Adaptation helps us survive. Adaptation, further, helps get better over time and thus, improves the likelihood of our survival.
You might read the above in the context of career, social life or warfare. But this fundamental knowledge is, somehow, already programmed into almost all the life you can find around us — cells, bacteria, birds — and the same applies to our Musculoskeletal System. Strengthening and growth of muscles (aka “gainz”) is an adaptive response of our body to certain kinds of physical stress. When exposed to suitable training (stimulus) under favorable conditions (like the availability of sufficient rest, protein, calories, etc) our bodies build muscle.
Previously, we had a good look at exercise selection — we learnt about what exercises we must be having in our routine for building an all round aesthetic and athletic physique. But this information alone is not everything — performing the exercises with whatever [weight, sets, reps] combination you feel like doing does not qualify as training. Going to the gym without a plan is a sure shot way to slowly turn into a gym drop out because one of the following is bound to happen to you:
- Stalling of progress
- Injury
Progression is important — in fact it’s the only way to build muscle. Starting from zero, if you can now bench press 20 kg dumbbells for a couple of reps, you may already starting to see some changes in your chest and arm definition. But you cannot expect any further changes from continuing to toy around with the same weight — however regularly you do it. Your body has already adapted to that kind of stimulus. If you want further muscle growth, you will have to improve your work capacity — which generally translates to being able to lift heavier and/or for more reps.
- How do you measure progress?
- What qualifies as “good” training stimulus for long-term consistent progress?
- As a beginner, where should your focus be?
These are questions that we’ll answer in this part of the hypertrophy series. At the end of the write-up, you will find a workout schedule, designed based on the all principles we will have learnt by then. The program can be used by both beginner and intermediate athletes to get stronger and more muscular.
STRENGTH LEVEL
Jack could bench press 80 kg for a maximum of 5 reps last month. He trains regularly, finally tests and finds out he can do 7 reps with the same weight now. This also means that the weight that Jack can now move for 5 reps is more than 80 kg i.e. he has become stronger over the course of the month. Your strength level in a particular movement is mainly dependent on the following two factors*:
- Neural Efficiency (~a fancy way of saying practice)
- Hypertrophy (the amount of muscle you have)
*this excludes noisy factors like hydration level, fatigue level, etc..
Both, neural efficiency and hypertrophy, generally improve over the course of training. While it may be beneficial for strength athletes (like powerlifters) to specifically increase their neural efficiency, for a casual athlete who trains within “normal” rep ranges, these two factors that affect strength are more or less inseparable — your neural efficiency and hypertrophy go hand in hand.
Strength level for a particular exercise/movement is generally communicated in the form of an N Rep Max (commonly a 1 rep max — or 1 rm).
An ‘n’ rep max is the maximum weight you can lift for n reps.
So, when Jack says 80 kg is his 5 rep max, he means both of the these:
a. he cannot add any more weight and perform 5 reps.
b. he cannot perform any more than 5 reps with 80 kg.
Your 1 rm is obviously going to be higher than your 2 rm; 2 rm higher than your 3 rm and so on. A very useful question we can ask at this point this — is there some sort of relationship between these rep maxes independent of the actual weight being lifted and the exercise under consideration? The answer is — YES! It is actually a percentage based relation as shown in the table below:
How to use the table of percentages — Suppose Jack (who lifted 80 kg for a max of 7 reps) wants to predict his 3 rm so that he doesn’t load up too much or too little weight on his testing day. How can he do it using the table shown above? At this point, it would be useful to talk about Estimated One Rep Max. Jack can estimate his 1 rep max using information from his max set and the table. Then using the estimated 1 rm, he can figure out his estimated 3 rm.
- The table tells us that 7 reps corresponds to 82.6% of the 1 rm. This means that 80 kg (which is Jack’s 7 rm) is 82.6% of his “expected” 1 rm (note that the actual 1 rm has not really been tested).
- This gives us a good estimate of what his 1 rm would look like.
80 kg = 82.6% of estimated 1 rm
80 kg = 0.826 x estimated 1 rm
thus, estimated 1 rm = 80/0.826 kg = 96.8 kg - Now we estimate 3 rm using the table again — 3 rm corresponds to 93.8% of the 1 rm. Hence,
estimated 3 rm = 93.8% of estimated 1 rm
estimated 3 rm = 0.938 x 96.8 kg
estimated 3 rm = 90.8 kg
I think Jack can try to lift 90–91 kg for 3 reps with his current strength level.
How accurate are these percentage values across the population?
The percentages shown in the table above are averaged values empirically obtained from data collected over a wide range of lifters for multiple types of movements. However, we could see small deviations when it comes to specific cases. You might even see big differences for the same person when comparing his upper body movements (like the bench press) with his lower body movements (like the squat). These numbers are supposed to be used more like indicators and less like law.
Why is tracking strength level so important?
Like I mentioned in the intro, progression in work capacity is the only way to build muscle. One of the most practical ways to track your work capacity is to look at your 1 rm (tested OR estimated). If your estimated 1 rm for bench press this year is higher than the same from last year (with relatively similar technique), you have most likely packed on muscle on your chest, shoulders and arms.
HOW MANY SETS AND REPS FOR TRAINING EFFECT?
One must go to the gym with the primary objective of getting sufficient stimulus for consistent growth (without facing “over-training”). Given that we know our current strength level, how should we choose the [weight, sets, reps, rest-times] combination such that we get a good “training effect” i.e. stimulus that triggers an adaptive response from the body (growth)?
For the following discussion, we will assume that Jack has 100 kg as the 1 rm for his back squat. What should Jack do for his squats this week to get a good training effect?
- How about 3 sets of 8 reps with 80 kg (written as 80 kg, 3 x 8)?
After doing just 1 set till failure, it is going to be extremely difficult for Jack to perform more sets at the same strength level because of accumulated fatigue. A quick look at the percentages table tells us that 80 kg is Jack’s 8 rm — therefore, the first set itself would be a set very close to failure. Performing 3 such sets would either be impossible OR need extremely large amounts of rest OR cause too much fatigue (risky). - How about 80 kg, 3 x 5?
Every set here is doable. However, since each set is 3 reps away from failure (the weight is 8 rm), the accumulated fatigue over the course of 3 sets wouldn’t be a lot — the workout would be too easy. - How about 80 kg, 5 x 5?
In this case, the accumulated fatigue would be enough to make the final set really challenging. I think this is a really good workout because:
a. the first few sets are relatively easy — Jack can focus on the form
b. the last few sets would be challenging — thus giving good training effect. - How about 85 kg, 3 x 5?
Here, every set would be about 1 rep away from failure (85 kg is ~ 6 rm). Thus every set would be challenging and since there are only 3 sets, it won’t be severely fatiguing.
If you compare [85, 3 x 5] with [80, 5 x 5], the challenge is of a slightly different nature in each case. 5 x 5 is what we would call a moderately high volume training whereas 3 x 5 would be relatively high intensity training.
The total training effect that your body experiences from a week of training depends on the following factors:
- Volume — the total number of reps
- Intensity — how heavy you lift + how close to failure you go
- Frequency — how often do you train the movement
- Density — what is the rest interval between two sets in the same training session
I believe that, as a beginner/intermediate lifter, you will not lose out on much by ignoring density for now. Your primary focus should on Volume, Intensity and Frequency — specifically maximizing whichever among the three is lacking in your current training regimen. For example, squatting once a week at 80% for 5 x 5 maybe decently high on volume and intensity — but this lacks frequency. Jack’s training which was originally [80 kg, 5 x 5] could alternatively have two squat sessions, each one being [82.5 kg, 3 x 5]. Net work done at the end of each week is higher using this setup — frequency is doubled (once to twice per week), intensity is slightly higher (80% to 82.5%) and volume is higher too (25 reps to 30 reps).
Note: All the arrangements that we have discussed above are mere examples to illustrate various styles in which one could arrange his/her training. If the intensity, volume and frequency are non-zero, you will make progress as a beginner as long as you push yourself. However that wouldn’t be very optimal or safe.
To design a workout program that lets you progress optimally will require that you spend time with training and understand the nature of progress and about your own body. A safe place to start would be a program that is designed by a more experienced and successful lifter.
The above discussion about frequency of training has been nicely addressed in the following video by Dr. Mike Israetel. He compares the traditional bodybuilding routines with a more “athlete” styled weight training setup:
WHAT SHOULD ONE FOCUS ON?
1. RANGE OF MOTION:
If an increase in the loaded weight causes a decrease in your range of motion, are you really getting stronger?
Two people — Varun and Arun — have the same squat 1 rm of 80 kg. After 1 month, Varun can squat 90 kg for the same “full” depth: we know for certain that he has become stronger. But at the end of the same one month of training, Arun does a 100 kg “half” squat. Whether or not Arun has progressed in his squat strength is uncertain because he now performs an altogether different movement.
To avoid all such uncertainties and to have a solid metric of progress, it is highly recommended that you perform every rep for the same, consistent, full range of motion. Another huge benefit of going through full range of motion is that your muscles get more stimulus from the same weight (when compared with partials).
2. FORM:
- DO NOT round your back at any point of any rep of the deadlift.
- DO NOT flare your elbows during bench press.
- DO NOT hyper-extend your back during Overhead Press.
and the list goes on…
Of course, progression is important: but, not at the cost of good form. Accumulating bad movement patterns while pushing yourself too hard is a recipe for injury. Make sure you follow the instructions from the videos attached to the previous chapter. Constantly evaluate your form — this can be done in one or both of the following ways:
- Get feedback from your gym partner or trainer. Questions like: “Was my back straight during that deadlift set?” should be a routine in your training sessions.
- Take videos of yourself lifting. I have tens of GB’s of my own lifting videos — mainly squats and deadlifts from the side view. This is a part of the self-evaluation process where I get almost instant feedback if there’s any undesirable form breakdown. This tells me when I need to lighten the load, practice the form and rebuild from there. I would encourage EVERYONE to do the same.
3. STRENGTH STANDARDS:
There are some basic strength standards that you should pursue as a beginner. The following lifts (relative to body-weight) can be performed within a few months of training and is an indication of good quality progress.
As an example, consider a 60 kg female lifter. The table says that she should aim to overhead press 0.5 of her body weight (i.e. 30 kg) for 1 rep (with solid form) within the first few months of lifting.
Note
- It is not necessary to actually test your 1 rm to check against these standards. Just take your best sets ever and use the estimated 1 rm (using percentages).
- Since, factors like body-composition, age, past athletic experience would contribute to the rate of progress of the beginner lifters, there will be a lot of variability in the time taken to achieve these strength targets. Some of you might reach these milestones within 2 months whereas others might take a whole year.
- People who are on the fatter side would have relatively high body-weight to begin with. Since all goals in the table are scaled by body-weight, some of them may be a little difficult to achieve. My recommendation for such people would be to have a fat loss focused phase for a few months where they bring down their body-fat % while simultaneously learning good form for the lifts. Once they reach desirable body-weight, they can start pushing their strength limits and achieve the goals as mentioned above.
- Your body proportions will play a big role in determining which lifts you would be weaker/proficient at. For example, a guy with relatively longer arms will have a hard time improving his bench press but will probably be able to deadlift relatively well.
WORKOUT PROGRAM FOR BEGINNERS/INTERMEDIATES
Considering everything that we have learnt so far, I have designed a workout program for beginner/intermediate lifters.
Sample day 1: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcWFU4PgF1c/
Sample day 2: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcgYXM5DJNl/
Sample day 3: https://www.instagram.com/p/CcYZ7ctgFHc/
Although the program has a three day cycle, you can workout for anything between 3 and 6 days every week. To illustrate this:
If you have 5 days to workout in a week, you could do days 1, 2, 3, 1 and 2 of the program this week: start with day 3 next week, and so on.
In the next part of the Hypertrophy series (most likely the last one), we shall look at some finer details about lifting in general and also discuss common errors made my noob lifters (I made several of them too) at the gym.
