154 | Embracing Strength (Part 4): Crafting Workouts When You Have Poor Exercise Tolerance

Join us as we explore cutting-edge science and research to give you the information and tools you need to create the quality of life you want and deserve . And now here is the host of Inflammation Nation , dr Steven Nosroth .

Why you need to be doing it , like everything , is a choice , but this is kind of a non-negotiable If you want to be healthy , if you want to improve your quality of life , you must be doing some form of resistance training .

And I'll just remind you last time I talked about how I kind of translated Dr Andy Galpin's look good , feel good , play good as reasons why people want to do resistance training , translated that into my own thought process , my own , I guess , clinical paradigm . And for me resistance training is about form , function and freedom . Form is about your physique .

It's aesthetics right , we all want to look good . Function is about being able to handle your routine activity or routine daily activities and have enough capacity left over to engage in recreation , maybe even the capacity to meet the demands of an emergency if that should arise . And then also it's about freedom .

It's about the independence of healthy and graceful aging . Nobody wants to be at the point where they're sitting in a chair all day long , having somebody else wash them and feed them . Right , you can do many different things to avoid that resistance training and maintaining your physical strength and capacity as part of that .

So today we're going to be talking about how many working sets you need per week to trigger the adaptations you're looking for , and we'll talk about how many . Or let's say , how to arrange your rep scheme to accomplish different goals , whether that is developing strength or building muscle or developing muscular endurance .

Remember , you get to choose the adaptation that you get from resistance training . Just because you lift up a weight doesn't mean you're going to get bulky . You can if you want to , but it takes an awful lot of work , and so what we're going to be talking about is , let's call it , the minimal effective dose .

This is really about a minimalist training protocol or approach to develop maximum adaptations , and there's many reasons to do that . One is because your capacity might be very low , your exercise tolerance might be really low , and so we want to start at the low end of what's going to be effective . Other times it's people like you know .

Hey , I know I need to do resistance training . I know it's going to be good for me . I just don't want to spend six days a week in the gym two hours at a time , totally get it . So what's the least amount that you can do and still get results and make your time invested worthwhile ?

You know there is a time not long ago that general lifting wisdom said that if you want to get stronger you have to lift heavy weights for working sets in the one to five repetition range . You know we define working sets and warm up sets in the last episode . So if you don't know that terminology , go back and listen to that last episode .

Conventional wisdom also said that if you wanted to build muscle or create hypertrophy , that the only way to do that was to lift medium weights in the eight to 12 rep range . And anytime you lifted a weight that was light enough that you could do 15 or more reps , that you developed endurance .

But that , you know , 15 reps is not going to really build strength and it certainly wouldn't build muscle . And that old conventional wisdom kind of gave us this really neat division , right , less than five reps is strength training , eight to 12 reps to grow muscle and 15 reps or more for endurance .

But you know , if you notice , when we look at less than five reps eight to 12 and then 15 or more there's some gaps in there . Right , if you develop strength at five reps or less and grow muscle in the eight to 12 rep range , what happens if you lift a weight six or seven times ? And what ?

And if muscle growth happens in the eight to 12 rep range and endurance is 15 reps or more , what happens if you lift a weight 13 times or 14 times ? And so the problem here lies in a couple of mistakes .

One is in treating these repetition ranges as discrete numbers , where one adaptation , say strength , stops at five reps and the other adaptation , like muscle growth , doesn't pick up again until eight reps and so on .

And the truth is is that if you lift close to failure in the eight to 12 rep range , which historically has been called the hypertrophy range , you're going to get stronger too , in general , bigger muscles or stronger muscles , and so hypertrophy tends to increase strength .

But also , if you do enough working sets in the 15 plus rep range with limits , not only do you improve your muscular endurance , but your muscles can also get bigger when you're lifting in the 15 plus or the endurance rep range .

So instead of thinking of these adaptations of strength and muscle growth and endurance as only occurring within specific rep ranges that are mutually exclusive . Think of these ranges as having a lot of bleed over or a lot of overlap .

And probably the best way to illustrate the fact that these things can certainly overlap is , you know , we usually think of strength and endurance as mutually exclusive , like strength is low reps , high weight or heavy weight , and endurance is lightweight , multiple reps , and so you would think that they are on opposite ends of the repetition spectrum .

But consider that there's something called strength endurance , which is the ability to express a high degree of strength and repeat that for multiple repetitions .

And we're starting , you know , we see this now in strongman competitions , which is not just about , hey , how heavy of an atlas stone can you lift , but how many times can you lift a heavy atlas stone , and strength endurance is really a really good metric of capacity .

So that's one mistake is to think that these are mutually exclusive ranges when in fact there's overlap . The second mistake is to assume that muscle growth or hypertrophy is tied to a specific rep range , typically , again , the 8 to 12 rep range .

And while it is true that strength is most efficiently developed with heavier weights in that lower rep range , classically considered one to five reps , and while it is true that muscular endurance is best developed lifting light weights for , say , 15 reps or more . Muscle growth or hypertrophy is not tied to a specific rep range .

It is tied to the total number of working sets that you do in a week for a given movement or a given muscle or muscle group . So it is possible to grow muscle using a strength approach and it is possible to grow muscle with an endurance focus if your total working sets during the week meet a minimum threshold .

And what this means is that for most of us using resistance training to develop general physical preparedness , or GPP , we can choose to focus on strength , we can focus just on endurance , we can focus on hypertrophy or we can focus on a mixture .

Do you remember when I explained the difference between fast twitch and slow twitch muscles , probably two or three episodes ago ? These fast twitch muscles , these are the ones that produce more strength and more power than your endurance fibers . And your endurance fibers are your slow twitch muscle fibers .

They're simply better at endurance because they have more mitochondria , they last longer , but they can't generate a lot of force , right . So fast twitch muscles are speed power , but not endurance . Slow twitch muscles are endurance , but not nearly as strong or as powerful as the others , and most of us have about a 50-50 split between these two .

So it doesn't make sense that at some time we should be focusing on developing our fast twitch , strength and power muscles or muscle fibers , I should say , and at some point we should be focused on developing the endurance of our slow twitch muscles .

And so if I have a strength focus and I'm lifting heavier weights for fewer reps and I have enough working sets during the week , I'm going to grow my muscles but I'm going to bias the adaptation to growing my fast twitch , strength and power muscles . That's about 50% of my muscle mass .

Or I can have an endurance focus and , as long as I have enough working sets during the week using lighter weights in that 15 or so rep range , I can grow muscle that way too , but I'm biasing my growth more to the slow twitch endurance fibers .

I'm going to get less strength but I'm going to get more endurance , but in both cases I can actually increase the size of my muscles .

And so I think that one reason that this 8 to 12 rep range kind of myth was considered the hypertrophy range for so long is because you can do more working sets using a moderate weight and rep range than if you tried to match the same volume of working sets using really heavy weights for , say , one to three repetitions at a time .

And I think that's really kind of why the 8 to 12 rep range myth started and why it tends to perpetuate .

Because , remember , the relationship of muscle growth , or the formula , if you will , for muscle growth , is tied to working set volume and not a specific rep range , and we now know that you can grow muscle in any rep range , but you can you bias whether you're growing your strength fibers or your endurance fibers based on your goals , and you know , you guessed it

there's value to both of those . I think that , because most of us have about a 50-50 split between strength and power muscle fibers and endurance muscle fibers , we have to be doing both . We shouldn't only always be doing one or the other , unless we're dedicating our focus for a specific period of time .

I might be someone who naturally has better endurance and less strength , and so I might want to spend some time maybe weeks , if not months focus mostly on developing strength , but then at some point I should be doing a blend of all of it , and we could flip that around and saying I might be naturally stronger with less endurance and so it's probably better for

me to spend time working on endurance than it is on strength , because that comes to me naturally . But eventually I want good capacity , I want general physical preparedness and baseline capacity in all of these different adaptations . All right , so let's talk about how many working sets you need per week to trigger these adaptations , and there's a wide range .

And again , this is where newbies have the advantage , right . More advanced lifters need much higher volume in terms of working sets per week per movement to keep improving than less experienced lifters need .

And regardless of whether you need to develop strength versus endurance or a blend of both , you should aim for 6 to 10 working sets per muscle group or movement per week , 6 to 10 working sets .

And you know , just like how I suggested , newbies should first aim first , or should aim first to leave about four reps in reserve in their working sets until they develop some capacity .

Then , if you need to shoot for 6 to 10 working sets per week per movement , I want you to consider starting off with the goal of only six working sets per movement per week , because that's less metabolically demanding than starting out with 10 working sets per week , which is harder to do , but it also requires better recovery capacity .

And once you get used to the demands of 6 working sets per week , then you can shoot for 7 working sets per week and then 8 working sets per week and you slowly add more working sets until you get to say 10 working sets per week per movement . For example , let's say you're lifting twice a week and you start on the lower end of this working set range .

So your goal is 6 total working sets per sets per movement per week , which means you only need 3 working sets per movement per workout session to hit your weekly working set goal of 6 . You do 3 on day 1 , you do 3 on day 2 , that's 6 for the week . Right , one exercise done 3 times to within 4 reps of failure done twice a week .

That's how you would put it together . And now more advanced lifters need more working volume per week to keep triggering adaptations .

My suggestion to you and I'm going over this again because this part is so important if you're a newbie , especially if you have any metabolic issues that affect your recovery start at the lower end of what we might call effective working volume and add more working sets as you see your capacity to handle , work and recover improving Right .

So let me paint the effective working set range for you so you can understand what's involved . On the extreme end of the effective working set range , advanced lifters might need upwards of 20 working sets per movement or exercise per week to get results .

20 , that's a ton of work and it usually only applies to serious athletes and bodybuilders , and that is not most of us . Intermediate lifters , people with , say you know , at least two years of consistent lifting experience under their belt , generally need about 15 working sets per movement per week for them to continue to progress .

And that's still a ton of work and it's not for beginners and it's not for those with metabolic compromise , people who are new , people who are metabolically challenged .

I want you to stick to the 6 to 10 rep range . I'm sorry , 6 to 10 working sets per movement per week , not reps , working sets . And again , the newer you are to lifting , the more metabolically compromised you are . Start at the lower end . Start with six working sets per movement per week . Honestly , you could even start with four .

You're certainly not going to waste your time . If you have any concerns at all about your recovery capacity . If you think your exercise tolerance is low , start with two working sets twice a week . Start with four . There's no rule that says you have to start at six . That's just kind of like where we start to see the adaptations really kicking in .

So you can even just start at four , just to make sure that you stay within your recovery capacity . So you could work out twice a week , do a couple of warm-up sets for any given exercise or movement and then do two working sets per exercise per session , and make sure that you stop within four reps or at four reps in reserve .

Do not push close to failure . Do not push to failure . Start low , build your capacity over time as you see what your capacity is . And this does several things for you right .

First , it gives you space to figure out what your recovery capacity is and it gives you flexibility to scale and ramp up your working volume and the metabolic demand that it places on your body . And so if recovery is a huge issue for you , then you can even split your working sets over .

You know , three days per week instead of two , and you can start by doing two warm-up sets and then only one workout , one working set per session and then see how you do and then gradually add more working set volume until you're meeting that minimum of six working sets per week .

Second , if you're noodle lifting , it gives you more time to learn and practice good technique right without worrying about pushing your limits .

The last thing you want to do is go into the gym , do something new that might be technically demanding , like a barbell back squat , for example , and place upon yourself the expectation that you're going to push your limits to failure when you don't know the technique , you don't know the form .

Under those circumstances , you run the risk of injury and we don't want that right .

So for anyone new to lifting , especially those with metabolic issues , want you to consider doing a full body workout two to three times per week , where you do a sensible warmup and you shoot for , let's say , anywhere from three to six working sets per movement per week to start , and then you work up to getting eventually to 10 working sets per movement per week

. Which then begs the question well , like , what do you do during these workout sessions ? What is what's a full body workout ? How do I do that ? So I'll bring you back to I think it was the first , maybe the second episode , we were talking about the adaptations and I talked about the masters of growing muscle , and that's the bodybuilder .

Right , especially the pro bodybuilder granted their pharmaceutical enhance . But it's not unusual for bodybuilders to split their workout sessions up by body parts so that they focus on one body part per day . So they have a day where they work the quads or that's , you know , the front of your thigh .

They have another day where they focus on the hamstrings that's the back of the thigh . They have one day where they work out just their chest muscles , another for their back muscles , a different day for biceps , a different day for triceps , and this is what we call a bodybuilding split .

Now , there's different ways to do it and I'm kind of giving you an extreme example .

But these bodybuilding splits , where you do one movement or one body part per day , allows them to put a ton of work into growing one muscle group at a time , because fostering muscle growth is their primary interest , and so they really narrow it down to one muscle group or sometimes even one muscle at a time , and that's all they do Now .

Full body workouts don't do that . Now . You certainly can grow muscle and get stronger and improve endurance doing full body workouts . But full body workouts are not hyper focused on muscle growth . But again , we're not . For most of us , we're not trying to become body builders .

Yes , we want to improve our form , our physique , but that comes as a side effect of focusing on developing function and doing things that ensure your physical freedom as you age .

What I like about full body workouts , especially in the beginning , is that simple full body workouts are very time efficient and they're generally divided along the lines of one exercise for your lower body , one for your upper body pushing movements and one for upper body pulling movements , and in gym lingo this is often called a push pull legs program push pull

legs . So again , in a full body push pull legs workout , you would choose one compound exercise for the lower body . Remember , compound exercises are not isolation exercises . They use multiple joints , multiple muscles at one time .

So a compound lower body exercise would be some kind of a squat variation , even if it's just what we call an air squat or a body weight squat or a leg press or some kind of a deadlift or a lunge . Those are compound exercises for the lower body . So you would choose in this full body push pull legs approach .

You would choose one compound exercise for the lower body , one compound exercise for upper body pushing movements , and that would be things like a chest press , for example , or a shoulder press a push up would qualify and you also choose one compound exercise for an upper body pulling movement and there might be some kind of a rowing variation or a chin up or a

pull up or using like a lat pull down cable and machine , for example .

So in a full body push pull legs workout in the beginning that's only three exercises One for the lower body , one for the upper body push , one for the upper body pull and you do that twice a week where you do three working sets let's assume three for the moment you do three working sets of each exercise or , if you're being very cautious , you could do this

three times a week and do one working set per session , working up to the number of working sets six to 10 working sets per movement per week . It's a very simple , very effective , very time efficient way to get everything that you need to get done and remember these things I'm talking about here . Just they don't include the warmup .

You have to do the warmup . So let me reiterate , for lower body movements . In any given session you can choose a squat variation or a deadlift variation or a lunge variation , and there are many of those , and there's no need to do more than one exercise per session at this level , at this beginner level .

But it is often helpful to rotate your choices every workout . For example , let's say you're doing a full body push , pull leg workout twice a week . Let's call them day one and day two . Doesn't matter which day of the week they're on . You wouldn't do them consecutively . You wouldn't do it Monday and Tuesday and then do nothing .

You would have maybe two days in between . So you might do day one might be Monday , day two might be Thursday , something like that . Or it could be Tuesday and Saturday . Just make sure you space them out a little bit . So we have twice a week full body workout , day one and day two .

On day one you could choose to do a squat variation , like a goblet squat , for example , and you can look that up goblet GOB-LET , like you're drinking from a goblet . You could do a squat variation like a goblet squat on day one .

On day two , maybe you choose a deadlift variation , say with dumbbells , and you could just rotate between these two options every time that you do a lower body exercise day one , squat , day two , deadlift perfectly fine , but for variety you could add in a lunge variation as a third option , but you rotate those three exercises over your two workout days .

So it might go like this day one is a squat variation , day two is a deadlift variation , pardon me .

And when you go back to day one the next week , instead of doing a squat variation again , you switch and you do some version of a lunge , and then day two of the second week , instead of doing a deadlift variation again , now you're back to doing a squat variation .

So it will go squat , deadlift , lunge , and it would just rotate in that manner , and this keeps things fresh . For some people that's fun , just to do something different . Every day's just a little bit different .

Plus , you get the added advantage of the fact that movements like lunges force you to work one side of your lower body at a time , which is a different stimulus than squats or deadlifts , which work both sides of the body at the same time , and there are advantages to both approaches and unilateral type exercises .

Honestly , they're a great way to discover weaknesses and imbalances and then , of course , correct them , and the same holds true in terms of rotating exercises for your upper body pushing and pulling , and it might be a little bit more important for the upper body pushing exercises .

Right , the main variation to choose from with the upper body push would be some kind of a horizontal pushing movement , like a bench press or a pushup , where you're pushing something away from your chest horizontally and alternating .

That you know , say , day one is some kind of let's say it's a bench press or it's a pushup , and then day two it's a vertical press , like a shoulder press , and alternating . That is more well-rounded than doing only one of them , always doing bench press or always doing shoulder press , for example .

And as for upper body pulling exercises , again we can use the same horizontal versus vertical approach . A horizontal pull is some kind of a rowing variation where you're pulling something towards you .

You can do that either seated on a rowing machine or , I should say , a seated row machine , or maybe a bent over dumbbell or barbell row on day one , and then on day two you switch to a vertical pulling exercises , which again could be a lat pull down or could be a chin up if you're strong enough to do those .

So no matter where you start , and I want you to seriously consider starting at the lower end of these ranges . Over time , you would simply add more volume to work your way up from four working sets per week to six working sets per week , to seven or eight and eventually to 10 .

And the point of giving you a range is not to create the expectation that you have to get to the top of the range , but for you to find the point in the range that really serves your goals , right ? So six to 10 is really ultimately the goal , but you might get everything you need at six working sets per week and you don't have to go to 10 .

Some people will have to go to 10 because either they need to develop more capacity or their interests are different than yours . Maybe seven or eight working sets is going to work well , I don't know . But at least you have a range . I don't want you to think that you have to get 20 working sets in a per movement per week like a pro-lifter .

You do not , right ? Remember , we're doing this for health and wellness and to protect your future independence and your quality of life . And once you reach your goals , the question then becomes well , how much work do I need to do to maintain this ?

And the cool thing is that , while it takes a lot of work to get to your goals , it takes much less effort to maintain it . And that's where you want to be , where you have developed your form , your function and your freedom to the point where you're happy . And now it's all about maintenance . We'll talk about that in just a little bit .

But at some point you're going to have to make a decision , like it doesn't matter where you start , whether you start at six working sets and then say , okay , I need to go to seven , eight and up to 10 .

Or if you have really really challenged recovery capacity and your exercise tolerance is super low and maybe you start with two working sets per week , you need to work up to three and then four , and then six and so on . Well , you can add volume and I mean working set volume one of several ways .

First , you can simply add more working sets of the same exercises and this is what you should do if you start out with just one or two working sets per session instead of starting with three . Right Three done twice a week is six , one done twice a week is two , and so on .

But once you get to the point where you're doing three working sets of an exercise per session and six total per week , then you can either add one more working set and do four per session for eight total during the week , or you can add a second exercise that hits the same muscle groups and split the working sets between two exercises and not just one within

one exercise session . So , for example , instead of doing exercise A for four sets instead of three , you do exercise A for two working sets and then exercise B for two working sets , and that gives you four total workout session or working sets per session , and that gives you eight total working sets per week .

Again , assuming that exercise B works the same movement pattern as exercise A , let me give you some examples . Make it concrete . It would be perfectly fine in terms of adding volume to do two working sets of a squat variation , followed by two working sets of a lunge variation , rather than doing four working sets of the squat .

It's all in the same family of movements so they complement one another , but it gives you variety and it changes the stressors on your body .

Now the third and final way to add working volume is to add a third workout and then spread your working sets over three sessions instead of two , and that's a great option if you have a time limit per session , but you can get to the gym more frequently .

Some people have a limit in the number of days that they can get to the gym or workout at home , wherever you're doing it , and other people have limits on how much time they can devote in each session . So you can either add more volume to your two day week schedule or you can add a third workout .

Just do less working sets in each session and they total up during the week to the same thing . But I think you should at least shoot for a full body workout twice a week . That to me , would be the minimum effective dose .

So in summary , on this part of the podcast today , if you're seriously metabolically compromised due to perhaps even three full body sessions per week , start with one , maybe two working sets per movement per session , or two to four working sets total per movement per week .

If you're not so seriously compromised in your recovery capacity , then shoot for two full body sessions using three working sets per movement per session for a total of six working sets per movement per week , and somewhere along the way you find your sweet spot in this six to 10 weekly working set range . You might get everything you need at six .

You might need to go to eight , you might need to get up to 10 to get where you want to go , and you can add volume . Either you should add volume as needed by either adding more working sets per session but keep the same exercises Just add one more set , for example .

Or you could add one more exercise per session and divvy up the working sets between two exercises instead of one . Or you can add a third exercise session and spread all of your working sets across three sessions instead of two sessions . I think that's a fair summary of what we just went through . Now what about setting your repetition schemes ?

Kind of started out talking about strength range of one to five and endurance of 15 plus right , and I've already mentioned how muscle growth is tied to your weekly working volume . So let's talk about how we can bias our adaptations towards either strength or endurance by choosing weights that we can only lift for a certain rep range .

Let's talk about repetition ranges for strength to begin with . The general prescription for developing stronger muscles is to lift heavier weights for fewer reps and get closer to true failure . The general prescription for developing muscular endurance is to lift lighter weights for higher reps without really being too concerned about getting that close to failure .

So on the strength side , I want you to consider number one , that you might never , really , ever , ever need to do a true one rep max lift , meaning the heaviest weight you can lift one time Right , unless you're planning on entering a powerlifting meet . You don't really ever need to lift at or below , say , three repetitions maximum .

Now , on the endurance side , there's little evidence that lifting weights for more than 30 reps is very helpful . So for endurance , we usually stay within the 15 , say to 20 rep range , maybe 25 .

And remember , whether you're lifting for strength or endurance , you can grow muscle as long as your weekly working sets are high enough , and the challenge in trying to grow super strong muscles is that inherently , doing multiple near failure working sets with weights that are above 85% of your one rep max are very metabolically taxing .

It's a lot easier and less metabolically demanding to hit your working set target using light weights for more repetitions , but let me tell you that if you take endurance sets close to failure , over and over , that can also be a great challenge , just not the same as taking multiple strength sets very close to failure .

So out on the internet you're going to see again rep ranges like I laid up before . Classically , strength is heavy weights for one to five reps , hypertrophy is the eight to 12 rep range , using moderate weights , and endurance is light weights for 15 plus reps .

But I want to introduce you to my rule of fours , since you don't really need to go super heavy on the strength end to get stronger and you don't need to go super long on the endurance end to develop endurance .

I want you to think about breaking down rep ranges like this Four to eight reps is one range , eight to 12 reps is another range and 12 to 16 reps is another range . And so working sets in the four to eight rep range are going to blend strength and hypertrophy , assuming that your weekly working set volume is correct .

So working sets in the four to eight rep range , where you're getting within four reps and reserve for reps close to failure , is going to blend strength and hypertrophy , assuming you're doing enough total weekly working sets for all of your movements .

Working sets in the 12 to 16 rep range blend endurance and hypertrophy , again if your weekly volume is right , and in the middle working sets in the eight to 12 rep range , guess what ? They blend a little strength with a little hypertrophy and a little endurance .

That's the middle sweet spot and this is probably why the eight to 12 rep range has stood the test of time . I think we I think classically lifters were they were right for the wrong reason , I guess , is the best way to say it .

So let me say it again the rule of fours think of repetition ranges is four to eight is your first range , that's your strength and hypertrophy range . Eight to 12 is a blend of everything and 12 to 16 is a blend of hypertrophy and , I'm sorry , endurance and hypertrophy . But you only get the hypertrophy if you have enough weekly working sets .

Now this tends to bring up another great question , like should you do all your working sets in one rep range and change your rep range every time you exercise ? So day one , everything is in the four to eight rep range . Day two , everything is in the eight to 12 rep range , and so on .

Or is it better to pick one rep range and stick with that for a period of weeks or even months ? Right , I could say . Well , I'm focused on strength , so I'm going to do 80% of my work for the next three months in the four to eight rep range and every once in a while I'm going to go to eight to 12 reps or 12 to 16 reps .

Or can you do a working set in each rep range during each single exercise session , so that your first working set is 12 reps , for example , your second working set is a heavier weight for eight reps and the final set is the heaviest for four reps ? And the answer is yes , you can do all of them or you can do any of them . Right . It just .

It simply depends on your goals . If you have a very clear , very specific goal in terms of the adaptation that you're looking for , or for whatever reason , the others are not a priority for you .

You could spend a few months working , for example , only in the strength range of four to eight reps If you need to get stronger and that's your main focus , but then after a few months you probably should switch and focus on developing some endurance with your new strength level .

Remember that you have probably a 50-50 split between muscle fiber types that are geared more towards strength and power . 50% of your muscles are more endurance . You want to work both of them . You don't want to focus only on one , unless you have a specific reason to do that .

Now let's say that you're not focused on a particular adaptation , and maybe you're like me , you're a greedy little bugger and you just want everything . You want all of it . I want to be strong , I want to have good endurance , I want to grow some muscle .

So you could , for example , do a strength day where that day you're working in the strength rep range of four to eight I should say the blend of strength and hypertrophy , assuming my workly week sets are in place and maybe I have a strength day .

And then I follow that by an endurance day , and every week , one day is a strength day , the next day is an endurance day . So one week I work in the four to eight rep range , the second workout of the week I work in the 12 to 16 rep range .

You could do it that way , and so instead of only varying your rep scheme every few months , you can literally vary it every workout session . It won't get you as strong as doing nothing but strength training for a few dedicated months , but you will get stronger , just more slowly . And same thing for endurance .

Working in that 14 , I'm sorry , 12 to 16 rep range exclusively , you might get a little bit stronger . But , like I said , you get to choose what your adaptation is and how you do it . So what if you're most interested in being a capable generalist ? You want a little strength , you want a little endurance , you want a little muscle growth .

You could actually split your working sets in each session across each of the working set ranges . So again , you could do set one in one workout session for one exercise . Your first set is a lighter weight for 12 to 16 reps .

Set two you add a little weight , get into the moderate zone for something you can lift only eight to 12 times , and then you finish off by pushing your limits in the third with your heaviest set that you could only complete four to eight reps , making sure that on that third strength set to be very close to failure , like maybe one to two reps in reserve

instead of four . So , as you can see , there is a near infinite number of ways to put these things together , and it all starts with you being very clear as to your why . What's your motivation , what's your goal ? What adaptation are you most interested in ? Is it strength and power ? Is it muscle growth ? Is it muscular endurance ?

Or is it a combination of some of them or all of them ? There's nothing wrong with using one approach for a few weeks or a few months and then shifting to another . You are building a lifetime habit , so you have the luxury of time to try out different methods to see which works best for you .

All right , let's move on to what will probably be the final topic here , as I realize I've got a very long time today . What about progression versus maintaining Right ?

So I want to give you guidelines for how much work it takes to progress and to get where you're happy with your form , function in freedom and hopefully , along the way , you fall in love with the process and resistance . Training is just something you do . It's part of who you are , it's part of your lifestyle .

And once you get where you're happy with your results , the question is how do you maintain it ? Like , do you have to ? If it took me 12 working sets per week , working at over , you know , a year , for example , to get where I'm happy with where I am , do I have to keep doing 12 working sets , two , three times a week .

No , the answer is no Right , and this is the good news part is that it will vary a little bit from person to person , but in general , you should be able to maintain your results with just 60% of the work that it took to get you there .

And that means that if you work your way up to say , twice a week full body workout with 10 working sets of three or more exercises per session , you should be able to keep your progress by cutting back to just six working sets per movement instead of 10 .

And that means you're in and out of the gym or your routine if you're doing it at home in almost half the time that it took to hit your goals . So I hope that's encouragement to you . You might have to go back and listen to this episode , as I threw a ton of numbers and a ton of different concepts to you or at you today .

You know the bottom line is this , and I'll leave you with this thought as we close out this episode you have to be willing to put in the work before you can cut back and maintain . It might take you a year , it might be more than that in some cases . A lot of it depends on your starting point .

Are you starting with very low exercise tolerance , very poor recovery capacity ? If that's the case , you might spend the first three months just getting to the basic levels . If you're starting out with better recovery capacity and more resilience , then you might be able to hit the minimum of six working sets per week right away . Everybody's different .

Be smart , be safe , be conservative . Start on the low end . Give yourself a few weeks to figure out where you are and what your capacity is . But you have to be willing to put in the work and for a lot of you this is a mental toughness challenge .

Sometimes it's not the challenge of the physicality , it's not the challenge of being able to produce the energy to do the work and then having the recovery capacity after the fact . It's the mental challenge of being consistent . When you live in a life number one where maybe you're not used to exercising , it doesn't come easy to you .

You have all these other things that already have your interest and are going to be distractions . Sometimes that's the biggest challenge . It's not the physical work itself , but it's the discipline and the motivation .

And in saying that , that's probably going to be , the topic of the next episode is to talk about discipline and motivation , how they're the same , how they're different and along the way . We'll probably talk about two more important concepts in this whole discussion about resistance training .

Number one is tempo , that is , how fast or slow should I perform these movements ? And we'll talk about the importance of having some kind of a laid out program and taking what are called D-load weeks , where every once in a while you cut back and you do less , just to give your body a little extra recovery capacity .

So we'll deal with those things the next time on the Inflammation Nation podcast .

Thanks for listening .

You can use the links in the episode description to check out Dr Nozurally's self-learning programs for thyroid detox and gut health , or you can submit a question for the podcast and even reach out to Dr Nozurally directly .