How Important are 'Effective Reps' for Muscle Growth?

[@vvvLEGENDvvv]

this is a gold mine. Thank you for taking the time to explain it so easily

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

no problem

[@kaiserfakinaway5909]

another banger video with awesome info, thanks chief, god bless

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

no problem 💪

[@timonix2]

I would love if you took a similarly good quality look at muscle strength too. Some of us view muscle growth as a side product of muscle strength and not as a target and training for one is not the same as training for the other. your science based approaches to videos are fantastic overall so I would love to see your input

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

Thanks for the feedback. The main focus of this channel is for muscle growth, but I am intending on mentioning strength throughout future videos too, for a more complete understanding of each topic 👍

[@Carlos_Cerda_Moya]

Excellent, as always. Thanks!

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

no problem 👍

[@ofueysytukbfdstwwyrg]

Hello FHP, I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to reach out to express my sincere appreciation for the amazing content you create. It has been incredibly valuable to me on my lifting journey, and I am truly grateful for the knowledge and inspiration you provide. I was wondering if you could possibly consider making a video about how "rep ranges" work? For instance, if one were to aim for 3 sets of a given exercise within the 5-7 rep range, how would that look in practice? I believe your expertise and guidance would be immensely beneficial, and I would be incredibly grateful for your assistance. Thank you so much for all that you do, and I truly appreciate your time and consideration. 🙏

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

Glad to hear you enjoy the content. I have a video coming out in about 1-2 months which briefly touches on this. I will consider making future videos specifically on programming in the future 👍

[@Heylon1313]

effective reps are not the only driver of muscle growth because we see improved growth when rest between sets is increased, even though proximity to failure is kept constant, so there must be another driver (presumably mechanical tension). 4:38 Hiwever, all in all, proximity to failure is still an important factor.

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

well said

[@sayanbiswas_sports]

Please make a video how to go about researching a topic and finally come to a conclusion step by step.

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

I probably won't make a video on this, as it isn't practically helpful for people to reach their goals 👍

[@interwebslinger]

This video is S tier

[@videogazer801]

New video. Yes! 👍

[@Killallpingvins38]

'groan' Can a man just lift things for gains and glory.

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

of course he can

[@interwebslinger]

He could if he wasn't spending all his time watching videos about lifting things 😜

[@hmq2007]

I have always been curious about how to equate myo-rep sets to normal sets. If I do 3 normal sets, is that the "equivalent" of one normal set followed by 2 "mini-sets"? One of the papers presented in the video suggests that you need to match the total number of reps instead.

[@Shiyoken]

I understand "Rest-Pause" over "Myo-Reps" as: The former seems to be more about keeping a higher level of intensity of effort; whilst the latter being more about pushing through using a level of effort augmented by momentum in a volume fashion. Because when I do "RP", its like literally 1-3 reps, with negatives or static holds thrown in the mix. I am not even thinking about doing reps for the sake of reps aka meeting a quota; as shown with MR; but to literally keep the intensity level of effort high, whilst also squeezing out what I can; due to the short rest provided me to try and reach total muscular failure. Myo-reps is very similar to doing normal reps. But since you're shortening the rest period and mind set, you're busting out smaller amount of reps, consectively with shorter rest periods. Its "drop-sets" without the weight going down; but being consistant. If that makes sense. I could be wrong lol. There is always nuance to everything.

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

You can prescribe it in different ways. I prefer to count each 'mini set' as a set because I think it is more practical

[@martinolson761]

"One cannot get to the "effective" reps without the "ineffective" reps"....damn, that the smartest ting I've ever said!...hehe.

[@1BeGe]

Fantastic.

[@EhrenmannAndi]

I don't really know why the Effective Reps Model would be disproved with shorter rest periods showing less growth when the model literally factors in fatigue and says that fatigue impairs motor unit recruitment

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

it doesn't disprove it, it just might provide some evidence against it. It suggests that longer rest periods allow you to perform more total reps, meaning more reps further from failure, while resulting in superior growth. So in theory, the 'ineffective reps' contributed to muscle growth

[@spurzo-thespiralspacewolf8916]

Paul Carter has stated doing 3-5 sets 0-1 rir per muscle every 5-7 days is the sweet spot. If using 4-8 reps , you don’t need to push to failure to to MUR being activated. However, if training above 10 reps, you would need to go to failure for MUR to be active. I personally, do 4 sets per muscle using 10-15 reps to failure each muscle done 1 x week. I use progressive overload increasing reps and or weight on a regular bases. I attempt to beat the log book every workout if possible. Also, I only train 2 x week. Monday is upper body and Friday is lower body. Fits into my schedule and I improve a regular basis.

[@davidjanbaz7728]

​@@FlowHighPerformance1the best way of gaining strength that worked for me was going for a max everyday with a warm up set and a couple of singles working up to a either an increase or matching lift of the day before. Only one rep at the max. I was able to progress to benching the whole weight stack on a Universal machine bench press. Maxing out at 220 starting weight to 365 at lockout. This worked great for 2 weeks and then you could change to a different style of lifting. Higher Max strength means greater weight used during higher rep sets. Q

[@hyperbodyhub]

A very informative video 👍

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

glad it was helpful 👍

[@atomek6779]

Question: Why we doing 3x15 to failure instead 3x5 to failure if only last 5 reps work? Why we doing 10 junk reps?

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

Well, that is what we are trying to figure out

[@KurokamiNajimi]

Because heavier weight is tougher on the body but this also depends on the total load. You can significantly reduce the weight you’re using depending on execution

[@chubbyhenk1935]

I can speak from personal experience that when doing 3x5 it is more likely to stop too early. While if I am using a slightly lighter weight for a few more reps it makes it easier to reach actual muscle failure or at least push closer to it

[@m4nipbx]

Most informational video you posted ever !! Thankyou

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

no problem 👍

[@davidwagner9644]

You can make every rep a hypertrophy rep as long as the rep takes 8 to 12 seconds to complete. Take a biceps curl.. othe concentric phase (raising portion) I take 4 seconds to complete then on the eccentric (lowering portion) I take 6 seconds. The goal is to take a light weight and make it heavy. You cannot make a heavy weight lighter, thus your chance of getting injured is greater lifting heavier weights.

[@ShawnGetty-eb1gj]

Good luck with that.

[@davidwagner9644]

@@ShawnGetty-eb1gj It is called High Intensity Training. It was popularized by Arthur Jones and Mike Mentzer. Most people cannot train this way because their egos won't let them. They have Ronnie Coleman syndrome which is to lift the heaviest weights possible, then they F up their back or hips because their body cannot handle the physical demands. Look at male Gymnasts. They are jacked because they perform so many power movements is slow controlled fashion with brief moments of dynamic performance. I guarantee you will get bigger, stronger training this way and less injuries training this way.

[@TheOutlierToday]

​@davidwagner9644 it just makes more sense to lift with heavier weight. That is already high intensity from the few reps. If you're trying to avoid injury use moderate weight. I think the evidence against mike mentzer speaks for itself. There's a reason most ppl don't train like that. You sometimes have to mix things up too especially when you hit plateaus

[@davidwagner9644]

@@TheOutlierToday Low reps with high intensity does not build muscle,it builds strength. 1 to 5 reps with 85% or higher intensity builds strength. 6 to 15 reps at 60% to 80% of your compound lifts builds muscle. On smaller muscle you can ever go as high as 30 reps. All I know is I see calisthenics athletes, gymnasts and street lifters doing slow and controlled pushups, drips, muscle ups, pullups front levers and the are jacked.

[@KingKabi]

@Flow High Performance I’m a bit confused or probably missing something. From the studies covered in the video. So rest periods longer than 1 minute have been shown to be superior than rest periods of 1 minute or less, 5:16 ; but rest-pause techniques have been shown to have slightly significant effects on hypertrophic stimuli, 10:53 . So, wouldn’t that mean shorter rest periods are better than longer rest periods?

[@lukeamartins]

I think that's just because the rest interval experiment didn't equate load between groups (total reps across all reps x weight): in effect the group using shorter rest periods did less total work (and therefore induced less hypertrophic stimulus), whereas the rest-pause experiment did equate load/work, such that most of the effort from the rest-pause group was exerted within the most efficient proximity failure (around 0-5RIR), and thus induced a greater stimulus despite less rest with the same total work (reps x load or whatever).

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

@lukeamartins thanks 👍

[@KingKabi]

@@lukeamartins Ahhh, I get it now, thanks a lot.

[@Yigittheoutlaw]

I was wondering the same. Great question ​@KingKabi and@@lukeamartinsgreat answer, thanks!

[@jadenalmeida8592]

So in short to train for muscles 8-20 reps 3 sets and to train for strength 3-7 reps 5 sets

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

pretty much

[@Fried21]

👏👏👏👏👏

[@martrohelsanchez4858]

How does time under tension fits here?

[@lukeamartins]

Essentially, you could think of "effective reps" as really meaning "most time-efficient reps", as measured in terms of the correlation between total work performed (reps x weight) and hypertrophic stimulus. TUT is a bit of an outdated model because it correlates poorly with muscle growth (think of marathon runners). But crudely speaking we could reframe it as "time under tension in proximity to failure", i.e. more time spent at an intensity close to failure is always more "efficient" on a set-for-set basis for muscle growth (all else being equal). (on a side note, time is not even the only factor to consider, we also need to consider functional excursion (all-joints-considered muscle length), stretch-mediated hypertrophy, etc). And it needs to be said that efficiency-per-set is by no means always the most important factor for programming-we still need to think about neural recruitment efficiency from practice, fatigue management, stimulus blunting from overuse of training modalities, e.g. myoreps, successive bouts, etc.

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

@lukeamartins well said 👏

[@MrJavaScript.]

analysis paralysis

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

who is paralysed?

[@nachiketboora5467]

Mike mentzer 🔥

[@glenoh88]

Eh, this is why Arnold did twice a days…🤦 Pretty damn obvious that if you ran 5 miles then did bicep curls, you can’t match the curls to when you didn’t run. But, what happens if you didn’t even curl after the run since it’s junk volume and waited till the next arm day…Unless it’s your job, optimal training needs to consider everything!

[@reidos6420]

Just run 5 miles after the curls as a warm down

[@SShaBazzz]

What?

[@glenoh88]

@@SShaBazzz Think of the nuances I mentioned. Same nuances the content creator insinuates. No shit, if you are tired at the end of a workout, you’re not maximizing intensity on that muscle. Unless you are a pro and can devote your life to lifting, can you really maximize that fact! Arnold did twice a days, he was a pro (top pro) and made a living out of it…most of us can’t. Duh!

[@duffyt26]

Weightlifters and powerlifters spending more than 80% of lifting time on 1-3 reps for strength would never grow if "effective reps" was a thing. And guess what, they're hyuuuge in their targeted areas. Evidence enough!

[@FlowHighPerformance1]

yes, effective reps certainly aren't essential for growth. However, powerlifters and weightlifters also perform accessory lifts with higher rep ranges too

[@bear-ng6lu]

Well if it’s ur 3 rep max 2 reps is pretty effective

[@NoobsGamersXd]

1-3 reps generate 1-3 effective reps so...

[@ramigiusz565]

You forgot that powerlifters/weightlifters are working in 1-3 rep zone for a only few weeks before competition. You can't handle heavy work for a long time. Before that they are running multiple hypertrophic blocks for MONTHS with moderate reps. Reps for strength are only effective for muscle growth when you are Begineer.

[@shakebraza196]

​@@FlowHighPerformance1sir how do you make videos. Please reply.

[@harshsangwan1185]

Reminds of that quote by Muhammad ali "i dont start counting untill it starts hurting"