Let’s be honest: Nutrition is often less glamorous than training. Straining and grinding in the gym is more appealing than deciding whether you should have the double-chicken burrito bowl with half rice and half beans or the double-steak burrito with no rice and extra guac.

Plenty of well-designed training plans have been steered off-track because they weren’t supported by an equally well-designed nutrition plan.

Getting enough calories, carbs, protein, and fats can mean the difference between packing on size and hitting PRs or spinning your wheels and burning out. Here’s how to set up a “diet plan” that will help you build muscle and move heavier weights.

• Find Your Calorie Requirements
• Macros for Muscle and Strength
• Meal Timing and Frequency
• The Anabolic Window Myth
• Tips to Eat for Muscle and Strength

Calorie Requirements

Your total calorie intake is the be-all, end-all of gaining muscular body weight. No matter how finely tuned your workout program is, no matter how many grams of protein you’re eating every day, if your total calories are lacking, your body simply won’t have the raw materials to create new muscle tissue. (1)

Fortunately, nudging your body into growth-mode doesn’t have to involve 10-egg omelets, straight olive oil shooters, or gut-busting blender bombs loaded with peanut butter, oats, and whole milk. You can flip the muscle-building switch by adding roughly 300 to 500 calories per day. (2)

It could be as simple as eating your standard menu and adding one big glass of milk with an extra scoop of protein powder or having an after-lunch snack of a tuna salad sandwich and an apple. While that might not sound like some people’s idea of a traditional “bulking diet,” it’s a ballpark number that reinforces your ability to tackle the hardest training sessions, lift heavier, recover more completely, and build lean body mass (muscle). (3)

Perhaps more importantly, this surplus intake can also help to avoid potential drawbacks from training with insufficient calories. Too much training on too few calories can affect everything from workout recovery and performance to hormone levels and cardiovascular health. (4)

Just be sure not to tip the scales, literally, too far in your pursuit of size. Research has shown that a caloric surplus can be beneficial for size and strength, but there’s a point of diminishing returns where you gain more body fat than muscle, and strength gains won’t keep pace with your increasing body weight, which reduces your overall power and relative strength. (1)

To stay in the “enough, but not too much” zone, you’ll want to do a little math. Your body weight (in pounds) x 25 is a rough guideline to find your maximum intake. Anything beyond that point is likely going to push you into the red zone of low-quality gains.

Start with a more reasonable and sustainable addition of just a few hundred calories on top of your current daily diet and monitor your progress to adjust weekly or biweekly as needed.

Macros for Muscle and Strength

If calories were a sports car, macronutrients would be the tires, steering wheel, and engine — protein, carbohydrates, and fats are three essential components that determine whether or not you’ll actually get you where you want to go.

Every gram of protein and carbohydrate each contain four calories, while every gram of fat contains nine calories. While you might instinctively think “more fats equals more calories equals more size,” it’s not that simple.

Specific attention to your macronutrient breakdown will determine if your increased body weight comes from gaining lean muscle mass or simply gaining body fat. (5)

Protein

Protein is fundamentally “the muscle macro.” It’s composed of amino acids which are required for creating new muscle tissue. In fact, muscle protein synthesis and muscle protein breakdown are the two primary processes triggered by weight training which will determine whether or not you build muscle. (6)

Because protein plays such a significant role in muscle-building, it’s critical that you take in enough each day. One gram of protein per pound of bodyweight is a long-touted guideline for daily intake. Although an abundance of research suggests a more accurate .74 grams per pound of bodyweight to be the upper limit, beyond which, higher protein intake doesn’t trigger any additional growth.(7)

Sorry carnivores, but triple-bodyweight protein intake won’t lead to triple the gains. However, interestingly, when a calorie surplus includes a very high protein intake, the protein was shown to have what researchers called “a protective effect against fat gain during times of energy surplus.” (5) Translation: high calories with high protein leads to muscle growth and relatively less fat gain.

While animal-based products (meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy) are the most common and most efficiently absorbed sources of protein, vegan and vegetarian foods have shown to be equally effective for supporting performance and recovery, but slightly less efficient for supporting muscle growth. (8)

Carbohydrates

Some nutrition plans manipulate carbohydrates because it can be an efficient way to trigger fat loss, but when it comes to building muscle and fueling weight training workouts, carbs are sometimes not given particular attention.

Having ample carbs throughout the day can support muscle growth by decreasing muscle protein breakdown. Carbs also provide energy and endurance during relatively high volume training (plenty of exercises, sets, and/or reps). (9)

Ideally, aim for a total carb intake of two to three grams per pound of bodyweight per day to support performance, growth, and recovery. (10) If you’re weight training five or more days per week, lean towards a higher intake. If you’re training less often or following a low-volume training plan, your needs will be relatively lower.

While the majority of your carbs should come from whole-food sources like grains, legumes, tubers, and fruit, you should monitor the intake of simple carbs (sugar). Particularly when combined with excess calories, relatively high sugar intake is associated with fat gain. Keeping your simple sugar intake to roughly 10% of your daily calories will work towards minimizing this unwanted gain. (11)

Fats

Because they’re the most calorie-dense macronutrient, dietary fats require a keen approach when you’re increasing calories. It’s dangerously easy to overflow your calorie intake from excessively high fats.

Certain types of fats, specifically Omega-3s found in fish, have been shown to support muscle protein synthesis which can lead to more muscle growth. (12) Adequate fat intake is also important for supporting hormone levels, cardiovascular health, and your immune system. (13)

As part of a muscle-building, strength-boosting plan, aim to keep your fat intake 30% to 40% of your total daily calories. For example, if you’re eating 3,000 calories per day, that’s 900 to 1200 calories from fat. Because one gram of fat contains nine calories, it ends up at roughly 100 to 130 grams per day.

For optimal results, stick with natural animal fats (those found in animal-based protein sources), as well as nuts, olives, avocados, and coconuts. Overly processed liquid fats, like many bottled vegetable oils, can be counterproductive for long-term health and performance.

Meal Timing and Frequency

Three big, hearty meals per day has been a time-tested approach for old school bodybuilders, strongmen, and strength athletes. Eating smaller meals more frequently — as often as every two or three hours — is a relatively new approach modern lifters have had some success with.

A higher meal frequency is typically associated with fat loss plans, though it’s debatably effective. (14) The concept can also be applied to lifters wanting to gain muscular body weight.

One significant factor is the individual’s habits, mindset, and overall digestion. Some lifters find it more practical to eat three relatively large meals per day, while others may have trouble regaining their appetite for lunch several hours after a big breakfast.

In the latter case, eating fewer calories more often is a way to reach the daily calorie target with minimal discomfort. The compromise with high-frequency meals is the necessity of interrupting your daily routine on a consistent basis to unpack and inhale a small meal.

Both methods can be effective as long as they deliver the target daily nutrition. However, extremely low-frequency eating — one or two meals per day — can make it more challenging to reach the daily calorie and macro goal. This reduced meal approach is also less efficient for stimulating protein synthesis, which makes it less effective for building muscle. (15)

The Anabolic Window Myth

Most experienced lifters have heard about “the anabolic window” — the crucial time period immediately after weight training where your body has been stimulated to such a degree that it will transmogrify any and all calories into heaps of new muscle tissue.

Bodybuilders in the 1950s would drink whole milk during their workouts, hardcore powerlifters have eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches between sets, and modern day lifters would sip on half-gallon concoctions of the latest scientific formulas. All in the hopes of catching the crucial window.

While it’s true that your body is in a highly responsive state during and immediately after a training session, it isn’t nearly as narrow as the “90 minutes or less” mantra that echoes through the gym.

Having protein during a workout was shown to decrease muscle protein breakdown (a good thing for growth). (16) However, rather than a slim 60 or 90-minute “window,” a large amount of research supports a more broad approach that’s highly effective. Having a meal (or drink) containing protein and carbs within a six-hour window of your workout can efficiently maximize muscle protein synthesis and support optimal recovery. (17)

In fact, your body remains ready to efficiently put nutrients to use for recovery and growth for up to 24 hours after hard training. You could, in theory, neglect the “anabolic window” entirely, eat your standard meals at your standard times, and use those protein and carb-laden calories for muscle-building.

Many lifters find their appetite stimulated by intense training, and they tend to drink water during their workouts. Both are quick and simple opportunities to add quality calories to your day with minimal effort and maximum benefit.

Serious Training Needs Serious Eating

If you want maximum results, you can’t just hit it hard in the gym and slack off when you head to your car. At best, you’ll end up spinning your wheels and struggling unnecessarily for every drop of progress. At worst, you’ll end up going backwards because poor recovery will make your workouts harder and harder. If your goals include adding lean muscle and hitting big lifts, you won’t get there until you treat the spice rack as seriously as the squat rack.

Tips to Eat for Muscle and Strength

Still trying to skip the “boring nutrition stuff” and just want some quick takeaway points? No problem. Here are some ‘just do these’ ideas to kickstart new growth and bigger gains.

• Building muscle doesn’t mean gorging. Add 300 to 500 calories per day, mostly from protein. Track progress before adding more calories.
• Know your body and your appetite. Either plan on having “breakfast, lunch, workout shake, and dinner” or eat smaller meals five to seven times per day (having food every two to three hours). Your total calories should remain the same.
• Aim for one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Having slightly less is still effective. Eating a bit more protein won’t build“extra muscle,” but may potentially fight against fat gain.
• Aim for two to three grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight, primarily from whole-food sources and relatively low sugar. Using soda and candy as caloric filler may only hurt your physique.
• Set your dietary fat intake at 30% to 40% of your total daily calories, most of which will likely come naturally from your protein sources.
• For maximum results, have a pre-workout meal within three hours of starting your workout, drink protein and carbohydrates during training, and have a post-workout meal within three hours of ending your workout.

References

1. Ribeiro, A. S., Nunes, J. P., Schoenfeld, B. J., Aguiar, A. F., & Cyrino, E. S. (2019). Effects of Different Dietary Energy Intake Following Resistance Training on Muscle Mass and Body Fat in Bodybuilders: A Pilot Study. Journal of human kinetics, 70, 125–134. https://doi.org/10.2478/hukin-2019-0038
2. Slater, G. J., Dieter, B. P., Marsh, D. J., Helms, E. R., Shaw, G., & Iraki, J. (2019). Is an Energy Surplus Required to Maximize Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy Associated With Resistance Training. Frontiers in nutrition, 6, 131. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2019.00131
3. Garthe, I., Raastad, T., Refsnes, P. E., & Sundgot-Borgen, J. (2013). Effect of nutritional intervention on body composition and performance in elite athletes. European journal of sport science, 13(3), 295–303. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2011.643923
4. Melin, A. K., Heikura, I. A., Tenforde, A., & Mountjoy, M. (2019). Energy Availability in Athletics: Health, Performance, and Physique. International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism, 29(2), 152–164. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2018-0201
5. Leaf, A., & Antonio, J. (2017). The Effects of Overfeeding on Body Composition: The Role of Macronutrient Composition – A Narrative Review. International journal of exercise science, 10(8), 1275–1296.
6. Stokes, T., Hector, A. J., Morton, R. W., McGlory, C., & Phillips, S. M. (2018). Recent Perspectives Regarding the Role of Dietary Protein for the Promotion of Muscle Hypertrophy with Resistance Exercise Training. Nutrients, 10(2), 180. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10020180
7. Morton, R. W., Murphy, K. T., McKellar, S. R., Schoenfeld, B. J., Henselmans, M., Helms, E., Aragon, A. A., Devries, M. C., Banfield, L., Krieger, J. W., & Phillips, S. M. (2018). A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. British journal of sports medicine, 52(6), 376–384. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-097608
8. Pohl, A., Schünemann, F., Bersiner, K., & Gehlert, S. (2021). The Impact of Vegan and Vegetarian Diets on Physical Performance and Molecular Signaling in Skeletal Muscle. Nutrients, 13(11), 3884. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13113884
9. Mata, F., Valenzuela, P. L., Gimenez, J., Tur, C., Ferreria, D., Domínguez, R., Sanchez-Oliver, A. J., & Martínez Sanz, J. M. (2019). Carbohydrate Availability and Physical Performance: Physiological Overview and Practical Recommendations. Nutrients, 11(5), 1084. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11051084
10.  Richard B Kreider, Colin D Wilborn, Lem Taylor, Bill Campbell, Anthony L Almada, Rick Collins, Mathew Cooke, Conrad P Earnest, Mike Greenwood, Douglas S Kalman, Chad M Kerksick, Susan M Kleiner, Brian Leutholtz, Hector Lopez, Lonnie M Lowery, Ron Mendel, Abbie Smith, Marie Spano, Robert Wildman, Darryn S Willoughby, Tim N Ziegenfuss & Jose Antonio (2010) ISSN exercise & sport nutrition review: research & recommendations, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 7:1, DOI: 10.1186/1550-2783-7-7
11.  Te Morenga L, Mallard S, Mann J. Dietary sugars and body weight: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials and cohort studies BMJ 2013; 346 :e7492 doi:10.1136/bmj.e7492
12.  Gordon I. Smith, Philip Atherton, Dominic N. Reeds, B. Selma Mohammed, Debbie Rankin, Michael J. Rennie, Bettina Mittendorfer; Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids augment the muscle protein anabolic response to hyperinsulinaemia–hyperaminoacidaemia in healthy young and middle-aged men and women. Clin Sci (Lond) 1 September 2011; 121 (6): 267–278. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/CS20100597
13.  Venkatraman JT, Leddy J, Pendergast D. Dietary fats and immune status in athletes: clinical implications. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2000 Jul;32(7 Suppl):S389-95. DOI: 10.1097/00005768-200007001-00003. PMID: 10910295.
14.  Schoenfeld, B. J., Aragon, A. A., & Krieger, J. W. (2015). Effects of meal frequency on weight loss and body composition: a meta-analysis. Nutrition reviews, 73(2), 69–82. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuu017
15. Schoenfeld, B.J., Aragon, A.A. How much protein can the body use in a single meal for muscle-building? Implications for daily protein distribution. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 15, 10 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-018-0215-1
16. Greenhaff, P. L., Karagounis, L. G., Peirce, N., Simpson, E. J., Hazell, M., Layfield, R., Wackerhage, H., Smith, K., Atherton, P., Selby, A., & Rennie, M. J. (2008). Disassociation between the effects of amino acids and insulin on signaling, ubiquitin ligases, and protein turnover in human muscle. American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism, 295(3), E595–E604. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.90411.2008
17. Schoenfeld, B. J., & Aragon, A. A. (2018). Is There a Postworkout Anabolic Window of Opportunity for Nutrient Consumption? Clearing up Controversies. The Journal of orthopaedic and sports physical therapy, 48(12), 911–914. https://doi.org/10.2519/jospt.2018.0615

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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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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.

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Although powerbuilding is often considered a specific style of training, it’s really just an overall structure given to any training plan. And it’s a structure that many experienced lifters were doing even before it was given a name.

While there’s no reason to be dogmatic, here are some basic guidelines that can help you decide where to put your focus, what to include and what to leave out, and how to best organize your training to pack on size and strength.

• What is Powerbuilding?
• Who Should Use Powerbuilding?
• Why Train for Powerbuilding?
• How to Plan a Powerbuilding Routine?
• Common Powerbuilding Mistakes
• Sample Powerbuilding Program

What is Powerbuilding?

Training for powerbuilding means that you focus on increasing strength in big, compound (multi-joint) lifts while also building muscle through more classic bodybuilding-type training with isolation (single-joint) exercises and exercise variations, also called accessory movements.

One example would be starting a workout with sets of deadlifts, followed by accessory exercises concentrated on individual muscle groups such as the back and hamstrings. The main compound lift would be done for lower reps with heavier weights to develop strength and power.

The accessory exercises are done with relatively higher rep ranges in order to develop individual muscles while reducing wear and tear on the joint. That can include anything from single-joint exercises like biceps curls to multi-joint movements like split squats or pull-ups.

An upside to powerbuilding is that you can choose what to prioritize for specific goals. If you eventually decide to enter a powerlifting competition, for example, you could allocate more time to training heavy with the big three powerlifts — back squat, bench press, and deadlift — and minimize some of the bodybuilding work.

Or, when beach season approaches, you might keep the heavy barbell lifts to a minimum and spend most of your training doing muscle-building accessory exercises to build a serious physique while remaining relatively strong.

While powerbuilding gives you flexibility in exercise choice, there are some things to keep in mind for the best results.

Who Should Use Powerbuilding

Powerbuilding is for those who don’t have one singular physique or performance focus, but instead want to be physically well-balanced.

If you want to be strong, muscular, and fit, there’s no reason to get stuck working towards some grandiose weight in a barbell lift, reaching a specific body fat percentage number, or breaking a certain time for an endurance workout.

That’s not to say you won’t still set PRs (personal records), build endurance, and drastically improve your body composition with a more general training powerbuilding approach.

You may not break state lifting records or be shredded enough to step on a bodybuilding stage, but you can still end up stronger and more muscular than people who put all of their training eggs in a single basket.

Powerbuilding training can also be useful for people who compete in other sports or physical hobbies. When you’re approaching a competition, strength and conditioning training does need to be tailored to your specific sport or activity, especially when you’re competing at a very high level.

As long as you’re not in a competitive season, powerbuilding can be a great way to build a broad foundation for novice athletes and it can help experienced athletes remain well-rounded.

Powerbuilding for New Lifters

It’s great that powerlifting-inspired, strength-focused training has become popular in recent years. However, too many people with no lifting background dive headfirst into heavy training after seeing it for the first time.

While powerlifting can build an excellent level of upper and lower-body strength, beginners need to build a foundation using more variety than this type of specialized training can provide. Powerbuilding training is a better alternative for beginners because it builds a much broader base by developing more attributes with more exercise variety.

A beginner starting with a broad base will be in a better position to build on. With powerbuilding, you can steadily improve in big barbell lifts, similar to powerlifting-based training. Those barbell lifts can be markers for you to track your progress — not just in strength, but also in movement quality. Your technique will improve as you progress.

You also have more freedom when choosing  different exercises, variations, and training methods on a powerbuilding program. Powerlifting is exclusively focused on moving the most total weight in the back squat, flat bench press, and deadlift. Powerbuilding lets you focus on different barbell lifts while performing a wide variety of isolation exercises. In the long-term, this leads to better balance, proportion, and overall healthy function throughout your body.

Why Train for Powerbuilding

A Powerbuilding routine is excellent not only for building strength and muscle, but also for developing work capacity and resilience toward injury. This is primarily because powerbuilding allows flexibility to use a variety of exercises and training methods, instead of a relatively smaller handful of goal-specific exercises or methods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Muscles grow bigger and stronger more quickly than the connective tissue that attaches those muscles to bones. If your training routine is excessively focused on building strength, like many powerlifting-based programs, you’re on a potentially dangerous path.

The disproportionate increase in muscular strength may create a condition where your muscles exert levels of force that your connective tissues can’t support. That can lead to the type of injury that keeps nagging for years.

Powerbuilding programs make it simple to incorporate moderate-to-high rep accessory exercises which increase blood supply and metabolic growth factors to tendons and ligaments. This type of training makes the connective tissues thicker and stronger, while increasing the muscles’ ability to withstand fatigue and do more work.

Powerbuilding routines also leave room for hybrid training methods which build muscle and aerobic capacity together, such as “tempo interval circuits” — alternating 20 to 45 seconds of steady state activity (rowing, stationary bike riding, sled dragging, etc.) with 10 to 15 reps of an accessory exercise, repeated for a total of 20 to 60 minutes.

These methods can all be included in powerbuilding programs to build a more well-rounded, highly capable body that’s more resistant to injury. You can still decide to specialize with powerlifting or bodybuilding-focused training later, if it suits your specific goal.

How to Plan a Powerbuilding Routine

While you do have a lot of flexibility when arranging your powerbuilding training plan, there are some important things to consider when designing a program.

Choose Your Main Lifts

First, decide which compound lifts to prioritize. You can use the classic back squat, flat bench press, and deadlift, or you can substitute similar alternatives. For example, you could trade the bench press for the overhead press if overhead strength appeals to you.

To focus on leg strength, you may want to include both the back squat and front squat while leaving out the deadlift for a few months. However, using “overlapping” exercises or very similar movements will require extra attention to planning, explained later.

There are no strict rules regarding which exercises to include, just pick what you like and stick with it. You can choose whatever big compound lifts you prefer, and you can even change them over time.

However, because the main lift is strength-focused, it should be a movement which allows the greatest potential weight to be lifted. This will almost always be a barbell exercise. Plan to use three to five sets of three to six reps with a challenging weight.

Know Your Training Split

Next, decide what order you’ll train your lifts and muscle groups. You can do this by following a push/pull split, an upper/lower split, or a muscle group split.

Push/Pull Split: The push/pull split alternates training days focused on “pushing” muscles and movements (including squats and squat variations, chest and shoulder training, and triceps work) with days focused on “pulling” muscles and movements (including deadlifts and deadlift variations, back exercises like rows and pulldowns, and biceps training).

The most common way to program a push/pull split is to pair a pushing movement main lift with accessory pushing exercises. For example, a workout could begin with heavy squats, followed up with upper and lower-body pushing accessory exercises including hack squats, leg extensions, overhead dumbbell pressing, and skull crushers.

If you’re training with more than one push (or pull) workout per week, you might focus the accessory work to only the muscles used in the main lift. For example, heavy front squats followed by the leg press, Bulgarian split squat, standing calf raise, and ab training.

Upper/Lower Split: This is exactly what it sounds like — each training day is devoted to either upper body or lower body exercises.

On day one, you might bench press and then do the dumbbell overhead press, pulldowns, cable rows, and triceps extensions. Day two could include the deadlift, lunges, hamstring curls, and calf raises. While day three might focus on the barbell row, chin-ups, chest dips, incline pressing, and biceps curls.

This approach can be manipulated to improve overall recovery time by adding rest days to extend the time between workouts. This makes it a very suitable choice for older lifters who may need to carefully monitor the weekly wear and tear on their body.

Muscle Group Split: This is a classic “body part split” seen in most bodybuilding programs, with each training day focused on one or two specific muscle groups. However, the main compound lifts still focus on building strength with that body part as the primary working muscle.

Training days typically work around the chest, back, shoulders, arms (sometimes broken down into a biceps day and a triceps day), and legs. “Leg day” may also be separated into one quadriceps day (with squats) and one hamstring day (with deadlifts).

For example, you might start “quadriceps day” with front squats, and then maximize muscle growth with accessory exercises that specifically work the leg muscles used in a squat — including lunges and leg extensions.

On shoulder day, you may use the push press as a main lift, followed by dumbbell overhead pressing, lateral raises, rear delt flyes, triceps pushdowns.

Choose Your Accessory Exercises

Once you’ve selected your main lifts and training split, you’ll know which accessory movements can be plugged into each day.

Accessory movements should be chosen to build size in muscles that need attention and are appropriate for each training day. If you’re following a push/pull split, you wouldn’t perform leg curls as an accessory movement after bench press; they’re different types of movements and the hamstrings aren’t recruited when benching.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking accessory exercises are a lesser priority than your main lift. Accessory movements are primarily responsible for the “building” part of powerbuilding. They help you pack on size and support strength progression in the main lifts.

When it comes to accessory exercises, work for three to five sets of eight to 15 reps. You may want to include traditional isolation exercises like lateral raises or seated leg extensions, or variations of the main lift such as an incline bench press or dumbbell overhead press.

You could also use alternative exercises like kettlebell swings, farmer’s walks, or sled drags to build the size and conditioning you’re looking for. Accessory movements allow you to focus more on muscle growth than raw strength, so choose the movements based on your individual needs.

Determine Your Training Frequency

The last step to setting up your powerbuilding program is to decide how many days per week you’re going to train. Typically, the longer you’ve been training, the more volume of work you must do to continue to see progress.

This usually means more experienced lifters will need to train more days each week than when they first started. Someone who has been doing powerbuilding training for a year or less can often improve with only two to three workouts a week because the overall stimulus is still relatively new and their body responds well.

Lifters with more than two years experience will probably need to train three to five days per week to achieve the volume and intensity needed to continue seeing results. One or even two workouts per week couldn’t accommodate enough exercises with enough sets and reps, using enough weight, to trigger sufficient muscle and strength gains.

However, you can structure your week to make the most out of fewer training days. Yes, the longer you consistently train, the more work you will need to add overall. But if you appropriately pair your compound lifts and add accessory exercises that fill in any potential gaps, you don’t necessarily need to lift five days a week.

For example, you might follow an upper/lower split three days per week using the bench press and barbell row as main lifts on one upper body day, trap bar deadlifts and squats on a lower body day, and a shoulder press on the next training day.

Common Powerbuilding Mistakes

Powerbuilding can be a relatively straightforward approach to training — lift heavy and then lift a little lighter — but several common mistakes can limit your recovery and reduce results.

Poor Fatigue Management

One of the biggest issues to keep in mind is managing your fatigue throughout the week. You can do this by following a proper training split, grouping main lifts together, and organizing your split to reduce the total training days each week. Each of these were addressed in the planning section above.

You can also manage nervous system fatigue by avoiding excessive overlap with similar exercises. If you were to design a powerbuilding routine with four different squat variations as the main lift four days in a row, you never give your nervous system or squatting muscles a chance to recover. You’ll likely burnout before seeing any significant results.

Instead, you might do back squats and squat cleans on day one, with Zercher squats and front squats on day three or four. This creates a structure that allows you time to recover from the physical and physiological stresses of squatting.

Yes, it may suck to do heavy cleans after heavy squats or front squats after heavy Zerchers, but your body will adapt because it’s given the chance to recover. In the end, the total training plan will be more productive and you will adapt and grow stronger from it.

Overemphasizing Main Lifts or De-emphasizing Accessory Work

Some lifters get so caught up in chasing heavy weights that they overlook accessory work. If they’re in a hurry on a given day, accessory movements might be performed haphazardly, with reduced effort, or even skipped entirely. That’s a one way ticket to plateau city, where strength stalls and muscles remain under-sized.

For optimal gains in both size and strength, the main lift and the accessories should be approached with balanced effort and enthusiasm. If you wouldn’t skip a set of heavy deadlifts, you shouldn’t consider skipping a set of pulldowns or lunges.

If the unexpected happens and you need to trim your time in the gym, don’t simply drop the accessory movements. Take the opportunity to dial up the intensity and use supersets to fit more training sets into a shorter amount of time.

Sample Powerbuilding Routine

Now that you have the general outline for how to structure your training, here’s a sample program putting it all into action.

This adaptable template keeps the main lifts focused on building strength and includes alternative methods to increase work capacity and develop muscle.

Day One

• Back Squat: 4 x 5 (70% one-rep max)
• Overhead Press: 5 x 3 (75% one-rep max)
• Bulgarian Split Squat: 4×10 (each leg)
• Dumbbell Upright Row: 4×10 (superset with previous exercise)

Tempo Interval Circuit — Perform for 20 minutes:

• Sled Push: 30 seconds 
• Feet-Elevated Push-up: 15 reps
• Sled Pull: 30 seconds 
• Lat Pulldown: 10 reps

Day Two

• Deadlift: 2 x 3 (75% one-rep max), 2 x 3 (80% one-rep max)
• Landmine Row: 4 x 6 (each side)
• Romanian Deadlift: 4 x 6
• Cable Pull-Through: 3 x 15
• Two-Arm Dumbbell Row: 4 x 10 (superset with two following exercises)
• Cable Face Pull: 4 x 10 
• Pallof Press: 4 x 6 (each side)

Day Three

• Bench Press: 4 x 5 (70% one-rep max)
• Front Squat: 4 x 3 (75% one-rep max)
• Goblet Squat: 4 x 8
• Lateral Lunge: 3 x 6 (each side)
• Dumbbell Floor Press: 3 x 12 (superset with previous exercise)

Accessory Circuit — As many sets as possible in eight minutes: 

• Inverted Row: 6 reps 
• Chest-Supported Front Raise: 8 reps
• Chest-Supported Rear Raise: 8 reps 
• Seated Hammer Curl: 10 reps 
• Overhead Dumbbell Triceps Extension: 8 reps 

Building the Best of Both Worlds

Powerbuilding training is not only a great way to build a broad base for beginners, it’s one of the most efficient ways to structure your workouts for becoming stronger, more muscular, leaner, and capable of more than just picking up heavy things or flexing in poses. If you’re motivated to build a well-rounded body, spend some time powerbuilding.

Featured Image: Tom Yau / Shutterstock

The post Powerbuilding: The Training Method for Size and Strength appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

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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When it comes specifically to weight training, one of the most effective methods for drilling proper form is known as “grease the groove” training, or GTG. When you grease the groove, you deliberately practice an exercise with relatively light weight for low reps, which makes the exercise feel “easy.”

This unique approach lets you focus on technique rather than focusing on tooth-grinding intensity in each set, and it can be an incredibly useful way to master an exercise by building skill and strength. Here’s an in-depth look at this unconventional and highly effective approach.

• • Grease the Groove Training Explained
  • How Grease the Groove Training Works
  • Why You Should Use Grease the Groove Training
  • How to Program Grease the Groove Training

Grease The Groove Training Explained

“Repeated submaximal training” is technical-sounding jargon for the method known as grease the groove training, often referred to as simply GTG. It’s a rethinking of a training week. And a rethinking of sets and reps. And a rethinking of intensity and recovery. Basically, GTG encourages you to rethink your entire approach to training in order to improve technique, increase strength, and build endurance.

Instead of performing gut-busting sets to failure, every set is stopped long before muscular fatigue sets in. Instead of attacking a body part with 15 sets once or twice per week, you might train a specific exercise for 10 or 20 total sets over the course of a single day, and then repeat it the next day, and the next day, and the next.

GTG specifically uses high frequency training (multiple workouts per week and/or per day) combined with low intensity (less-challenging weights) and low volume (fewer sets and reps) to develop strength, endurance, and technical skill with complete recovery.

The “grease the groove” method, and expression, was popularized by kettlebell expert and strength coach Pavel Tsatsouline in the early-2000s. Pavel has summarized the method as “training as often as possible while remaining as fresh as possible.”

“Training as often as possible” can actually mean training multiple times per day (time permitting). Because GTG training is commonly applied to bodyweight exercises like push-ups or pull-ups, the convenience of those exercises lends very well to being performed at nearly any time of day, in nearly any location. For a person working from home, for example, this can be ideal.

“Remaining as fresh as possible” refers to restricting intensity, as well as volume, to allow the recovery necessary for the frequent training. GTG hinges entirely on frequency. By repeating an exercise with increased frequency, you’re creating patterns within your nervous system that build strength by “learning” how to perform the exercise more efficiently. (1)

How Grease The Groove Training Works

GTG training involves your central nervous system as much if not more than it involves the muscles moving the weights. A weight training exercise is just like any other skill or activity. There’s technique involved, and regularly practicing that specific technique under ideal conditions is the most effective way to improve it.

For example, if your goal was to get better at hitting fastballs, you’d be at the batting cage every afternoon telling the pitching machine to forget about the curveball and just give you the heater. You wouldn’t just show up to the ballpark on Saturday, take some swings, and come back next week to try again.

The same general principle applies whether you’re knocking dingers outta the park, doing pull-ups, squatting, doing the clean & jerk, or performing any other movement you might need to focus on.

GTG is a way of training the nervous system to create motor pathways from the brain to the muscle fibers required to perform an exercise. (2) By repeatedly performing a given exercise using textbook form, proper technique and movement patterns develop. This improved technique can allow a lifter to improve strength, as both the CNS and the muscles involved in the exercise adapt to the training.

Weight training typically requires progressive overload — adding more weight or performing more reps each week to consistently challenge the body — to trigger an adaptation. GTG works on a nearly opposite progression model. Not only does GTG not require extra weight or more reps in each session, but consistently adding that type of overload would prevent GTG from delivering results.

To grease the groove, every rep needs to be performed relatively comfortably and with minimal difficulty. A reliable rule of thumb is to perform roughly half as many repetitions or load nearly half as much weight than you’d be fully capable of. For example, if you can deadlift 315 pounds for six reps, you’d grease the groove with 155 or 185 pounds for six. If you can perform five pull-ups, you’d grease the groove performing two reps per set.

The training is specifically meant to feel easy in every session, almost like warm-up sets. Once you start cranking up the frequency and performing multiple sessions per day, you’ll appreciate the relatively low intensity.

Why Use Grease The Groove Training

Grease the groove training is primarily a method to increase strength. It can also serve to improve technique and build high-rep endurance, but it’s most widely known as a training method for improving basic strength.

GTG is most often applied to bodyweight exercises like push-ups and pull-ups, due to their convenience for high frequency training. However, any weight training exercise can be used as long as the load is properly chosen and the exercise can, of course, be performed often.

If you wanted to perform GTG with the bench press, but didn’t have a home gym, your primary hurdle would be getting to the gym at least once a day, every day, to make grease the groove training as effective as possible. That’s impractical for some people, but if you can make it work, you can reap the benefits.

High frequency training has been repeatedly shown to be extremely effective for building strength. (3)(4) Grease the groove training allows a higher training frequency without compromising overall recovery.

Because GTG builds strength and is well-suited to bodyweight training, it’s a popular method for calisthenics-focused lifters, especially beginners. If you can only do three pull-ups, GTG is an extremely effective way to bump your max reps into double-digit range. Similarly, it can be a useful technique for conquering challenging exercises like single-leg squats (pistols) or handstand push-ups.

Many lifters who are required to pass bodyweight exercise fitness tests, often used in law enforcement or the military, have used GTG training to improve their testing scores by increasing their max rep push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, or other testing criteria.

One aspect where GTG falls short, however, is for muscle-building. Intensity and volume play extremely significant roles in building muscle, and those programming cornerstones are necessarily minimized with grease the groove training. (5)(6)

How to Program Grease The Groove Training

GTG is most commonly and most effectively applied to one specific exercise or movement, rather than a general body part. Multiple exercises could be trained with GTG if they have minimum overlap and don’t work similar body parts.

Choose the Right Movement

For example, training pull-ups and barbell rows with GTG would be counterproductive because the back would be directly worked in each exercise and you wouldn’t be fresh for each session. However, training pull-ups and squats or dips and barbell rows could be very effective because the exercises involve different muscle groups.

GTG could make you reconsider your idea of “high frequency.” Repeating a workout three times per week would certainly be considered high frequency under normal training circumstances, but GTG takes it to the next-level.

Repeating workouts every day is common programming for grease the groove training. Repeating workouts every few hours, multiple times per day, is even more common. Again, sheer practicality can be one limiting factor with this approach.

Investing in a simple doorway pull-up bar can be an excellent decision for anyone working from home. Performing one set of half of your max-rep pull-ups every few hours is a time-tested approach to build pull-up strength and increase your total numbers. If your current max is three pull-ups, performing one perfect rep every time you walk past the bar (on the way to the bathroom, on the way back from the kitchen, etc.) is a textbook GTG training plan.

Over time, you’ll build both the skill and strength to perform more than one rep per set without being significantly fatigued. As you adapt more, you can sporadically test yourself and should find that you’ve beaten your former “max rep” limit without ever struggling in a workout.

A similar approach can be used for other exercises, most effectively with free weights. Again, many lifters don’t have access to a variety of machines on a regular basis, but if you’re a personal trainer working in a gym, for example, or an office worker with an on-site gym, it can certainly work.

Maintain a relatively low effort in each mini-session, performing one set of three to five reps with roughly half as much weight as you’d be otherwise capable of. If you can overhead press 155 for five reps, perform GTG using 75 pounds for five reps, as often as possible without fatiguing yourself, whether that’s every two hours or twice a day.

Soon enough, you’ll find that 75 pounds for five will feel even easier and you can increase the weight very slightly, to continue the process before eventually testing (and breaking) your old PR.

Avoid Training Overlap

One key to optimizing recovery is to avoid performing the same exercise in both your GTG plan and your standard training. If you’re in the gym training your back once per week, you could simultaneously perform GTG pull-ups every day as long as pull-ups are not part of your in-gym workout.

Overlapping GTG with your current training program is simply a matter of choosing your priority exercises and applying the GTG method (training those movements daily or multiple times per day with low volume and low intensity), while removing those same exercises from your current routine.

You could also follow an entire program based on GTG. Because it’s a strength-focused method, choose one compound (multi-joint) exercise per body part and train each movement every day or multiple times per day, performing one set of low reps with a weight suitable for a warm-up. Remember that you should never struggle or strain on any rep during GTG training and your form should remain picture-perfect.

It’s Easy Being Greasy

Grease the groove training can be used by beginners as well as the most experienced lifters. It’s perfectly suited for refining technique, sharpening the CNS, and building strength, which are benefits no lifter ever outgrows. Consider your overall training plan, pick one or two priority exercises, and get a little greasy.

References

1. Carroll, T. J., Riek, S., & Carson, R. G. (2001). Neural adaptations to resistance training: implications for movement control. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 31(12), 829–840. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200131120-00001
2. Duchateau, J., & Enoka, R. M. (2002). Neural adaptations with chronic activity patterns in able-bodied humans. American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation, 81(11 Suppl), S17–S27. https://doi.org/10.1097/00002060-200211001-00004
3. Ochi, E., Maruo, M., Tsuchiya, Y., Ishii, N., Miura, K., & Sasaki, K. (2018). Higher Training Frequency Is Important for Gaining Muscular Strength Under Volume-Matched Training. Frontiers in physiology, 9, 744. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.00744
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 (Auckland, N.Z.), 47(12), 2585–2601. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-017-0762-7
5. Lasevicius, T., Schoenfeld, B. J., Silva-Batista, C., Barros, T. S., Aihara, A. Y., Brendon, H., Longo, A. R., Tricoli, V., Peres, B. A., & Teixeira, E. L. (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. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000003454
6. Schoenfeld, B. J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. W. (2017). Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of sports sciences, 35(11), 1073–1082. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1210197

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In addition to his lifters’ success on the platform, he’s known for popularizing a strength-building exercise known as the Pendlay row — a barbell row performed from the floor to the stomach each rep. The movement has been used to build back strength and size in strength athletes and lifters of all levels. Here’s how to perform this highly effective movement.

• How to Do the Pendlay Row
• Pendlay Row Mistakes to Avoid
• Benefits of the Pendlay Row
• Muscles Worked by the Pendlay Row
• Who Should Do the Pendlay Row
• How to Program the Pendlay Row
• Pendlay Row Variations
• Pendlay Row Alternatives
• Frequently Asked Questions

Pendlay Row Technique Video

Coach Greg Walsh demonstrates a textbook Pendlay Row. Note the nearly horizontal torso, stationary upper body, and full stop at the bottom.

How to Do the Pendlay Row

The barbell row has been a long-running staple for building size and strength in the back, shoulders, and arms. The Pendlay row enforces specific technique to increase power output and make the target muscles work even harder.

Step 1 — Get Into the Starting Position

Begin with a loaded barbell on the floor directly above your toes. Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width. With a slight bend in your knees, push your hips back and bend at the waist until your upper body is parallel to the ground.

Arch your lower back and grab the bar with an overhand grip. Your grip width will be determined by your arm length. The priority is maintaining a parallel torso, so grabbing the bar wider than shoulder-width should be necessary.

Form Tip: You should feel tightness, not discomfort, in your hamstrings from holding the correct upper body position. If you feel pain, thoroughly warm-up your hips, hamstrings, glutes, and lower back to achieve the position more comfortably.

Step 2 — Perform an Explosive Pull

Flex your abs and squeeze the bar to create tension and stability. Pinch your shoulder blades together and quickly drive your elbows up while pulling the bar to your lower chest. Your torso should not lift from the parallel position.

The bar should physically touch your lower chest or upper abdomen before you allow it to return quickly to the ground. Don’t try to deliberately slow the barbell on the descent. Let the bar come to a complete rest on the ground before beginning the next rep.

Form Tip: If your torso moves significantly, reduce the weight on the bar and focus on maintaining a tight posture. Keeping a strict upper body position while lifting explosively is more important than swinging heavy weights.

Pendlay Row Mistakes to Avoid

The Pendlay row is specifically used to avoid technique issues more common with traditional barbell rows. Make sure you’re performing it correctly by avoiding these problems.

Moving Your Upper Body

One of the most noticeable differences with a Pendlay row is the significantly bent-over position, keeping the upper body parallel to the ground throughout the exercise. This allows maximum stress to be placed on the upper back and lat muscles, without using the lower back, glutes, and hamstrings to move the weight.

If your torso shifts to get the weight moving, you’re dissipating stress from the target muscles and reducing the strength and size benefit of the exercise.

Avoid It: Remember that the body position is deliberately bent forward in order to get optimal results. Be conscious of maintaining a strict parallel position. Never trade technique for more weight on the bar.

Bouncing Off the Floor

Each rep of a Pendlay row should be performed with the bar starting from a rested position on the floor. This requires your body to produce maximum force for each individual rep, instead of relying on the stretch-shortening cycle (a muscular phenomenon which uses a stretched position to increase strength). (1) This technique is sometimes referred to as “dead-stop training.”

Eliminating this full rest at the bottom allows momentum to build, which decreases the body’s force production and reduces the exercise’s effectiveness.

Avoid it: Allow the bar to come to a complete stop on the ground after each rep. Releasing the bar and resetting your grip between each rep can also help to ensure a full stop. Approach any given set as a series of individual reps, not one group of several reps. For example, instead of “a set of five reps,” think of performing “five single reps” with one second between each.

Benefits of the Pendlay Row

The Pendlay row was initially used to support good old-fashioned strength gains. Like all barbell rows, it also delivers plenty of muscular growth as well. Here are all the reasons to train with this big, basic lift.

Back Strength

A strong back is essential for maximal strength production during pressing exercises and for reducing the risk of shoulder injuries. (2) The Pendlay row directly trains all the muscles of the back to directly increase pulling strength, as well as to carryover to bench and overhead pressing.

Explosive Power

Because the Pendlay row is performed from a dead-stop, an explosive lift is required to move the weight. This helps to increase muscle recruitment and has been shown to increase overall power and strength gains. (3)

Back Size

Directly training the lats and upper back with heavy weights is an ideal way to trigger muscle growth. The Pendlay row applies muscular stress to these body parts, along with the biceps and forearms, making it an excellent cornerstone for any back-building workout.

Muscles Worked by Pendlay Row

The Pendlay row is a compound (multi-joint) exercise coordinating a number of muscles to complete the lift. This intense exercise hits nearly every muscle on the back half of the body, and then some.

Upper Back

The upper back — consisting of the trapezius, rear deltoids (shoulders), rhomboids, and other smaller muscles — works primarily to control the shoulder blades (scapulae). The Pendlay row activates the upper back on each repetition, helping to lift the bar from the ground and pull the bar into the top position.

Lats

The latissimus dorsi (lats) are the largest muscles on the back, running near your ribs and from under your arms to your lower back. They work to bring your arm in towards your body from an extended position, making them the primary mover during any rowing exercise.

Spinal Erectors

The spinal erectors are a pair of muscular columns running the length of your spine. They work to control your torso position at the waist (bending forwards or sideways, and rotating). During the Pendlay row, the spinal erectors work to maintain a static upper body position.

Biceps

The biceps brachii (biceps) control flexion at the elbow, bending your arm into a closed position. While they don’t undergo a complete contraction during a Pendlay row (a wider grip on the bar prevents a full biceps contraction), the biceps help to pull the weight towards your body and complete the lift in the top position.

Forearms

The forearms are technically composed of two separate muscles — the flexors on the bottom side of the forearm and the extensors on the top side. Maintaining a secure grip on the barbell during Pendlay rows heavily activates the flexors, while controlling the bar during the upwards lift recruits the extensors.

Who Should Do the Pendlay Row

Like many compound exercises, lifters with a variety of goals can benefit from incorporating the Pendlay row into their workouts.

Strength and Power Athletes

Lifters focused on moving serious weights in competition (or, really, for recreation too) can benefit from the strength and power built from Pendlay rows. Coach Pendlay initially used the exercise to assist the powerlifts and eventually used it as a staple for his Olympic weightlifting champions.

Training for Muscle

Heavy rowing exercises have consistently built large, muscular backs. The Pendlay row develops thicker, wider lats and an upper back to match.

How to Program the Pendlay Row

To efficiently train for size and strength without excessive fatigue in the support muscles of the lower back, which would compromise technique, the Pendlay row is best trained with relatively lower reps. Here are some effective guidelines

Moderate Weight, Low Repetition

Focusing on the Pendlay row’s explosive performance can sometimes mean applying more force to less weight. Training for two to six sets of two to four reps can prioritize maximum force production, which leads to more power development.

Heavy Weight, Low Repetition

Three to five sets of three to five reps is a time-tested way to move heavy weights on big compound lifts, delivering size and strength gains. When you begin lifting heavier weights while keeping strict form, you open a very big door to very big results. Remember that you may not be able to lift as much with the Pendlay row as you can with a traditional bent-over row.

Pendlay Row Variations

The Pendlay row delivers plenty of benefits, but not all lifters may be ready to dive into this big lift. Here are the best ways to work up to Pendlay rows.

Chest-Supported Row

The chest-supported row allows the back to be trained without requiring any lower body stabilization. This makes it ideal for lifters working around a lower back issue or lifters who may have mobility restrictions preventing them from reaching the parallel torso position needed for Pendlay rows.

Another benefit of many chest-supported row machines is a variety of gripping handles, which can slightly alter recruitment by emphasizing different muscles of the back.

Neutral-Grip Two Dumbbell Row

While the single-arm dumbbell row is common, performing the movement with two dumbbells at once is an excellent “gateway” to barbell rowing. By requiring both sides of the body to carry their share of the load (no weightlifting pun intended), strength discrepancies in muscles on either side can be more easily noticed and addressed.

Using a neutral-grip also reduces strain on the shoulder joint and allows increased muscular stress on the biceps and upper back.

Reverse-Grip Barbell Row

The reverse-grip barbell row involves a supinated (palms up) grip which significantly increases biceps activation and changes the exercise’s range of motion, which affects the back muscles.

The trapezius is more significantly activated due to a more upright torso angle and the lats are kept under constant tension with a significant stretch in the bottom position.

Pendlay Row Alternatives

There are a handful of exercises which can build size, strength, and power like the Pendlay row. Here are some of the top choices.

Barbell Row

While the Pendlay row involves a strict, parallel torso position and pulling each repetition from the ground, “breaking” those rules turns the barbell row into a different back-building beast.

The same muscle groups are activated to varying degrees. A slightly angled torso position reduces the hip and hamstring mobility requirement or Pendlay rows, while the muscles are kept under constant tension without resting the barbell. This makes the exercise more suitable for moderate to higher repetitions without fatiguing the supportive muscles.

Kroc Row

If a Pendlay row is considered a “strict barbell row,” a Kroc row could be considered a “controlled chaos dumbbell row.” It’s typically performed using heavy weights for high-rep sets and is often mistaken for standard single-arm rows being done with poor form.

Kroc rows can be very effective for building upper back strength and size even though they involve leg drive and body English rather than super-strict upper body pulling.

Power Clean

The power clean is arguably one of the most beneficial exercises that an athlete can perform in the gym. (4) It’s a classic staple in strength and conditioning programs for contact sports and is a variation of the clean and jerk from competitive Olympic weightlifting.

The power clean builds explosive total-body strength while packing size onto the upper back and traps, specifically. Note: When performing power cleans (or any Olympic lift variation), the bar should only be dropped from the top position if you’re using bumper plates and a specific lifting platform.

FAQs

My grip fatigues before the end of my set. Should I use lifting straps?

With many rowing exercises, and back exercises in general, muscular fatigue setting into the smaller muscles of your grip and forearms before the larger back muscles is a common issue. While grip strength often improves relatively quickly, it shouldn’t affect the primary goal of any exercise.

Supporting your grip with lifting straps during the heaviest and most challenging sets can improve performance overall. Over-relying on lifting straps, however, such as wearing them when lifting less-challenging weights, can prevent the development of grip strength.

Why does my lower back hurt during the exercise?

Keeping your torso in a parallel position is essential in the Pendlay row. However, some lifters may find that this position aggravates lower back pain or they may be unable to achieve sufficient depth in the first place.

The solution is to address flexibility and mobility in the lower back, hamstrings, glutes, and hips. Depending on your specific needs, it could be as simple as performing light weight single-leg deadlifts at the start of each workout or as thorough as consistently practicing a complete hip mobility series.

Pendlay Rows for Power

The Pendlay row has supported strength and power development for nearly three decades and has been used by top lifters around the world. With a simple barbell, and more than a few weight plates, you can add it to your own workouts and build world-class strength and size.

References

1. Seiberl, Wolfgang et al. “Editorial: The Stretch-Shortening Cycle of Active Muscle and Muscle-Tendon Complex: What, Why and How It Increases Muscle Performance?.” Frontiers in physiology vol. 12 693141. 20 May. 2021, doi:10.3389/fphys.2021.693141
2. Escalante, Guillermo DSc, MBA, ATC, CSCS, CISSN1; Fine, Daniel SPT, CSCS2; Ashworth, Kyle SPT, CSCS2; Kolber, Morey J. PT, PhD, CSCS2 Progressive Exercise Strategies to Mitigate Shoulder Injuries Among Weight-Training Participants, Strength and Conditioning Journal: February 2021 – Volume 43 – Issue 1 – p 72-85 doi: 10.1519/SSC.0000000000000547
3. Aagaard P, Simonsen EB, Andersen JL, Magnusson P, Dyhre-Poulsen P. Increased rate of force development and neural drive of human skeletal muscle following resistance training. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2002 Oct;93(4):1318-26. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00283.2002. PMID: 12235031.
4. Huyghe, Thomas & Goriss, Brent & DeLosAngeles, Ernest & Bird, Stephen. (2021). Exploring The Power Clean. International Journal of Strength and Conditioning. 1. 10.47206/ijsc.v1i1.95.

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While many lifters train to improve their physique, working to enhance sheer strength will always appeal to a fundamental instinct. Like muscle-building workouts, the right strength-building program requires a specialized plan to achieve maximum results and move hefty weight. Here’s what you need to know.

How to Build Strength

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

How the Body Builds Strength

While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, “strength training” and “muscle building” are interpreted differently by the body. Muscle building is relatively straightforward: A target muscle is put under stress, which triggers muscle protein synthesis, and new muscle tissue is created, making that muscle grow in size.

Strength training is slightly more complex. Strength can be built in several ways. The first is physical, practicing the skill of performing a specific exercise and building the muscles that function during that exercise. The second response to strength-building is neurological — the central nervous system (CNS) essentially “learns” which muscle fibers need to be recruited to move a specific load in a particular exercise. (1)(2)

The CNS is composed of the brain and spinal cord and is responsible for activating, well, everything else in the body. The CNS determines which muscles and muscle fibers need to be recruited to perform any physical activity, whether it’s lifting a 600-pound barbell or picking up a newspaper from the front porch.

Similar to a muscle, the CNS can perform better in response to certain training but it can also be overstressed, resulting in delayed results and potentially counter-productive workouts.

To develop maximum strength, you need to develop your muscles as well as allow your CNS to become more familiar with the movement. Neglecting one or the other will not allow you to lift the heaviest weights possible. Your training program not only needs to address the muscles moving the weight but also the brain that’s telling which muscles what to do.

This is why building strength requires a combination of the proper training volume (sets and reps), training intensity, and exercise choice.

How to Train to Build Strength

The training program of a lifter focused on getting as strong as possible can, and should, be very different from a lifter who wants to build as much muscle as possible. Everything from exercise choice to how many reps are performed to how much weight they lift will determine their results.

Here are the details of setting up a workout routine specifically designed to build strength and allow recovery for optimal results.

Establish a Training Split

The first step to building strength is establishing a plan, and that plan usually starts with knowing what you’re training and on what days (known as a training split). There are a lot of ways to divvy up your training, but not all of them are efficient for gaining strength. For example, a body part split — wherein you train one or two body parts per workout — is a popular choice for bodybuilders or anyone looking to get larger. You can accumulate more muscle-building tension on a specific muscle with body part splits, but by hyper-focusing on isolation movements and a couple of muscles, you leave strength gains on the table.

A popular strength-training approach is to break up your training based on specific movements. If you’re a competitive powerlifters, those movements should be a back squat, bench press, and deadlift — since those are the lifts you’ll perform at a powerlifting meet. If you’re not a competitive powerlifter, you’ll still most likely benefit the most from prioritizing a primary pushing, pulling, and squat movement.

Planning your training days around a specific lift tends to give way to what’s known as a push, pull, legs split, which is exactly what it sounds like. On the days you train the bench press (or another similar compound exercise), you’ll also perform pushing movements like overhead presses, skull crushers, push-ups, and dips. A pull day may start with the deadlift and then end with movements such as pull-ups, cable rows, and back extensions. And for legs, you’ll prioritize squats and then isolate different parts of you lower body with more specific exercises like hamstring curls, leg extensions, and calf raises.

Some lifters like to double-up their push, pull, legs split so they hit each category twice per week. Typically, a lifter will dedicate one push, pull, legs cycle to high-intensity, low-volume training for strength and then focus on high-volume, low-intensity work for the second round of push, pull, legs to develop muscle mass. If you’re a new lifter looking to get strong, it’s suggested to train only three times per week. Six days of training is a lot, and if you’re not used to it you risk overtraining, which can lead to lackluster results or, at worst, injury.

A close alternative to the classic push, pull, legs split is to focus on specific movement patterns — horizontal and vertical pushing and pulling, hip hinging, and squatting. Following this split, you’d have four training days (see below) that are primarily built around strength-building compound movements. Your main movements for horizontal and vertical push and pull days may be the bench press, Pendlay row, overhead press, and weighted pull-up. Then, you’d deadlift on hip hinge days and squat on squat (or knee-based) days.

Another key consideration for organizing your workout split is rest and recovery. Intense workouts can require up to 72 hours of recovery time between repeated sessions to avoid a negative effect on performance. (3) So, training an exercise any more than once every three days (meaning no more than twice per week) would compromise strength and power output, resulting in less efficient training.

You won’t run into this issue following a push, pull, leg split. Though, if you opt for a different approach, workout structure concerning recovery should be top of mind.

The Best Exercises to Build Strength

If your car was stuck in a ditch, would you try pushing it out yourself, or would you want a team of five people helping you? The same basic premise applies to exercises. If you have a 300-pound barbell, would you try to lift it with only your biceps or with your biceps, triceps, shoulders, lats, upper back, glutes, and hamstrings?

Multi-joint (compound) exercises activate numerous muscle groups during an exercise, each of which contributes to strength output. In comparison, single-joint (isolation) exercises are more beneficial as accessory or “assistance” training to strengthen weak points and support larger movements. For example, the triceps during a bench press or the hamstrings during a deadlift.

The exact exercises to focus on are essentially up to the individual lifter. Other than competitive strength athletes who perform specific exercise in competitions, very few people in the gym “must” do any specific exercise.

Despite what gym lore says, not every lifter in the gym is required to do the “big three” powerlifts — barbell flat bench press, barbell back squat, and conventional deadlift. Those exercises can certainly be effective for building strength, but so can the overhead press, front squat, and trap bar deadlift, for example.

The priority is to choose multi-joint exercises to recruit the most total muscle to move a heavier weight while allowing for consistent load progression. Choosing exercises which don’t accommodate increased weight from week to week won’t allow the type of progression needed for long-term results.

For example, isolation exercises like leg extensions, lateral raises, or barbell curls aren’t well-suited to adding five to 10 pounds (or more) each and every week because maintaining safe and effective technique becomes nearly impossible at a certain point. Sacrificing exercise form to move heavy weights isn’t a reasonable plan for getting long-term results.

Compound Lift Examples

• Deadlifts (barbell, trap-bar, kettlebell, dumbbell)
• Bench Press
• Back Squat
• Front Squat
• Dumbbell Bench Press
• Romanian Deadlift
• Barbell Row
• Overhead Press

Isolation Lift Examples

• Lateral Raise
• Dumbbell Curl
• Leg Extension
• Hamstring Curl
• Cable Pushdown
• Skull Crusher
• Calf Raise
• Cable Flye

Choosing Sets, Reps, and Intensity for More Strength

A popular saying from weightlifters in the early-1900s was “train for strength and size will follow.” Meaning, a focus on building strength will incidentally lead to muscle growth without requiring specific hypertrophy (muscle building) training.

Many lifters, especially beginners, will build a combination of size and strength from most weight training programs. However, to reach one single goal, a training plan needs to be tailored towards one specific target. (4)

A workout designed to build strength requires a very different approach from a workout designed to build muscle size. While muscle-building workouts require a certain amount of total volume (sets and reps) to stimulate growth, building strength requires performing fewer reps per set, resulting in lower overall volume.

Strength is most effectively built when performing three to five sets of one to six reps with an appropriately challenging load. (5) (6) “Appropriately challenging” are the keywords there.

For muscle-building, reaching muscular failure in a set is often required. For strength-building, muscular failure is counterproductive. This is a serious mind-shift lifters need to adopt in order to get stronger.

Training between 75% and 90% of your one-rep max (1RM) has been shown to develop maximal strength given the required volume. (7)

Lifting a given weight while avoiding muscular failure is necessary to achieve the required CNS stimulation and muscle fiber recruitment, and avoid negative training effects. Basketball players might never end practice on a missed shot, but strength-focused lifters should never miss a lift in the first place.

Achieving muscular failure and not being able to successfully complete a repetition can trigger an unwanted response, essentially telling your body to not “want” to lift the weight, making progress more and more difficult. (8)

Ensure You’re Progressing Each Week

Some parts of weight training can be complicated. Fortunately, some parts can also be easy. When training to build strength, progression really can be as simple as “add more weight to the bar each week.”

Adding either a predetermined weight (often five to 10 pounds, regardless of the exercise or lifter’s experience) or a specific percentage (typically two to 10%, with lower percentages being more appropriate for experienced lifters) can both be effective weekly approaches.

The key consideration is to maintain a training intensity below muscular failure. Adding reps each week is suboptimal for strength gains because it increases the total training volume at a relatively lower intensity and shifts the priority towards building muscle.

For example, on Monday you performed barbell rows with 205 pounds for three sets of five. Next Monday, use 215 pounds and again aim for the same three sets of five. If you feel extreme muscular fatigue and grind to complete rep four, avoid muscular failure by not attempting a fifth rep.

One overlooked but highly effective progression method, however, is to perform the same weight with the same reps to reinforce or improve exercise technique.

This is sometimes referred to as “owning the weight,” being able to perform the same volume with the same load using better form. With this approach, adding weight every other week, or even every three weeks, is best.

This would be achieved, for example, by performing barbell rows with 205 pounds for three sets of five. The following week, again use 205 pounds again for three sets of five while focusing on applying more bar speed, maintaining strict form, and not allowing any technique errors. In the next workout, use 215 pounds for three sets of five, and repeat.

This method can be particularly effective for competitive lifters or any lifter who’d benefit from improved technique, as well as lifters managing joint pain for whom weekly weight increases may be too much.

How to Eat for Strength

Training for strength has an unfortunate reputation for minimizing the importance of nutrition. If you’re not trying to build muscle or lose fat, then you can eat anything, right? No. Very wrong.

Not only will an inattention to diet affect recovery, but it’s too often associated with fat gain. While some lifters may not be concerned with adding body fat, there are fundamental health issues connected to excessive fat gain worth caring about, ranging from arthritis and cardiovascular issues to cancer and diabetes. (9)

Nutrition plays an important role not only for recovery, but for performance. Here’s how to complement strength-building workouts with a diet plan that supports heavy lifting.

Plenty of Calories, But Not Too Many

A caloric deficit may be beneficial for fat loss goals, but to build strength, sufficient total calories are required to fuel performance and optimize recovery. Anywhere from 15 to 20 calories per pound of bodyweight per day (from a combination of protein, carbohydrates, and fats) is an effective starting point, dependent on the lifter’s size and overall weekly training plan. (10)(11)

While total calorie intake is one factor, overemphasizing “more calories” at the expense of strategic macronutrients is a mistake which can interrupt maximum results. Here’s how to setup the details of a performance-focused, strength-building diet plan.

Protein for Muscle Growth… and Recovery

Protein is most commonly associated with muscle growth. However, protein intake is essential for muscle recovery, as well.

Daily intake as high as 0.9 grams per pound of bodyweight have shown to be beneficial for supporting maximal strength. (12)(13) Rounding up to the more simplified “one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight” is a more well-known, more convenient, and equally effective guideline.

A higher protein intake also serves a secondary benefit of adding total daily calories without contributing significantly to fat gain. (14) So if you want to take in plenty of calories while still having some regard to limiting body fat, pack in the protein.

Carbohydrates for Fuel

Carbs are typically considered the preferred fuel source for athletic performance. This is because, essentially, muscle contractions, whether it’s sprinting around a track or throwing a ball or picking up a heavy barbell, are fueled by carbohydrates.

Two to three grams of carbs per pound of bodyweight per day is an effective guideline to fuel high-intensity training. (15) For better performance, consistent energy, and improved recovery while avoiding excessive calories, nutrient-dense sources such as grains, fruits, and root vegetables are preferred to highly processed, nutrient-void options. (16)

Some top-tier athletes are able to get away with less-than-strict nutrition practices. This is more a testament to their genetic eliteness and super-high workload (sometimes 30+ hours of exercise per week) than it is a template to follow.

Don’t Avoid Fats

Dietary fats are where many nutrition plans take a turn for the worse, either limiting them strictly or allowing an excess. Either extreme can create problems ranging from hormonal disruption to simple (and quick) fat gain.

Fat intake has been shown to support optimal sports performance when kept to roughly 30% of total daily calories, rather than a grams-per-pound guideline used with protein and carbohydrates. (17) For example, if you’re a 180-pound lifter eating 3,600 calories per day, fat intake should be roughly 120 grams (1080 calories) per day.

How to Recover to Build Strength

Lifting heavy weights without recovering is like driving cross-country without stopping for gas. You’re not going to make it very far. Here are two of the most important factors in recovery to ensure that your work outside the gym encourages results from the training done inside the gym.

Rest Days Are Necessary

When it comes to heavy lifting, rest days are often welcomed even by the most enthusiastic and dedicated lifters. Moving heavy weights can take its toll not only on the muscles of the body, but also on the CNS. (18)

Incorporating non-training days can allow full recovery and adaptation, which coincides with maximal performance during workouts. One way to potentially improve recovery without complete rest is known as “active recovery”. (19)

By using lower intensity training such as cardiovascular exercise, stretching, or lower intensity weight training (such as technique practice with lighter weights), overall recovery may be improved compared to total rest, making it an ideal approach for lifters who need to “get up and do something” every day.

Plenty of Sleep Every Night

Like a day of rest, a good night’s sleep is something many lifters look forward to after a hard workout. Pushing your body hard during the day makes resting at night even more important.

Hopefully, getting seven to nine hours per night is achievable for your schedule. That range has been shown to be ideal for ensuring adequate recovery and optimal athletic performance. (20) Getting enough sleep can be just as important as getting into the gym to train when it comes to reaching big goals.

Sample Strength-Building Program

Building strength doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does need to follow the programming principles you’ve just learned. Here’s one example of a workout plan focused on moving big weights, recovering well, and then moving even bigger weights.

Sunday

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

Monday

Hip Hinge Workout

• Deadlift: 5 x 3
• Seated Leg Curl: 4 x 8-10
• Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift: 3 x 6-8

Tuesday

Vertical Push & Pull Workout

• Push Press: 5 x 3
• Chin-Up: 5 x 5
• Lateral Raise: 4 x 10-12
• Single-Arm Pulldown: 3 x 10-12

Wednesday

Stretching or mobility training, 30 minutes

Thursday

Squat Workout

• Front Squat: 5 x 3
• Reverse Lunge: 3 x 10-12
• Standing Calf Raise: 4 x 12-15

Friday

Horizontal Push & Pull Workout

• Bench Press: 5 x 3
• Barbell Row: 5 x 5
• Dip: 4 x 8-10
• Bent-Over Dumbbell Flye: 4 x 10-12

Saturday

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

Test Your Strength

What good is building strength if you don’t know how strong you’re getting? Testing your 1RM can tread the fine line between assessing your progress and feeding your ego.

However, as long as you approach a 1RM test as a deliberate section of your overall training plan and not a spur-of-the-moment whim, it can be an essential part of your progress. Testing one to three times per year, with several months of uninterrupted training leading up to each test, will give plenty of insight as to how your training is progressing.

The most effective approach is to take several days throughout one week to test your primary lifts, ideally focusing on just one lift per day to minimize cumulative fatigue.

Go through a general warm-up and then commence the test, performing six to eight progressively heavier sets of one rep. Be sure to extend rest periods as weights get significantly heavier, resting up to five minutes between each set. (21)

As with standard training, be sure to avoid muscular failure. The nature of the test itself may mean you do eventually reach failure (be sure to have a spotter on call), but do your best to gauge performance and anticipate your capabilities.

Time to Get Stronger

Training for strength is one of the most fundamental goals in the gym. Even lifters who prioritize muscle-building can benefit from time spent focused on improving their strength. If you’re not interested in fine-tuning your physique and want to be lifting all the plates in the gym, set up a plan and go for it.

References

1. Sale DG. Neural adaptation to resistance training. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1988 Oct;20(5 Suppl):S135-45. doi: 10.1249/00005768-198810001-00009. PMID: 3057313.
2. Jenkins NDM, Miramonti AA, Hill EC, Smith CM, Cochrane-Snyman KC, Housh TJ, Cramer JT. Greater Neural Adaptations following High- vs. Low-Load Resistance Training. Front Physiol. 2017 May 29;8:331. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2017.00331. PMID: 28611677; PMCID: PMC5447067.
3. Thomas K, Brownstein CG, Dent J, Parker P, Goodall S, Howatson G. Neuromuscular Fatigue and Recovery after Heavy Resistance, Jump, and Sprint Training. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2018 Dec;50(12):2526-2535. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001733. PMID: 30067591.
4. Reggiani C, Schiaffino S. Muscle hypertrophy and muscle strength: dependent or independent variables? A provocative review. Eur J Transl Myol. 2020;30(3):9311. Published 2020 Sep 9. doi:10.4081/ejtm.2020.9311
5. American College of Sports Medicine (2009). American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 41(3), 687–708. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181915670
6. Campos, G. E., Luecke, T. J., Wendeln, H. K., Toma, K., Hagerman, F. C., Murray, T. F., Ragg, K. E., Ratamess, N. A., Kraemer, W. J., & Staron, R. S. (2002). Muscular adaptations in response to three different resistance-training regimens: specificity of repetition maximum training zones. European journal of applied physiology, 88(1-2), 50–60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-002-0681-6
7. Thompson, S.W., Rogerson, D., Ruddock, A. et al. The Effectiveness of Two Methods of Prescribing Load on Maximal Strength Development: A Systematic Review. Sports Med 50, 919–938 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-019-01241-3
8. Gabriel DA, Kamen G, Frost G. Neural adaptations to resistive exercise: mechanisms and recommendations for training practices. Sports Med. 2006;36(2):133-49. doi: 10.2165/00007256-200636020-00004. PMID: 16464122.
9. Pi-Sunyer X. The medical risks of obesity. Postgrad Med. 2009;121(6):21-33. doi:10.3810/pgm.2009.11.2074
10. Kerksick, C.M., Wilborn, C.D., Roberts, M.D. et al. ISSN exercise & sports nutrition review update: research & recommendations. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 15, 38 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-018-0242-y
11. Gary Slater & Stuart M. Phillips (2011) Nutrition guidelines for strength sports: Sprinting, weightlifting, throwing events, and bodybuilding, Journal of Sports Sciences, 29:sup1, S67-S77, DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2011.574722
12. Schoenfeld, B.J., Aragon, A.A. & Krieger, J.W. The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: a meta-analysis. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 10, 53 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-10-53
13. Jäger, R., Kerksick, C.M., Campbell, B.I. et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: protein and exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 14, 20 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-017-0177-8
14. Bray, George A et al. “Effect of dietary protein content on weight gain, energy expenditure, and body composition during overeating: a randomized controlled trial.” JAMA vol. 307,1 (2012): 47-55. doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1918
15. Kanter M. High-Quality Carbohydrates and Physical Performance: Expert Panel Report. Nutr Today. 2018;53(1):35-39. doi:10.1097/NT.0000000000000238
16. Eck KM, Byrd-Bredbenner C. Food Choice Decisions of Collegiate Division I Athletes: A Qualitative Exploratory Study. Nutrients. 2021;13(7):2322. Published 2021 Jul 6. doi:10.3390/nu13072322
17. Lowery LM. Dietary fat and sports nutrition: a primer. J Sports Sci Med. 2004;3(3):106-117. Published 2004 Sep 1.
18. Zając A, Chalimoniuk M, Maszczyk A, Gołaś A, Lngfort J. Central and Peripheral Fatigue During Resistance Exercise – A Critical Review. J Hum Kinet. 2015;49:159-169. Published 2015 Dec 30. doi:10.1515/hukin-2015-0118
19. Ortiz, R. O., Jr, Sinclair Elder, A. J., Elder, C. L., & Dawes, J. J. (2019). A Systematic Review on the Effectiveness of Active Recovery Interventions on Athletic Performance of Professional-, Collegiate-, and Competitive-Level Adult Athletes. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 33(8), 2275–2287. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000002589
20. Ortiz RO Jr, Sinclair Elder AJ, Elder CL, Dawes JJ. A Systematic Review on the Effectiveness of Active Recovery Interventions on Athletic Performance of Professional-, Collegiate-, and Competitive-Level Adult Athletes. J Strength Cond Res. 2019 Aug;33(8):2275-2287. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002589. PMID: 29742750.
21. Grgic, J., Lazinica, B., Schoenfeld, B.J. et al. Test–Retest Reliability of the One-Repetition Maximum (1RM) Strength Assessment: a Systematic Review. Sports Med – Open 6, 31 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-020-00260-z

Featured Image: Dean Drobot / Shutterstock

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This strength cycle should help you prioritize overall squat, pull and press strength. The final week will be a test week of sorts, some lifts you will be allowed to max, others you will be given a set rep number to achieve at heavier weight.

If you do not know how to power clean, you may substitute box jumps or squat jumps, use the same sets and reps. If you do not have 100% numbers to work from, base each day on feel using the same worksets and reps.

Feel should follow these guidelines for % conversion, 60-70% should feel light-medium, 75-80% should feel medium, 85-90% medium heavy, 90%+ heavy. Only the worksets are prescribed, feel free to spend time with warm ups sets, but do not fatigue yourself, keep warm ups light and only to prepare you specifically for lifting.

Best way to approach this in a week: Monday Day 1, Tuesday Day 2, Wednesday Rest, Thursday Day 3, Friday Rest, Saturday Day 4, Sunday Rest. Give yourself one week of low volume and intensity following the 4 weeks as a deload/transition.

If you were successful in making your final week 90% Back Squat for 5 reps, you may increase your squat max numbers no more than 3-5%. You may also increase your deadlift by same % amount. If you make your bench press max or 90 for 3-5 reps you may increase your bench press no more than 1-3%. There is no need to max out your deadlift.

If you are unable to hit the prescribed number, or make max attempts, then you may repeat the cycle again with same numbers. If you are consistently missing reps between 80%-85% you have most likely chosen weights that are too heavy to begin with. If it is because your form is not there to attempt these weights I highly suggest you find a qualified weightlifting club and coach.

To read these worksout remember that parentheses like (/4)4 mean the number inside is the number of reps, the number outside is the number of sets. Where you see double digits like 70/2 that means 70% of your 1RM (one rep max) weight, or whatever you feel best on that day, for 2 reps.

A 4 Week Workout Plan for Muscle Gain: Week 1

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

A 4 Week Workout Plan for Muscle Gain: Week 2

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

A 4 Week Workout Plan for Muscle Gain: Week 3

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

A 4 Week Workout Plan for Muscle Gain: Week 4

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

The post Squat/Pull/Press: A 4-Week Strength Challenge appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general.” The infamous words of Mark Rippetoe are often used to drive the avid gym-goer to squat more, deadlift more, and bench press more.

Photo by Bev Childress

“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general.” The infamous words of Mark Rippetoe are often used to drive the avid gym-goer to squat more, deadlift more, and bench press more.

But when your goal is health and longevity, the quote takes on an even broader meaning. Using The Great Upside-Down Movement Pyramid, we’ve ticked off a number of health risk factors by sitting less and walking more.

But if you want to be independent, disease-free, and alive for as long as possible, it’s time to start moving stuff.

Critical Mass

While health professionals and the media regularly talk about the threat of cancer, type-2 diabetes, and heart disease, not many people talk about the risk of low muscle mass.

As we age, even if our weight stays the same, we start losing muscle mass and gaining extra “padding” to compensate.¹ The best way to prevent that? Lifting stuff.²

Muscle does more than just help you fill out a t-shirt and make it harder to buy a pair of jeans that fits. We now know muscles make up the largest organ in the body.³

In response to movement, muscles secrete a number of factors that reduce inflammation, improve bone health, and help protect against heart disease and multiple forms of cancer.³

Adding muscle through resistance training is also one of the most reliable ways to improve insulin sensitivity and metabolic health.^3,4

Making sure you get some of that muscle back is going to be crucial for future health. This doesn’t mean you need to take up bodybuilding. You just need to make sure you’re above average.”

Focusing on muscle mass is particularly important for those who have engaged in active weight loss, as both higher body fat and a calorie deficit can lead to a loss in muscle.^5,6

In the general population, people with more muscle mass live longer, so making sure you get some of that muscle back is going to be crucial for future health.

This doesn’t mean you need to take up bodybuilding. You just need to make sure you’re above average.⁷ But unless you have a debilitating disease, I’m afraid there isn’t a pill for that.⁸

In summary: Better start those bicep curls now…

Everybody Get Up

Maybe even more important than muscle mass is muscle strength. As we age, we lose strength even faster than we lose the muscles themselves, and muscle strength is directly related to our ability to remain mobile and independent as we get older.^9,11

So if you want to make sure you’re around to spend as much of your children’s inheritance as possible, and it’s been a while since you thought about your strength and balance, then now is the time to start working on it again. Try this:

1. Sit down on the floor and then get back up. Easy.
2. Now try it without using your arms or hands for support, or resting your knees on the ground at any point. Not so easy.
3. Now imagine that you start the whole movement with ten points. Subtract a point every time you need to support yourself with your arms, touch your knee to the ground, or become unbalanced. The lower your final score is, the greater your risk of mortality (death).^12,13

In one move, this simple test examines leg strength and balance, which have repeatedly been shown to predict risk of death by any cause.⁷ Stronger people really are harder to kill.

In summary: Want to improve strength and balance and live longer? Lift stuff.^14–17

Burpees Will Save Your Life

While the thought of getting stronger is all well and good, let’s face it: in the modern world, strength is optional. As humans, we’ve crafted our environment to make life easy. While that’s helped us get where we are today, it comes at a potential price.

What happens when there’s nobody there to help you?

Every year in the UK, 65,000 people fracture a hip, usually after a fall.^18,19 In the US, the number is nearly 300,000 per year.^20,21

After fracturing a hip, almost a third of people will die within a year, and less than half of the survivors will regain complete independence.²²

“If you’re strong enough to do a burpee, not only will you will be less likely to fall, you’re also more likely to get yourself up if you do fall.”

Sound a bit dramatic? Then consider the fact that 30-40% of people over the age of 65 will have at least one fall per year, and more than 20% of women and 10% of men are predicted to fracture a hip in their lifetime.²³

Even if you don’t break anything, up to 50% of people that fall are unable to get up unassisted, and will often need hospitalization by the time help eventually arrives.¹⁴

Want to make sure you avoid that? All you would need to do is be able to push yourself up off the floor and lunge/squat yourself upright. If you can do those movements (a push up and a squat), you can do a burpee.

And if you’re strong enough to do a burpee, not only will you will be less likely to fall, you’re also more likely to get yourself up if you do fall.

In summary: Strength is optional, until it isn’t any more. And burpees will save your life.

Find Failure

When it comes to lifting for strength and muscle mass, everyone has their favorite method and training structure.

However, whether you prefer free weights, machines, or bodyweight exercises, the evidence to pick one over the other isn’t that compelling.²⁴

The upshot of this is that you can pretty much do whatever you enjoy and are most comfortable with. However, for general increases in strength and health, a few guidelines will help you get the most out of lifting things:

Intensity

To get the best metabolic, muscle, and strength-building effects, you need to activate as many of your muscle fibers as possible, and this requires maximum intensity.^25,26

The simplest way to do this is to make sure you reach failure (i.e., are unable to do another rep with good form) at the end of the set.²⁴

In fact, a single set to muscular failure is probably all you need in order to get significant strength and muscle gains, and even improve cardiovascular fitness.^24,27,28

Photo by Bev Childress

How much?

The best balance of benefits will come from sets where failure is reached in 6-12 reps.^24,26

This will remain the same whether you can only do bodyweight squats, or can squat 250kg for 10 reps.

After an adequate warm-up, work with weights above 80% of your one-rep max (1RM), because this will put you in the right range for high intensity over 6-12 reps, but also give other benefits, like making your bones stronger.²⁹

What movements?

While burpees will get you pretty far, the best results will come from improving strength in every direction. Dan John* would boil this down to five main movement patterns:

• Push (bench press, shoulder press, push ups, dips etc)
• Pull (pull-ups and rows)
• Hinge (picking stuff up)
• Squat (squatting)
• Carries (carrying stuff, like farmer’s walks or shopping bags)

How often?

For the movement-averse, doing a single set to failure in each of those movement categories once a week is enough to see significant benefits.^24,26–28

However, what we really want is to make movement a habit that’s built into our day. A better aim would be to hit 50-100 repetitions of each movement pattern at the desired intensity per week. The more frequently you lift, the less total volume you can use to see more total benefit.³⁰

In summary

For optimal gains – fail a little bit, and often.

*Don’t know who Dan John is? Open a new browser tab right away. Read some of his stuff, and then come back. I’ll wait…

Be Harder to Kill

Skipped to the end? Here’s what you need to know:

Optimal health and longevity hinge on your ability to pull your socks up, and push yourself to get stronger, with benefits that will carry over to multiple other areas of your life. And you should squat more.

Check out these related articles:

• Sit Less and Prioritize Movement for Long-Term Fitness
• Walking: The Simple Path to Feeling Sexier and Living Longer
• A Simple System for Staying and Active to the Very End

References

1. Zamboni et al. Health consequences of obesity in the elderly: a review of four unresolved questions. Int J Obes (Lond). 2005 Sep;29(9):1011-29.

2. Mekary et al. Weight training, aerobic physical activities, and long-term waist circumference change in men. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2015 Feb;23(2):461-7.

3. Pedersen and Febbraio. Muscles, exercise and obesity: skeletal muscle as a secretory organ. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2012 Apr 3;8(8):457-65.

4. Miller et al. Effect of strength training on glucose tolerance and post-glucose insulin response. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1984 Dec;16(6):539-43.

5. Wannamethee and Atkins. Muscle loss and obesity: the health implications of sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity. Proc Nutr Soc. 2015 Apr 27:1-8.

6. Heymsfield et al. Weight loss composition is one-fourth fat-free mass: a critical review and critique of this widely cited rule. Obes Rev. 2014 Apr;15(4):310-21.

7. Srikanthan and Karlamangla. Muscle mass index as a predictor of longevity in older adults. Am J Med. 2014 Jun;127(6):547-53.

8. Sepulveda et al. Pharmacology of manipulating lean body mass. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2015 Jan;42(1):1-13.

9. Clark and Manini. What is dynapenia? Nutrition. 2012 May;28(5):495-503.

10. Visser et al. Muscle mass, muscle strength, and muscle fat infiltration as predictors of incident mobility limitations in well-functioning older persons. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2005 Mar;60(3):324-33.

11. Hasselgren et al. Is leg muscle strength correlated with functional balance and mobility among inpatients in geriatric rehabilitation? Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2011 May-Jun;52(3):e220-5.

12. Brito et al. Ability to sit and rise from the floor as a predictor of all-cause mortality. Eur J Prev Cardiol. 2014 Jul;21(7):892-8.

13. Instructional video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCQ2WA2T2oA]

14. Tinetti et al. Predictors and prognosis of inability to get up after falls among elderly persons. JAMA. 1993 Jan 6;269(1):65-70.

15. Hasselgren et al. Is leg muscle strength correlated with functional balance and mobility among inpatients in geriatric rehabilitation? Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2011 May-Jun;52(3):e220-5.

16. Lee et al. Global muscle strength but not grip strength predicts mortality and length of stay in a general population in a surgical intensive care unit. Phys Ther. 2012 Dec;92(12):1546-55.

17. Newman et al. Strength, but not muscle mass, is associated with mortality in the health, aging and body composition study cohort. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2006 Jan;61(1):72-7.

18. National Hip Fracture Database Annual Report, 2015.

19. Ambrose et al. Falls and Fractures: A systematic approach to screening and prevention. Maturitas. 2015 Sep;82(1):85-93.

20. Brauer et al. Incidence and mortality of hip fractures in the United States. JAMA. 2009 Oct 14;302(14):1573-9.

21. Stevens and Anne Rudd. Declining hip fracture rates in the United States. Age Ageing. 2010 Jul;39(4):500-3.

22. Morrison et al. The medical consultant’s role in caring for patients with hip fracture. Ann Intern Med. 1998 Jun 15;128(12 Pt 1):1010-20.

23. Oden et al. Lifetime risk of hip fractures is underestimated. Osteoporos Int. 1998;8(6):599-603.

24. Fisher et al. Evidence-based resistance training recommendations. Med Sport 15 (3): 147-162, 2011

25. Carpinelli. The size principle and a critical analysis of the un- substantiated heavier-is-better recommendation for resistance training. J Exerc Sci Fit. 2008; 6:67Y82.

26. Schoenfeld. The Mechanisms of Muscle Hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. J Strength Cond Res, 2010; 24(10): 2857-2872

27. Phillips and Winett. Uncomplicated resistance training and health-related outcomes: evidence for a public health mandate. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2010 Jul-Aug;9(4):208-13.

28. Steele et al. Resistance Training to Momentary Muscular Failure Improves Cardiovascular Fitness in Humans: A Review of Acute Physiological responses and Chronic Adaptations. J Exerc Phys, 2012; 15: 53-80

29. Vincent and Braith. Resistance exercise and the bone turnover in elderly men and women. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2002; 34: 17-23.

30. Hoffman et al. The effect of self-selection for frequency of training in a winter conditioning program for football. J Strength Cond Res 1990; 3: 76-82.

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So what happens when Universal Chest Training Day arrives on Monday, you lift that bar off the rack, and shoulder pain hits you? BOOM!

Getting to the Source of Shoulder Pain

I’ve been there. It sucks. You were ready to blast into the best workout and now this happens. What now? The first thing you should do is stop. Pain is a request for change. A change in how you move. Pain in movement indicates a dysfunction in the ability of your body to absorb, direct, generate, and release force.

Grasping the bar sends force down the arm, preparing the shoulder for load. Lifting the bar and holding it over the chest directs and disperses force (weight) into the shoulder joint and core. Eccentric lowering and concentric pressing generates and releases force. If there is a dysfunction in this force transmission system, then soft tissue tightness, joint misalignment, decreased durability, and pain may occur.

“There are many variables in shoulder pain. If you experiencing pain, it’s always a good idea to contact and work with a qualified healthcare professional in your area.”

A common culprit in shoulder pain with bench pressing is overuse of the stabilizing rotator cuff muscles, particularly the subscapularis and infraspinatus. These stabilizer muscles are often doing the work of primary movers in the shoulder (pectoralis major and latissimus).

The rotator cuff muscles are not designed for prime mover action. When they become overused, pain is the signal they use to tell you. A key to reversing this pain process is by helping the body use prime movers more. We can do this via the RAIL Reset System. This is a simple system I use for quick resets in painful movement patterns.

Using the RAIL Mobility System

RAIL stands for release, activate, integrate, and locomotion:

1. Release the muscles and structures that are overworking.
2. Activate the muscles and structures that are not doing enough.
3. Integrate them into a simple movement pattern.
4. Load the full pattern.

This video will show you how to do each step as it relates to shoulder pain. Detailed instructions are outlined below.

Release

The infraspinatus and subscapularis are often loaded with knots called trigger points. These points refer pain into the front and back of the shoulder. The infraspinatus is on the back part of the shoulder blade. Rolling against a massage ball, lacrosse ball, or tennis ball against the wall will help reduce trigger points and pain. You may often feel pain on the anterior part of the shoulder when doing so and this is normal for the referring pain pattern. It will begin to diminish within a minute.

“A common culprit in shoulder pain with bench pressing is overuse of the stabilizing rotator cuff muscles, particularly the subscapularis and infraspinatus.”

The subcapularis is on the front side of the shoulder blade and sits deep inside your armpit. Reach up inside of your armpit aiming towards the back (spine) and press. You should feel the subscapularis. You may feel pain in the posterior part of the shoulder. If you feel tingling in the arm, move the fingers to another location because that means you are on a nerve. Press and release the point of pain for approximately one to two minutes.

Activate

Now we activate the muscles that are not doing enough, most often the pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi.

1. While standing, take the hand of the non-painful shoulder and place it between the opposite arm and your ribcage, high up in the armpit with your palm flat against the side.
2. Try to squeeze that hand between the arm and side. Envision crushing your hand with your armpit. You should feel the lat and chest engage when doing so.
3. Hold isometrically for five seconds and repeat three times.
4. Repeat the release and activation sequence two times.

Integrate

Load the shoulder up in a closed-chain pattern by getting down on all fours. Hands below the shoulders and knees below the hips. Rock back and forth, sitting onto your heels and then coming forward so the shoulder ends at the fingertips. This loads up the core and integrates the shoulder in a more stable position than on the bench. Perform ten rocks.

Locomotion

Take a single step forward into a split stance, bringing the arms together at the elbows and then step back. Repeat with other leg. This integrates core to the shoulder. Do four repetitions total.

“A key to reversing this pain process is by helping the body use prime movers more. We can do this via the RAIL Reset System.”

Retest

Now go back and try benching again and see if the pain has decreased. If so, you are on the right track. It may take several RAIL resets to get the situation under control. There are many variables in shoulder pain. If you experiencing pain, it’s always a good idea to contact and work with a qualified healthcare professional in your area.

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