Basic Lifting, Instinctive Training

    

            While doing research for my last article, I was re-reading Bradley Steiner’s original “Rugged Size and Strength” essay (from 1972) and came across this bit of advice: “Do not attempt to set up a pre-planned schedule of either sets or reps.”  That may not seem like much—it’s the kind of “basic” advice that’s easily overlooked—but there is wisdom in it, minimal as it may seem at first glance.

     Depending on the workout program and the lifting population it’s aiming for, that quote could be either good or bad.  It’s not good advice for a beginner’s program, any beginner’s program.  It’s not good advice for intermediate or advanced lifters, either, who are attempting a new workout program or a new “style” of lifting that they haven’t utilized before.  For instance, if you’ve been training for the past decade on a bodybuilding workout consisting of lots of volume—plenty of sets and reps—and now you’re attempting a powerlifting regimen for the first time in your life, you need a pre-planned schedule of sets and reps “advanced” be damned.  But if you’ve been using full-body workouts for years and want to continue to do so and you’ve already built a strong, rugged, impressive physique, it’s just the advice you need.  Of course, if this describes you, then perhaps you already know this and I’m just preaching to the choir.  Then again, maybe not.  Sometimes we get stuck doing things a certain way, lifting included, and it’s hard to break free from that specific way.  And even if you do know it, sometimes it’s good to have a reminder, especially if you’ve spent too much time on YouTube or the like, watching and listening to the (often conflicting) views of various influencers.

     This doesn’t mean, by the way, that you should just do random whatever when you go to the gym.  You still need a plan.  You should have a clear goal and your workouts should be tailored toward achieving that goal.  Even though Steiner advised against pre-planned sets and reps, he recommended this with the understanding that your exercises would be pre-planned.  Know the movements that you will use during your workouts and throughout your program.

     Set up your program’s schedule and stick with it.  Know the number of days you will train each week and stick with it.  Know the movements that you will use during each session and stick with it.  Just don’t decide the exact number of sets or reps.  Steiner again: “Body recuperative powers and varying degrees of daily energy levels prohibit this sort of self-programming.  Do the maximum number of sets and the maximum number of reps on every exercise on each training day.  This is a mature attitude—and it requires a mature, dedicated barbell man to adhere to a schedule on these terms.”

     There are some guidelines for sets and reps that can help, however.  If you’re training an exercise (or a muscle group) 3 times per week—whether it’s on a full-body program or a two-way split—the guidelines will depend upon the goal.  If you’re training predominately for strength and power, keep total reps per movement per session to around 10—the “usual” easy strength parameters.  Good set/rep combos would be: 5x2; 2x5; 3x5,3,2; 3x3; 3x3,4,3; 3x4,2,4; 4x1,2,3,4; 4x4,3,2,1; and 5x1,2,3,2,1.  If you’re seeking a combination of strength and power along with hypertrophy, around 15-25 reps per exercise per session is ideal—the classic 5x5 works well here, though it’s on the “upper end” of the parameters.  Other set/rep combinations might be: 5x4; 4x5; 5x5,4,3,2,1; 5x1,2,3,4,5; 6x3; 8x2; 6x2,3,5,2,3,5; 6x5,3,2,5,3,2; 9x3,2,1,3,2,1,3,2,1; and 9x1,2,3,1,2,3,1,2,3.  And, finally, if it’s solely hypertrophy you’re after then 30-50 reps works well.  The “old school” advice of 3 sets of 10 reps was always recommended for a reason: it works.  Other good muscle-building set/rep ranges might be: 4x10; 5x10; 4x8; 5x8; 3x12,10,8; 4x12,10,8,6; 5x12,10,8,6,4; 6x6; and 8x5.  In all of these varying guidelines, there is a range of volume.  What you choose will depend on what works well for you.  Some lifters, no matter what goal, will do well with volume at the lower end of the spectrum and others at the higher end.  (And if you’re unsure about what works well for you, then you’re not ready for this kind of “instinctive” training.  Not yet, anyway.)

     I must add that the guidelines above all work well assuming you’re not training all-out on every set—“balls to the wall,” as they say.  Obviously, the harder you train, the less sets need to be utilized.  When training “high-intensity,” 1 to 2 sets should suffice.

     The number of exercises that you use at each workout should also determine the number of sets for each of those exercises.  If you train with as little as 3 lifts at each session, you can push your sets per movement to more than 5.  Conversely, if you do 10 or 12 exercises at a session, you probably want no more than 2 sets each, even when using “sub-maximal” efforts on the sets.

     Before I finish this thing up, let me add one more thing.  Use this method of “instinctive training” to experiment and play around with some different set/rep combinations.  Sometimes lifters, even quite advanced ones, are surprised to discover that they respond to more or less work than they thought was effective for them.  Try some high-set, low-rep exercises or some low-set, ultra high-rep movements.  Cliched though it may be, you really won’t know until you try.  Good luck.  Now, get lifting!

Sources

“The Rugged Size and Strength Split Routine” by Bradley J. Steiner; January 1972 IronMan magazine (Vol.31, No.2)