But, as time and science have proven, strategically manipulating the range of motion can actually be very beneficial. (1) Partial reps can be useful for improving strength or size, allowing a seasoned lifter to push beyond muscular failure, overload the target muscle (or the nervous system), or even emphasize a specific portion of the range of motion to overcome sticking points.

If you’re a relatively experienced lifter ready to unlock new gains, here are some science-backed methods to implement this intensity-boosting technique.

Guide to Partial Reps

• How Partial Reps Work
• How to Perform Partial Reps
• Partial Reps vs. “Cheating”
• Benefits of Partial Reps
• Programming Recommendation for Partial Reps

How Partial Reps Work

Partial reps can be used either as a consistent training method or as an occasional intensity-boosting technique. As an intensity technique, they allow the lifter to push beyond failure by performing half-repetitions when you don’t have the strength necessary to keep using a full range of motion (ROM) anymore. This can be useful because, unlike forced reps, you don’t need a training partner and, unlike drop sets, you don’t need to reduce the weight you’re lifting.

The fatigue generated by reaching technical failure will ensure that the partial reps recruit all the involved motor units (neurons commanding the muscles) while providing muscular tension. (2) This can provide a fantastic hypertrophy stimulus as you increase metabolic stress and effective repetitions. (3)

You can also train with more volume in a relatively short time, which can be a life saver when training time is limited. The drawback is that this technique, like many other intensity techniques, can generate a high level of fatigue and should be used sparingly and by relatively advanced lifters.

As a more frequent training method, partial reps consist of performing a specific section of the range of motion on all repetitions of a given exercise. It’s a powerful way to stimulate a muscle and trigger growth with single-joint (isolation) exercises, like seated barbell curls, or to improve strength in a multi-joint (compound) exercise, like squats, by using heavier than normal weight and stressing the nervous system into adapting.

How to Perform Partial Reps

To emphasize muscle growth, perform full range of motion, high-quality repetitions until you reach muscular failure or a predetermined number of repetitions. Immediately continue the set by performing half-range of motion repetitions to failure or, again, until a specific number of reps are completed.

To focus on strength, perform partial reps in the specific range of motion you need to target — either the sticking point presenting the biggest obstacle or your strongest position (typically near lockout) to overload the exercise.

This can be done either cutting the movement short under your own control or by using external supports such as pins or a box (in the cases of presses and squats, respectively). There are often specific exercise variations taking advantage of the partial range of motion, for instance, the floor press or rack deadlift.

The exact way to implement partial reps will depend on the exercise being performed, as the curve of resistance (where in the range of motion it is most challenging) differs between movements. Generally, you want to keep doing half-reps in the less challenging range of motion once you can’t do any more complete repetitions, otherwise you won’t be able to do much afterwards if you perform go to failure in a short ROM before performing a full ROM.

In any case, don’t change your exercise technique or shift the stress to another body part when doing partial reps — perform the same movement, simply with a shorter range of motion.

Emphasize the Contraction or the Stretch

With most exercises, you can do partials in either the stretched (lengthened) or contracted (shortened) position. Each option will have a slightly different effect and might not correlate with the moment arm of the exercise.

For example, compare the shortened position of the quadriceps during the back squat and the leg extension. The contracted position in both exercises is at the top of the movement, but it is a very easy part of the movement with the squat, while it is grueling to hold the top of the leg extension.

The majority of the time, emphasizing the lengthened portion of an exercise is superior for hypertrophy, so you might want to focus on pumping out partial reps closer to the stretched position for maximal muscle gains.

However, with some exercises like the preacher curl, the stretched position is also relatively more dangerous and more difficult phase of the exercise — you would not be able to do many partial reps, if any, and you would risk injuries. Focusing on the contracted position, on the other hand, can provide a nasty pump and vastly improve the mind-muscle connection.

For exercises that emphasize the shortened range — when you can easily feel a strong contraction in the target muscle, like your glutes during the hip thrust — do your partial reps in that same range.

For exercises that favor the lengthened range and feel most difficult in the stretched position, like the leg curl or pull-up, do your partials in the stretched position. It wouldn’t make much sense to do partials in the bottom of a hip thrust when there’s minimal tension on the target muscle. Instead, use partials to further emphasize the strong point of an exercise and really squeeze at the top.

Partial Reps vs. “Cheating”

Cheating during an exercise is when you change the technique of an exercise to make it easier, often to allow more weight or extra repetitions than you could do with strict form. It could be using body english and swinging your body or by cutting the range of motion short.

The term “cheating” is inherently negative because letting your ego take control at the sake of form will only increase joint stress, reduce progress, and potentially cause injuries. (4) Many gym veterans are familiar with seeing quarter-squats performed by someone with shaky knees just to put on more plates on the bar. But just like partial reps, cheating can also be beneficial in certain instances, if properly applied. (5)

So, how are partial reps any different? Partials are executed to make the exercise harder, not easier, or they’re used strategically to target a specific range of motion. They are done not out of ego, but to better reach your muscle- or strength-building goals.

For instance, let’s get back to the quarter squat — it’s actually one of the best exercises to increase sprinting speed. (6) So, if you’re an athlete, it can be a great choice, but it won’t be as useful if you’re trying to grow your quads. Similarly, if you’re doing quarter squats because you just want to have 300 pounds on the bar no matter what the reps look like… that’s cheating.

Benefits of Partial Reps

Partial reps can be beneficial for size or strength, and help you bust through plateaus. The most efficient methods can differ slightly based on your goal, so here’s what to know before diving in.

More Muscle Gains

Partial reps are most often used for hypertrophy, as they are particularly efficient for putting on more muscle mass. Yes, you’re usually told to only perform an exercise with pristine form and a full range of motion, but the truth is never that simple with the human body. In fact, you can even grow muscle performing only partial repetitions. (7)

Muscles grow as an adaptation of mechanical tension, and this tension does not always equal with the range of motion. For instance, you could perform Romanian deadlifts and have your hamstrings fully stretched with the barbell at knee-level, while still being able to lower the weight farther. Most of the time, a full range of motion equals the muscle’s full functional range, but it’s not always the case depending on the body part and exercise.

The mechanisms of hypertrophy have proven that the range of motion is not the be-all, end-all. One particular study compared the lying leg curl and the seated leg curl. (8) Both exercises were done with a full ROM, but the seated leg curl was found to be more efficient for muscle growth because it put the muscle though a greater stretch.

Partials allow you to spend more time in the lengthened muscle position, which can trigger more hypertrophy. The physiological response of partial reps is even more important, generating more intramuscular hypoxia (oxygen-related stimuli within the muscle), as well as metabolites such as lactic acid, which have been theorized to promote hypertrophy. (9)

When used as an intensity-boosting technique to go beyond failure, partials might be especially valuable for more advanced lifters to create a robust stimulus for new muscle growth, or to get away with a relatively lower number of high-intensity sets which can help with overall program design.

Going beyond failure may increase testosterone and growth hormone levels, which can be invaluable for size and strength, but the technique can also lead to higher cortisol levels (the stress hormone), so recovery can be more difficult. (10) As such, use this technique more sparingly.

Finally, extending the set can help you recruit more muscle fibers for more size. (11) When you’re doing a moderate to heavy set, your body will require fast-twitch fiber muscles to move the load. The physiological effects vary whether you’re doing heavy sets of five or relatively lighter sets of ten. But, going beyond failure with partial reps will force all of the slow-twitch muscle fibers to be recruited and assist in the exercise. More muscle stimulated equals more gains.

Increasing Strength

When doing partial reps, you can lift more weight than using full ROM because you’re moving that weight across a shorter range of motion. This can be used as a direct neural stimulus to improve strength and gradually ease the body into lifting heavier weights in a full ROM. (12) It can be a great strategy to use in a strength-dedicated training phase.

Moreover, strength is a skill, and partials are amazing for learning it. For instance, a lifter could have a very strong barbell bench press but be much less impressive with squats. You can use this method to separate a complex movement into different steps or to focus on a specific portion of the lift you’re weaker in.

If you’re terrible at the lockout of the bench press, doing partials focusing in the end-range of the exercise, or using a specific exercise like the floor press which emphasizes the lockout position, will help to build your triceps and improve that end-range strength. You could even incorporate a progressive range of motion strategy — use partial reps and gradually increase the range of motion of an exercise week after week, until you master the movement and can perform a full ROM.

This is also an excellent strategy for lifters lacking in the mobility department or those that are just learning a movement. Starting easy and building over time will improve the coordination, mobility, and confidence needed to properly perform the exercise. Finally, if you’ve suffered an injury and need to work around problematic joint pain, you can stick to the range of motion that doesn’t hurt while still benefitting from a training stimulus.

How to Program Partial Reps

As there are many different programming possibilities depending on your goals, here are the best strategies to maximize your progress using partial reps. You need to take into consideration the recovery cost of such techniques, and bear in mind that beginners should avoid these high-intensity strategies until they’re more experienced.

Exercise Selection

As an intensity-boosting technique, you should mainly stick to isolation (single-joint) exercises. When using compound exercises, the accumulated fatigue and risk of injury can be too high. There’s also the probability of altering technique, which will result in decreased motor control and a poor progression rate. The nature of the exercise and the curve of resistance can also make it hard to focus on the primary target muscles.

Lower body favorites for partial reps include leg extensions, leg curls, and calf raises. For upper body, consider curls, triceps cable extensions, the cable pullover, and lateral or bent-over raises. You can also consider any exercise where you feel you can safely go beyond failure without altering the technique and risking injury.

A case could be made for some relatively safer multi-joint exercises, for instance the hip thrust, lat pulldown, hack squat, or various machine rows. You should never try partial reps on an exercise that loads your spine like the squat or the deadlift unless you’re very experienced. Even in that case, the stimulus to fatigue ratio and potential risk of injury often won’t be worth it.

If you want to perform only partial reps without cranking up the intensity to the max, you can use this technique on virtually any exercise. But first make sure that you can correctly perform the exercise with a full range of motion and really understand the mechanics of the movement beforehand so, again, beginners should generally refrain from such work.

Partials as High Intensity Technique

This is the most brutal and fun use of partials — using them to extend a set after being fatigued from full ROM reps, to enhance the hypertrophy stimulus. Theoretically, you could do many, many partial reps in a set beyond failure, but the recovery cost would be through the roof. So, it’s best to never go beyond doubling your reps per set when using in partials.

A good rule of thumb, to strike a balance between intense training and acceptable recovery, would be to perform partials for half as many reps as the preceding full ROM. For instance, ten full range of motion reps followed by five, no more than ten, partial reps. As for the number of sets, you should only do these on the last set of an exercise for two to four total sets per session, otherwise your overall recovery and capacity to perform for the remaining workout could be severely compromised. 

You could use this technique frequently during a short, “blitz” period to force growth, but generally respect 48 to 72 hours of rest between sessions when using intensity techniques to go beyond failure. As such, don’t use them in every session of the week issues.

Partials as a Training Method

This applies when you’re doing partials for all the repetitions of the set, or using a partial ROM exercise like the seated barbell curl or floor press, to overload the muscles and provide a new stimulus that will shock your body into growth.

Keep the load on the relatively heavier side of the hypertrophy range to really take advantage of the improved power output, and aim for two to four sets of six to 10 repetitions.

You can also use partials to really shock the muscle by using a heavy weight for high reps, two to three sets of 15 to 20 reps. This is a great method to use with muscles which you never or can’t usually use heavy weights, like a partial lateral raise to build up your side delts.

Finally, this can be an excellent and effective method for building strength. Avoid isolation exercises and either execute partial reps on a big basic exercise like an overhead press, or a multi-joint, partial-range exercise like the box squat. For absolute strength gains, three to five sets of one to five repetitions with ample rest works best. You can also bump up the reps a bit when focusing specifically on a weak muscle that’s preventing you from increasing your lift by using sets of five to eight.

Periodizing Partial Reps

Because partial reps can bear a heavy toll on your body’s recovery, you should use them sparingly and plan ahead for best results… or just throw them here and there for fun.

As an muscle-building intensity technique, they’re best used in a high-intensity training period of four to six weeks, followed by a relatively easier block of training to recover, compensate, and grow.

Another great way of introducing them would be to cycle the number of sets per session that use partials. For instance, the first week, use partial reps in one set per session. The next week, you increase this number to two sets, then three sets, followed by four sets, and finally a deload without any partials.

Finally, you can also use this method as a fun and stimulating method of progression, to increase your workload over subsequent sessions. For instance, on your last set of leg curls, you could do ten full reps followed by ten partials in the stretch position. Then, next session, bump up the number of partials to 15. Eventually, in the third session, increase it again to 20 partial reps. Then, reset the progression model with a slightly heavier weight.

If you’re using partial reps as a training method for strength or size, then it’s even more simple. It would be best to stick to a three to six-week block using partial reps before rotating to a less intense training block. Though, if you’re using them to bring up a lagging muscle group, you could use the technique for a longer period.

Partial Reps For Complete Gains

Often deemed as “improper form” or ego-driven, partial reps can be perfectly acceptable and highly efficient for promoting size and strength. The key is to program the technique with a specific purpose in mind. Set aside your range of motion-based prejudices and give partial reps a chance in your training. You won’t be disappointed.

References

1. Pedrosa GF, Lima FV, Schoenfeld BJ, Lacerda LT, Simões MG, Pereira MR, Diniz RCR, Chagas MH. Partial range of motion training elicits favorable improvements in muscular adaptations when carried out at long muscle lengths. Eur J Sport Sci. 2022 Aug;22(8):1250-1260. doi: 10.1080/17461391.2021.1927199. Epub 2021 May 23. PMID: 33977835.
2. Potvin JR, Fuglevand AJ. A motor unit-based model of muscle fatigue. PLoS Comput Biol. 2017 Jun 2;13(6):e1005581. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005581. PMID: 28574981; PMCID: PMC5473583.
3. Schoenfeld BJ. The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Oct;24(10):2857-72. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181e840f3. PMID: 20847704.
4. Faigenbaum AD, Myer GD. Resistance training among young athletes: safety, efficacy and injury prevention effects. Br J Sports Med. 2010 Jan;44(1):56-63. doi: 10.1136/bjsm.2009.068098. Epub 2009 Nov 27. PMID: 19945973; PMCID: PMC3483033.
5. Arandjelović, O. Does cheating pay: the role of externally supplied momentum on muscular force in resistance exercise. Eur J Appl Physiol 113, 135–145 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-012-2420-y
6. Rhea, Matthew & Kenn, Joseph & Peterson, Mark & Massey, Drew & Simão, Roberto & Marín, Pedro & Favero, Mike & Cardozo, Diogo & Krein, Darren. (2016). Joint-Angle Specific Strength Adaptations Influence Improvements in Power in Highly Trained Athletes. Human Movement. 17. 10.1515/humo-2016-0006.
7. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J. Effects of range of motion on muscle development during resistance training interventions: A systematic review. SAGE Open Med. 2020 Jan 21;8:2050312120901559. doi: 10.1177/2050312120901559. PMID: 32030125; PMCID: PMC6977096.
8. Maeo S, Huang M, Wu Y, Sakurai H, Kusagawa Y, Sugiyama T, Kanehisa H, Isaka T. Greater Hamstrings Muscle Hypertrophy but Similar Damage Protection after Training at Long versus Short Muscle Lengths. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2021 Apr 1;53(4):825-837. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002523. PMID: 33009197; PMCID: PMC7969179.
9. Goto M, Maeda C, Hirayama T, Terada S, Nirengi S, Kurosawa Y, Nagano A, Hamaoka T. Partial Range of Motion Exercise Is Effective for Facilitating Muscle Hypertrophy and Function Through Sustained Intramuscular Hypoxia in Young Trained Men. J Strength Cond Res. 2019 May;33(5):1286-1294. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002051. PMID: 31034463.
10. Ahtiainen JP, Pakarinen A, Kraemer WJ, Häkkinen K. Acute hormonal and neuromuscular responses and recovery to forced vs maximum repetitions multiple resistance exercises. Int J Sports Med. 2003 Aug;24(6):410-8. doi: 10.1055/s-2003-41171. PMID: 12905088.
11. Willardson, Jeffrey M PhD, CSCS1; Norton, Layne2; Wilson, Gabriel MS, CSCS2. Training to Failure and Beyond in Mainstream Resistance Exercise Programs. Strength and Conditioning Journal 32(3):p 21-29, June 2010. | DOI: 10.1519/SSC.0b013e3181cc2a3a
12. Massey CD, Vincent J, Maneval M, Moore M, Johnson JT. An analysis of full range of motion vs. partial range of motion training in the development of strength in untrained men. J Strength Cond Res. 2004 Aug;18(3):518-21. doi: 10.1519/13263.1. PMID: 15320644.

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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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Your arms and legs travel through a longer range of motion in most movements compared to people with shorter limbs. This added distance creates more work performed per rep compared to the same weight being moved by shorter lifters.

When it comes to multi-joint (compound) exercises like the squat, deadlift, and row, a longer range of motion can also mean extra loading on vital joints like the knees, hips, or vertebrae (particularly of the low back).

It’s vital to choose movements that will play to your anatomical strengths in the weight room, rather than invite excessive risk. Below are five of the smartest strength- and muscle-building exercises for tall bodies with long limbs.

Best Exercises for Tall People

• Front Squat
• Trap Bar Deadlift
• Pin Press
• Neutral-Grip Pull-Up
• French Press

Front Squat

For most lifters with longer legs, the front squat will reign superior over back squats and other barbell squat variations. Having the bar on the front of the body affects the center of mass.

If the barbell was to leave a trail, the bar should remain within a lifter’s footprint through all phases of the squat, traveling in a mostly straight line from top to bottom. When a lifter lacks mobility, their body mechanics and technique compensate to keep the bar along this general path, even if it means getting into inefficient positions.

The front squat allows your spine to stay much more upright compared to back squats, which can force a long-legged lifter into a forward-leaning position to keep the weight over the mid-foot. Not only is that position uncomfortable, it can be dangerous.

Front squats require you to stay upright and sit back “against” the load, rather than being pushed forward “with” the load in a back squat. This difference allows a tall lifter to finally access a full range of motion without breaking their back to do it. 

How to Do the Front Squat

• Set a barbell in the rack just below shoulder-height. Step under the bar and place it near your collarbones with your hands outside each shoulder.
• Use a clean-grip or rack position to keep your elbows up and create a proper “shelf” for the bar to sit on. If it’s uncomfortable on your joints, chances are you’ve got mobility restrictions at the wrist, shoulder, or thoracic spine that need addressing.

• Find a squat stance that allows you to achieve your deepest, pain-free squat. This will require testing several foot placements and performing (unweighted) squats to find your individual best stance, based on your hip anatomy.
• Stand up and take a small step backward to unrack the bar. Squat down, beginning with a slight emphasis on knee-bending rather than “sitting back.” This will promote a vertical torso.
• Your knees should track in the same direction as your toes, angled slightly outward. They shouldn’t cave in or bow out excessively.
• Aim to achieve thighs-below-parallel depth before standing upright.

Trap Bar Deadlift

Long arms can be helpful for deadlifting since they minimize the total distance the bar has to travel, but this “benefit” is negated when coupled with an above-average leg length or total height.

A standard deadlift begins with the barbell over the shoelaces and requires moving the weight in a straight vertical path. However, for the tall crowd, the bar’s starting position blocks your lengthy shins from traveling forward and you’re forced to hike your hips higher, which puts your torso nearly parallel to the ground — a high-risk pulling position.

Simply put, physics (the tall lifter’s frenemy) has determined that a tall lifter will have to “bend over” more than a short lifter to maintain a direct pulling path. This deeper hinge position (horizontal torso) means your lower back is enduring more work on every rep of every set, which could spell danger over time.

That’s why the trap bar is a gold-standard choice for taller lifters looking to spare their spine while lifting heavy for strength or size — all the same benefits with less risk. The stress is less focused on your core and lower back and more evenly dispersed across your total body.

The trap bar also provides a neutral-grip (palms facing your body) with high or low handle options to individualize the range of motion, compared to an internally rotated (palms down) grip in front of the body at one fixed height.

The “openness” of the trap bar also gives you the ability to individualize your shin, hip, and torso angles more effectively than a barbell. Your knees can travel forward and you can sit lower while keeping your chest higher.

How to Do the Trap Bar Deadlift

• Step into the trap bar and set your feet a comfortable distance apart. Something closer to your basic squat stance will likely be ideal.
• Squeeze your chest up high and stick your butt toward the wall behind you. This will lengthen your spine and promote good starting posture.
• Pinch your shoulder blades together and squeeze your armpits down to engage your upper back.
• Use your whole head, not just your eyes, to look at a spot on the floor about two meters (six feet) in front of your toes.
• Drive your feet into the floor, squeeze your glutes and quads, and stand fully upright.
• Lower the weight to the floor with control. Don’t let the weight free fall to the ground. You should end in basically the same starting position.

Benefits of the Trap Bar Deadlift

• The muscles of the posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, lower back, and even upper back) do the majority of the work.
• Because the trap bar allows for a deeper seated position and taller torso, your spine is spared from excessive loading.
• Your quadriceps contribute more to the trap bar deadlift than a barbell deadlift.
• Most people can move heavier loads, more safely, with a trap bar than a barbell.

Pin Press

The shoulder joint is arguably the most delicate joint in the entire body, and tall lifters with long arms put this crucial joint through a very long range of motion during upper body pressing exercises.

That’s why classic bench press variations using a full range of motion can work against a lifter’s shoulder joints, despite providing muscular benefits for the chest and triceps.

The pin press is a specific bench press variation, so the general horizontal pressing movement is the same. The slightly shortened range of motion avoids putting your shoulder joint into an extreme stretch, which is the most precarious position for this important joint. (1) If you have access to a Swiss bar (sometimes known as a football bar), the neutral-grip will further reduce joint stress.

The pin press is great for keeping your shoulders much healthier. This specific movement is also a fantastic choice for building brute strength using pure muscle contraction with zero momentum. (2)(3)

The pin press is an efficient tool for tall lifters who want to bench with a ton of volume and plenty of weight with far less risk.

How to Do the Pin Press

• Position a flat bench in a power rack and set the safety pins three to six inches above your chest-level when lying down. Load the bar while it’s on the safety pins, not in the usual J-hooks.
• Slide along the bench and set up with the bar roughly over your mid-chest. Grab the bar with a palms-down grip generally outside of shoulder-width. Adjust, if needed, to feel comfortable.
• Keep your feet flat and positioned under your knees to create a tucked, arched position.
• Pull your shoulders back to raise your rib cage and engage your upper back muscles for stability.
• Breathe in, stay tight from your shoulders to your grip to your feet, and press the weight to full-arm extension. Pause for a one-second count at lockout.
• Lower the weight back down to the pins under control. Take a second to re-set yourself, get properly positioned, and repeat for the next rep.

Benefits of the Pin Press

• The pin press allows you to access strength in the chest, shoulders, and triceps with a slightly limited range of motion, which protects the shoulder joint in its most vulnerable position.(4)
• Resetting from a dead-stop between individual repetitions kills any use of momentum and allows your form to remain squeaky clean. This makes it a true power and strength developer.

Neutral-Grip Pull-Up

Making the switch to a neutral-grip for pull-ups is a simple change that has a big impact on your shoulder joint.

Classic pull-ups place your shoulder and upper arm in internal rotation. That position can get a bit finicky and potentially hazardous at end ranges (in the bottom, stretched position of a pull-up, for example).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The goal should be to target your upper back and lats without getting into impingement problems — pinching or irritating the tendons of the shoulder joint . Rolling the head of the humerus (upper arm) into a more ideal position by using a neutral, palms-facing grip can make all the difference for pull-up comfort, strength, and longevity. 

How to Do the Neutral-Grip Pull-Up

• Hold the neutral handles at a pull-up station and carefully lower yourself into a full hanging position with your elbows fully extended and your body straight underneath the bar.
• Set your shoulders back together and down away from your ears. As you begin to pull, think about making your neck long and raising your rib cage — this will increase stress on your upper back and lat muscles, and decrease joint stress.
• Exhale and keep your chest high as you get to the top. Think about tucking your elbows into your pockets.
• Don’t worry about making your neck pass above bar-level. Don’t reach your neck forward to meet the bar and avoid “over-pulling” and losing your set shoulder position.
• Avoid letting your body weight “jerk” your shoulders when you reach the bottom position. Achieve full elbow extension and perform the next repetition immediately without pausing.

Benefits of the Neutral-Grip Pull-Up

• Neutral-grip pull-ups recruit more biceps than standard (pronated or palms-down) pull-ups.(5)
• The adjusted position avoids “shoulder glide” which can plague long-armed lifters who goes through too great a range of motion.(6) Shoulder glide occurs when your shoulder joint travels forward in its socket rather than remaining properly centrated.

French Press

Your triceps muscle is made up of three heads — the lateral, medial, and long. Most triceps exercises heavily recruit the lateral head (the “horseshoe” most people can visually locate when someone flexes) while the remaining heads are under-emphasized.

Common movements like dips, pushdowns, and the close-grip bench press are three quick examples of the lateral head being put to the most work. The French press brings the weight overhead, which allows the neglected long head to get worked much more.

This a great way to beef up your triceps, especially for long-armed “hardgainers” with relatively long muscle bellies. The exercise also serves as a shoulder stabilizer because the long head attaches on the scapula (shoulder blade) and the muscle plays a role in overhead shoulder movement.

How to Do the French Press

• Sit in an upright or high-angled bench, holding a bar across your lap with a fairly close, palms-down grip. Brace your core and bring the weight to a full lockout supported above your head.
• Bend your elbows while angling them slightly outward, instead of forcing them to aim straight ahead. The weight should lower to just behind the base of your skull.
• When you’ve reached deep elbow flexion, exhale as you reverse direction and bring the weight back to the overhead position.
• Put your mind in your muscles during this bodybuilding-style isolation exercise and visualize your triceps getting a wild pump throughout the entire movement.
• Higher reps (10 to 15 per set) are more effective for this movement, to maximize muscle recruitment without excessively heavy weights.

Benefits of the French Press

• Tall lifters who struggle to add size to their upper arms will get plenty of new growth stimulus from changing the emphasis of which triceps head they’re hammering.(7)
• The French press significantly activates the long head of the triceps, which is not often well-recruited with other triceps exercises.(8)

Success Leaves Clues

Many people wouldn’t think that training in the gym is too similar to competing in sport. But if you take a second to think about it, you’ll see that many general restrictions and crucial influences are found in both.

At the beginner or intermediate level of nearly any sport, it’s easy to hold your own as long as you possess a good base of natural athleticism. In the gym, this is seen when everyone benefits from short-term “newbie gains.”

However, once you move up to more advanced levels, you start to notice some repeating trends. Just being “athletic” doesn’t cut it past a certain point, and other influential factors become difficult to overlook, in sports and in the gym.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Most distinctly, the general body types that naturally contribute to success become more and more important. The rough silhouette of the top-level competitors in each sport all start to look similar. Take a closer look at the body proportions of elite swimmers, gymnasts, or 400-meter sprinters, for example.

You’ll notice many anatomical similarities among the top of each sport. Swimmers typically showcase longer torsos, larger hands and feet, and wide shoulders. Gymnasts are often defined by a stockier frame with short extremities and full muscle bellies. 400-meter sprinters are sure to sport long, lithe frames, with powerful musculature.

When it comes to lifting weights, your body type will impact performance just the same — especially when your goal is to be in a category far above average.

In general, lifting weights to build muscle and get very strong is much more a shorter person’s game than it is for taller folks. With the exception of competitive strongmen and strongwomen, most successful strength athletes and physique competitors benefit from not being overly tall, leaving the long folks hanging out to dry.

Tall lifters have a few distinct struggles when getting stronger and more muscular is the goal, and a number of highly regarded exercises need to be looked at through this new lens when you’re a lifter whose longer levers are moving through longer ranges of motion.

Apply this new approach to your program and you’ll get on track for more efficient training, more effective workouts, reduced risk of injury, and quicker results.

References

1. Haupt H. A. (2001). Upper extremity injuries associated with strength training. Clinics in sports medicine, 20(3), 481–490. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0278-5919(05)70264-7
2. Seiberl, W., Hahn, D., Power, G. A., Fletcher, J. R., & Siebert, T. (2021). Editorial: The Stretch-Shortening Cycle of Active Muscle and Muscle-Tendon Complex: What, Why and How It Increases Muscle Performance?. Frontiers in physiology, 12, 693141. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.693141
3. Aagaard, P., Simonsen, E. B., Andersen, J. L., Magnusson, P., & Dyhre-Poulsen, P. (2002). Increased rate of force development and neural drive of human skeletal muscle following resistance training. Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985), 93(4), 1318–1326. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00283.2002
4. Saeterbakken, A. H., Mo, D. A., Scott, S., & Andersen, V. (2017). The Effects of Bench Press Variations in Competitive Athletes on Muscle Activity and Performance. Journal of human kinetics, 57, 61–71. https://doi.org/10.1515/hukin-2017-0047
5. Plantz MA, Bordoni B. Anatomy, Shoulder and Upper Limb, Brachialis Muscle. [Updated 2022 Feb 22]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551630/
6. Johnson, A. J., Godges, J. J., Zimmerman, G. J., & Ounanian, L. L. (2007). The effect of anterior versus posterior glide joint mobilization on external rotation range of motion in patients with shoulder adhesive capsulitis. The Journal of orthopaedic and sports physical therapy, 37(3), 88–99. https://doi.org/10.2519/jospt.2007.2307
7. Baz-Valle, E., Schoenfeld, B. J., Torres-Unda, J., Santos-Concejero, J., & Balsalobre-Fernández, C. (2019). The effects of exercise variation in muscle thickness, maximal strength and motivation in resistance trained men. PloS one, 14(12), e0226989. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226989
8. Maeo, Sumiaki & Wu, Yuhang & Huang, Meng & Sakurai, Hikaru & Kusagawa, Yuki & Sugiyama, Takashi & Kanehisa, Hiroaki & Isaka, Tadao. (2022). Triceps brachii hypertrophy is substantially greater after elbow extension training performed in the overhead versus neutral arm position. European Journal of Sport Science. 1-26. 10.1080/17461391.2022.2100279.

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A workout split (also called a “training split” or simply a “split”) provides order to your lifting schedule over the course of a week. There are splits that train your entire body, head to toe (or traps to calves) in each session, some splits work each individual body part on its own, and then there are various combination in between.

We’ll break down the most common splits and help you to determine which is best suited for your goals.

Perfect Splits 

• Common Workout Splits
• All Roads Lead to Rome
• Linchpins of Adaptation
• How to Choose the Best Split For Your Goal
• Build Up to It

Common Workout Splits

Put simply: A workout split is jargon for how you divvy up your week’s worth of training. Just like there are a multitude of exercises to choose from, there are plenty of different training splits to set the framework of your training week. While some splits share overlapping benefits, or hindrances, each might be the right choice depending on your specific goal, individual needs, and other deciding factors.

Body Part

As the name implies, this split is characterized by focusing on a specific body part or muscle group with each workout. Although many variations on the body part split are possible, the “bro split” is most widely known — a week typically looks like:

• Monday: Chest (Monday is “international chest day, of course)
• Tuesday: Back
• Wednesday: Legs
• Thursday: Arms
• Friday: Shoulders
• Saturday: Abs (or rest)
• Sunday: Rest or Cardio

Focusing on one body part at a time allows for a variety of exercises. For example, one might hit bench press, incline bench, and cable crossovers on chest day; or barbell curls, hammer curls, and a variety of direct triceps training as an arm workout. Typically, each body part receives a single training session per week. 

This is a popular split among bodybuilders — competitive and hobbyists — as a body part split delivers more volume to the muscle, which is a requirement for hypertrophy (or muscle growth). 

Upper/Lower

This is a two-way split. All upper body lifts are performed on day one and all lower body lifts are done on day two. The upper/lower split is commonly repeated twice per week, which would allocate four days to lifting and three days of “rest” (either non-lifting activity or total rest).

For high-frequency devotees, advanced trainees, and those pushing for short periods of over-reaching, the upper/lower split can be repeated three times per week with a single rest day. The upper/lower split, therefore, allows either two or three workouts per major muscle group each week.

Trainees will perform fewer exercises per muscle group per workout compared to the body part split. Instead of doing three to four chest exercises, you may perform two. However, because you’re training your entire upper body and lower body twice (or, in extreme cases, thrice) weekly, the overall volume stays about the same.

Push/Pull/Legs

This is another common option for physique-focused lifters, as well as those prioritizing strength. On day one, the lifter hits upper body pressing movements and triceps accessory exercises — bench press, overhead press, skull crushers, etc.

Day two includes upper body pulling — deadlifts, rows, pulldowns, curls, and company. All lower body training is reserved for day three, which is essentially “leg day” for training the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves.

The push/pull/legs split may be repeated twice per week, which would allow a single day for “rest,” or it can be performed with a rest day between each workout. Major muscle groups are trained once or twice per week in the push/pull/legs split. 

Chest & Back/Legs/Shoulders & Arms

Here’s a unique three-way split. One advantage it offers is the ability to integrate agonist-antagonist supersets, a time-efficient programming technique that alternates exercises which target muscle groups on directly opposite sides of the body (like chest and back). For example, you’d perform one set of bench presses followed by a set of rows.

This split is commonly performed once or twice per week. Therefore, each muscle group is directly trained once or twice per week. You should recognize, however, that shoulder and arm muscles tend to get “bonus” training volume because they are indirectly trained and unintentionally recruited during the chest and back workout. 

Total Body

Whole-body routines aren’t technically “splits,” because they don’t divide training by body part or movement pattern. All major muscle groups are trained each session. Whole-body training is a relatively common way to train for serious athletes and beginners alike.

Three whole-body workouts per week is standard, but some lifters get by with two or four, depending on their recovery ability. As you might expect, training the entire body doesn’t leave much time for “fluff,” redundancy, or isolation work.

Whole-body routines tend to emphasize big multi-joint exercises with minimal accessory exercises. While some trainees hit whole-body workouts four or more times per week, the typical whole-body training frequency is three times per week with 24 hours or more recovery between sessions.

All Roads Lead to Rome

If you are consistently hitting the iron and training each muscle group hard — even just once or twice per week — you are virtually guaranteed to make gains. (1)(2) (Your diet needs to be in check, too.) Although many variables play relatively smaller roles, the major drivers of adaptations to resistance training are intensity, or the amount of weight lifted, and weekly volume (the total number of sets and reps). (3)

Broadly, your workout split is a method of determining frequency. Frequency can be defined as the total number of workouts per week or, in this case, the total number of sessions each muscle group is trained per week. (2)

Working on adding muscle mass or boosting strength? Dozens of training studies indicate that per-muscle-group training frequency does not significantly affect hypertrophy and strength when intensity and volume are held constant.(2)(4)(5)(6) Meaning, if all else is equal, your split shouldn’t “theoretically” matter.

More interested in fat loss? Simply adding resistance training is likely to improve body composition. (7) This effect is robust enough to occur in the absence of dieting and across a wide range of programming variables (e.g. volume, intensity, frequency of exercise). (7) Though, dialing in your diet would only expedite and enhance your progress.

It does seem any road will get you to ancient Rome, but wouldn’t you prefer to arrive looking more like a Spartan than an Athenian? (Historical spoiler alert: Yes, you would.)

For exceptional results, simply “making gains” isn’t enough. You’re looking for the most efficient path to the best possible improvement, and you’re going to need the best possible workout split for your needs. 

Linchpins of Adaptation

Many factors certainly interact to determine the effectiveness of a program. For hypertrophy — building more muscle — volume (weekly sets x reps) appears to be the most important programming variable to maximize. (3)(8)

Training intensity (weight/load or nearness to muscular failure) is the crucial driver when strength is the priority. (9) Volume earns an honorable mention, as it is a more important determinant of strength adaptations than frequency. (4)(5)(6)

For fat loss goals, volume and intensity interact to stoke the metabolism during training and burn extra calories after training via the EPOC phenomenon. (10) Training major muscle groups regularly during periods of dieting can even accelerate improvements in body composition by promoting fat loss and muscle gain. (11)

Let’s consider how specific workout splits can help you to maximize the key variables for your goal. 

How to Choose the Best Split for Your Goal

If you want to use a body part split, push/pull/legs, or chest & back/legs/shoulders & arms split but can only get to the gym twice per week, you’re going to leave body parts neglected and potential gains unrealized.

The first question when identifying an ideal workout split should be, “How many strength training workouts per week am I able to realistically perform?” Don’t force a square peg into a round hole. Your training split will only be effective to the extent to which it gets done.

If you can only train once per week, you’re on the full-body split. End of conversation. Go train everything, enjoy your workout, rest a lot, and come back again next week. There’s simply no other effective option for these desperate times.

If you can train twice per week, whole-body routines and upper/lower splits are potential options. This is how you can make the best of a near-minimal situation.

If you can train three to four times per week, your options open up to at least one cycle of any of the common splits except the body part split. To avoid neglected areas, body part splits should be reserved for trainees who can commit at least five days per week in the gym.

Ultimately, if you can train six days per week, the world of splits is your oyster. Once you’ve explored your schedule demands, you know your potential split options. Now, it’s time to identify the linchpin programming features for your training goal — the most essential determinants of success and identify a training split that maximizes them. 

Workout Splits for Hypertrophy

As previously established, weekly volume is a key determinant of muscle growth. Although training frequency does not seem to affect outcomes when volume is equal, a split program that facilitates more volume each week may be more effective for hypertrophy. (2)(3)(8)

So, how much volume per muscle group should one shoot for? And how can they best achieve this target? Expert consensus maintains a minimum of 10 sets per muscle group in the six to 20 rep range is a viable target for hypertrophy training. (12)

Although there is potential for even more significant improvement if the additional volume is achieved, no more than 10 sets per muscle group should be programmed in a given session. (12)

From here, deciding your split is about simple arithmetic and a slight personal preference. A lifter can hit the base recommendation of 10 sets by training with a body part “bro” split. Note that 10 hard sets per body part won’t tickle — especially on leg day with (presumably) 10 sets for quads, 10 for hamstrings, 10 for calves.

Intermediate and advanced trainees can typically tolerate a body part split because they will get a whole week to recover before hitting the same muscle group again. The downside is that this split can quickly hinder volume progression if the 10 sets per day maximum warning is observed.

Whole-body split practitioners can get away with doing a moderate volume (e.g., three to four sets) of everything three days per week. This quickly becomes a long and arduous workout but can be accomplished more efficiently if agonist/antagonist or alternate peripheral superset techniques are employed.

Split training is popular among bodybuilders and likely for a good reason. A whole-body approach has been marginally less effective for hypertrophy than a volume-equated split routine. (13)

Hitting the gym four or six times per week on an upper/lower split can be very effective for hypertrophy. However, seeing too many “leg days” on the schedule can be demoralizing for a specific subset of the lifting population (i.e., the would-be skippers of leg day). And no split is effective if you’re skipping out on it. 

The push/pull/legs or chest & back/legs/shoulders & arms splits are also highly effective for hypertrophy. Mentally, each day has a target — to “pump and annihilate” a given muscle or muscle group. These splits have the added advantage of facilitating time-saving and effective agonist/antagonist superset techniques. 

Workout Splits for Strength

Compared to a volume-matched split routine, a whole-body routine at four sessions per week frequency has been shown to result in superior strength gains. (13)

Now, the differences in strength improvement between groups were small and failed to reach “statistical significance” for most measurements. But this finding is odd, considering that meta-analyses have reported “no difference” between volume-equated training when training frequency is manipulated. (4)(5)

Perhaps there are neurological or endocrine benefits to the whole-body training stimulus? We don’t know. But we do know this — strength training is largely intensity-driven.

A split that gives each workout a defined focus anecdotally allows the lifter to perform with higher intensity. So, if your intensity has been slipping toward the end of your whole-body routine, it’s time to consider a split.

A movement pattern-based split like push/pull/legs works great for some. For others, upper/lower provides each workout with enough focus to maximize each lift.

Workout Splits for Fat Loss

Whole body routines tend to focus on multi-joint exercises targeting large muscle groups. To train all major muscle groups in one session, whole-body workouts are to be longer in duration. These features may be beneficial to those with body composition or fat-loss goals.

Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) describes the increased metabolic activity, or calorie burn, that occurs following exercise. Higher intensity and longer duration resistance training or interval training tend to stimulate greater EPOC.

Although the practical benefits of EPOC have been questioned, some research has reported a  greater than 10% boost in resting metabolic rate at 14-hours after whole-body strength training. This equated to an extra 168 calories burned on average, which is quite relevant when added up over several days per week. (10)

The whole-body strength training EPOC workout wasn’t a walk in the park — four sets of five exercises (squat, chest press, pulldown, shoulder press, and split squat) were performed for 30 seconds each (6-7 reps) at 80% of the lifters’ one-repetition maximum with one-minute rest between each movement. The majority of fit lifters will require 48 to 72-hours of recovery after a workout of similar intensity and volume.

Combined with a high-protein, calorie-reduced diet, whole body strength training produces superior results to dieting or lifting alone. (11) Three sessions per week were enough to elicit this effect. But don’t turn your whole-body workout into a cardio session.

The use of heavy loads (e.g. heavier than 80% 1RM), at least intermittently, is also suggested during a dieting phase. As bodybuilders in “cutting phases” know well, heavy strength training can help to protect lean mass during periods of calorie deficit.

For body composition and fat loss, the whole-body approach checks all of the boxes. Ideally, hit all major muscle groups three days per week with at least 48 hours between sessions. If you’re able to train more often than three days per week, steady-state aerobic exercise or HIIT workout may be programmed on non-lifting days. 

Building Up to It

You’ve seen many recommendations for training volume and intensity in this article, but it’s prudent to gradually increase training volume and intensity instead of diving head-first into a drastically different training program.

A good rule of thumb is to limit increases in weekly set volume to 20% of previous regular volume per month. (12) For example, a lifter who previously trained with eight sets of chest exercises per week might gradually increase to 10 sets over the course of the next four weeks.

For lifters who are not accustomed to high intensity training, it’s also sensible to gradually expose your body to heavy weights over time (e.g. 2 to 4% increase per week). Deloads may be programmed as needed.

Split it or Hit it

Deciding on a training split doesn’t need to be overly complicated. It comes down to knowing your training goal, determining how often you’ll consistently show up to train, and establishing the framework for your program. Once you identify the “perfect” split for your lifestyle and training goals, you’ll be well on your way to consistent gains and progress.

References

1. Androulakis-Korakakis, P., Fisher, J. P., & Steele, J. (2020). The minimum effective training dose required to increase 1RM strength in resistance-trained men: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 50(4), 751-765.
2. Schoenfeld, B. J., Grgic, J., & Krieger, J. (2019). 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. Journal of Sports Sciences, 37(11), 1286-1295.
3. 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.
4. Ralston, G. W., Kilgore, L., Wyatt, F. B., & Baker, J. S. (2017). The effect of weekly set volume on strength gain: a meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 47(12), 2585-2601.
5. Grgic, J., Schoenfeld, B. J., Davies, T. B., et al. (2018). Effect of resistance training frequency on gains in muscular strength: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 48(5), 1207-1220.
6. Brigatto, F. A., de Camargo, J. B. B., Machado, Y. B., et al. (2022). Does split-body resistance training routine performed two versus three days per week induce distinct strength and morphological adaptations in resistance-trained men? A randomized longitudinal study. International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, 2(1).
7. Wewege, M. A., Desai, I., Honey, C., et al. (2021). The effect of resistance training in healthy adults on body fat percentage, fat mass and visceral fat: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 1-14.
8. Schoenfeld, B. J., Contreras, B., Krieger, J., et al. (2019). Resistance training volume enhances muscle hypertrophy but not strength in trained men. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 51(1), 94.
9. Lasevicius, T., Ugrinowitsch, C., Schoenfeld, B. J., 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.
10. Greer, B. K., O’Brien, J., Hornbuckle, L. M., & Panton, L. B. (2021). EPOC comparison between resistance training and high-intensity interval training in aerobically fit women. International Journal of Exercise Science, 14(2), 1027.
11. Miller, T., Mull, S., Aragon, A. A., et al. (2018). Resistance training combined with diet decreases body fat while preserving lean mass independent of resting metabolic rate: a randomized trial. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 28(1), 46-54.
12. Schoenfeld, B., Fisher, J., Grgic, J., 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. Bartolomei, S., Nigro, F., Lanzoni, I. M., et al. (2021). A comparison between total body and split routine resistance training programs in trained men. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 35(6), 1520-1526.

Feature Image: Jacob Lund / Shutterstock

The post Workout Splits Explained — How They Work and Why You Need Them appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The problem is that not all machines in the gym are good, useful, or worthwhile. To preface, this review isn’t the biased opinion of a fragile physio or some two-bit trainer who labels random machines as “injurious” or “non-functional.”

This is an objective, biomechanics-based, physiologically-informed discussion from a strength coach and physical therapist who uses certain machines just as often as free weights. With that said, not all machines are created equal. Here are five machines to avoid and five machine problems to avoid. 

The Five Worst Exercise Machines

• Squat Machines That Bottom-out Before You Do
• The “High Five” Pec-Deck
• Crummy Crunch Machines
• Standing Calf Raise Machines
• Combo Machines That Botch Both

The Five Worst Machine Problems

• Full of Friction
• Insufficient Support
• Not Fitting Your Body
• Poor Resistance Curve
• Redundant to Effective Free Weight Options

The Five Worst Exercise Machines

Some machines should be avoided because they “take” more stress and effort than they “give” results. If you’re focused on training efficiently and effectively, double-check your training program to see if any of this avoidable equipment is in your plan.

Squat Machines That Bottom-Out Before You Do

Many lifters may struggle with achieving full depth in a free weight squat. This may occur for a number of reasons — poor coordination, limited ankle flexibility, or a lack of confidence in their ability to stand up after hitting depth.

Hack squats, leg presses, and other lower-body machines that enhance a lifter’s ability to achieve full range of motion in the “squat” movement pattern are worth their weight in gold (or, more specifically, iron).

For lifters with stiff ankles, placing your feet higher or further forward on the platform decreases the amount of ankle dorsiflexion (raising your toes towards your shin) required to hit depth. The upper-body support and guidance afforded by the machine assists lifters deficient in trunk control.

Built-in safety features may empower even the most apprehensive lifters to achieve significant depth. But these built-in safety “stops” can backfire if they end the squat movement too early.

Why Avoid Them

Maybe you’ve experienced this scenario: You hop on a shiny new hack squat or leg press. Everything feels great until midway through the rep…clunk… you’ve hit the machine’s safety stop before reaching the coveted “ass-to-grass” position of full hip and knee flexion.

The machine may have been working smoothly otherwise, but its design may be shorting more than your depth. It’s likely robbing you of potential gains.

Full range of motion squatting has been associated with superior strength and power outcomes compared to partial depth squatting. (1) Although other research showed no difference in strength improvement between those squatting to full depth and those training with partials, it did report significantly greater thigh hypertrophy in the full depth group. (2)

Altogether, it seems that most lifters would benefit from squatting deep. Squat machines should facilitate, not limit, full range of motion training. If the squat machine in your gym hits bottom before you do, it’s probably not worth your time.

The “High Five” Pec-Deck

Quite a while ago, many pec-deck or chest flye machines seemed to share a common ill-conceived design — the “high five” arm position. The machine requires users to sit and reach their arms slightly behind their body at shoulder-height, and then externally rotate their shoulders to place their forearms in contact with vertical pads.

To perform the exercise, the user pulls the pads toward each other in front of their chest. These machines train the pectoralis major, anterior deltoid, subscapularis, and few helper muscles. (3) They can still be found in commercial and home gyms.

Why Avoid Them

To be clear, there is nothing inherently “wrong” with this machine. It undeniably hits the pecs. (3) In fact, the total contribution of pectoralis major is likely underestimated because the muscle is put under substantial passive tension during full shoulder external rotation.

The issue with the “high five” pec-deck is not it’s lack of effectiveness, but that it’s unlikely to be universally tolerated by lifters who have existing shoulder issues. For example, when a team of physicians examined 20 weightlifters with painful shoulders, every single weightlifter reported reproduction of shoulder pain in the “high five” position. (4)

Interestingly, half of these weightlifters improved and ultimately avoided surgery with rehab and avoidance of the “high five” position. Heavy strength training in the “high five” shoulder position is thought to be associated with anterior instability. (5)(6) It undoubtedly stresses the front of the shoulder joint, including the rotator cuff.

Altogether, if you have known shoulder problems, including but not limited to stiffness, rotator cuff pathology, biceps tendon issues, or a labrum injury (e.g. SLAP tear), steer clear of the “high five” pec-deck. But don’t despair. There are more forgiving options.

Improved pec-deck designs have multiple handle options. These machines allow the user to select a comfortable position for direct chest training. As a bonus, the improved machines often allow the lifter to spin around and train rear deltoids at the same station, enabling an efficient superset.

Crunch Machines

Abdominal machines will get you off the gym floor, but that’s pretty much the only good thing about most of them. Plate-loaded and stack-loaded crunch machines are generally designed to be used either seated or lying down.

While their designs tend to reduce a multi-joint spinal movement pattern to a single pivot point, this isn’t their main problem. Their range of motion is suboptimal for building a stronger, better looking set of abs.

Why Avoid Them

When you use a crunch machine, whether it’s a seated or supine (lying down) model, you only train through a small portion of your available trunk flexion range of motion. By the time you meet the resistance of the machine, many of your spinal joints are already flexed and the abdominals are only trained in their shortened length.

For the purpose of building muscle, mounting evidence suggests the superiority of training at long muscle lengths rather than short. (7)(8) So if you’re a healthy lifter who wants to build a more pronounced six-pack, a better option is to train through a full range of spinal flexion.

Start your crunch with an extended (arched) back. To accomplish this, you can perform crunches on top of a Swiss ball or lock into a glute-ham developer (GHD) machine for controlled, full range of motion sit-ups.

Standing Calf Raise Machines

Standing calf raise machines eliminate the need to hold heavy weights when performing calf raises. They also provide a stable environment to help the lifter focus on building big, strong gastrocnemius muscles — the superficial calf muscle trained during any straight-knee calf raise exercise. (9)

These machines typically load the calves through pads that rest atop the upper traps. Therefore, the standing calf raise is an axially-loaded exercise, which means the weight is supported through the trunk and spine like squats and deadlifts.

Why Avoid Them

Calf training is accessory work, which is typically programmed toward the end of the workout. By that time, most lifters have already performed at least one heavy axially-loaded lower body exercise. If they’ve trained with high effort and intensity, their core is likely exhausted. But unless their dress code always calls for pants or knee-high socks, calf training probably shouldn’t be skipped.

By avoiding standing machines in favor of machines that apply more direct loading to the target muscles, you can reduce the likelihood that trunk fatigue interferes with building the getaway sticks you’ve always wanted.

While standing calf raise machines have been around for decades, Golden Era bodybuilders had alternatives. They used donkey calf machines, which required the lifter to bend forward to load the calves from atop the pelvis instead of the spine.

There’s photographic evidence of Arnold performing this exercise without the machine, instead recruiting a training partner or the occasional beautiful woman (or two) to sit atop his hips while he performed calf raises.

Can’t find an old-school donkey calf machine? Asking others to climb onto your hips too risqué for your globo gym?  There are plenty of alternatives to standing calf raise machines.

Purpose-built 45- or 60-degree calf raise machines load the calves through the hips. They look like mini hack squats. Rotary calf machines allow training to be performed seated with legs straight out in front of the body. If none of these options are available, a basic leg press usually works fine for calf raises while sparing you the axial-loading.

Combo Machines That Botch Both Movements

When limited floor space or budget is a concern, gym owners may be tempted by multi-function machines. Machines like functional trainers and cable columns serve as the gym’s “jack-of-all-trades, master of none.” These machines are mainstays, and there are usually no problems with them. But some multifunction machines are pretty lackluster.

The plate-loaded leg extension/leg curl combo is a multi-function machine that is universally rubbish, regardless of make or manufacturer. These machines combine a seated leg extension with a prone hamstring curl. In theory, these machines are a wonderful, space-efficient station to train two important muscle groups. In reality, you’ll realize after your first set why they are on this list.

Why Avoid Them

The plate-loaded leg extension/leg curl combo only has two jobs — train the quads and train the hamstrings — and it does neither particularly well. For quad training, the resistance peaks near the top position when knees are extended.

However, knee extension torque is highest near the middle of the range of motion, not in full extension. (10) Therefore, the resistance offered by the machine does not match the strength profile of the joint being trained. Many other machines may also fall short of providing ideal resistance through a full range of motion, which is discussed in more detail in the next section.

The prone hamstring curl half of this machine, in particular, is worthless at end-range knee flexion (the contracted position). Past a certain angle of knee flexion, the resistance cuts out because the plates are pulled above the machine’s axis of rotation as you complete the curl.

If you need to use one of these machines because, say, you already have one and aren’t shelling out for two separate machines, you might be able to work around this problem by creatively rigging resistance bands.

Ultimately, there are better machines available for your quad and hamstring training — one dedicated to quads and a separate one for hamstrings.

The Five Worst Machine Problems

Some machines aren’t inherently “bad,” they just suffer from problems that can potentially be addressed with sufficient maintenance, proper setup, or an adjustment to overall program design. Here’s what to watch out for.

Machines Full of Friction

Have you ever felt a mid-rep grinding or jerking sensation when lifting on a machine? Or, maybe you’ve felt that you have to push or pull through lots of “slop” or play in the cables and pulleys of a machine before the weight stack begins to move? If so, you’ve got a friction issue.

Common sources of friction in gym machines can be bent, rusted, or poorly lubricated guide rods; worn or cracked cable sheathing; or worn bearings. Some machines, particularly those with multiple pulleys and long belts or cables have lots of friction when factory-new. By using high-friction machines, you could be sacrificing more than a smooth lifting experience.

Why Avoid Them

The same friction that makes the repetition feel “grindy” during the positive (concentric or lifting) portion of the repetition also robs you of resistance during the negative (eccentric or lowering) portion.

What’s the harm of losing a little resistance during the eccentric phase? It could be limiting the overall effectiveness of the exercise. Our muscles are physiologically stronger during eccentric contraction than concentric contraction. In any given movement, you can lower more weight than you can lift. Therefore, the concentric phase of a typical exercise will always be the limiting factor.

When using high-friction machines, your muscles get short-changed twice-over. First, you’ll need to use less weight than you would otherwise to allow you to overcome the weight and the friction during the concentric part of the lift.

The kicker is that your muscles don’t even get to experience full resistance during the eccentric. The effective resistance during the eccentric is the weight you’ve selected minus the resistance lost to friction.

Avoid the machine “wear” sources of friction by using well-maintained machines. To avoid machines with lots of friction intrinsic in their design, look for plate-loaded machines with high quality bearings.

Machines with Insufficient Support

Well-designed machines should help you to lock-in good form and allow you to effectively load the trained movement pattern. Good machines are incredibly effective. For example, research showed that 10 weeks of training on an isolated lumbar extension machine was superior to Romanian deadlift training for improving lumbar extension strength. (11)

However, unlike the highly desirable MedX lumbar extension machine, many other lumbar extension machines lack a seat belt to secure hips during the exercise. These machines can be safely presumed to be only marginally effective.

Speaking of seat belts, if you’ve ever tried a seated dip machine without a belt or pads that lock you in the seat, you’ve experienced this phenomenon: attempt to push down more than a certain percentage of your bodyweight and you rise out of the seat. A lack of support represents a design flaw that somehow made it to market.

Receiving honorable mention in this category are cable hip extension machines and rotary hip extension machines (e.g. 4-way hip). These machines are used standing on one leg while the opposite leg is extended against resistance from a cable or pad.

Although these machines typically offer handles to assist with balance, most users struggle to stabilize their trunk and pelvis. Strong contraction of the working-side glute typically causes anterior tilt of the pelvis along with rotation. These machines ultimately limit the amount of resistance that can be used to train hip extension, and your gluteus maximus is left with minimal gains.

Why Avoid Them

Machines lacking enough support can be less effective because they limit the potential use of higher resistance loads. They can also be downright frustrating. Think about the triceps extension machine with handles above a pad that resembles a preacher curl bench. It’s basically a reverse arm curl machine.

I’ve witnessed lifters try with all their might to lean into this style of seated triceps extension machine only to push themselves away from the machine with heavy loads on the weight stack. A simple fix, such as an adjustable seat back, could greatly enhance the ability to use heavy loads and enhance the user-experience (and results).

If you’re a strong lifter who is struggling to maintain body position while using a gym machine, it’s not you, it’s the machine. Spare yourself the frustration and find a better option.

Machines That Don’t Fit Your Body

Encountering machines that don’t match your body is common, even for a decidedly average-sized lifter. If your anthropometry, or body proportion, is further from the population mean, expect to run into this issue even more often.

Watch out for machines whose axis of movement doesn’t align with your primary working joint. Single-joint machines like arm curl machines, triceps extensions, prone hamstring curls, and leg extension machines seem to be the common culprits.

Also, be aware of machines that are too tall or too short for your stature. For example, if a machine is intended to be used with feet on the floor, your feet should not be dangling. Or maybe you’re long-limbed and a particular gym machine does not allow you to press or row through your full range of motion.

Why Avoid Them

It should be obvious that a gym machine with poor ergonomics will deliver a less-than-stellar user experience. Beyond that, questions arise regarding the effectiveness of exercises performed on misfit machines.

Are muscles and joints being trained through their intended ranges of motion? Are fit issues precluding the use of effective resistance loads? Are misalignments between the machine’s geometry and your body creating abnormal joint stresses?

If a machine doesn’t feel right, it is unlikely to help you accomplish your training objectives. When you encounter a machine that doesn’t fit, despite the use of all available adjustments, it’s time to move on.

Machines with a Poor Resistance Curve

A machine’s resistance curve describes the pattern of variable resistance the user experiences throughout the range of motion of the exercise. Machines can be designed to apply variable resistance to the lifter via the use of levers and irregularly shaped cams.

The classic example of variable resistance is the Nautilus shell-shaped cam. The cam was intended to apply more resistance during the part of the exercise where the lifter is stronger and less resistance where the lifter is weaker.

While no machine matches each individual lifter’s strength curve, or capacity to demonstrate strength throughout the range of motion, the resistance curve should correspond with the generalized strength curve of the movement pattern. (12)(13)

In theory, machines engineered to accommodate the general human strength curves should be superior to free weights, which exert a constant resistance relying on gravity. It should also be noted there is certainly no consensus regarding the superiority of variable resistance training or free weight training for increasing strength. (12)(14)(15)

Why Avoid Them

For the moment, let’s limit our scope to single-joint training for simplicity’s sake. When variable resistance, cam-based arm curl machines were compared to circular, cam-based arm curl machines, the variable resistance version was superior for strength gains and slightly better hypertrophy gains have been reported. (16)(17)

These results make sense, as circular cams generally do not match the generalized strength curve of the movement being trained. In general, you should choose the oblong-shaped cam machine over the circle-shaped cam machine for single-joint training. But what about other machine designs for other body parts? You’re going to have to feel them out.

You might encounter a machine that applies variable resistance in conflict with the movement pattern’s strength curve. For example, a lever-based pressing machine with a low pivot point may apply heavier resistance at the bottom position.

This design would conflict with the pressing movement pattern’s ascending strength curve (where you’re typically stronger at the top). (13) This type of machine is likely to limit the overall weight used for the exercise and may ultimately reduce its effectiveness for building muscle and strength.

You don’t have to be a biomechanist to qualitatively determine if a machine’s resistance curve is good or poor for yourself. A good resistance curve will just… feel right. With heavy loads, you will feel that you can exert maximum effort into the machine throughout the full range of motion without losing connection with the resistance, creating excessive momentum, or grinding into a pronounced sticking point. High-quality machines are “buttery” through the full range of motion.

If a machine feels extremely difficult during a one portion of the range of motion and allows for rapid acceleration elsewhere, it may have a poor resistance curve. If this is the case, you’re better off finding a different machine or switching to free weights for a comparable exercise.

Machines Redundant to Effective Free Weight Options

Some free weight exercises are simply damn good and deserve to be in your program. The trap bar isn’t beaten by a shrug machine. If you want to do seated shrugs, sit on a bench and use heavy dumbbells.

For rack pulls, it’s perfectly fine to get in the squat rack. The Smith machine might’ve became the go-to for this exercise in recent years, but a good old barbell lifted from the safety catches works just fine, arguably with superior carryover to your conventional deadlift due the specificity principle.

The point is, there’s no need to re-invent the wheel. And gym equipment manufacturers and gym owners need to receive that message.

Why Avoid Them

The decision to avoid a machine in favor of an equally-effective free weight variation is an “exercise” in restraint. Just because a machine is available doesn’t mean it needs to be used.

If you and others at your gym exercise this restraint, the gym’s management will likely take notice. A machine that doesn’t get used in a public gym doesn’t stick around. With any luck, the valuable gym real estate occupied by the redundant machine might soon be filled with a new machine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hopefully it will be something unique and effective, such as a good plate-loaded pullover, standing lateral raise, or pendulum squat. Or maybe management will swap out the redundant machine with another squat rack or whatever popular piece you’re constantly waiting for at your gym.

References

1. Pallarés, J. G., Cava, A. M., Courel-Ibáñez, et al. (2020). Full squat produces greater neuromuscular and functional adaptations and lower pain than partial squats after prolonged resistance training. European Journal of Sport Science, 20(1), 115-124.
2. Bloomquist, K., Langberg, H., Karlsen, S., Madsgaard, S., Boesen, M., & Raastad, T. (2013). Effect of range of motion in heavy load squatting on muscle and tendon adaptations. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 113(8), 2133-2142.
3. Kuechle, D. K., Newman, S. R., Itoi, E., et al. (1997). Shoulder muscle moment arms during horizontal flexion and elevation. Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery, 6(5), 429-439.
4. Gross, M. L., Brenner, S. L., Esformes, I., & Sonzogni, J. J. (1993). Anterior shoulder instability in weight lifters. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 21(4), 599-603.
5. Escalante, G. (2017). Exercise modification strategies to prevent and train around shoulder pain. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 39(3), 74-86.
6. Kolber, M. J., Beekhuizen, K. S., Cheng, M. S. S., & Hellman, M. A. (2010). Shoulder injuries attributed to resistance training: a brief review. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 24(6), 1696-1704.
7. Maeo, S., Huang, M., Wu, Y., et al. (2021). Greater hamstrings muscle hypertrophy but similar damage protection after training at long versus short muscle lengths. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 53(4), 825.
8. Sato, S., Yoshida, R., Kiyono, R., et al. (2021). Elbow joint angles in elbow flexor unilateral resistance exercise training determine its effects on muscle strength and thickness of trained and non-trained arms. Frontiers in Physiology, 12.
9. Landin, D., Thompson, M., & Reid, M. (2015). Knee and ankle joint angles influence the plantarflexion torque of the gastrocnemius. Journal of Clinical Medicine Research, 7(8), 602-606.
10. Guenzkofer, F., Engstler, F., Bubb, H., & Bengler, K. (2011, July). Joint torque modeling of knee extension and flexion. In International Conference on Digital Human Modeling (pp. 79-88). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
11. Fisher, J., Bruce-Low, S., & Smith, D. (2013). A randomized trial to consider the effect of Romanian deadlift exercise on the development of lumbar extension strength. Physical Therapy in Sport, 14(3), 139-145.
12. Carpinelli, R. (2017). A critical analysis of the national strength and conditioning association’s opinion that free weights are superior to machines for increasing muscular strength and power. Medicina Sportiva Practica, 18(2), 21-39.
13. Wallace, B. J., Bergstrom, H. C., & Butterfield, T. A. (2018). Muscular bases and mechanisms of variable resistance training efficacy. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 13(6), 1177-1188.
14. Dos Santos, W. D. N., Gentil, P., de Araújo Ribeiro, A. L., et al. (2018). Effects of Variable Resistance Training on Maximal Strength: A Meta-analysis. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 32(11), e52-e55. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002836.
15. Andersen, V., Prieske, O., Stien, N., et al. (2022). Comparing the effects of variable and traditional resistance training on maximal strength and muscle power in healthy adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport.
16. Urbanik, C., Staniszewski, M., Mastalerz, A., et al. (2013). Evaluation of the effectiveness of training on a machine with a variable-cam. Acta of Bioengineering and Biomechanics, 15(4).
17. Staniszewski, M., Mastalerz, A., & Urbanik, C. (2020). Effect of a strength or hypertrophy training protocol, each performed using two different modes of resistance, on biomechanical, biochemical and anthropometric parameters. Biology of Sport, 37(1), 85-91.

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Should you squat every day? To literalists, this is still preposterous. You need to squat every day to sit at your desk or upon your porcelain throne. But to lifters and strength professionals who recognize we’re talking about squatting with weights in the gym, it’s a thought-provoking question.

Like a proper squat, the best way to approach the question is to go deep. Here, you will find a history of “squat every day” protocols and an evidence-based evaluation of daily squatting for a variety of training goals. We will also consider the likelihood of harm, discuss the nuts and bolts of programming, and, inevitably, answer the question: Should you squat every day?

• What are Daily Squat Protocols?
• Daily Squatting for Strength
• Daily Squatting for Hypertrophy
• Daily Squatting for Power
• Should I Max Out Every Day?
• Is it Overtraining?
• The Right Way to Squat Every Day

What Are Daily Squat Protocols?

Broadly, daily squat protocols contain just that — squats every damn day. Past this commonality, different daily squat protocols contain variables. Some require the same type of squat be used (e.g. always barbell back squats). Others incorporate squat variations throughout the week (e.g. front squat, overhead squat, etc.).

Many of these programs are periodized, including planned variation of volume (daily sets and reps) and intensity (weight or percentage of maximum). In the most extreme plans, lifters may be asked to max-out every day with a single or multiple repetition sets.

The defining feature of all daily squat protocols is ultra-high frequency squat training. Traditionally, a muscle group is trained and then given 48 hours (or longer) to recover. (1)

Brazen “squat daily” protocols provide only about 24-hours recovery between bouts. To the traditional strength coach or athlete, this may sound like blasphemy, but high-level athletes are successfully squatting daily and have been for decades. (2)

History of Squatting Every Day

In the age of commercialism, one might think the “big squat rack” industry developed the idea of daily squatting just to sell their wares. But the history of squatting every day runs deeper than pushing powder-coated steel and graphic T-shirts. It even predates social media hashtags like #squatober.

Like many draconian activities in the gym, the origin of modern daily squatting can be traced to Eastern European origins. Starting in the 1960s, Bulgarian coach Ivan Abadjiev successfully trained Olympic weightlifters using a high-volume system that included the competition lifts and squats every day. (3)

This so-called “Bulgarian method” was not without controversy, but it helped to produce gold medalists in Olympic weightlifting. And yes, one could  assume the success of the Bulgarian method was largely pharmacological, but does high-frequency training provide an edge when training for certain attributes?

Daily Squatting for Strength

Daily squat programs may have originated in Olympic weightlifting, but they’ve now taken a foothold in powerlifting. Does high-frequency training make sense for the strength-focused lifter?

Research seem to find an advantage to higher frequency training among certain types of lifters, including young adults and intermediate and advanced trainees. The finding most notable for daily squatting was reported by a pair of meta-analyses — improved strength gain for multi-joint exercises when training at higher frequencies. (4)(5)

In both meta-analyses, this effect was tiered, with significant benefit for each additional training session per week up to four or greater. In other words: the more frequency, the better (to an extent).

However, the findings were based on a limited number of available studies on frequencies at or above four training sessions per week, and studies that allowed more sets and reps for the higher frequency training groups were included in the analysis. (4)(5) More recent studies with intensity- and volume-matched protocols show no difference in strength outcomes. (6)(7)(8)(9)

But the take-home message stands: there does not appear to be any downside to high-frequency training when it comes to strength outcomes. And, if high-frequency training allows you to train harder or do more, there might be a benefit.

Daily Squatting for Hypertrophy

For building muscle, there is an argument for high-frequency training. Protein, as you probably know, is kind of a big deal for muscle growth.

A lifting session stimulates construction of new muscle by increasing rates of protein synthesis. But the increased protein synthesis rate is short-lived, peaking at about 24 hours post-training before rapidly declining. (11) Frequent training, therefore, may help to keep the muscle in a building, or “anabolic,” state by repeatedly stimulating muscle protein synthesis. (12)

Theory aside, a meta-analysis of training studies failed to show significant benefit of increased frequency when volume (total sets and reps) is kept constant. (13) Keep in mind, most of the “high-frequency training” studies in the meta-analysis were looking at three or four sessions per week for a given muscle group. Squatting every day will train the quads, glutes, and calves, well, every day.

While research on ultra-high frequency training (five or more sessions per week) remains sparse, more studies are taking on ultra-high frequency training protocols and comparing muscle gains to lower frequency.

Don’t get too excited yet. The findings of recent, volume-matched studies are unlikely to change the conclusion provided by the previous meta-analysis —“No difference” in muscle growth between ultra-high-frequency training and low-frequency training when overall volume is the same. (6)(8)(9)(10)

Here’s where things get interesting. When total weekly training volumes were not equal, research has reported moderate benefits to three or more sessions per week. (13) This makes sense, as lifting volume is a driver of hypertrophy. (14)(15) This point is key when considering daily squatting because, if squatting every day helps you achieve more quality sets and reps, there’s a good chance it will help you to grow bigger muscles.

Daily Squatting for Power

Bulgarian Olympic weightlifters were early-adopters of ultra-high frequency training. They were training for a power- and technique-driven sport. Although direct research is lacking, squatting every day to develop lower body power appears anecdotally promising.

Power training is most effective when failed reps and general fatigue are avoided. (16) Therefore, power training programs tend to use sub-maximal loads with set, rep, and rest schemes designed to avoid failure.

Squatting every day may be an appealing option because it is likely that power-focused lifters will recover within 24 hours and be ready to perform again. (17) High-level Olympic lifters train as often as 18 times per week.

Distributing training across frequent, shorter sessions not only reduces overall fatigue, but it provides more opportunities to practice exercise technique and skill. Remember the wisdom of legendary American wrestling coach Dan Gable: If something is important, do it every day.

Should I Max Out Every Day?

The most extreme daily squatting protocols ask the lifter to “max out” or test their maximum strength every day. Daily max protocols fly in the face of conventional strength and conditioning practices.

To dissuade lifters from maxing out every chance they get, a coach might say, “training and testing are two different things.” Strength tests are low volume with maximum loads. For example, working up to a one-repetition maximum (1RM) squat and then calling it a day. Training for strength typically consists of multiple sets of multiple repetition sets. For example, four sets of five or three sets of eight.

Maxing out in every session can be physically taxing and might result in rapid accumulation of fatigue. Also, since most lifters are in no condition to train efficiently after maxing out, testing strength comes at the expense of traditional training.

Interestingly, training that consists exclusively of 1RM testing twice per week has been linked to strength improvements similar to higher volume training (i.e. four sets of eight to 12 reps, twice per week). (18) There is something to be said for practicing the test and getting more comfortable under heavy loads.

Research was performed on three very experienced powerlifters who spent 37 days hitting daily 1RMs. (2) Each of the participants improved their 1RM over the course of training, ranging from five to 10%, which is serious progress for an experienced lifter.

However, the lifters didn’t only perform a 1RM. Their daily squat workouts also included five sets of doubles or triples at 90% 1RM and 85% 1RM, respectively, for the first 30 days of the trial. Daily maximum squatting for roughly six weeks appears to be a viable strength-building method in well-trained lifters.

Just be cautious extrapolating this data to your own training. Are you a healthy powerlifter with a lengthy training history? Do you have trained spotters to keep you safe every day? Could you handle the mental and physical grind of maxing out every day?

If you answered “No” to any of the above questions, daily max squatting is probably not for you. Keep in mind, even a middle-of-the-road (non-max) daily squatting routine gives you plenty of opportunities to both train and test your squat.

Is it Overtraining?

Overtraining is defined as a persistent decrease in performance lasting months. (19) It’s the fastest way to derail your train to Gainsville. Overtraining is associated with performing too much exercise volume and/or too much exercise intensity. So, will daily squatting cause you to overtrain? Not likely, but let’s take a step back and discuss the nuances.

Genuine over-training appears to be rare among lifters. (19) But you’re not out of the water yet. Two related and more common phenomena are non-functional over-reaching and functional over-reaching.

Non-functional over-reaching is overtraining’s little brother — not nearly as dangerous, but still a persona non grata in any decent muscle-focused community. It’s a performance loss lasting weeks to months, which rebounds back to baseline after a period of recovery. (19) You end up with no net loss, but nothing gained.

Functional over-reaching, or simply “over-reaching,” is a short-term performance loss followed by super-compensation (rebounded improvement). After days-to-weeks of lagging, you recover and overall performance increases. (19)(20) When used strategically, functional over-reaching is a powerful tool for making new gains.

Over-training vs. Over-reaching

Overtraining, non-functional over-reaching, and functional over-reaching — where will squatting every day put you on this spectrum?

One daily-squatting study sought out to cause overtraining. After performing 10 one-rep max lifts per day, every day for two weeks straight, researchers saw lifters’ 1RM strength drop an average of more than 10% and blood levels of creatine kinase (a marker of muscle damage) nearly double. (20) However, the researchers failed to conduct a follow-up test after a period of recovery.

Instead, the final 1RM test was conducted the day after the final training session. To determine whether the study truly induced overtraining based on our established definitions, a longer period of recovery should have been provided before performance testing. We can only theorize whether the high-intensity squat every day protocol led to long-term losses in performance.

Another study by the same lead researcher clearly showed non-functional over-reaching among intermediate trainees with a high-intensity squat protocol. The training consisted of two singles at 95% 1RM, three singles at 90% 1RM, and three sets of 10 leg curls performed three times weekly for three weeks. (21)

The trainees’ squat strength failed to improve during the rigorous training and failed to improve following three weeks of baseline training for recovery. These findings should be eye-opening. The study shows how quickly high-intensity training, even at moderate frequency, can push lifters away from results.

Non-functional over-reaching can be surprisingly sneaky. The participants didn’t report increased muscle, knee, or low back soreness or pain throughout the high-intensity protocol. (21)

The only published study on daily squatting is the previously discussed research on the three powerlifters who hit 1RMs daily for six weeks. These powerlifters didn’t actually overtrain, but their 1RM fell below baseline at multiple points during the study.

The lifters undoubtedly experienced functional over-reaching at the beginning of the intense protocol, because their strength ultimately rebounded and improved. (2)

While true over-training is unlikely, non-functional over-reaching (unproductive training) is a real risk when squatting frequently. Avoid this pitfall using well-designed programming.

The Right Way to Squat Every Day

If you are going to squat every day, you need to pay attention to more than just volume and intensity. A number of variables are important when selecting a program or developing your own.

Variation

Daily squat programs should include some degree of variation. This can include changes in programming variables: intensity (weight), volume (sets and reps), rep speed, rest intervals, frequency, and exercise selection. (22) Squatting every day precludes variation in frequency, but should not limit manipulation of the other variables.

If you are not a competitive powerlifter, you should not feel limited to programming only the back squat. A wide variety of “squats” can be used in daily squatting programs, each with unique qualities and benefits.

Squat variations that promote a more upright torso are more knee-dominant and will hit your quads harder. Options include, but are not limited to: Zercher squats, goblet squats, heels-elevated squats, and safety squat bar squats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Squat variations that encourage the lifter to sit back into the hips are going to be hip-dominant and bias the glutes. Low-bar back squats and box squats are great options. Single leg-biased squats, such as the rear-foot elevated split squat, challenge balance and train your stabilizing muscles.

Machine variations like hack squats can offer reprieve to some of the stabilizing muscles. Belt squats are great for offloading the spine. By alternating or intermixing multiple squat variations throughout the week, you’re adding variability to the program.

Variability should assist with fatigue management by promoting a more equitable distribution of training stress across various body tissues.

There are many ways to vary the remaining programming variables. For ultra-high frequency training, a daily undulating periodization (DUP) structure works very well because it promotes extreme variation by adjusting the intensity and total volume in each session.

One day might have you program one or two working sets of squats in the eight to 12-repetition range. The next day might be a single set in the two to six-rep range. The third day could be one or two sets of 12 to 16 repetitions. Rinse and repeat.

Big Picture Planning

Daily squat programs should be part of your periodized training plan. The program should be conceptualized as a “block” of training being performed for the specific goal of maximizing one aspect of fitness related to the squat (e.g. power, strength, hypertrophy, technique, etc.). (22)

It should fit into your “bigger picture” plan for performance or competition. For example, a powerlifter or Olympic weightlifter might be interested in improving squat strength and technique leading up to a competitive season.

A bodybuilder might program daily squatting to beef up their lower body in the off-season. A CrossFit athlete might squat daily to improve work capacity and lower body strength-endurance.

The daily squatting “block” can be used as a planned over-reaching strategy to accelerate progress toward your goal. To realize the benefits, daily squatting should be terminated early enough to allow for recovery and super-compensation to occur.

For strength-related pursuits, consider ending daily squatting two to four weeks prior to competition. (23) Performing a deload immediately after daily squatting will allow you to get the most out of this training block.

Use Appropriate Volume

“Squat every day” programs should include appropriate volume, relative to your training goal and training status. Massive training volumes are not needed to increase strength. Most individuals can increase their squat strength with two or three weekly hard sets in the six to 12 repetition range. (24)

To optimize strength gain, there will be incremental benefits for adding additional working sets. (5)(25) However, the dose-response relationship has an upper limit. For advanced lifters, this threshold may be approximately 10 to 12 weekly sets. (5)(26) This threshold is almost certainly lower for beginners and intermediate lifters, possibly as low as five to nine sets per week. (5)

Volume is directly tied to hypertrophy. The general recommendation for hypertrophy training is to hit a minimum of 10 weekly working sets per muscle group. (15)(27)

In summary, strength-focused trainees on a “squat daily” program will likely target seven to 12 weekly sets of squats, while lifters focusing on hypertrophy will target a minimum of 10 sets per week. The ultimate number of sets a trainee should use should be individualized based on training experience.

Keep in mind that these are total working sets and does not include warm-up sets. If you are a strong squatter working up to big numbers seven days per week, these recommendations will result in a lot of time at the squat rack. Bear in mind, weekly volume should not be a static target. Your daily squat program ought to be progressive just like any other training.

Considering the close relationship between hypertrophy and volume, it is most prudent to for lifters interested in gaining muscle to add sets throughout their training “block.” (15) Increasing set volume by 20% throughout a month-long squat program is a reasonable target. (27)

Finally, those squatting for substantially less than seven sets per week (i.e. the minimum number required to “squat every day”) should to gradually build their squat volume prior to beginning daily squatting.

Regulate Intensity

Squat every day programs should be intensity-controlled. You are (probably) not an elite athlete, so you probably shouldn’t max out every day like elite athletes can handle. Even if you don’t plan max out often or at all during your squat protocol, be cautious of combining high-intensity with high-frequency.

Just three weeks of 15 weekly singles at 90% and 95% 1RM was enough to stall the progress of intermediate trainees. (21) Ultimately, you can decrease the likelihood of unproductive training by limiting the number of sets performed above 90% 1RM. These sets are taxing and may not be as important for strength gain as you might assume.

For example, competitive weightlifters who completed over 91% of their repetitions at loads below 90% 1RM demonstrated greater increases in strength than weightlifters on a higher intensity, volume-matched protocol. (26)

Make no mistake, building strength is dependent on lifting heavier loads, at least occasionally. On the other hand, building muscle is more dependent on volume. (14)(15) (28) A wide variety of intensities stimulate hypertrophy training provided sets are taken close to failure. (27)(28)(29)

Any load greater than the very light 30RM can be effective for building muscle. (27)(28) Anyone who has taken a light weight, high-rep set close to failure knows how taxing and miserable it can be.

Therefore, a middle-of-road approach to loading your squats may still be most appealing. For most lifters with strength or hypertrophy goals, most sets should be performed in the 70-90% 1RM range with heavier sets programmed judiciously. You don’t need to “max out” often, but when you do, use it as an opportunity to re-calibrate your loads or percentages.

The ultimate number of heavy sets per week appropriate for your program is highly individual. It’s related to your training history (“how long have you been squatting heavy?”), other training stress (“are you also doing other strenuous workouts?”), and how much you’re able to recovery (“are you eating a diet with ample calories and nutrients while getting more than seven hours of quality sleep per night?”).

Start conservatively and plan to progress. Progress intensity by ensuring that you are putting more weight on the bar during your high intensity workouts. For ambitious lifters, the potential consequences of doing too much will always outweigh the potential cost of doing too little. If you under-load one session, you can always do more. If you over-load one session, your recovery and performance will take time to adjust.

Cut the Fluff

When squatting often, dial back elsewhere. Cutting back or eliminating other lower body training during the daily squat protocol is also advisable, especially leg exercises that are loaded axially (through the trunk and spine, such as deadlifts, lunges, and weighted step-ups).

Isolation work is fine for muscle groups sub-optimally stimulated by the squat, such as machine calf raises and hamstring curls.

Set an End Date

Daily squat programs should be time-limited. It was shown that well-trained powerlifters can thrive under a daily squat protocol for nearly six weeks, but it is not known how long even well-trained lifters can tolerate squatting every day.

Researchers explicitly warned against using their study as a model for novice and intermediate lifters. (2) Conservatively, intermediate and novice lifters should experiment daily squatting for just a few weeks and assess their individual tolerance and responses to the program before committing to relatively longer protocols.

Abandon or Modify the Plan if Necessary

Responses to this style of training are highly individual. Studies have shown large individual variation among responses to high-frequency training. (8)(9)(10) The take-home message? You might thrive on a high-frequency squat program, but there is a chance you might bomb.

Monitor progress during daily squatting with objective and subjective data. Objective data could be as simple as tracking your maximum effort or highest intensity sets (e.g. repetition maximum attempts) or the number of repetitions you perform with a typical weight.

Subjectively, you could track Session Rate of Perceived Exertion (Session RPE), which is a number from zero to ten used to rate your workout effort, “zero” means you were resting and “ten” is maximum exertion. (30)

Track trends in your performance and exertion. During the first week of daily squatting, your body is adapting to the new stimulus. You might see some significant drops in performance here. Outside of the first week or so, you should not be losing strength or unintentionally cutting reps for multiple days in a row.

Every session should not be a 10 of 10 Session RPE. If you notice these features, they could be a sign that high-frequency squatting, or the way you are programming high-frequency squatting, is not working for you. Course correct accordingly.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve made it this far, hopefully you have an idea of whether or not you should squat every day. Or, maybe you’ve just skipped to the last section looking for a verdict.

So, should you squat every day? Like any nuanced question, the answer is…it depends. You could boil it down to three key factors — individual preferences, appropriate program design, and individual responses.

There is typically no harm associated with high-frequency training. (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(20)(21)  Meaning, if you like the idea of squatting every day, you should feel empowered to try it. Once you’ve committed to squatting every day, the next challenge is to determine the program specifics (e.g. volume, intensity, duration of training block, squat variations, etc.). Misjudge these variables, and you’re charting a course toward non-functional over-reaching.

Finally, your daily squatting program can simply be your own “experiment.” No randomized controlled training study will provide you with as much value as your own experiences.

All of these recommendations may provide guidance but, ultimately, it’s the help of a good coach, the latest research, and the lessons you learn from the iron that can help you keep squatting day in, day out.

References

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2. Zourdos, M. C., Dolan, C., Quiles, J. M., 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.
3. Perryman, M. (2013). Squat Every Day: Thoughts on Overtraining and Recovery in Strength Training. Myosynthesis Books.
4. Grgic, J., Schoenfeld, B. J., Davies, T. B., et al. (2018). Effect of resistance training frequency on gains in muscular strength: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 48(5), 1207-1220.
5. Ralston, G. W., Kilgore, L., Wyatt, F. B., & Baker, J. S. (2017). The effect of weekly set volume on strength gain: a meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 47(12), 2585-2601.
6. Colquhoun, R. J., Gai, C. M., Aguilar, D., et al. (2018). Training volume, not frequency, indicative of maximal strength adaptations to resistance training. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 32(5), 1207-1213.
7. Hamarsland, H., Moen, H., Skaar, O. J., Jorang, P. W., et al. (2022). Equal-Volume Strength Training With Different Training Frequencies Induces Similar Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Improvement in Trained Participants. Frontiers in Physiology, 2374.
8. Franco, C. M., Carneiro, M. A., de Sousa, J. F., et al. (2021). Influence of high-and low-frequency resistance training on lean body mass and muscle strength gains in untrained men. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 35(8), 2089-2094.
9. Gomes, G. K., Franco, C. M., Nunes, P. R. P., & Orsatti, F. L. (2019). High-frequency resistance training is not more effective than low-frequency resistance training in increasing muscle mass and strength in well-trained men. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 33, S130-S139.
10. Damas, F., Barcelos, C., Nóbrega, S. R., et al. (2019). Individual muscle hypertrophy and strength responses to high vs. low resistance training frequencies. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 33(4), 897-901.
11. MacDougall, J. D., Gibala, M. J., Tarnopolsky, M. A., et al. (1995). The time course for elevated muscle protein synthesis following heavy resistance exercise. Canadian Journal of applied physiology, 20(4), 480-486.
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13. Schoenfeld, B. J., Grgic, J., & Krieger, J. (2019). 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. Journal of Sports Sciences, 37(11), 1286-1295.
14. Schoenfeld, B. J., Contreras, B., Krieger, J., et al. (2019). Resistance training volume enhances muscle hypertrophy but not strength in trained men. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 51(1), 94.
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16. Izquierdo, M., Ibañez, J., González-Badillo, J. J., 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.
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18. Mattocks, K. T., Buckner, S. L., Jessee, M. B., Dankel, S. J., et al. (2017). Practicing the test produces strength equivalent to higher volume training. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 49(9), 1945-1954.
19. Bell, L., Ruddock, A., Maden-Wilkinson, T., & Rogerson, D. (2020). Overreaching and overtraining in strength sports and resistance training: A scoping review. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38(16), 1897-1912.
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21. Fry, A. C., Webber, J. M., Weiss, L. W., et al. (2000). Impaired performances with excessive high-intensity free-weight training. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 14(1), 54-61.
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23. Travis, S. K., Mujika, I., Gentles, J. A., et al. (2020). Tapering and peaking maximal strength for powerlifting performance: a review. Sports, 8(9), 125.
24. Androulakis-Korakakis, P., Fisher, J. P., & Steele, J. (2020). The minimum effective training dose required to increase 1RM strength in resistance-trained men: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 50(4), 751-765. 
25. Marshall, P. W., McEwen, M., & Robbins, D. W. (2011). Strength and neuromuscular adaptation following one, four, and eight sets of high intensity resistance exercise in trained males. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 111(12), 3007-3016.
26. González-Badillo, J. J., Gorostiaga, E. M., Arellano, R., & Izquierdo, M. (2005). Moderate resistance training volume produces more favorable strength gains than high or low volumes during a short-term training cycle. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 19(3), 689-697.
27. Schoenfeld, B., Fisher, J., Grgic, J., 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
28. Schoenfeld, B. J., Grgic, J., Van Every, D. W., & Plotkin, D. L. (2021). Loading recommendations for muscle strength, hypertrophy, and local endurance: a re-examination of the repetition continuum. Sports, 9(2), 32.
29. Jenkins, N. D., Housh, T. J., Buckner, S. L., et al. (2016). Neuromuscular adaptations after 2 and 4 weeks of 80% versus 30% 1 repetition maximum resistance training to failure. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 30(8), 2174-2185.
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Sure, some people shuffle priorities to find two or more hours per day to train, but for the time-constrained lifter, finding just one hour can be too big a task. Fortunately, short workouts don’t have to mean coming up short on results. Here’s how to make the most from just 20 minutes of well-planned training.

20-Minute Workouts

• For Strength
• For Muscle
• For Fat Loss
• With Bodyweight

20-Minute Workout for Strength

Building strength and power doesn’t require a variety of exercises to hit target muscles from multiple angles. It just requires laser-like focus on some basic movements.

This straightforward approach makes this an ideal goal for brief workouts. Heavy weight, low volume training has been shown to deliver better strength gains than higher volume training. (1) Get in, get some heavy reps on a big lift, then get out to start resting and recovering.

One-Lift Workout

This focused workout requires you to put all your strength-building eggs in one basket. Choose one multi-joint (compound) barbell exercise, like the deadlift or bench press, and work on it for the entire session. Even though there’s a time limit, take three full minutes of rest between each set.

It’s going to feel like you’re spending more time resting than lifting during this workout because, well, you are. This type of long rest period has been shown to help optimize strength gains and recovery between sets. (2) This will help you make the most of the lifting you do perform. Use an extremely challenging weight without reaching muscular failure.

While this program delivers results, any extremely minimalist training plan is unsuitable for long-term programming because muscle discrepancies and imbalances may potentially develop from limited exercise options. Use this approach as needed, not as an extended long-term solution.

Deadlift

• How to Do it: Set up in front of a barbell with your feet roughly shoulder-width apart and the bar nearly touching your shins. Keep a neutral spine as you grab the bar with a palms-down grip. Pull your shoulder-blades back and open your chest. Keep your arms locked straight as you drive through your heels to stand upright. Squeeze your glutes and abs as you reach the top position. Lower the bar quickly but under control. Pause to reset your grip before performing the next repetition.
• Sets and Reps: 5 x 2
• Rest time: Three minutes between sets.

20-Minute Workout for Muscle

Muscle-building workouts can certainly benefit from multiple exercises per body part and high volume training that requires an hour or two in the gym. However, that’s absolutely not the only way to stimulate growth.

You can keep the training volume low (and, therefore, keep the workouts brief) when you manipulate exercise intensity, reach muscular failure, and even tiptoe beyond failure. This allows you to trigger muscle gains comparable to a high volume approach. (3)

Classic High-Intensity Training

Take a page out of old school bodybuilding and apply some intensity-boosting techniques to reap maximum benefit from just one high-intensity set of an exercise. It’s essential that you warm-up sufficiently, but you only have one working set to get through and there will be some serious muscle burning, so watch the foul language when you’re in the gym.

Here’s a sample plan for a chest, shoulders, and triceps workout. You can apply the same framework to any muscle group or training split — training one or two exercises per body part with one work set using intensity-boosting techniques.

Low Incline Dumbbell Press

• How to Do it: Lie on an incline bench set at a relatively low angle. Keep a palms-down grip while pressing the dumbbells from shoulder-height to meet above your chest. On each rep, pause for three seconds in the stretched position. When muscular failure approaches after eight to 10 reps, remove the pause and perform reps until muscular failure.
• Sets and Reps: 1 x 8-10, followed by as many reps as possible.
• Rest time: 90 seconds before moving to the next exercise.

Pec-Deck Flye

• How to Do it: Sit in a pec-deck machine and grab the handles at shoulder-height. Keep your elbows in line with your shoulders as you squeeze your hands to meet in the middle. Take four seconds to lower the weight on each rep. When muscular failure approaches after 10 to 12 reps, take one second to lower the weight and perform reps until muscular failure.
• Sets and Reps: 1 x 10-12, followed by as many reps as possible.
• Rest time: 90 seconds before moving to the next exercise.

Lateral Raise

• How to Do it: Stand upright with dumbbells in each hand at your side. Perform a standard lateral raise by lifting the weights to shoulder-level while keeping a slight bend in your elbows and your palms pointed down. Hold the top position of each rep for two seconds. After reaching muscular failure, immediately reduce the weight by roughly 50% and perform reps until you reach muscular failure again.
• Sets and Reps: 1 x 10-12, followed by one drop set for as many reps as possible.
• Rest time: 90 seconds before moving to the next exercise.

Triceps Pushdown

• How to Do it: Setup at a high-pulley cable station with a rope handle or EZ-bar attached. Perform a standard triceps pushdown, keeping your elbows pinned to your sides while straightening your arms. After reaching muscular failure in 10-15 reps, immediately reduce the weight by roughly 50% and perform as many reps as possible. After reaching failure again, reduce the weight a second time and perform more reps. Repeat the process until you’ve reached the lightest weight on the stack.
• Sets and Reps: 1 x 10-15, followed by multiple drop sets for as many reps as possible.
• Rest time: No rest between drop sets.

20-Minute Workout for Fat Loss

Fat loss training doesn’t have to mean marathon-like slogs on the treadmill or lightweight high-rep weight lifting.

Banging out a fast, intense workout can help to burn calories, stimulate your metabolism, and preserve muscle to reveal the lean body you’re after.

Fat-Burning Barbell Complex

A complex is essentially a type of circuit training where multiple exercises are performed back-to-back-to-back with a single piece of exercise equipment and a single weight. For example, you might use a 75-pound barbell for five different exercises performed in sequence without changing the weight for each exercise.

Complexes are a very efficient way to perform multiple sets of multiple movements in minimum time. Always aim to perform each repetition quickly without sacrificing technique. Because of the fast-pace and overall intensity, don’t be surprised by the relatively light weight you’ll be using. The sets shouldn’t approach muscular failure, but your cardiovascular conditioning will quickly become the limiting factor and that light weight will feel heavy enough by the end of the session.

Deadlift

• How to Do it: Set up in front of a barbell with your feet roughly shoulder-width apart and the bar nearly touching your shins. Keep a neutral spine as you grab the bar with a palms-down grip. Pull your shoulder-blades back and open your chest. Keep your arms locked straight as you drive through your heels to stand upright. Squeeze your glutes and abs as you reach the top position. Avoid bouncing the weight off the floor between reps.
• Sets and Reps: 5 x 6
• Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Barbell Row

• How to Do it: From the top position of a deadlift, push your glutes back and bend forward at the waist. Keep a palms-down grip on the bar as your arms extend down to stretch. Maintain a neutral spine while you row the bar into your lower abs.
• Sets and Reps: 5 x 6
• Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Hang Clean

• How to Do it: Stand upright with a palms-down grip on the bar, holding the bar in front of your hips. Push your glutes back while bending your knees slightly. Keep a neutral spine as you explode upwards with your legs to drive the bar towards the front of your shoulders. Allow your elbows to “flip” under the bar as you catch it in the top position. Drop the weight back to hip-height and perform the next rep.
• Sets and Reps: 5 x 6
• Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Thruster

• How to Do it: This is a hybrid front squat/shoulder press movement. Hold the bar across the fronts of your shoulders as you squat down as deep as possible, as if performing a front squat. As you rise into the standing position, perform a shoulder press to lockout the bar overhead. Lower the bar to your shoulders and descend into another deep front squat. On the last rep of each set, carefully lower the bar behind your neck to rest on your traps.
• Sets and Reps: 5 x 6
• Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Reverse Lunge

• How to Do it: Hold the bar across your traps and upper back. Step backwards with one leg and descend into a lunge position. Keep your shoulders back and your torso upright. Alternate legs each rep to perform a total of six repetitions.
• Sets and Reps: 5 x 3 per leg.
• Rest time: Rest 60 seconds before repeating the first exercise.

20-Minute Bodyweight Workout

When your schedule is tight, performing a bodyweight workout will always be an appealing and effective option.

Bodyweight training can be done anywhere and anytime, so the need to drive to and from a gym is completely eliminated and you don’t need to fight any crowds for equipment.

EMOM Bodyweight Workout

Get the most from limited training time with an EMOM workout — performing a set every minute on the minute instead of performing a set, resting a certain amount of time, and performing another set. This method lets you squeeze more training volume into a predetermined amount of time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This specific bodyweight workout cranks up the intensity by also incorporating supersets to fit even more work into each time period. For the duration, you’ll perform two exercises back-to-back and rest for the remainder of a minute before repeating the exercises.

T-Push-Up

• How to Do it: Begin in a push-up position with a straight line from your heels to your neck. Lower your body to the ground and straighten your arms. From the top position, shift your weight onto one hand and rotate at the shoulder. Your weight should be supported on one hand and one foot while you face sideways. Reach your free arm to the ceiling and don’t allow your hips to sink. Lower yourself under control and return to the push-up position. Perform another push-up and rotate onto the opposite hand.
• Sets and Reps: 3 reps per side, 12 minutes total.
• Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Reverse Lunge

• How to Do it: Pull your shoulders back and keep your torso upright. Step backwards with one leg and descend into a lunge position. Perform all reps with one leg before switching sides.
• Sets and Reps: 3 reps per leg, 12 minutes total.
• Rest time: Rest until the next minute begins and then repeat the previous exercise (Note: this is not the same as resting one minute).

V-Up

• How to Do it: Lie flat on the ground with your legs straight and your hands by your sides. Keep your legs straight while raising both feet towards the ceiling and reaching both hands towards your feet. Lower your hands and legs under control. Don’t bounce your heels off the ground between reps.
• Sets and Reps: 10 reps, five minutes total.
• Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Squat

• How to Do it: Stand with your feet more than shoulder-width apart. Keep your upper body upright as you descend into a deep squat. On the last rep of each set, hold the bottom position for five seconds.
• Sets and Reps: 5 reps, five minutes total.
• Rest time: Rest until the next minute begins and then repeat the previous exercise.

Never Skip the Warm-Up

Just because you don’t have much time to train is no excuse to skimp on a thorough warm-up. Warm-ups are an effective way to reduce the risk of injuries and improve performance. (4)(5)

If you think it’s hard to find time to get to the gym, keep skipping your warm-up and then try finding time to get to physical therapy. Or just be sure to implement a general warm-up followed by some exercise-specific movements for your training day. That’s a much better idea.

Quick and Complete Warm-up

• Squat: Stand with your feet more than shoulder-width apart. Keep your upper body upright as you descend into a squat. Adjust your depth based on your mobility and comfort. Aim to squat progressively deeper as the warm-up continues. Perform 10 reps before moving to the next exercise.
• Band Pull-Apart: Take a resistance band with a palms-down grip and hold the band at arms-length in front of you. Pull both hands back until the band touches your chest. Hold the contraction for two seconds. Return to the starting position under control. Perform 10 reps before moving to the next exercise.
• Side Lunge to High Knee: Stand with your feet together. Take a wide step to the side with one leg to the side and keep it straight as you bend the other leg. Stand upright and bring the far leg in to your center, raising the knee to waist-height before returning your feet together. Perform three reps with one leg, followed by three reps with the other leg, before moving to the next exercise.
• Push-Up Plus: Perform a basic push-up, supporting your body weight on your hands and toes. Don’t allow your hips to sag down or arch high up. With your arms locked out in the top position of each rep, continue driving your hands into the ground while spreading your shoulder blades apart. Perform five repetitions before repeating the first exercise. Perform two to four total sets of the entire circuit.

Time Enough at Last

Whether it’s busy season at the office or you just can’t find the energy to grind through a long training session, you don’t have to compromise results just because you’re grabbing a quick workout. If you can maintain focus for the duration of your average sitcom (minus commercials), you can not only stay on track, but you can keep the results rolling in.

References

1. Mangine, G. T., Hoffman, J. R., Gonzalez, A. M., Townsend, J. R., Wells, A. J., Jajtner, A. R., Beyer, K. S., Boone, C. H., Miramonti, A. A., Wang, R., LaMonica, M. B., Fukuda, D. H., Ratamess, N. A., & Stout, J. R. (2015). The effect of training volume and intensity on improvements in muscular strength and size in resistance-trained men. Physiological reports, 3(8), e12472. https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.12472
2. de Salles, B. F., Simão, R., Miranda, F., Novaes, J., Lemos, A., & Willardson, J. M. (2009). Rest interval between sets in strength training. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 39(9), 765–777. https://doi.org/10.2165/11315230-000000000-00000
3. Wernbom, M., Augustsson, J., & Thomeé, R. (2007). The influence of frequency, intensity, volume and mode of strength training on whole muscle cross-sectional area in humans. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 37(3), 225–264. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200737030-00004
4. Woods, K., Bishop, P., & Jones, E. (2007). Warm-up and stretching in the prevention of muscular injury. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 37(12), 1089–1099. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200737120-00006
5. Fradkin, A. J., Zazryn, T. R., & Smoliga, J. M. (2010). Effects of warming-up on physical performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 24(1), 140–148. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181c643a0

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Excessive training is a good way to burnout and pile up injuries. But here’s an important point: excessive isn’t always the same as more. You can walk the line between “a lot” and “too much” if you follow a few key principles. You can even train twice a day if you know what you’re doing. Lucky for you, when you’re done reading this, you will know what you’re doing.

• Two-A-Day Workouts Explained
• Benefits of Two-A-Day Workouts
• Drawbacks of Two-A-Day Workouts
• Who Should Do Two-A-Day Workouts
• Programming Two-A-Day Workouts
• Recovering From Two-A-Day Workouts
• Sample Two-A-Day Workout

Two-A-Day Workouts Explained

The phrase “two-a-days” might give some high school or college athletes flashbacks of yelling coaches, sweat-soaked practices, and all-around good times. But in this context, we’re talking about performing two workouts per training day instead of one more traditional workout.

Two-a-day training requires precise attention to program design for the workouts and, possibly more important, the resting periods. Training twice per day isn’t a method for beginners and it isn’t for lifters who freestyle their training when they walk through the gym door each day.

Training twice a day requires you to not only know in advance what you’ll be doing in each session, but it requires that you actually follow the plan and improvise as little as possible.

This method has been a reliable approach for traditional sports athletes, strength athletes, and physique competitors because it can optimize performance and recovery, resulting in a greater net benefit than a more conventional approach to training. (1)(2)

Two-a-day workouts can be tailored to emphasize skill, strength, muscle size, or fat loss depending on the exercise choices, sets, reps, and intensities of each training session.

It’s also important to recognize that performing two workouts per day isn’t the same as performing two workouts every day. Just like with conventional training, rest days are necessary, likely more so for obvious reasons.

Benefits of Two-A-Day Workouts

Training twice in one day may seem like something only professional athletes need to do, but plenty of recreational lifters can benefit from hitting two training sessions in one day.

Not only can it provide an exciting and engaging change of pace, it can yield a serious boost to strength and muscle when properly programmed. Here are more reasons to consider two-a-days.

Shorter Workouts

Performing two workouts per day may not initially sound like a time-saver, but it’s essentially based around performing brief workouts. It can be easier to schedule into your training day when you use basic at-home workouts instead of making multiple trips to the gym. You can also chop up one longer session with into two separate, faster paced minute workouts.

Whether it’s one quick training session before work and one after work or capitalizing on a free weekend to swing by the gym in the morning and afternoon, shorter, more frequent workouts can often fit better into a hectic weekly schedule because they offer more flexibility and can be “squeezed in” without sacrificing effectiveness.

Improved Performance

Two training sessions per day, targeting the same body parts in each session, has been shown to increase strength gains compared to one session per day. (3)(4) This makes it an ideal technique when the goal is to increase strength and power.

Shorter workouts combined with relatively lower volume per session allows a greater focus on form and power output with less cumulative fatigue during the workout. This lets you focus on maximum performance without worrying about pacing yourself throughout a longer workout.

More Muscle

When you dial in the correct balance of training stimulus and recovery methods, you put your body in an ideal position to build more muscle. Research has shown that increased training frequency can lead to increased muscle growth because weight training stimulates protein synthesis, which is ultimately responsible for adding new muscle (5)

Training twice per day certainly falls under the high-frequency umbrella. When supported by proper nutrition to encourage muscle growth, two-a-day sessions can be a highly effective approach for packing on size.

Drawbacks of Two-A-Day Workouts

Training twice a day has the potential to become too much to recover from if the training and recovery methods are improperly planned or planned well and not followed.

Two-a-days aren’t suitable for every lifter. The most significant requirement is an ability to follow a predetermined plan and stray from the program as little as possible. There are a few other potential issues.

They’re Time Consuming

As counterintuitive as it sounds, two-a-day workouts can be time-saving because the workouts are typically brief. However, they can also be difficult to schedule if you’re unable to train at home, if your gym is a relatively long distance away, or if your work hours are exceptionally long.

It’s a tired cliche to say “if you want it bad enough, you’ll find time.” The fact is, not everyone can feasibly perform two workouts per day. As much as the training session itself can be shorter than a standard workout, it still requires twice as much planning and preparation. Having the most basic equipment at home can make it more likely, but this approach isn’t for everyone.

Recovery is Essential

Recovering from any training session is essential for progress. Recovering from two-a-day sessions is even more important to avoid digging a deep hole of muscular stress that you can’t crawl out of.

When you’re training twice a day, your nutrition plan needs to deliver enough total calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fats to allow optimal performance in each session and deliver a net-positive result in strength and muscle. (6)

Time spent between workouts should, ideally, be non-strenuous. If you work a high-activity manual labor job and plan on training twice a day, your baseline physical stress is already increased and fitting in added training sessions requires that much more attention.

No Ego Allowed

Allowing your ego to get in the way during a workout is almost always a bad idea but, okay, it happens. In a normal workout, presuming you get away injury-free, there’s no real harm done with a spontaneous extra-heavy set once in a while.

But when you’re training twice a day, that extra work comes with an extra recovery cost because you’ll have more effort to recover from with just a few hours before your next training session. If you’re the type of lifter who has trouble ignoring that little devil on your shoulder telling you to pile on an extra plate, you’ll probably run into issues with two-a-days.

Who Should Do Two-A-Day Workouts

Two-a-day training isn’t reserved for elite athletes. Whether you’re looking for a short-term change of pace or a restructuring of your training plan, you can use two-a-day workouts for a bump in size and strength.

Strength Athletes

Competitive strength athletes — powerlifters, Olympic weightlifters, strongmen and strongwomen, and CrossFit athletes — have frequently broken their training days into multiple sessions, often using each separate workout to focus on a specific lift or type of training.

Recreational lifters who don’t compete but want to prioritize strength can also benefit from a similar approach. For example, you might perform only deadlifts in one workout followed hours later by less intensive back and hamstring exercises.

Training for Body Composition

If you’re trying to put on muscle, training twice daily can yield greater potential gains than one workout per day. This is due to increased protein synthesis (triggering muscle repair and growth) and a chance to increase overall training volume, which is associated with muscle gains. (7) For example, working a body part with eight sets twice daily compared to 12 sets in a single workout.

If your goal is to burn some fat, knocking out two workouts per day increases your daily caloric expenditure, making it easier to achieve the caloric deficit needed for fat loss. Training twice per day may also increase excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), which is the increased rate at which your body burns calories in the hours after a workout. (8)

General Sports Athletes

Two-a-day training sessions may be most familiar with general athletes — football, baseball, hockey, combat sports, etc. It’s not uncommon for these athletes to practice their specific sport in one workout and return to the gym hours later for a strength and conditioning session.

This approach allows each specific session to be performed with minimal fatigue from the previous session since the type of training is so different. There’s little carry-over between throwing a football and squatting a barbell. This allows greater focus and improved performance in each targeted workout.

Programming Two-A-Day Workouts

Proper programming is one of the make-or-break points of two-a-day training. Regardless of your goal, several general principles should be followed when setting up a two-a-day routine.

• Aim for at least six hours of rest between each workout. This allows enough time to minimize general fatigue.
• Have at least one meal between training sessions. This further enables muscular recovery and encourages rehydration and glycogen replenishment, which fuels performance in each session. (9)
• Make the workouts as different as possible. This can be done by emphasizing different body parts, using different sets, reps, loads/intensities, or using different exercises. It’s another way to minimize cumulative fatigue by reducing overlap between workouts.
• Build your work capacity and progress gradually. Don’t dive into two-a-day workouts, five days a week. Transition from your current training plan by replacing one or two training days with two-a-day sessions and, after a few weeks, add additional sessions if desired. This helps your body acclimate to the increased stress and avoid overtraining. (10)

There are also several specific considerations to set up an effective plan according to your goal. Approaching two-a-days with a well-designed plan is essential for results.

Skill Session/Weight Training

This is familiar territory for general sports athletes. You work on your sport in one session and hit the gym later in the day. This approach can be adapted to anyone who participates in recreational sports like tennis, MMA, pickup basketball, adult-league dodgeball, or whatever you’re into.

This is one of the simplest plans to program because the movements performed are inherently different in each session and overlap is minimal. Still, you want to work on your skill-specific training and then train weights.

Cardio Session/Weight Training

This approach is popular with competitive bodybuilders as it works exceptionally well for body composition changes. By separating weight training (muscle-building) and cardiovascular exercise (fat-burning) stimuli, you can make the most of each session for greater overall results.

The sessions can be performed in either order, depending on your schedule and preference. Cardio training isn’t shown to burn significantly more fat when performed first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, as some popular suggestions recommend. (11) Hitting the weights during the day and a long walk at night after work, for example, is equally effective.

Weight Training/Weight Training

Performing two weight training sessions per day requires precise planning to balance recovery and muscle-building/strength-building stimulus. But when set up correctly, it can be one of the most effective ways to train.

This approach can be used for strength-focused workouts with a priority lift (like the squat, an Olympic lift, bench press, etc.) in a single workout followed later by minor assistance work (like lunges, ab training, general upper body exercises, etc.).

It can also be designed to split up traditional training splits like full-body workouts, upper/lower splits, or push/pull/legs splits. Chop your standard workout roughly in half and perform one section in each workout. For example, you could train your whole body each day with several lower body exercises in one session and several upper body exercises in the next session.

For an upper-body-focused workout, you could perform chest and triceps exercises in the morning with back and biceps exercises at night. “Leg day” would be a few quad exercises followed hours later by your hamstring and calf training. Have a big dinner that night. You’ll have earned it.

Recovering From Two-A-Day Workouts

Recovery is always the other side of the training coin. When you’ve decided to train twice daily, recovery methods like nutrition and sleep become much more important because you are applying extra strain on your body’s systems.

Here’s how to make your recovery as effective as your training plan.

Nutrition

Whether you’re trying to build strength, add muscle, or even burn fat, you won’t get far with two-a-day workouts if your nutrition doesn’t supply enough calories. Ample calories from all three macronutrients — protein, carbs, and fat — are needed to fuel intense workouts that build size and strength.

Regarding fat loss, “calories in vs. calories out” is a general and somewhat accurate guideline. (12) Fundamentally, you need to burn more calories than you take in. Two-a-day workouts increase the “calories out” by increasing your daily activity, which means you may not need to cut your calorie consumption drastically.

This logic is why many bodybuilders add a cardio session to their weight training regimen. Eventually, they reach a point where it’s not feasible to cut out more calories in the form of food, so they perform more calories to increase their caloric burn.

Creating a calorie deficit of roughly 500 calories daily is a realistic, reliable, and effective target for sustained fat loss. (13) Many people would instead hit that extra gym session while cutting back very little on their diet compared to reducing their intake more significantly. As long as your rate of fat loss is one to two pounds per week, you’re on a steady path to losing body fat and preserve muscle and strength. (14)

Sleep

Sleeping is an under-appreciated way to boost your results in the gym. If you’re not getting seven to nine hours per night, your recovery, gym performance, hormone levels, muscle mass, and strength gains will be compromised. (15)(16) That’s how important a good night’s sleep is.

Before you think about training twice a day, address your sleep quality and quantity. Adding two-a-day sessions on insufficient sleep will just be burning the candle at both ends.

Rest Days

You may have read about gold-medal Olympians training twice a day, seven days a week, or elite-level powerlifters going through eight or nine workouts per week combining weight training with restorative cardio-type sessions. That can work for world-class athletes who’ve spent years building the ability to thrive under extreme stress.

For everyone else, four to six training sessions spread out over the week should be plenty of stimuli to work towards the majority of goals. Interspersing hard training with focused rest/recovery days will allow your body to respond by building strength and muscle.

Incorporating rest days also allows you to enter each session with more energy and focus, which means more intense training, a greater stimulus response, and a greater need to rest.

Sample Two-A-Day Workout

The most basic template for two-a-day training is fairly straightforward: Perform workout one, rest several hours, then perform workout two. Like all programs, the details will decide whether you’re on the right track or not.

Here’s an example of how to set up a two-a-day plan. Take the framework and adapt it to your own goal.

Two-A-Day Workout for Muscle Size

This sample program follows an upper/lower split and delivers six workouts per week. It includes two days of two-a-day workouts and three rest days. That’s likely more training and more rest than some lifters are doing right now.

Sunday

Morning Workout

• Flat Bench Press: 5 x 6-8
• Pull-Up: 5 x 6-8
• Incline Dumbbell Press: 4 x 10-12
• Dumbbell Row: 4 x 10-12

Afternoon Workout

• Barbell Curl: 5 x 10-12
• Triceps Pushdown: 5 x 10-12
• Lateral Raise: 5 x 10-12
• Reverse Crunch: 4 x 15-20

Monday

• Deadlift: 4 x 6-8
• Leg Press: 4 x 10-12
• Leg Curl: 3 x 10-12
• Leg Extension: 3 x 12-15
• Seated Calf Raise: 3 x 15-20

Tuesday

Rest Day

Wednesday

• Dip: 4 x 8-10
• Barbell Row: 4 x 8-10
• Overhead Press: 4 x 8-10
• Cable Curl: 3 x 10-12
• Overhead Extension: 3 x 12-15

Thursday

Morning Workout

• Front Squat: 5 x 5-8
• Romanian Deadlift: 5 x 10-12

Evening Workout

• Reverse Lunge: 4 x 10-12
• Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift: 4 x 8-10
• Standing Calf Raise: 3 x 15-20

Friday

Rest Day

Saturday

Rest Day

Double Trouble or Double Your Pleasure

Training twice in one day may sound like a daunting commitment. Or, if you’re a die-hard gym lover, it may sound like paradise. Both are a little right. With proper planning, enough self-discipline to stick to the plan, and paying as much attention to recovery outside the gym as lifting in the gym, two-a-days might be your ticket to new PRs and new gains.

References

1. Andrade-Souza, VA, Ghiarone, T, Sansonio, A, et al. Exercise twice-a-day potentiates markers of mitochondrial biogenesis in men. The FASEB Journal. 2020; 34: 1602– 1619. https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.201901207RR
2. Hartman, M. J., Clark, B., Bembens, D. A., Kilgore, J. L., & Bemben, M. G. (2007). Comparisons between twice-daily and once-daily training sessions in male weight lifters. International journal of sports physiology and performance, 2(2), 159–169. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.2.2.159
3. Corrêa, D. A., Brigatto, F. A., Braz, T. V., DE Carmargo, J. B., Aoki, M. S., Marchetti, P. H., & Lopes, C. R. (2022). Twice-daily sessions result in greater muscle strength and similar muscle hypertrophy compared to once-daily sessions in resistance-trained men. The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness, 62(3), 324–336. https://doi.org/10.23736/S0022-4707.21.12118-8
4. Häkkinen, K., & Kallinen, M. (1994). Distribution of strength training volume into one or two daily sessions and neuromuscular adaptations in female athletes. Electromyography and clinical neurophysiology, 34(2), 117–124.
5. Dankel, S. J., Mattocks, K. T., Jessee, M. B., Buckner, S. L., Mouser, J. G., Counts, B. R., Laurentino, G. C., & Loenneke, J. P. (2017). Frequency: The Overlooked Resistance Training Variable for Inducing Muscle Hypertrophy?. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 47(5), 799–805. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0640-8
6. Kerksick, C. M., Arent, S., Schoenfeld, B. J., Stout, J. R., Campbell, B., Wilborn, C. D., Taylor, L., Kalman, D., Smith-Ryan, A. E., Kreider, R. B., Willoughby, D., Arciero, P. J., VanDusseldorp, T. A., Ormsbee, M. J., Wildman, R., Greenwood, M., Ziegenfuss, T. N., Aragon, A. A., & Antonio, J. (2017). International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutrient timing. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 14, 33. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-017-0189-4
7. Schoenfeld BJ, Contreras B, Krieger J, Grgic J, Delcastillo K, Belliard R, Alto A. Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2019 Jan;51(1):94-103. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001764. PMID: 30153194; PMCID: PMC6303131.
8. MacKenzie-Shalders, K., Kelly, J. T., So, D., Coffey, V. G., & Byrne, N. M. (2020). The effect of exercise interventions on resting metabolic rate: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of sports sciences, 38(14), 1635–1649. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2020.1754716
9. Murray, B., & Rosenbloom, C. (2018). Fundamentals of glycogen metabolism for coaches and athletes. Nutrition reviews, 76(4), 243–259. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuy001
10. Armstrong, Lawrence & Bergeron, Michael & Lee, Elaine & Mershon, James & Armstrong, Elizabeth. (2022). Overtraining Syndrome as a Complex Systems Phenomenon. Frontiers in Network Physiology. 1. 794392. 10.3389/fnetp.2021.794392.
11. Schoenfeld, B. J., Aragon, A. A., Wilborn, C. D., Krieger, J. W., & Sonmez, G. T. (2014). Body composition changes associated with fasted versus non-fasted aerobic exercise. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 11(1), 54. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-014-0054-7
12. Howell S, Kones R. “Calories in, calories out” and macronutrient intake: the hope, hype, and science of calories. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2017 Nov 1;313(5):E608-E612. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00156.2017. Epub 2017 Aug 1. PMID: 28765272.
13. Champagne, C. M., Broyles, S. T., Moran, L. D., Cash, K. C., Levy, E. J., Lin, P. H., Batch, B. C., Lien, L. F., Funk, K. L., Dalcin, A., Loria, C., & Myers, V. H. (2011). Dietary intakes associated with successful weight loss and maintenance during the Weight Loss Maintenance trial. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111(12), 1826–1835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2011.09.014
14. Garthe, I., Raastad, T., Refsnes, P. E., Koivisto, A., & Sundgot-Borgen, J. (2011). Effect of two different weight-loss rates on body composition and strength and power-related performance in elite athletes. International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism, 21(2), 97–104. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.21.2.97
15. 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
16. 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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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.

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