This is the kind of golden info Mikes been coming out with since 2016 that people are only just finding now. I'd bet the guys doing 15+ sets for chest once per week etc. haven't even found this channel yet tbh.
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...)
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.
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.
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.
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).
I will never train legs. Not like I used to. Used to do 5-6 exercises and ended up without pump or soreness. Nowadays I do 2 quad movements and 1-2 hammstring movements per session and leave the gym in a wheelchar. Bonus: I found better results with fewer excercises and with higher reps + myoreps and 2/3 reps
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.
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.
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…
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.
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
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.
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
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.
Great video! You can do the same min-maxxing for bulking too: 4 sets /Monday - Taco Bell 4 sets /Tuesday - Chick Fil A Etc Don't settle for lesser fast food.
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?
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???
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..
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)_/¯
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.
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
@@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.
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.
@@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
@@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
As a smaller funnier man, it would probably behoove him to do silly shit with Eddie Hall, and the strongman like have them put him and Jeff Nippard on their shoulders or something
I do everything once a week cause I lack time and I do a total of 12 sets for chest in around 8-10 rep range (around my failure) is that decent or should I change it up
"Junk Volume" is sort of like how Dr Mike makes 7 or 10 videos on the same topic with the same obvious conclusion. When you already knew the answer before you clicked.
I’m 82 and still going strong but in all those years I’ve never actually seen my hamstrings and probably never will So why do I still work them twice a week in my ppl program?? What’s wrong with me ?
How does this work when we have the research regarding more sets= a bit more results as seen in some of your other videos?? How do we know which one to do? Or should we volume cycle like you’ve spoken about??
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.
This is the kind of golden info Mikes been coming out with since 2016 that people are only just finding now. I'd bet the guys doing 15+ sets for chest once per week etc. haven't even found this channel yet tbh.
After watching your videos, I slowed down and paused for that deep stretch, the number of sets i was doing as well the amount of weight i was doing dropped. Letting the ego go, I'm more sore and fatigued (in the good way), than I was before.
It's good, but not necessary. If you wanted to, you could get the same effect just by keeping a log tracking exercises, weights, and reps. Keep adding small increments of weight or reps each week until you can't for 2 consecutive weeks, then deload for a week and start over at around 80% of your last numbers. Not knocking the app, though, I pay for and use it myself.
So my current chest day is 4 sets incline, 4 sets flat, 4 sets Flys trained twice a week (if I hit Monday I'll hit it again Sunday) Should I take out the Flys and just do 6 sets of the inclines and flys? Weight gain phase btw
Nah, if you do 12 sets of chest within a session, which is rather high (not bad tho), 3 exercises with 4 sets each is probably ideal. Else you have 2 exercises with 6 sets each, and like Dr Mike mentioned, 6 sets within one exercise is right at the limit already
I have lost face against a classmate who was "also" gay. His name was Hugo. He won the face contest... I think, at the time. He was really cool. His name is Hugo. I forgot his last name. What Iam trying to convey, is that if you want to become cool with your face as wel... There is the maxwell-hudson face massage... And also, the bob marly one. If you want me to teach you, contact me. Yeah. there is also muscles.. You should train muscles...Hell yeah... There is competition out there, that will "Dominate" you. So training muscles, is a good thing. I reccomend pull ups myself... For some reason, I thing pullsups increase punching time like a superman. And this renaissance youtube host... Has picard face. Good thing!
Can you please reference the literature that shows that the cross-training effects of a new and related exercise for a given muscle are enough to maintain “90% of the gains” achieved from a previous exercise for that same muscle?
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?
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.
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 -------------------
Man, I only train 3 times a week, with something like PPL (just slightly different). Do I really need to increase ammount of training days, but decrease working sets?
I'm in a similar boat working out 4 days a week with a modified PPL program. I average around 22 to 24 sets per day but am doing 3, sometimes 4 exercises per muscle/muscle group. Was just thinking yesterday I want to dial down the variations and add sets, but I'm not sure how and where to change since I'm not hitting all major muscle groups twice per week as I'd like to
@@DanielReyes-hz1qk How many years are you into fitness/bb? Mine is just second. Really thinking about taking out tric/bic from my workouts and mainly focus on chest/back or just use upper/lower split with upper emphasys
No you dont. I have done every split imaginable with all kinds of volumes. What I can say is that higher frequency IS better IF you can recover (faster gains) but to me it seems as you advance in strength and muscle mass, this seems to be too much for joints, nervous system and even muscles. That said, some people seem to do fine with these HF splits for years, maybe even the rest of their life. But its highly individual and as long as you are making progress there is no reason to change. There is lots of data on averages, but IN the data there is always outliars that do better with some other volume, frequency etc. Most of the principles in exercise science apply to everyone but some are individual, like recovery, volume, exercises etc. The data of the averages is a starting point, not the end all be all.
@@sharkhardware I've been back at it continuously for about 3 years, after having let myself go for 12 or 13 years. I'm 42 now and first started lifting weights at age 9, but stopped somewhere in my 20s when major life things started changing Are your 3 days evenly split? Like Mon Weds Fri?
That's the issue, I need some time to recover from my heavy sessions. My split looks like this, and I make progress after some time, its slow but steady: Monday: chest, biceps, shoulders (mid delt), abs. 7 exercises in total (9 sets for chest, 3 bic, 3 brachy, 3 delts, 4 abs) Wednesday: Legs, calf, shoulders. 3 barbell squats, 3 bulgarian split squat, 4 calf raise, 2 leg extentions, 3 for each deltoids (not anterior). Friday: Back, triceps. 6-9 sets for lats, 3 for upper traps, 6 for triceps. 4 rest days
Keep track of the volume for lats and upper back separately. But also, make sure that a back exercise doesnt just fully count towards one. For example, a close-grip row, with a moving scalpula, would essentially count as 1 set for both lats and upper back. And another example, a set of wide-grip row might count as 1 set for upper back but 0.5 for lats, since the lats are also involved, but not fully. (But ideally, this sorta principle isnt just for the back, but all muscles. Like, a lat pulldown could partially count towards biceps volume as well, bench press could partially count towards triceps volume, etc.)
Sooooo if my workout app has me doing Assisted pull-ups 4x10 Horizontal rows 3x12 Vertical rows 3x12 T-bar rows 3x12 Lateral machine pulldowns 3x10 Once a week, I’m overdoing it?
I assume this is on a bro split and you train back once a week? The bro split itself is 'sub optimal', since training each muscle twice a week gets you a bit more growth. But if you stick with this split, and you feel like each set, even the very last ones, are productive and not junk volume, I think this is fine tbh
