It: To minimize potential issues, consider using a single-joint exercise for the second exercise in any alternate-peripheral superset. Try bench press and leg extensions, Romanian deadlifts and hammer curls, or lunges and dumbbell flyes, or more challenging combinations like squat and bench press or deadlifts and pull-ups.

Compound Sets 

• What Is It: If you match exercises of a similar type such as horizontal pressing, chest exercises, vertical pulling, back exercises, etc., it’s technically a compound set because you’re training similar muscle groups or biomechanically similar movement patterns. (3)
• Why It Matters: Fatigue during compound sets accumulates (or “compounds”) to a greater degree than other supersets because of the similar movements being trained. (3) Because of this increased fatigue, it would be easy to write off compound sets as misguided or ineffective, but physique athletes and bodybuilders have been successfully using this approach for decades as a way to increase training intensity for a specific body part.
• Try It: When programming compound sets, be thoughtful about exercise selection. One of the most practical strategies is to pair a multi-joint movement with a related single-joint movement. Ideally, pick a single-joint exercise that trains a body part activated, but not fully fatigued, by the multi-joint movement. For example, it’s safe to hit calf raises after squats or curls after rows, because even a hard set of the multi-joint exercise is unlikely to deplete the muscles emphasized in the single-joint exercise. More challenging examples include overhead presses and lateral raises, cable rows and pulldowns, or incline pressing and dips.

Better Results With Less Fatigue

With every set of any exercise, you stimulate competing aftereffects of both ‘fitness’ and ‘fatigue.’ Fitness refers to the desired adaptations from exercise — increased strength, muscularity, and/or athletic performance. It’s a safe bet that one or all of these are your reason for training in the first place.

Unfortunately, fitness can be obstructed by fatigue — an unavoidable feature of training. (5) While fatigue cannot be prevented, it can be managed and reduced. Appropriately programming your training volume, intensity, and rest intervals can go a long way toward minimizing fatigue.

A recent study examined which of the three types of supersets can best balance fitness and fatigue. They found the greatest drop in power using compound sets, pairing the dumbbell bench press and barbell bench press. Basic straight sets (without supersets) showed the smallest drops in performance.

Interestingly, alternate-peripheral supersets (pairing the squat and bench press) showed greater losses than agonist-antagonist supersets (supersetting the row and bench press).

Session RPE ratings (rate of perceived exertion — how challenging the lifters felt the training was) were highest for compound sets followed by alternate-peripheral supersets, then agonist-antagonist supersets, and lowest for straight sets.

These findings shouldn’t be too surprising to any lifter who’s used supersets. Performing straight sets can be less challenging than alternating exercises, but supersets are more time efficient (leading to the same or better overall results with shorter workouts) and, as you’ll learn in the next section, specifically programmed supersets can actually improve power output.

The study’s differences between the bench/squat and bench/row conditions might be explained by the fact that squats are systemically demanding — that is, they’re just plain hard! Ultimately, this research shows the importance of properly planning your supersets.

Paired Exercises for Power and Size

Back in 2005, research determined that a set of rows performed before a set of bench throws significantly improved power output of the throw. Since the row trained the pulling muscles and the bench throw trained the pushing muscles, this phenomenon can be explained by improved coordination between the agonists and antagonists as a direct result contracting the antagonist muscles. (6)

Now, this was not actually a study in supersets. It’s considered “contrast training,” which is similar to an agonist-antagonist superset, but with more rest between the two exercises. The row was performed, then three minutes rest was provided before the bench throw was tested.

This approach can be adapted to build power with agonist-antagonist supersets. A lifter can structure agonist-antagonist supersets with a ballistic or power-focused exercise performed first, followed by a second exercise training the antagonist muscles. For example, you might combine plyometric push-ups with a chest-supported row.

But why arrange the superset this way when the study performed the explosive exercise second? It’s all about timing. The transition time between superset exercises is too short for high-performance power training.

You will not experience a potentiation effect in the second exercise of a superset, or if you do, it will be masked by general fatigue. Studies consistently report that resting less than 15 seconds between two exercises is insufficient to maintain power in the second exercise. (2)(7)(8)

It’s more efficient to place the explosive exercise as the first movement and allow the second exercise of the agonist-antagonist superset to potentiate the next round. The chest-supported row you did in the first set will boost your plyometric push-up performance in the second set. Just make sure you take a full three-minute (or longer) rest between each pairing.

Now, you might be thinking, “I don’t train with ballistic exercises or plyometrics, I just want to get bigger and stronger. What does this have to do with me?” Potentially, a lot.

If your primary objective is strength, you need to lift heavy loads (at least 80% of your one-rep max or 1RM). Although ballistic exercises aren’t associated with heavy loads, you should be performing each heavy rep with ballistic intent — trying to move as explosively as possible.

Because the load is heavy, it won’t feel or look fast, but your body will be attempting to move the heavy load as fast as possible, which will maximize performance and ultimately lead to greater strength gains.

Lifters with hypertrophy goals will also benefit from performing repetitions with ballistic intent. This technique maximizes recruitment of high threshold motor units, which are pools of muscle fibers with the greatest potential for growth.

To tap into these fibers, you need to train with very heavy loads, train to failure (or very close to failure), or perform reps with ballistic intent. The latter is appealing and highly effective, because you can stimulate high threshold fibers using a wide-range of loads beginning with the first rep of each set.

Programming Supersets for Your Goal

Supersets may be used as a time-saving efficiency technique, an intensification technique, or a potentiation technique, making them suitable for a wide variety of training goals.

Here’s the meat and potatoes of programming supersets successfully. Guidelines are organized into three categories based on your primary training goal: Strength, power, or hypertrophy. 

Supersets for Strength

Agonist-antagonist or alternate-peripheral supersets are best for building strength. Train your priority movement first, because you’re likely to get more out of the first exercise in the superset. For example, if you are looking to bring up your bench press strength, place the bench press before the row.

To build pure strength, you need to train with heavy weights using 80 to 90% of your one-rep max. It’s not a good idea to program supersets much heavier than 90% because the intense effort and short-term fatigue makes it an inefficient technique. Save those heavier weights for straight sets. You can and will build strength in this range. (9)

Volume is inextricably linked to load because you can only perform so many reps with a given weight. For straight sets, 80-90% of 1RM may be associated with four to eight possible repetitions. (3) However, supersets are an entirely different animal.

Plan on doing three to five supersets with two to six repetitions per set. Estimate repetitions to failure as you perform your set and end the set when you feel you have two good repetitions in reserve. Leaving two good repetitions in the tank helps to ensure that you can maintain intensity and repetition quality in the second exercise, and in subsequent supersets.

Perform the concentric (lifting phase) of the rep with ballistic intent (i.e. as fast as possible). Control the eccentric (lowering phase) taking one to two seconds to lower the weight.

Take a full three to five minute rest between each superset. If you are tempted to rest less, recognize that your performance is likely to suffer. Research has shown that you lose peak force and power with two minutes rest between supersets. (2)

Take closer to five-minute rests when two multi-joint movements are selected for the superset, especially if one or both involves the lower body, which trains more overall muscle mass, thereby carrying greater recovery demands.

Supersets for Power

The agonist-antagonist superset structure is best, with the higher-priority exercise placed first in the superset. This structure allows your first exercise to benefit from the contrast training potentiation effect previously discussed. (6) Alternate-peripheral superset structure may also be used. For example, you may pair bench press with squats, but again, make sure to place your high priority exercise first.

For power, you should train across a wide range of loads. This will allow you to move light weight quickly and heavy weight with ballistic intent. However, training with light loads may change certain exercises if you are truly training with the intent to maximally accelerate. A light squat (e.g. less than 50% 1RM) performed with ballistic intent becomes a squat jump.

For horizontal and vertical pressing or pulling exercises exercises, medicine ball throws and slams are fun and effective choices for training power on the lighter end of the load spectrum if you have the tools and space.

Hitting two to five repetitions for three to five total supersets, focusing on crisp purposeful repetitions, is a good general target. Be sure to maximize quality of the repetitions by staying much further from failure than you typically would when training for strength or hypertrophy. (3)

If you are using agonist-antagonist supersets to take advantage of potentiation described earlier, use light load for your second exercise (e.g. 50% 1RM) and perform eight ballistic repetitions for three to six supersets.

Perform the concentric phase with ballistic intent, control the eccentric (one to two seconds), and take at least three minutes between each superset to maximize power. 

Supersets for Hypertrophy

Training for hypertrophy is where supersets shine brightest. Any superset structure could work. Again, place the higher priority exercise first. For example, if you are supersetting shoulders and triceps exercises and you are most interested in building capped deltoids, you would perform lateral raises as the first exercise and skull crushers second.

Volume-load, or the product of weight lifted and reps, is related to hypertrophy. Your goal should be to maximize this value while maintaining repetition quality. In the superset literature, 65% of three-repetition maximum (3RM) for sets of 10 is a common superset loading scheme. (2,9) It equates to approximately 60% of 1RM. (3)

At 60% 1RM, the average trainee will be able to perform 16 or more repetitions for a straight set. Easy, right? It’s conservative, but not necessarily easy. Due to accumulating fatigue during a superset workout, the number of repetitions left in the tank will drop as you work through your supersets.

When you plan a hypertrophy superset workout right, the first few sets will feel somewhat easy, but you will likely reach failure (or very near failure) for both exercises during your final superset.

Training to failure is not required for hypertrophy, it is simply a byproduct of this training scheme. Pick a repetition volume that leaves three or four repetitions in reserve at the beginning of the superset, so roughly 12 reps per set. Now, attempt to hit that same repetition goal for every subsequent superset in the workout, for three to five total supersets.

This will be challenging, motivating, and brutally effective, as it promotes increased effort as the workout progresses, ensuring high volume-load is achieved.

When sets are taken close to failure, it likely doesn’t matter whether you draw out your reps with a slow tempo or perform them with a controlled and comfortable tempo. Use your preferred rep speed during hypertrophy supersets.

Short rest intervals (e.g. 60 seconds or less) may enhance the metabolic stress experienced by the working muscle, which might promote hypertrophy. (12) Bear in mind, metabolic stress is going to be high during supersets simply based on their structure. (4)

If you are midway through your superset workout and find yourself close to failure or unable to reach your repetition target, take a longer rest interval before adjusting the weights or repetition target. Prolonging rest mid-workout is preferable to failure. Remember, failing before your repetition target means you’ve sacrificed volume-load, a key driver of your gains.

Sample Supersets for Your Training Split

Below are sample supersets consistent with the recommendations above. Plug and play based on the organization of your lifting routine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Reminders: When programming supersets for hypertrophy, establish a moderate working weight that allows us to reach our repetition target with four repetitions in reserve (RIR). Stick with the established weight and rep scheme throughout the superset, resting longer if needed. When programming supersets for strength, be flexible with volume. End your sets with two RIR and come back to fight another set.

Push-Pull-Legs Split

Agonist-antagonist supersets and alternate-peripheral supersets do not fit well with the popular push-pull-legs structure (except on “leg day”). Despite the potential for fatigue-related loss of performance discussed above, compound sets may still be beneficial, especially to accumulate volume for accessory exercises.

Hypertrophy Focus (Push)

1. Seated Dumbbell Press 3 x 10 (14RM)
2. Lateral Raise 3 x 12 (16RM)

Rest: Minimal rest between exercises. Up to four minutes between supersets

Strength Focus (Pull)

1. Cable Row 4 x 3-5 (6RM)
2. Hammer Curl 4 x 5-7 (8RM)

Rest: Up to one minute between exercises. Up to five minutes between supersets.

Power Focus (Legs)

1. Clean 5 x 3 (65% 1RM)
2. Kettlebell Swing 5 x 8 (Very light weight)

Rest: Up to one minute between exercises. Three or more minutes between supersets.

Upper-Lower Split

For your primary exercises, use supersets to promote agonist-antagonist potentiation. You can also pair a multi-joint exercise with a single-joint exercise. 

Power Focus (Upper Body)

1. Bench Press 5 x 3 (65% 1RM)
2. Bent-Over Row 5 x 8 (50% 1RM)

Rest: Up to one minute between exercises. Three or more minutes between supersets.

Hypertrophy focus (Lower Body)

1. Front Squat 4 x 8 (12RM)
2. Seated Calf Raise 4 x 12 (16RM)

Rest: Minimal rest between exercises. Up to four minutes between supersets.

Agonist-antagonist supersets also work well for accessory exercises. Hamstring curls with leg extensions play nice together, but be sure to perform them in that order.

Research has shown that trainees were able to perform more volume-load when the superset was structured with hamstring curls before leg extensions, compared to the reverse order. (13) The mechanism is not fully understood, but it works for me.

Hypertrophy Focus (Lower Body)

1. Prone Hamstring Curl 5 x 8 (12RM)
2. Leg Extension 5 x 12 (16RM)

Rest: Minimal rest between exercises. One minute rest between supersets.

Full Body Splits

The agonist-antagonist supersets from the upper-lower split routine can be programmed as part of a full-body workout. Pairing glute-ham raises or hamstring curls with squats is one of my favorites: 

Strength Focus

1. Glute-Ham Raise 4 x 5-7 (8RM)
2. Back Squat 4 x 3-5 (6RM)

Rest: Up to one minute between exercises. Up to five minutes between supersets.

Alternatively, you can bounce between upper body and lower body during the workout using alternate-peripheral supersets:

Hypertrophy Focus

1. Pulldown 5 x 10-12 (14RM)
2. Romanian Deadlift 5 x 10-12 (14RM)

Rest: Minimal rest between exercises. Up to four minutes between supersets.

Time to Start Supersetting

Lifters with a wide variety of goals can benefit from supersets. Superset structure can vary widely, and different superset structures lead to different physiological responses. Ultimately, the decision of whether to program agonist-antagonist supersets, alternate-peripheral supersets, or compound sets should be based on your training priorities and program organization. Program supersets correctly and your workout will be efficient and brutally challenging. 

References

1. Iversen V.M., Norum M., Schoenfeld B.J., Fimland M.S. (2021). No time to lift? Designing time-efficient training programs for strength and hypertrophy: a narrative review. Sports Medicine, 51, 2079-2095.
2. Weakley JJ, et al (2020). The effects of superset configuration on kinetic, kinematic, and perceived exertion in the barbell bench press. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 34, 65-72.
3. Sheppard JM, Triplett N. Program design for resistance training. In: Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning (4th ed). Haff G and Triplett N, eds. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2016.
4. Wallace W., et al. (2019) Repeated bouts of advanced strength training techniques: effects on volume load, metabolic responses, and muscle activation in trained individuals. Sports, 7, 14.
5. Bartz D., Bartz A. (2022). Fatigue–enemy or ally? NSCA Coach, 8, 24-27. 
6. Baker D., Newton R.U. (2005). Acute effect on power output of alternating an agonist and antagonist muscle exercise during complex training. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 19, 202-205.
7. Bevan H.R., et al. (2009). Complex training in professional rugby players: Influence of recovery time on upper-body power output. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 23, 1780-1785.
8. Jensen R.L., & Ebben W.P. (2003). Kinetic analysis of complex training rest interval effect on vertical jump performance. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 17, 345-349.
9. Helms E.R., et al. (2018). RPE vs. percentage 1RM loading in periodized programs matched for sets and repetitions. Frontiers in Physiology, 9, 247.
10. Schoenfeld B.J., Ogborn D.I., Krieger J.W. (2015). Effect of repetition duration during resistance training on muscle hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 45, 577–585.
11. Antunes L., Bezerra E.D., Sakugawa R.L., Dal Pupo J. (2018). Effect of cadence on volume and myoelectric activity during agonist-antagonist paired sets (supersets) in the lower body. Sports Biomechanics, 17(4), 502.
12. Schoenfeld BJ (2013). Potential Mechanisms for a role of metabolic stress in hypertrophic adaptations to resistance training. Sports Medicine, 43, 179–194.
13. Balsamo S, et al. (2012). Exercise order affects the total training volume and the ratings of perceived exertion in response to a super-set resistance training session. International Journal of General Medicine, 5, 123-127.

Featured Image: Jacob Lund / Shutterstock

The post Supersets Explained: A Technique for Better Results and Less Fatigue appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The right approach to training, combined with plenty of goal-focused eating and long-term dedication, can deliver drastic and sometimes unbelievable results. Here’s everything you need to know about building muscle.

How to Build Muscle

• How the Body Builds Muscle
• Train to Build Muscle
• Eat to Build Muscle
• Recover to Build Muscle
• Sample Muscle-Building Program

How the Body Builds Muscle

Fundamentally, building muscle comes down to stimulating and supporting “muscle protein synthesis” with specific training and nutrition practices. (1) Muscle protein synthesis (MPS) essentially means the physiological process responsible for creating new muscle tissue.

Unfortunately, it isn’t as simple as “lift weights, eat food, sleep, and grow.” While that summary does get the very rough idea across, several vital details will make or break your results.

You’re on the right track if you interpret “lift weights” to mean the more wordy-but-accurate “utilize resistance training to trigger a hypertrophy response”. You don’t need to lift “weights”, as in barbells or dumbbells.

You can apply resistance with kettlebells, resistance bands, bodyweight exercises, or oddly shaped rocks. The implement itself doesn’t matter. What you do with it — the sets, reps, training intensity, and actual exercises — will determine how much muscle growth you trigger.

Eating food to build muscle is, for many people, the fun part of adding size. It’s certainly more enjoyable to eat a hearty breakfast of steak and eggs than performing grueling high-intensity set after set in the gym.

However, over-focusing on higher calories without enough attention to the specific foods, or at least the particular macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fats), will make you “bigger” without necessarily becoming “more muscular” because body fat and lean muscle tissue are two very different things.

The third leg of the growth table is sleep or, more generally, recovery. Training and recovery are two sides of the same coin. You can only recover after you’ve trained, and you can’t correctly train if you haven’t recovered.

Recovery is the least glamorous aspect of building muscle because it’s the most passive. You sleep. You spend time in the kitchen, but it’s to cook food for future meals, not to eat immediately. You don’t go to the gym. If you do go, it’s to perform low-intensity exercises like… stretching.

These types of “have to, but don’t want to” activities are what separates goal-reachers from goal-wishers. Just like you wouldn’t skip a training session or a meal and expect good results, you can’t miss a chance to recover.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of each step on the path to more muscle.

How to Train to Build Muscle

Wanting to build muscle without exercising is like expecting groceries to just show up in your refrigerator without leaving to go to the store (or at least ordering Amazon Fresh). Despite what you might see in advertisements trying to sell you an alternative, it’s an essential step you cannot avoid.

Fortunately, there are plenty of different types of workouts and training methods that can all deliver outstanding results. Just because you want to add muscle and build your body doesn’t mean you have to train “like a bodybuilder” with stereotypical two-hour workouts six days a week.

Training Splits

Knowing your training split, or which body parts will be trained in each workout, is one of the first steps in designing a program. But before you can even get that far, you first need to know how many total workouts you will perform each week. That will determine the weekly framework for your entire plan.

Whenever you’re training for muscle growth (and, with few exceptions, training in general), more training doesn’t necessarily equate to more results. If you stick with three or four weight training workouts per week, you’re generally in a great place to get results — especially when you’re first starting.

Training only two days per week can yield some results, but not for the type of long-term approach needed to pack on quality size. Training five days per week is relatively common, with many lifters hitting the gym before or after their workday, but it’s not necessary.

Three or four workouts per week allow optimal recovery and can be structured to accommodate a number of training splits. There are three fundamental training splits that fit very effectively into a three or four-day training week.

Full body training, where all, or nearly all, muscle groups are trained in each workout; upper/lower split training, with workouts alternating focus on either the quads, hamstrings, and calves or the back, chest, shoulders, and arms; and a push/pull/legs split, training upper body “pushing muscles” like the chest, shoulders, and triceps in one workout, upper body “pulling muscles” like the back and biceps in the next workout; and the quads, hamstrings, and calves in a third workout.

These three options provide an efficient and effective structure to provide each muscle with enough weekly training and recovery for muscle growth. Training with a body part-specific split, sometimes referred to as a “bro split,” is a popular but less efficient option, specifically for a new lifter.

Some people point out that competitive bodybuilders commonly use this approach, whose sole goal is to maximize muscle growth. True. But if you’re not eating like a competitive bodybuilder and not recovering like a competitive bodybuilder, you shouldn’t be training as a competitive bodybuilder.

Training Frequency

Training frequency refers to how often an individual muscle group is directly trained each week. Just because you’re in the gym three or four days per week doesn’t mean each muscle is necessarily being trained three or four days per week. The cliche of lifters never finding time to train their legs reinforces that theory.

Training frequency isn’t a significant factor in determining results as long as a muscle is being directly trained at least once per week with proper intensity and the total weekly volume (sets and reps) is sufficient. (2) However, training with a higher frequency can be beneficial under several conditions.

First, higher frequency requires fewer sets per workout and is more time-efficient. A lifter could spend a 25-minute workout performing 12 sets for biceps on Sunday, for example. Or they could spend about six minutes per workout performing four sets on Monday, four sets on Wednesday, and four sets on Friday. You’ll get the same results, either way.

An increased training frequency also allows more body parts to be trained per workout, which falls directly in line with following any of the three suggested training splits. With each session requiring less work per body part and more body parts per session, higher frequency training gets more done in less time.

The Best Exercises to Build Muscle

Every exercise falls into one of two categories: compound (multi-joint) exercises or isolation (single-joint) exercises. As the names state, compound exercises involve more than one joint in the body being recruited to move the weight. Isolation exercises restrict movement to one joint and primarily target a single muscle.

Because more joints are involved in compound exercises, more overall muscles are activated. Examples would be the bench press moving at the shoulders and elbows, the squat moving at the hips and knees, and the pull-up moving at the shoulders and elbows. This is why compound exercises are often used when the goal is to move heavy weights and display sheer strength.

Some training programs focus exclusively on using compound exercises to work larger body parts (like the back, chest, and legs) without giving any direct attention to smaller muscles like the arms and calves, but those types of programs are relatively short-term and the lack of direct attention eventually becomes a hindrance to development.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, isolation exercises move the body at just one joint to perform an exercise. Chest flyes have movement at the shoulder, leg curls at the knee, and barbell curls at the elbow.

Any training program focused primarily on isolation exercises will be extremely inefficient due to an overwhelming number of exercises needed to sufficiently work each separate body part.

It’s also important to note that when a lifter uses incorrect form to “cheat” during an isolation exercise, more joints (and more muscle groups) are recruited to complete the exercise which reduces tension on the target muscle.

To build maximum muscle size, you need to directly train all muscle groups — back, chest, shoulders, triceps, biceps, quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. A balanced approach incorporating both compound and isolation exercises will deliver the best results.

In any given workout, targeting a body part with one to three exercises should be sufficient to stimulate growth, depending on the size of the body part (biceps require less work than quadriceps, for example) and depending on the specific training volume (sets and reps) and intensity used in the exercises.

Sets, Reps, and Intensity

How much are you doing, and how hard are you working? That’s the nitty-gritty of the workout itself. Training volume addresses the sets and reps performed per exercise, while training intensity covers how much muscular fatigue is achieved.

Volume and intensity have an inverse relationship. You can train with high intensity, or you can train with high volume, but you can rarely do both. Attempting that type of workout will lead to burnout and/or injury.

High-intensity training means each set is brought right to the edge of muscular failure. Your muscles cannot perform one more repetition in a full range of motion without either altering technique (cheating) or reducing the weight.

Taking sets to muscular failure is beneficial for building muscle, particularly for experienced lifters. (3) This means that you’ll need to be straining, struggling, and working hard to stimulate muscle growth at some point in each set.

Training volume is determined by tracking the total reps and sets for an exercise and, in the bigger picture, for each body part. Performing pull-ups for three sets of five reps would be low volume. Doing 10 sets of 10 pull-ups would be considered high volume. Doing five sets of 10 barbell rows, five sets of 10 pull-ups, and five sets of cable rows would also be a higher volume back workout.

To make things slightly more confusing, it’s possible to have a high-volume workout consisting of low-volume exercises. For example, performing one set of 10 reps for 12 different exercises would be an example of this inefficient approach.

Moderate to higher training volume has been shown to deliver more muscle growth than lower volume training. (4) Aim to work larger muscle groups with roughly 15-20 sets per week and relatively smaller muscle groups with around 9-12 sets per week, with each set in the six to 15 rep range.

Break that weekly volume into per-workout numbers based on your training split and total number of training days. For example, training three days per week with a full body split, you could train your back, chest, and legs with five to six sets per workout while training shoulders and arms with three to four sets.

In order to balance volume and intensity, not every set should be taken to muscular failure. For optimal growth and recovery, only the last one or two sets of an exercise should reach the highest levels of fatigue and failure.

Weekly Progression

“Do the same you’ve always done and you’ll get the same you’ve always got.” That old maxim applies to the gym, too. Progressive overload is a core principle of any weight training plan, especially for muscle growth.

To continue seeing steady results, training should be progressed each week by increasing the challenge to the muscles and pushing yourself to do more. “More” can be achieved by one of three methods. Increased volume, increased load, or increased intensity.

Increasing volume is the simplest approach: Do one or more reps than you did last workout. Ideally these extra reps are added to the last set, meaning your body is under more total stress to reach muscular failure. This method shouldn’t be used indefinitely or you’d end up performing 35 time-wasting, low intensity reps per set.

Increasing load is likely the most common progression method. Everyone enjoys adding weight and getting stronger. However, when the goal is muscle growth, moving the heaviest weights possible isn’t necessary. Extremely heavy weights require performing low-rep sets, which means sufficient training volume isn’t achieved. You should always be able to work within the intended rep range.

Increasing intensity each week is another overlooked but highly effective progression method. You can make each set harder with intensity-boosting techniques like slow negatives (lowering the weight at a drastically slower speed to increase muscular tension) or drop sets (quickly reducing the weight to complete additional reps). These techniques significantly increase training stress and can require additional recovery time.

Any of the progression methods can be equally effective as long as the total volume and target rep ranges are maintained. Incorporating a combination of added reps and more weight is a time-tested approach to building muscle.

Increase reps until you reach the top end of the target rep range, and then add weight so you’re only able to perform the lowest reps in that range. Again, add reps weekly and repeat the process. For example, begin with 135 pounds for 10 reps. Add one rep each week until you’re performing 14-15 reps. From there, add five to 10 pounds, which should bring you back to performing around 10 reps and begin adding reps again, now with the heavier weight.

How to Eat to Build Muscle

Nutrition is one aspect of muscle-building that many lifters underappreciate. The right nutrition plan can mean the difference between gaining inches around your waistline or inches around your chest.

Hard-training lifters require plenty of fuel to get through intense workouts, as well as restorative nutrition to kickstart recovery after the training has triggered muscle growth. Without paying attention to your diet, building muscle becomes, literally, impossible.

Your body needs the right nutrition to support growth. Here’s how to setup a muscle-building diet.

Calories

Most lifters love the idea of eating to gain size. “Bulking season” is treated like a long-term holiday where calories can be piled in free and clear because “they’re gonna be turned to muscle.” The only problem is, there’s a line between eating for size and eating like a glutton — and it’s not as fine as you think.

Muscle growth can be sufficiently supported by taking in an extra 350 to 500 calories per day. (5) That’s a far cry from the free-for-all some “permabulkers” mistakenly believe is needed to add size.

Potentially more important for muscle growth, however, is the macronutrient breakdown of those extra calories — the protein, carbohydrates, and dietary fats in the diet.

Protein

Protein is the single most important nutrient when it comes to building muscle. Protein is the only source of amino acids, which are the structural building blocks of muscle tissue. That’s why muscle protein synthesis is critical for growth. You’re creating new muscle tissue. Eat all the carbs and fats you like, but without a proper supply of protein, there will be no new muscle.

Daily protein intake doesn’t need to be complicated. A rough guideline of one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight is a reliable rule of thumb. Research has actually shown as little as 0.74 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight to be most effective. (6) If you don’t mind the bit of added math, go for it. Rounding up to a gram won’t have any negative effects.

One important aspect of protein is the source. While animal-based proteins typically have a higher bioavailability and improved absorption rates making them highly efficient, vegetarian protein alternatives have been shown to be comparably effective when the rest of the diet’s nutrients and calories are well-planned. (7)

Carbohydrates

Carbs are a hot topic in fat loss discussions, but their role in building muscle isn’t often discussed. Think of carbs as fuel — they’ve been shown to support performance during intense training, particularly higher volume workouts. (8)

Triggering muscle growth by performing those intense workouts, and then supporting that growth with an ample diet, should deliver significant results. The key issue with carbs is how easily they can sneak into the diet and push the daily calories far above the intended level.

Focusing on whole-food sources of carbs such as fruits, root vegetables, legumes, and minimally processed grains should allow you to take in sufficient energy without a drastic excess of calories.

Fats

Dietary fats have gone from public outcast to hero and back again. While fats don’t play a direct role in building muscle, they support overall health and hormone function. (9)

Fats are much more calorie-dense than either protein or carbs, making them even more likely to push daily calories into excess unless closely monitored. Minimally processed oils, natural animal fats, and certain fruits (particularly avocado and coconut) should be the primary fat sources in a muscle-building diet.

How to Recover to Build Muscle

No matter how hard a workout is, you never actually build muscle in the gym. Your body only builds muscle once you’ve gotten home, eaten some good food, and started to rest. While grabbing a post workout shake from the gym’s smoothie bar can be a good start, it’s not enough. (10)

Overtraining is a genuine condition which can result from too much work and insufficient recovery. This, over time, leads to a lack of results and potential injury from overuse and fatigue. Fortunately, a few simple recovery methods can help to ensure major results.

Rest Days

Some lifters feel the gym is their escape from the stresses of everyday life and a day without training is unimaginable. While there’s plenty of validity to the therapeutic benefits of exercise, weight training requires a different approach. Lifting weights, essentially, breaks the body down and can’t be repeated daily unless very specific program considerations are in place.

A basic training week will include three to four training days and three to four non-training (rest) days. While total rest is the most straightforward way to ensure recovery, “active recovery” is an alternative for the lifter who just can’t sit still.

Active recovery involves lower intensity training, often cardiovascular exercise like walking, running, or biking; sports practice like basketball, tennis, or martial arts; or mobility training like yoga or similar stretching routines.

These types of active, but not brutally intense, sessions have been shown to benefit lifters both physiologically and psychologically. So it’s good for your body and your brain. (11) If a day of not training is truly unbearable, you can support your recovery by taking an easier training day.

Sleep

You sleep every night (hopefully), but if you’re getting less than seven hours, you could be hindering your recovery. Certainly some people have adapted to operating with less sleep, but research has shown seven to nine hours to be ideal for supporting athletic performance. (12) Insufficient sleep has also been shown to negatively affect hormone production, muscle mass, and strength. (13)

Sure, it’s easy to just suggest “sleep more” while the reality may involve important variables like family life and work commitments. The important takeaway is to pay specific attention to your sleeping patterns when building muscle is the goal. Any steps to improve your sleep will be worth the effort.

Sample Program to Build Muscle

You’ve learned how to build muscle, what works and what doesn’t, and why. Here’s a quick grab and go plan to get started (which, to be honest, most people probably jumped right to). The exercise listings are placeholders. Plug in any exercises that work the target body part.

Sunday

Rest. No training. Cook a few good meals to have leftovers for the week.

Monday

Upper Body Workout

• Back exercise: 4 x 10-12
• Chest exercise: 4 x 10-12
• Back exercise: 4 x 12-15
• Chest exercise: 4 x 12-15
• Shoulder exercise: 4 x 10-12
• Biceps exercise: 4 x 10-12

Tuesday

Lower Body Workout

• Hamstring exercise: 5 x 4-6
• Quadriceps exercise: 4 x 6-8
• Hamstring exercise: 4 x 8-10
• Quadriceps exercise: 5 x 8-10
• Calf exercise: 4 x 12-15

Wednesday

Cardiovascular exercise (walk, run, bike), 30 minutes.

Thursday

Upper Body Workout

• Back exercise: 4 x 6-8
• Chest exercise: 4 x 6-8
• Back exercise: 4 x 6-8
• Chest exercise: 4 x 8-10
• Shoulder exercise: 4 x 8-10
• Triceps exercise: 4 x 10-12

Friday

Lower Body Workout

• Quadriceps exercise: 5 x 10-12
• Hamstring exercise: 5×10-15
• Quadriceps exercise: 4 x 12-15
• Hamstring exercise: 4×12-15
• Calf exercise: 4 x 12-15

Saturday

Stretching or mobility exercise, 30 minutes.

Time to Get Bigger

If you’re one of those “I wanna get bigger” lifters in the gym, you’ve now got all the info you need to set up an effective plan, in the gym and outside of it, to support your gains. Get your training, nutrition, and recovery lined up, and go pack on some size.

References

1. Witard OC, Bannock L, Tipton KD. Making Sense of Muscle Protein Synthesis: A Focus on Muscle Growth During Resistance Training. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2022 Jan 1;32(1):49-61. doi: 10.1123/ijsnem.2021-0139. Epub 2021 Oct 25. PMID: 34697259.
2. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Krieger J. How many times per week should a muscle be trained to maximize muscle hypertrophy? A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining the effects of resistance training frequency. J Sports Sci. 2019 Jun;37(11):1286-1295. doi: 10.1080/02640414.2018.1555906. Epub 2018 Dec 17. PMID: 30558493.
3. Grgic, J., Schoenfeld, B. J., Orazem, J., & Sabol, F. (2022). Effects of resistance training performed to repetition failure or non-failure on muscular strength and hypertrophy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of sport and health science, 11(2), 202–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2021.01.007
4. Schoenfeld, B. J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. W. (2017). Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of sports sciences, 35(11), 1073–1082. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1210197
5. Slater GJ, Dieter BP, Marsh DJ, Helms ER, Shaw G, Iraki J. Is an Energy Surplus Required to Maximize Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy Associated With Resistance Training. Front Nutr. 2019 Aug 20;6:131. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2019.00131. PMID: 31482093; PMCID: PMC6710320.
6. Morton RW, Murphy KT, McKellar SR, Schoenfeld BJ, Henselmans M, Helms E, Aragon AA, Devries MC, Banfield L, Krieger JW, Phillips SM. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. Br J Sports Med. 2018 Mar;52(6):376-384. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2017-097608. Epub 2017 Jul 11. Erratum in: Br J Sports Med. 2020 Oct;54(19):e7. PMID: 28698222; PMCID: PMC5867436.
7. Pohl A, Schünemann F, Bersiner K, Gehlert S. The Impact of Vegan and Vegetarian Diets on Physical Performance and Molecular Signaling in Skeletal Muscle. Nutrients. 2021;13(11):3884. Published 2021 Oct 29. doi:10.3390/nu13113884
8. Mata F, Valenzuela PL, Gimenez J, et al. Carbohydrate Availability and Physical Performance: Physiological Overview and Practical Recommendations. Nutrients. 2019;11(5):1084. Published 2019 May 16. doi:10.3390/nu11051084
9. Venkatraman JT, Leddy J, Pendergast D. Dietary fats and immune status in athletes: clinical implications. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2000 Jul;32(7 Suppl):S389-95. DOI: 10.1097/00005768-200007001-00003. PMID: 10910295.
10. Stark M, Lukaszuk J, Prawitz A, Salacinski A. Protein timing and its effects on muscular hypertrophy and strength in individuals engaged in weight-training. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2012;9(1):54. Published 2012 Dec 14. doi:10.1186/1550-2783-9-54
11. Ortiz RO Jr, Sinclair Elder AJ, Elder CL, Dawes JJ. A Systematic Review on the Effectiveness of Active Recovery Interventions on Athletic Performance of Professional-, Collegiate-, and Competitive-Level Adult Athletes. J Strength Cond Res. 2019 Aug;33(8):2275-2287. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002589. PMID: 29742750.
12. Bird, Stephen P. PhD, CSCS1,2 Sleep, Recovery, and Athletic Performance, Strength and Conditioning Journal: October 2013 – Volume 35 – Issue 5 – p 43-47 doi: 10.1519/SSC.0b013e3182a62e2f
13. Auyeung, T. W., Kwok, T., Leung, J., Lee, J. S., Ohlsson, C., Vandenput, L., Wing, Y. K., & Woo, J. (2015). Sleep Duration and Disturbances Were Associated With Testosterone Level, Muscle Mass, and Muscle Strength–A Cross-Sectional Study in 1274 Older Men. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 16(7), 630.e1–630.e6306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2015.04.006

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