Minimum and the best number of sets for muscle mass - Based on science

[basia]

@latestnews

Close to failure means sth about RIR 1-5.

I think most people probably think about "close to failure" being more like RPE8/9 rather than RPE5. Most studies talk about RPE7 as being the minimum for strength training, so being 5 reps away from failure is a huge amount.

Regardless, if that's what you mean then I think you need more nuance. There's a huge difference between RIR 1 and RIR 5, especially when you talk about a rep range of 5-10.

RIR1 is going to be way more exhausting than RIR 5. Even the difference between RIR 2 and 3 is big.

I didn't suggest you that you should go to failure each set, did I?

Check again

Minimum number of sets for muscle growth: 2-3 for beginners, 3-6 for advanced, per week per muscle group, to failure.

Optimum number of sets for muscle growth per workout: 5-10 per muscle group, to or close to failure

Optimum number of sets for muscle growth per week: 10-20 per muscle group, to or close to failure

 

[latestnews]

@basia

Most studies talk about RPE7 as being the minimum for strength training, so being 5 reps away from failure is a huge amount.

But this post is about hypertrophy and most studies show that these 5 last reps result in full activation of high treshold motor units. 5 is not a strict number, it's more like 4-6.

There's a huge difference between RIR 1 and RIR 5, especially when you talk about a rep range of 5-10.

Of course there is, no one denies it, but you can achieve hypertrophy with that range 0-5 RIR. If you choose 6RM intensity and you do only 1 rep (5 RIR), you will achieve muscle hypertrophy if you do enough sets. You'll have to do a lot of sets, but you can achieve hypertrophy this way. But if you chose e.g. 8RM and you do only 1 rep (7 RIR), you can do thousands of sets and you still won't notice muscle hypertrophy. At least according to current science knowledge, look below:

Chris Beardsley - Infographic

Check again

Man, you should check again too. This is about minimum. Do you know why we should avoid failure in general? To not accumulate fatigue too quickly. Do you really think that doing 2-3 sets per week to failure we should worry about accumulating fatigue? We can do everything to accumulate as much fatigue as we can, but if we do 2-3 sets, man, believe me, you will recover from it xD

For optimum I've answered you before, look in the previous comment.

 

[basia]

@latestnews

most studies show that these 5 last reps result in full activation of high treshold motor units.

I don't think I'd call RIR 5 "close to failure". Sure, closer than 6...

Of course there is

I take it you also agree that the guidelines are too vague then?

Do you really think that doing 2-3 sets per week to failure we should worry about accumulating fatigue? We can do everything to accumulate as much fatigue as we can, but if we do 2-3 sets, man, believe me, you will recover from it xD

You're being silly. You are telling me you can do 20 sets to failure PER MUSCLE GROUP per week and not have your training impacted by fatigue?

I don't buy it, sorry!

 

[latestnews]

@basia

I don't think I'd call RIR 5 "close to failure". Sure, closer than 6...

Ok, you're right, saying that RIR 5 is close to failure is a bit misleading, but that's how most researcher call it beacuse you can reach hypertrophy here. But yeah, doing sets with RIR 4-5 is pretty easy.

(something is wrong with this reddit posting, weird things happen in editor)... Why? I said in the post that 10-20 sets is the best range for week. That's pretty wide range. I've said too that RIR affects number of sets. If you do RIR 2-3 all the time you can do more reps than someone who does 0-1 RIR. What's not clear here? What did you expect, the exact number of sets for a given RIR?

You are telling me you can do 20 sets to failure PER MUSCLE GROUP per week and not have your training impacted by fatigue?

omg, where did I say that? Minimum is 2-3 sets. About optimum I've replied you earlier, here's a quote:

I've only said that if you go to failure or close to, you should stick to 5-10 sets per workout and 10-20 per week and it will be the best for hypertrophy. You can go to failure if you want. Look, the set ranges are really wide. 5 and 10, 10 and 20, it's huge difference, double as much. It's in the post (2nd slide on insta) that RIR/RPE affects number of sets. If you go to failure, stick to the lower range, if not - go for higher.

Where did I say that if you do 20 sets to failure, you won't be impacted by fatigue?

 

[basia]

@latestnews

Where did I say that if you do 20 sets to failure, you won't be impacted by fatigue?

Optimum number of sets for muscle growth per week: 10-20 per muscle group, to or close to failure