Transcription
Imagine you did three sets of push-ups and now you're standing there not sure if that was enough. I had that question for years and I don't have it anymore because I stopped counting sets.
So now the question is, why would anyone stop counting sets in training? And that's because of where sets come from and what my goals are. The set is just reps in a row followed by a rest and that's it. And that was made for barbell and especially machine training. At least these made it popular.
But if your goal is to build a lean, capable body and not just muscle, we have and we are allowed to think different. With a barbell, the weight goes up, you know, 50, 60, 70 kilos. So three sets of eight tell you something because the number, and next to the reps, the kilograms, these go up while the reps stay the same.
With body weight training or calisthenics, your body weight, the mechanical load stays the same. This Monday, you're probably going to weigh the same then on Monday in two weeks. So three sets of push-ups tell you nothing, which leaves one question.
If the set doesn't tell me anything, what does? And the answer is reps, especially how many you actually did. And that's for most of us the only thing that is changing. The major thing I am focusing on besides rest times and EMOMs and all the kind of things are reps. I count reps, but not in one session. I count reps on a weekly basis.
In my eyes, that's the best way as a busy man to train, especially when your goals are to just get fitter, leaner, and more capable overall. And that's the part that changed everything for me and my training. So, let me explain you why the week and not the day.
If that one day, that one session is what counts, it has to be perfect. Miss it, you failed. Cut it short, you failed. But if the week is the bigger picture, is what counts, then training becomes more flexible depending on how you feel. You know, if you're tired on Tuesday, you can do a bit less. If you feel perfect on Thursday, you can go rock and roll.
And that's why I program all my programs based on volume and not just sets. Every program I write is based on the repetition method, which is focused on volume, and I created it 2 years ago. I have a link to a video about all the details in the pinned comment if you haven't watched it yet.
The big question now is, how do you get your own weekly numbers? And that's pretty simple. Pick a few key exercises. As an example, we take a push-up. And now you do one set until you can't do another clean rep anymore. That's your max set, and that's your max set number. For this example, let's say it's 10.
Now, in one session, you do two to a maximum of five times that. So, somewhere between 20 and 50 repetitions per workout. Three sessions of that per week put you somewhere between 60 and 150 reps. So, now we want to take the middle ground of that. Let's say 100. And that's your weekly number. So, right around 1,000% of your max set. That's your number. And now you can split that any way you like over the sessions you are doing.
Now, when do we go up with that number? And I personally would say earliest after 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, you could add maybe 10-15% to that depending on how it's feeling. Or you do another retest to find new numbers, but that's not going to change a lot.
Depending on how fit you are, adding 10-15% could sound a lot and could sound a lot of time if you do that with multiple exercises per session, but in reality, it isn't because you got fitter and more capable. You know, you get faster. 40 push-ups might have taken you 8 minutes in week 1, but in week 4, they might take you 4 minutes and so on.
One honest note on this, if you're new to training in general, simple sets can work pretty well as well, and they might be easier to understand. So, if you're completely new, start there. But, if you have trained for some time already, and you feel stuck, I think that's the change I would make.
Now, if you want to keep your training as simple as possible, do a test day, write the numbers down, set some rep goals per week, and work with it. Use the number, and then you can incorporate ladders, EMOMs, circuits, whatever you want. That's how I do it in all my programs. But, make sure you sit in that weekly rep range behind all of that.
So, your major goal should be to hit your rep volume target. Everything around that and how you style your workouts and map them out, that's the fun part, and that's what is making it fun at the end of the day. My goal of this channel is to cut through the noise of the fitness industry, guys, and simplify fitness for men out there. From all my years as a professional athlete, I know how, yeah, complicated all of that can be.
So, if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section. I'm reading everything personally. And if you want to learn more about my training philosophy, which is focusing on building lean, capable bodies, not just muscle, watch this video next, and I see you in the next one, guys.