Are You Doing TOO MANY Exercises For Best Muscle Growth?

[@mikahundin]

1. **Too many exercises can be inefficient**: Using four or five exercises for a single muscle in one session leads to redundancy and fatigue without additional benefits (00:45, 04:50). 2. **Complex muscles benefit from multiple angles**: Muscles like quads and hamstrings require more than one type of exercise because of their multi-joint functionality (01:12, 01:43). 3. **Limited exercises per session**: Most muscles only need 1-2 exercises per session to achieve optimal growth, with 4-8 working sets being sufficient (03:53, 04:23). 4. **Overusing exercises leads to staleness**: Using too many exercises in a short period can cause them to become stale, making them less effective over time (06:14, 06:39). 5. **Exercises should be spread throughout the week**: It's better to spread exercises over multiple sessions, alternating between different exercises and rep ranges to maintain freshness and effectiveness (04:50, 05:44). 6. **Compound movements are more efficient**: Compound exercises, like close-grip bench presses, target multiple muscles simultaneously, reducing the need for numerous isolation exercises (09:57, 18:08). 7. **Exercises should be rotated periodically**: To avoid staleness, rotate exercises every few months rather than using all available variations at once (06:39). 8. **Some muscles require more than one exercise per session**: For certain muscles, like the back, multiple exercises may be necessary in one session to target all muscle groups effectively (02:59, 11:41). 9. **Exercises should target different rep ranges**: When repeating the same exercise within the week, vary the rep range to ensure different stimulus and to prevent staleness (05:17). 10. **Training muscle groups multiple times a week**: Most muscles can benefit from being trained 2-4 times a week, with different exercises or rep ranges (05:44). 11. **Doing too many sets of the same exercise is inefficient**: After 5-7 working sets for the same exercise, additional sets provide diminishing returns and increased fatigue (23:03). 12. **You don’t need to hit all muscle angles in every session**: It's a myth that you need to target every part of a muscle group (e.g., upper, middle, lower chest) within a single session (18:56). 13. **Avoiding redundancy by choosing different exercises**: If you focus on varied compound movements instead of excessive isolation exercises, you can avoid unnecessary redundancy in training (09:57). 14. **Functional anatomy knowledge is important**: Understanding how different muscles function is crucial for selecting the right exercises (24:03). 15. **Overcomplicating training can hurt progress**: Overcomplicating your program with too many angles and exercises per muscle in a single session is counterproductive (16:07). 16. **Compound exercises provide more benefits than isolated ones**: Using distributed compounds (e.g., close-grip bench press) gives a good measure of muscle activation and saves time (09:57). 17. **Higher quality training comes from fewer, well-chosen exercises**: Instead of doing too many exercises in one session, spreading the workload across multiple sessions increases quality (11:41). 18. **Rotating exercises prevents boredom and burnout**: Avoid using all available exercises in a single week to prevent running out of effective options (06:39). 19. **Fat loss phase requires more attention to muscle coverage**: In fat loss phases, you must be more careful to ensure all muscle groups are covered to avoid losing muscle mass (07:49). 20. **One exercise can often be enough**: In some cases, like stiff-legged deadlifts, a single exercise may provide all the needed stimulus for growth (11:41). 21. **Focus on quality over quantity**: Doing too many exercises or sets reduces the quality of the workout, which can negatively affect muscle growth and fatigue management (22:10). 22. **Prioritize distributed compounds for efficiency**: Using multi-joint movements like the close-grip bench press is more efficient and effective than isolating smaller muscles (09:57). 23. **Variation is necessary, but overdoing it is detrimental**: Having variety in exercises is essential, but using too much variety too soon can limit future effectiveness (07:05). 24. **Use different exercises and rep ranges to avoid monotony**: To keep muscles responsive, rotate exercises and change the order or rep ranges throughout the week (05:17). 25. **Avoid fatigue by using different movements for the same muscle group**: If you squat one day and leg press another, the slightly different focus points will reduce fatigue compared to repeating the same exercise (15:13).

[@dariousvex]

Thanx dude, I pasted that in to a file for easy reference.

[@LVZKV]

Actual slave

[@simonm6203]

Legend

[@Jahsurfer]

Impressive. Win, win. You learn more and we learn more.👍

[@danielkanewske8473]

Are you ok?

[@RoccoBerbetti]

Dr Mike my family thinks I'm a failure, is this optimal for hypertrophy?

[@sarawitt834]

ahahah

[@bumblebower1529]

Indeed

[@segarrarios]

Just make sure you make them proud for a few weeks every year to reduce fatigue and you are good to go.

[@Vottotoiono]

*Perfect!* (I mean, mine too... I mean, haha, joking, they already dead...)

[@wan2shuffle]

Constantly achieving failure 💪

[@doriemisur9016]

I would actually love to see Dr. Mike react to dumb fitness Tik Toks😭

[@LUKA_911]

I think hed kill himself on camera if he saw Tobi

[@tl0470]

Scott the Video Guy! Make this happen!!

[@donhowe8600]

This please

[@trenjohnny]

that would be so fucking great

[@ryanmcgonigle1118]

this needs to be a segment

[@KevinTheDoggo30]

Scott the video guy reveal at 3M subs

[@joshwalsh6194]

There is no way he can live up to our mind’s eyes perception of him. It will ruin the mystique

[@user-ii7xc1ry3x]

We have seen him

[@marcinz.3570]

You can see him in one of the training session videos a few months ago

[@MANG00J]

@@marcinz.3570Link?

[@TheTetraSpirit]

​@marcinz.3570 He straight up got on cam for a minute during one of the livestreams a while back. All I'mma say is Mrs. The Video Guy is a lucky lady.

[@jessblair2834]

We are so lucky to have this content. Thank you for your gifts Dr. Mike.

[@bryanstellfox8521]

Tom Platz is my idol, and I squatted like crazy for 10 YEARS. Squatted for high reps, low reps, twice a week, three times a week, FIVE times a week. After TEN YEARS I finally realized that squats don't build my quads very well. I switched to leg press as my main builder, then hack squats for high reps, sometimes belt squats, sometimes leg extensions. My quads are the absolute best they've ever looked. Doing one exercise is great...IF it accomplishes the goal! In regard to quads for myself, squats aren't that one exercise.

[@TheKingTVlmao_SUCK_MY_WEENIE]

you weren't even following tom platz's advice right. he's a big fan of leg extensions and hack squats. he never said to only do barbell back squats

[@hurpaderpp]

He was your hero but you had never seen him doing hack squats and leg extensions...? lol

[@LeanAndMean44]

Fair enough, my goal is mainly strength so squats it is

[@hurpaderpp]

​@@LeanAndMean44 even high level strongmen/powerlifters incorporate accessories like hack squats, leg press and knee extensions for example.

[@bryanstellfox8521]

@@hurpaderpp Of course I saw him doing hacks and extensions haha but Tom specifically preached "If you want big legs, you HAVE to squat!", and when I met him at a seminar, he even suggested that I focus on only the squat until I became proficient with it. For me, the squat just wasn't a great quad developer, so my main movement became the leg press.

[@rollan998]

If my teachers at school had also compared things to filming adult movies every 30 minutes to get my attention, I'd probably be working at NASA by now

[@hjewkes]

Sets of 10-15 paused squats after lunges is such a brutal recommendation

[@MrCrunch76]

Just walking after lunges is brutal lol

[@sauromatae9728]

​@@MrCrunch76 just existi g after lunges is hard

[@andersbjrnsen7203]

I dont get why squats after lunges arent used more commonly.

[@justinparker9892]

Lol

[@georgepoly4842]

@@sauromatae9728this is it😭🤣 I gotta lay down sometimes lmao

[@Wheneverythingelseis]

Thanks!

[@cj7635]

You’ve quickly become my go to fitness channel

[@crusefitzgerald]

It's crazy. I was always the guy, until recently, that hit every angle and tried to get 20+ sets for a muscle group once a week. I've been listening to Dr. Mike for about a month, adjusting my training, and now on the RP app. I'm spending less time in the gym, joints are feeling healthier, and getting a better pump and gains. It's so refreshing to stop hearing the more is better mentality and focus on quality over quantity and variation, and to have someone that not only has the experience, but is familiar with the scientific literature surrounding fitness.

[@richard2715]

This is fiiiire!🔥 Im banking all the information you have on optimizing, I dont have much time to workout, but I still see progress, because at the gym, im locked in with dr mike inside my brain telling me the good stuff! Fire, I say mylord, fire!

[@srleplay]

It's beyond funny that Athlean-X posted a video saying the opposite thing like yesterday

[@Fuq2]

And what does that tell you about this industry?

[@Norseman83]

😂😂😂

[@chrishantulik100]

WOW Thanks Mike EVERYTHING i NEED to Know in LESS than 1/2 an Hour Chris from Manchester England x

[@arha-z1v]

Could you explain the mechanism behind "muscles getting used to the exercise"?

[@alanjackson1015]

From what I understand (not an exercise PhD!) is that muscles are inherently lazy (efficient?) and will recruit the smallest number of fibres to do the work. As you get 'better' at doing the exercise, that requires less and less muscle fibres, so it just isn't hitting as many, so stimulus will drop. So switching it up keeps things fresher (insert Dr. Mike joke about this being just like sex...)

[@SeuOu]

Muscles adapt to how your use them. The more adapted they are to an exercise, the less stimulus they get from doing it, the more you have to increase intensity and thus fatigue accumulation to get the same benefit. Basically, SFR or stimulus-to-fatigue ratio goes down. That's 'staleness'. If you let the process go on long enough, eventually in order to push the muscle hard enough to get gains, you'd have to exceed your ability to recover between sessions. That's when the exercise will seem to 'plateau', and growth will stop. You can avoid all this by periodically switching to a different exercise for a meso or two. By then, the staleness of your original exercise will be gone and you can go back to using it with a good SFR, and the process repeats.

[@VorpalSnickerSnack]

Here's my head cannon, hope others join the discussion- you gave a great question! If you go slow while doing the exercise, you can feel every muscles and areas that needs adjusting like balance or you'll find out which side is stronger. It's easier, safer and more efficient to do the exercise properly if the muscles remember how to do it- aka muscle memory. If you learn to exercise incorrectly, it's much harder to unlearn bad habit, or worse case scenario it's possible to snap a muscle.

[@blairmonkman7507]

On top of what others have said, you can also risk getting an overuse injury by training a muscle in an identical movement pattern with a similar rep range, cadence and weight for too long.This could be something as simple as just a muscular weakness developing or the slow development of joint/connective tissue pain in one particular area. For example, sore knees/joints from squatting too often or sore elbows/elbow joints from doing dips or another tricep focused exercise for too long. Effective programs last in the range of about 6-8 weeks before a deload. You don't have to switch out EVERY exercise in each program this often, but it would make sense to switch out more than half.

[@FitMachina]

It means you are doing too much junk volume on movement and instead of getting sufficent stimulus you basically do glorified warmups accumulating more and more fatigue with each session. Thus, you are unable to tap into HTMUs and induce any meaningful hyperthrophy.

[@deanneumann8594]

Dr. Mike: I like your frank, no-BS approach to providing training recommendations. I would love to see you do a few videos on adapting a training routine for those of us who can't do certain exercizes. For example I have arthritis in my shoulders so can't do any exercizes involving raising my arms over shoulder height (no overhead presses, incline presses, lateral raises, or hanging from a pullup bar, etc). I'm sure there are many others who can't use their knees, bend at the hips, etc. A discussion of various adaptations would be very useful. Thx.

[@BaconManBruh]

Depends per individual so making a video covering them is like gonna be a very long series of videos and there's a potential to do more harm than good if it gets misunderstood aswell that's why we don't see those kinds of videos often. What i do know is when i'm injured in a specific area like my long head bicep is shot connected in the shoulder so cant do incline presses so i look for ways to hit my chest in ways i dont feel pain. He does have a video regarding injury management so you can check that and btw viewer discretion is indeed adviced so take it with a grain of salt and proceed cautiously so you don't further hurt the chronic or injured part of your body.

[@collin3800]

I'm new to this channel, but this dude is the Uncle Roger to bodybuilding.

[@hookemhorns1543]

This guy gives such amazing advice for free. I'd have spent more time eating and sleeping when younger and working out more efficiently if I knew this in college.

[@FNESSE]

This guy is the go to guy for all information for working out. Thanks Doc!

[@srslothagain]

Interesting that the app doesn’t separate delts into categories - they’re lumped together as “shoulders.” This would be a good fix/upgrade and make tracking/auto-regulation more meaningful. I also wouldn’t hate seeing lats separate from back, as the traps already are, but I see how that’s a little redundant, unlike the shoulders-delts issue.

[@michaelbengochea-rb6yp]

Best video in a while Dr Mike. I learned some good stuff

[@danielt1792]

15:04 yo Mike wtf I’m just trying to learn, don’t call me that 😢

[@aabros7270]

😂

[@aabros7270]

"You're retarded"

[@aabros7270]

"You're re

[@aabros7270]

tarded"

[@608_rich]

Excellent information again from Dr Mike! Confirms a lot of things for me….and you know Dr Mike is an ultra confident stylish dude since he wore a pink smart watch that went well with his sweatshirt.

[@filipetavares6444]

this is probably one of your best videos Dr. Mike

[@alexquittner3466]

25:53 more like ROM Burgundy

[@ShrinivasBalasubramanian]

You put up fabulous content. Way to go! Please also touch how people in their forties can maximise exercise benefits. What works best for me is a 3 day a week routine (legs+chest, shoulders+triceps and back+biceps) and it’s working very well for experience of having lifted for 20 years, even professionally. Does this kind of a routine that has helped me make sense from a scientific perspective? Isn’t it best to stick with schedule and poundage that works for an individual?

[@weregiraffe284]

not mike but makes sense, the figures that he as well as other exercise experts give is if you are optimal figures, if you were an athlete dedicated to this and are able to give yourself enough recovery. If you're high performing at work or you have young kids, this changes everything as the total stress on the system isn't just the stress added by lifting. So yes, the real world program is going to be vastly different from the scientifc best option.

[@Jimmy29li]

Between the low volume and constant deloads, when do we train???

[@SeuOu]

I mean, you deload when you need to...if you're still progressing, keep going.

[@lucaslouzada44]

For the back it certainly can be more than three if you divide your sets of vertical pulling between lat pull-downs and pull-ups as a warm-up - specially if you’ve already zeroed the stack and is already doing more than 15 reps. But, honestly, there should be more concern about joint snags than staleness when it comes to exercise variability: if your shoulders are beaten up, pressing exercises will normally have to be replaced altogether, as well as a lot of arm curling movements…

[@vikingmentality]

Can I get your thoughts….My current program is: 3 days on 1 off. Leg day1- Squat, leg curl, leg ext, lean in lateral raise, hanging leg raise. Chest day1- flat bench, db fly (stretch to floor), tricep cable ext, oh press, ab pull-down. Back day1- deadlift, pendalay bb row, cable lat pull-down single arm, upright row, Russian twist. REST DAY. Leg day2- zercher squat, hip thrusts barbell, Bulgarian split squat, calf raises, lean in lateral raise, hanging leg raise. Chest day2- Close grip BP, incline BP, dips, cable single arm fly, behind neck press, ab pull-down. Back day2- deficit deadlift, rdl, lat pull-down, incline db curl, upright row, Russian twist.

[@thor498]

That's a lot of exercises. Are you growing and recovering? If so you are fine

[@vikingmentality]

@@thor498 do you really think so? It is not all in one session….body part splits so It is 3 leg exercises with a shoulder and ab exercise is one session, then next day 3 chest exercises with a shoulder and ab exercises, then 3rd day is 3 back exercises with a shoulder and ab exercise….then a rest day…then the next 3 days are variations of squat, bench and d3adlift with less weight. But never more than 6 exercises in a workout or 4 for a body part. Goal is trying to micro hit each body part 4 sets in 7 days

[@kolosbalazs1688]

I used to work out 4 times a week and I got good gains. 2yrs ago I started to do the same as u 3 on 1 off . Day1: chest 16sets total and biceps triceps supersets each 12sets so day1 totally 40sets Day2: shoulders and back . Shoulders 22 sets Back 20 sets Day3 Quads Hams Calfs 24 sets day 4 off and after repeat. During the summer my right AC joint had a lot of pain but I was still keep going after a while it got better.. few weeks ago the left one started to hurt so much I even went to the hospital and ask the doctor to gave me some strong tape or smth now a little bit better but I still can't go full on the bench press neither the reverse peck deck. Usually I go 0-1 RIR 6-8 reps/sets. I know I am doing too much I am not even eating enough to gain weight but I feel bored and I like to going to the gym. I am always thinking that I should give it a try to cut it half at least for a month and lets see but something in my brain is telling me it's fine I can do this much...

[@user-nt4sl5hp5m]

This video is gold. So much knowledge and information that opens your eyes and possibilities. This is training smarter, not harder. And I'm here to learn. 🤓

[@ignaciocastrocampbell9632]

5:12 wouldn't changing the order of excercises make it difficult to track progression since it will probably modify your capacity if you do it some times when you are fresh a d other when you are tired from other excercises?

[@jaypietersen6093]

If you're training High Intensity to actual failure on the last rep you can't do more than 3 movements per body part on anything but legs because you're so damn torched from the first 2-3. Great point in there for the HIT crowd.

[@zezeti2246]

I learned the rotation thing from powerlifting,doing one exercise per muscle group and switching the exercise once I hit a plateau

[@justinfrench8358]

Damn best vid yet. Bravo guvna

[@IRunWithKnives]

It's coincidental that I just changed my program this week because I was overtraining, constantly tired, and saw regression in numbers by lifting for over two hours five days a week - ruined. One week down on 4x4s and 5x5s in most exercises, and I'm feeling great, have loads of energy l, and saw significant increases in almost all my lifts. This video showed up at the right time.

[@MrLimo217]

Love this, thanks Mike and RP team 👊

[@maynardfrench5418]

Dr. Mike, you obviously know what you are talking about. I am wondering if the different approaches have to do with bone length and diameter. What do you think?

[@Shoalin23]

I really appreciate all the good info you put out thank you.

[@DARTH-KTULU]

I’m considering doing a Mon/Wed/Fri full body A/B split where on my A)day I’d do Bench, Rows, OHP, upright rows, Leg extensions and leg curls, preacher curls and on B)day I’d do Hack Squats + calf raises, and RDL’s, a bunch of cable moves… Pulldowns, lat prayers, flys, overhead tricep extensions, laterals, reverse flys and bicep curls facing away from the stack. If I’m alternating days it’d be A/B/A for 1 week, and B/A/B the next. I’d do 3-5 sets for each movement, 5-10 for the compounds, 10-15 for the isolations. Day A is a heavy upper body and day B is a heavy lower body. What do you think of this type of split?

[@Zane0202]

I’d love a video explanation on Calcium Ion accumulation during an exercise/workout and how it relates to fatigue. Maybe how best to structure a training day/week to best mitigate fatigue with throughout a microcycle before your rest days

[@jeffreyromeo3317]

Hey Dr. Mike. I was wondering if you were willing to cover the pro boxer Artur Beterbiev. He's got a big fight this month. He's undefeated and he's absolutely destroyed every one of his opponents. He looks, trains, and fights like he was built in a Lab. I haven't seen any big names cover him so I'd love to see your take.

[@saidwhowhy]

Hello, Dr Mike. here is my schedule until december, 3 sets {12,10,8 reps) each pyramid sets, no warm up sets. DAY 1 BB Bench press DB bench press High pully cross BB Declined press Hammer grip inclind press Cross bench DB pullover Cable push down Long bar cable overhead press DB line down trap Back dips Abs _ 2 varients -------------- DAY 2 Leg press PL BB Lunges Cable Squats BB stiff leg dead lift Leg curls Calf Raises Cable inclined curls High pully curls DB concentrated curls Cable hammer curls Wrist curls - 2or 3 varients ---------------------- DAY3 DB Shoulder press Cable front press DB one arm side laterals Cable reverse fly Upright row LAt pull downs V Straight arm pulldown T bar rowing Reverse grip cable row long bar Abs Hardcore - body weight 10 varients -------------------

[@denoffitness3379]

100℅ agree❤ . I love few exercises per session but more sets with with. Focus is high with this method

[@katwill2487]

Crazy I actually needed this video. I started lifting like an idiot for years with tons of junk volume and lots of exercises per session. Lately my body can’t recover from work out to work out. Definitely need to change up my approach.

[@combatcritique]

Will doing stomach vaccum help reduce my waist? Is there any research behind this? Lots of people including old school bodybuilders swear by vacuums to get a tighter waist. A video on stomach vaccums would be great

[@supernova6553]

Thank you for so much useful information.

[@luismiguel69able]

How is this channel AND everyone commenting (the audience) so awesome Every Time! Like the only cool place on youtube. Youre my ppl.

[@Norseman83]

Really happy to see that my Arnold Split program is on spot of what Dr. Mike is talking about. 40-45min pr workout and I'm leaving the gym. Full range, lighter weights👌🏽

[@bte-aka-busterb]

That sex analogy is pure gold! 😂

[@Chilleyyyyy]

Anal-OG

[@ahmedqadir]

Best advice ever! I've been guilty of everything mentioned here - insane redundancy

[@RobbWolfVideos]

Awesome. And yes, the color of that sweatshirt IS amazing.

[@jezielgarcia7]

Just the video I needed 👍🏽 let’s do this! 💪🏽

[@joeperez-marchese1213]

One of your BEST videos yet!

[@INTJames]

I'm trying to compare this to the recent video you did with Milo "more volume = more growth. period." Where you guys talk about the research behind doing ~15 sets per muscle per week. These two videos seem to be contradictory in some ways, I'm not sure what to make of this yet. Going to have to rewatch these 2 again.

[@hurpaderpp]

15 sets 2x a week per muscle is prob the high end of volume or Maximum effective volume. Its good to cycle volume, and most people arent advanced and can stick between minimum effective volume and max effective volume

[@asmasliti1964]

15 sets per muscle PER WEEK. Assume you do 2 sessions per week. Then, it is the same as what Mike says in this video: "4 sets per muscle ×2 (exercises)" per session.

[@griff424]

u look good

[@GuyWhoGyms]

Goddamn, videos like this are why I love RP. More information to fuel my hyper-fixation let's gooooo.

[@velinivanov607]

For anyone who wants to try a super effective and minimalistic chest workout try this -Weighed dipps 3x10-12 after that drop the weight and do 1set to failure -Incline bench (Dumbell or Barbell) 2x12-15 -1 Drop mechanical drop set of Push ups Decline to Flat done till failure

[@kavaltto]

16:34 what a transition!

[@Blackwido88]

I'm just starting here. I think I have a much better understanding after the restaurant metaphor 😆. Seriously. Really sinks in. 👍

[@WaRebel4]

In my busy workweek/life/ bulk phase, I know that I will workout at least three times a week, but not always 4 times a week. This being said I do a push pull legs split, and during each day I make sure to hit every aspect of said muscle group. Push - incline bench, flat bench, incline dumbbell. Shoulder raise shoulder press. Some sort of tricep movement Pull - lat pull down, dumbbell supported row, barbell row, bicep movement Legs - squat - walking lunges - rdls - calves. Alooooooot of movements per session, but if I can only workout 3 times a week, I know that everything has been hit 1x per week. Best case scenario I workout 4 times a week, so something gets hit 2x a week. Thoughts on this?

[@bigbadlara5304]

You could also run upper lower split but in the following way: Upper, lower, upper, rest/ that's it for the week Depending on if you can train 3 or 4 times you can add a leg day or third upper day and maybe on that day specialize a lagging body part or a body part that recovers quickly like arms or shoulders. You could also run 3x full-body but modified, making sure everything gets hit 2x a week at the least.

[@MrHennerz]

This is the video I’ve been looking for!!! ❤️

[@alexdavis2674]

Love listening to Dr. Mike talk shit💀 SO incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable, as well as a smart ass lmfao.

[@BrokenZen311]

18:54 - ok, as a fat guy, what do I have to do now? I am new to lifting, and training in general. I am trying to make a program to have my exercise decisions already made for me when I go downstairs, but I'm confused. I shouldn't do the same sets of exercises twice a week? I shouldn't have different variations because of staleness, and I am supposed to hit all different angles? I'm so lost, Dr. Mike.

[@The_Patbey]

If you're new to lifting, stick to the basics, you don't need to worry about complex things like this yet. In the first 6 months, you essentially get results by just showing up regularly and doing whatever. If you're still unsure tho, and would like someone to review your program, I'd be glad to help

[@SeuOu]

The_Patbey nailed it. As a beginner, simplicity and consistency are they way. All the fancy optimization exists because, YEARS down the training road, it's the only way some people can still grow. At the start, you're so primed to grow, you'll get great results from nearly anything. Expect that to last for at least a full year.

[@BrokenZen311]

@@The_Patbey Thank you for the offer. I will see if i can figure out how to DM on the tube here and send my program link. I don't have the RP app, though. I am still on free versions of Boostcamp and Liftosaur. Learning liftosaur because of the "one time fee, unlocked forever" payment option over monthly/yearly sub.

[@BrokenZen311]

@@The_Patbey I can't figure out how to DM my program. Do I just link it here?

[@datasneb7069]

Just get the RP app, bro. Why is nobody getting the RP app.

[@abrahamsmith8205]

Any empirical data/studies to back up the staleness/sensitivity concepts discussed?

[@SeuOu]

Questions asked by people who've never broken through a training plateau by changing exercises. If it seems sus to you, you're probably still progressing just fine, and it's a nonissue. Keep doing what you're doing. Changing what works unnecessarily is a beginner trap.

[@abrahamsmith8205]

@@SeuOu it’s more that some people look at training from a scientific perspective and personal experience doesn’t count that much in terms of scientific evidence because we often get things mixed up without realizing and misattribute the cause of gains.

[@tn8106]

I do each muscle 1 time per week. When I go to the gym I do 20 to 25 sets per muscle. Each set I go to failure 6 to 12 reps per set. Im noticing big gains and I'm getting bigger and stronger. It's hard for me to believe 8 sets per muscle group is enough. I feel like that wouldn't be enough for me personally to see the results im getting doing 20-25 sets. Monday- legs 20-25 sets Tuesday- chest 20-25 sets Wendsday- back 20-25 sets Thursday- biceps 20-25 sets Friday- shoulders 20-25 sets Saturday- triceps 20-25 sets Sundays- rest day I also sit in the sauana for 20 min after every workout

[@rockyevans1584]

Joke?

[@DOMAdams-g8b]

" feel " , that's ur problem, ur feeling, not thinking instead..u must be a woman

[@tn8106]

Im serious one muscle group per day and do 20 to 25 sets . I'm getting stronger and bigger great results. I don't believe this video

[@yippeeyo]

There is no 'right' way to train. Science based training is all about optimising growth. But at the end of the day if you go to the gym 6 days a week and lift you will fucking grow if your diet is on point. High volume bro splits worked for me at one point

[@_audacity2722]

@@rockyevans1584I’m in the same boat. I don’t do 5 excercises per muscles, but exactly 4, for the largest parts of the muscles groups. I like to hit 4x10, though not religiously. Sometimes I let myself slide with 3x8 And then I work my way down to the smaller parts of the muscle group. Today was my chest day I hit Bench 4 x 10 Incline Bench 4 x 10 decline bench 4 x 10 Military press 4 x 10 Assisted dips 3 x 8 Chest flies 4 x 10 Lateral delt raises 4 x 10 Tricep raises (actually my triceps reached total failure at this point, I couldn’t even get 1 rep in) Is this way too much? 27 sets but for chest, front delts, lat delts, and triceps didn’t seem like overkill to me idk

[@Xemoneot]

Hi Mike! Thank you for all your videos and for the information you share with us! I don't know if I'll be lucky and you'll read/respond to my message. Is it possible to perform a routine suitable for hypertrophy if I "only" have a bar, a rack and a bench? (I mean because of the smaller variety of exercises possible and the number of sets recommended for hypertrophy). No matter how much I search, I can't find any channel that explains if it is possible and many people (like me) during the pandemic bought a home gym. ps 1: sorry for my English, I'm from Spain and I don't know much about it in writing. Ps 2: thank you for all the wonderful contributions

[@asmasliti1964]

Get you a pair of dumbells, and you good to go

[@jefff6884]

GREAT video! Thank you

[@Target008]

I recently switched up my whole program based on the review of Ferigno's and the info Milo and Dr. Pak have been talking about and if nothing else it has felt amazing. I am doing Lou's 4 day on 1 day off body part split so that every muscle is getting 2x in a 6 day period. 3 exercises per day and 5 sets per exercise.

[@McTrump]

Very informative. Good to know that I was instinctively doing all that Mike talks about

[@ravington666]

Dr Mike, when training chest, would say it's essential to do flyes after doing a flat bench press ? Do you train a different part of the chest ?

[@SeuOu]

IMO, flat press and flyes are redundant. If you were doing 2, you'd want either one + an incline press.

[@matthewmadonna6943]

ROM Burgandy

[@RoccoG]

Dr Mike - I am trying this right now and wondering if you see a downside. I am splitting up muscle exercises for opposing muscle groups in a workout. So, like incline bench, then pullups, then machine press then a low row, or squats then good mornings followed by lunges, lastly leg curls. Do you see any downside to splitting it this way???

[@SeuOu]

There's definitely no downside, it's a fine method, even moreso if you like it.

[@MrSlipperyTuna]

@Dr. Mike, why do you need to hit every angle during fat loss dieting?

[@NishkamTheGeneral]

Wow this video is exactly for me. I got super called out 😅 thanks, Mike!

[@staceygram5555]

4-8 sets per workout, but you and your doctor friend have said that more volume is almost always better, even up to 50+ sets per week. Make it make sense.

[@DanielReyes-hz1qk]

I vaguely recall a recently exchange where they were talking anywhere from 100 all the way up to 200 (fractional) sets. I workout 4 days a week and average around 22-24 sets per workout, but honestly I know I'm doing too many exercises and am trying to decide how to whittle that down without missing anything. I did back yesterday and it was 8 exercises. Need to get it down to 5 or 6 I just feel like bits and pieces are missing between high intensity and stretch in various positions

[@Autonimaatio]

@@staceygram5555 I'm staggered you're a channel member and yet you don't understand what the 52 squat sets per week study was about. They explained it very plainly in the video too. They did 52 sets of squats, but barely trained the rest of their body, so they had a lot of potential for recovery freed up from the rest of their body.

[@blairmonkman7507]

The volume is person to person based, if you can recover well on less sets you should increase them if you have the time, but generally speaking, if we are talking your average lifter who has many reps left set to set and does a lot of junk volume, they would benefit from having sets closer to failure and doing less. More effective for muscle growth and it saves time, but if your the type of person who just grows like a weed doing 30+ sets of glute work or 30+ sets of chest vs only 12-16 sets per week total, (a NOTICEABLE difference) then if you have the time in your own PERSONAL case you should do more. I just don't think in terms of total gains it's going to be significantly more going that high for most people. Even in most of the special cases this will just be people squeezing out the last 20% of their gains. In almost every case the 80% of gains you make will be in those initial 12-16 hard sets per muscle group per week. The big changes people often make when they are lifting is getting their diet on point so they are in enough of a surplus to gain muscle or they just train closer to failure and start making much more noticeable progress. OR they are a genetic freak who started off looking average and ticked all the boxes and now look insane, but they are the exception because they could still do most things wrong and look better than most people by just simply lifting very sub optimally.

[@DanielReyes-hz1qk]

@@blairmonkman7507 I've always had issues eating enough to be consistently in a surplus. I've redone my diet twice and finally after a few years of trying am slowly putting on muscle mass. I was 190lbs and high fat/low muscle, down to 160 with less fat, and currently up to 165 with more muscle. I had to go with a mass gainer in replacement of my protein shakes to finally get there. I'm a trucker and don't have time or the ability to eat much during the 12 hours a day I'm on the road

[@tonysbakery7870]

@@Autonimaatio Even with just squats, 50+sets doesnt make any sense. A single study done on 6 people during a 6 week period with no context given is what a lot of the ''evidence'' that the '''evidence based scientist lifters'' need to consider something as a fact

[@kylezangel6531]

Dr. Mike, a question if I may; how would you approach number of exercises when you move from MEV to MRV through a meso? For example, if I'm starting at 4 sets/session and expecting to hit 8 later on - would I start with two exercises at just 2 sets each? Or start with one, and then add a second exercise to the session when I reach the 5-7 set range?

[@jasonhernandez3806]

My biceps never get sore, so the RP app adds and adds sets. Towards the end of a meso, I can be up to 8 sets on a single bicep exercise, and it feels like I'm really pushing my limit midway through those mesos. Would it be better to add an exercise instead of adding sets once I get to 6 or so sets? Thanks for all the great advice, love the channel

[@ΧρήστοςΠαπαδημητρίου-μ6π]

If I have two different push days (for example), how do I deload? On a video about deload weeks Dr Mike says "half sets half reps same weights" for the first half of the week, and "half all" on the second half of the week. But, if first half and second half are different, then what?

[@SeuOu]

Do half set/rep on 1st push day, half all on 2nd. The advice is about the muscle group, it's okay if the exercises don't repeat.

[@SJLDLHD]

Would love to see a video about doing two a days, as Mike alluded to in his home gym tour. Can it help with specialization? E.g. do one group in the AM and then be fresh for a larger workout in the evening. With more and more people working from home and having 20 minutes here or there, I think it would be a helpful topic. At least to me, but I'm a n00b..

[@SeuOu]

Definitely an option if it fits your schedule. Reminds me of a trainer I had who said he did his entire workout in blocks of 1-2 exercises between clients. Sounded crazy to me, but the guy was jacked ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@SJLDLHD]

@@SeuOu Cool. Yeah - for example, I've been doing calf raises in the AM of my push day. Have not noticed any drop in energy for the start of the evening workout. Gets some extra calf work in between leg days since they recover quicker. TL/DR I've watch too many Dr. Mike videos.

[@DoopySoupy]

Yeah totally works, I do my main workout in the morning (chest and back, biceps and triceps or quads and hamstrings) and then a small muscle group after dinner (calves, abs or shoulders) this lets me hit every muscle group at least 2x per week and not spend 2 hours in the gym at a time.

[@justinwoods535]

For Push I do 4 sets each of Incline DB Press, Flat DB Flye, Machine Flat Press, and Machine Flye. I then finish up triceps with 4 sets of overhead extensions or press downs superset with cable lateral raises. 16 direct chest sets, probably about 8 cumulative triceps sets, and a bit of shoulders (done other days too). I do this twice(ish) a week. Is this too many sets/exercises? Gives a good burn and I can still recover in 3/4 days for the next Push day.

[@Veer1920]

Best video so far.... although it raises more questions than it answered 😂

[@jdanielortega]

25:00 please do a full list of exercises so we don't neglect any part of any muscle.

[@MA1NMANMA1N1AC]

What do you think of decline? I workout with barbell and dumbell , usually alternate dumbell decline but sometimes barbell decline bench.

[@DevonThornton]

Let's say I've got some muscle groups that I feel like I'm not getting a good stimulus on: is that a good reason to add more exercises per session? For example, my last chest day I did incline dumbbell press, machine flyes, and tricep pushdown machine (essentially machine dips). I went either to complete failure or definitely within 2 reps of it, but my chest was barely sore. Slow af on the eccentric, pause at the bottom, etc. Heavier weights, 8-10 reps, 4 sets per exercise Am I better off adding machine chest press or should I try to instead lower the weight, double the reps, and see if that's better? Or is the answer to fuck around and find out? Try both and see what feels best?

[@yonathansamuel9449]

sir, i'm a newbie, which one is better for chest development? incline bench press or flat?. thank you very much

[@jamieo2147]

I have reduced mobility in one shoulder that prevents me from holding a barbell for squats etc. What can I do for legs other than leg press for some variety?

[@t-casualrex204]

Much respect!

[@jamiesmith8313]

Love this vid ,cheers dr Mike

[@deadbones23]

So many good info form Dr Michael 🎉

[@adamcohen3066]

Concise and informative. Thanks!

[@duncan6728]

Thanks to Dr. Mike, my chest day now consists of 4x Incline Bench Press, 4x Cable Crossover Flys, and 4x Yelling At Old People. Thanks!

[@kylemayberry5073]

Noob question but if you do Squats, Extensions, and Curls for Legs, does that count as 1.5-2 exercises for Quads and 1.5-2 exercises for Hams due to the mix or compound and isolation exercises? Or am I overthinking and need to train them different days?

[@Fadeing]

What are the major king distributed compounds? (Along with examples of what they replace.) So then what is an example hyper time efficient plan as the baseline; from which you are suggesting specializations be justified away from? Currently assuming a full distributed plan would suit fat loss phase more; while bulking opens up to specializations.

[@patrickdewar9641]

Great information, Mr. PhD. Thanks

[@YannickOkpara-d5l]

I just did my first 1h30min upper body workout. That is 1h30min from getting in, destroying myself, and showering. It used to be 2h-2h30min. It turns out removing one exercise and turning 4 exercises into 2 supersets saves A LOT OF TIME.

[@souravrajeev5528]

IM NOT GETTING ANY JOBS BUT IM GETTING A PURPOSE TO LIVE WATCHING DR MIKE EVERYDAY

[@kinge2274]

2-3 exercises with 4 to 5 sets and that’s for the major muscles for smaller. I do one to two exercises with 3 to 4 sets. What do you think?

[@dzen_dzenkazan8050]

If you grow, that's good

[@SeuOu]

Sounds good to me👍

[@kinge2274]

@@dzen_dzenkazan8050 I’m getting pretty consistent results

[@NOViCE_FPV]

Love watching Dr. Mike. The link to the app is broken, will check back in.

[@askeladd9591]

Listening to Dr.Mike and prepared to do pull ups, t bar rows, machine row and cable pull over in one session 😁

[@lewisjamessavery5985]

Hi Doc, do you have a list of distributed compound lifts anywhere?

[@acenine8149]

I’ve been plateaued on many of the major compound lifts for a while now. It was too the point where I would work for 12 weeks at mapped out 1RM percentage based workouts, and I would maybe add 5lbs or nothing at all to my max. As a way to try and change things up, I’ve switched to a machines like leg press or chest press as my main lift, and I either add small weight increases or one or two reps per set each week. These small increases were impossible on lifts like bench and squat.