Does this sound like you?
1️⃣ Go to the gym.
2️⃣ Pick a weight that ‘feels right’.
3️⃣ Crank out a couple sets of 10 reps each.
4️⃣ Repeat for all muscle groups and workout complete!
5️⃣ Get home, look in the mirror, and wonder to yourself why, after YEARS of lifting, you’re still not jacked 😥
💡 The answer: you’re counting reps without regard to the DIFFICULTY of those reps.
And it’s that difficulty that acts as the trigger for muscle growth. It’s like counting your bites of food without regard to the calories of those bites — and then wondering why you aren’t losing weight!
🤔 So what should you count instead of reps for maximum muscle growth?
Reps in Reserve (RIR).
The RIR training approach is becoming popular in both advanced bodybuilding circles and the research community. RIR is simply a measure of how many reps you have left in the tank after any given set.
Example: You do 8 reps of squats, but could squeeze out 2 more reps before failure. That’s a 2 RIR.
📖 Studies show that the sweet spot for muscle growth is ~ 1-3 RIR.
This means that you should take each working set to 1-3 reps before hitting failure.
It’s important to note that there is no magical number of reps for building muscle. You get similar growth anywhere in the 3-30+ rep range — as long the set is taken to 1-3 RIR.
Stop worrying about hitting a particular number of reps. Switch your focus to the difficulty of those reps.
✅ Next Step: Establish Your RIR Baseline.
Since RIR is somewhat subjective, you want to make sure you're gauging it accurately.
How?
By first establishing an RIR baseline for each of your main exercises at your next gym session.
Choose a weight you could do ~ 10 reps before failure.
When you feel yourself hit 2 RIR (i.e. 2 reps left before failure), call it out.
Take the set to failure (form breaks down and can’t do another rep).
Note the accuracy of your 2 RIR estimate.
Use this RIR baseline moving forward.
💪 Stop counting Reps and start counting Reps in Reserve so you can make your muscle-building workouts as effective as possible.
🎥 Want to learn more about RIR? Here’s an excellent video on this topic: How To Tell If You’re Training Hard Enough