Taking the Confusion Out of Sets and Reps - Bill Starr (2001)

 MILO September 2001

Whenever I conduct a clinic or give a presentation at a strength training convention, the question I am most frequently asked deals with sets and reps. There seems to be a great deal of confusion over the correct formula for the various exercises in a program. I believe this is primarily because so many experts voice differing opinions on this subject.

Many years ago, researchers determined that the very best method of improving strength was to do four to six sets of four to six reps. This simple recipe works well because it provides a complete stimulation of the muscles involved in the exercise, and more importantly, the attachments as well. I have always promoted the five sets of five system for the major muscle groups. It adheres to the proven research, and it makes the match much easier to do. This is particularly helpful to coaches who might be dealing with as many as sixty student athletes.

The five sets of five is beneficial for any exercise aimed at the large muscle groups in the legs, back and shoulder girdle. This includes squats, deadlifts, high pulls, shrugs, bench presses, inclines, power cleans and overhead presses. It is a useful formula on any developmental level from rank beginner to very advanced.

There are some who advocate using higher reps and fewer sets in the formative stage of strength training. Typically, they promote three sets of ten or three sets of fifteen. Their rationale behind the higher reps is that they restrict the amount of weight on the bar, thus allowing the lifter to be able to pay closer attention to his form, and it also lowers the risk of injury. In many programs, the lifter uses the same poundage on all three sets.

But I do not agree with this approach. I have found that when a rank beginner does high reps he runs into trouble. He does well early on in the set, but when he reaches the end, he tires. So his form suffers, often badly; and when form suffers, the risk of injury goes up appreciably. And since the weight has to be light to do so many reps, the tendons and ligaments do not get much work. Thi is not the best way to establish a sound strength base.

I start all beginners on five sets of five on the primary exercises. I also use the progressive system, where the lifter begins with a light weight on his initial set and proceeds to heavier poundage. In the end, he is only handling a taxing weight on his final set. The warm-up sets allow him the opportunity to hone his technique, which means that when he comes to his final work set, he is both mentally and physically ready for the challenge.

I’m also aware of the program out there that has the lifter perform one set to exhaustion. It’s really not new; it’s just a knock-off of Arthur Jones’s philosophy which he married to his Nautilus equipment in the early seventies. Proponents argue that this is an excellent way to prepare athletes for competition. Nonsense. What sport requires the participant to push to total exhaustion in a short burst, then be finished? The closest is the sprint in track, but the runner is seldom exhausted. Those who utilize this system contend that it must work because the athlete collapses after a set. Hello! This is not the purpose of strength training. If my athlete collapses, I’m doing something wrong in setting up his routine.

Others state that this system does wonders to improve aerobic capacity. Again, they’re missing the point. The weight room is not the best place to improve aerobic capacity – at least not directly. The primary goal of any strength program should be to improve strength. Build a stronger set of legs and that athlete will be able to run longer, which in turn, will enable him to establish a wider aerobic base. If a coach tries to do too many things in his conditioning program, it will become so watered down , it will do little to help his athletes.

These new-wave routines do not build functional strength. Out of necessity, light weights must be used if an athlete  is doing an exercise to exhaustion, which means the attachments do not get worked at all.

The fundamental formula of fives times five works great for the larger groups, but I recommend higher reps for the smaller groups. Why not stay with the tried and true strength formula? I’ll explain. The smaller groups should always be exercised directly after the larger ones. Most, of course, are being worked on the primary movements. This is only logical. If, for example, you try to do several sets of triceps pushdowns before doing your bench presses, you are not going to be able to bench as much because your triceps are going to be fatigued. So you do the exercises in revers order: bench, then triceps pushdowns. But, since your triceps have already been worked rather diligently with the benches, they cannot be attacked with a strength formula in that same session. This will quickly bring on a state of overtraining, or worse, an injury from too much stress on a relatively small group. 

The reason why doing too many exercises for the same group in a strength mode brings on problems is that the attachments cannot take it. Once the tendons and ligaments have been sufficiently stimulated, they cannot be strengthened any further at that session; they are finished. To try to hit them again with more pure strength work is a mistake. The muscles, on the other hand, can be exercised after the strength sets are completed, but this must be done so that the attachments are not involved, at least not to any large degree.

This is accomplished with higher reps for a couple of sets. I use the forty-rep rule for most of my small muscle exercises – two sets of twenty. This idea applies to the beginner. When a lifter has reached the advanced stage, he can carry a larger load, and many can do more direct work on the same groups of attachments. I always start a beginner with two sets of twenty, and as he progresses, I switch him to three sets of fifteen or four sets of twelve for variety. The change is useful, but not until a solid foundation has been established.

This means that curls of any type, triceps pushdowns, straight-armed pullovers and dumbbell inclines are done for two sets of twenty at the end of the workout. The rule applies to most of the machines as well: leg curl, leg extension and adductors. The exception is calf work. I believe the calves have to be abused in the beginning so I have my athletes do three sets of thirty, and if the equipment is available, to alternate between the standing and seated calf machines.

I modify the sets and reps for direct lower back work: good mornings and stiff-legged deadlifts. I’m not contradicting myself. These two movements do not become part of the routine until the athlete has built a firm foundation. I want to restrict the amount of weight on the bar for the good morning and stiff-legged deadlift so that the lifter can do them correctly and receive the desired benefits. On the good morning, in particular, when very heavy weights are used, the lifter, out of necessity, must alter his hip positioning in order to control the bar on his back. When he does this, the good morning is no longer a pure lumbar exercise; more work is being performed by the hips and the other groups of the back. I do use this form of good mornings, mostly for powerlifters, but they have to be very advanced before I put it in their programs. Also, if I see a beginner breaking form with the eight or ten reps, I pull him back to fives until he masters the correct technique.

The same idea applies to stiff-legged deadlifts. When the bar is overloaded, the lift convers to a regular deadlift and is no longer a lower back exercise. For both of these lumbar movements, I use four to five sets of eight or ten reps.

I’m often asked if I ever include high reps for a primary exercise such as a squat or deadlift. Yes, I do, but not until the lifter has built a solid enough base to handle the work. High reps, in my mind, are for advanced lifters and not beginners. I use high reps in the form of back-off sets on the exercises for the large muscle groups. They are not used directly in the quest for strength, but rather indirectly. By this I mean, the back-off sets, usually eights or tens, help add to the total workload, and expanding this workload is a critical part of getting stronger.

It is similar to a long-distance runner. He knows he must run X-number of training miles per week before he is going to be able to finish a marathon. The lifter must be able to handle a certain weekly workload if he wants to bench, squat or deadlift a selected number. The back-off sets help him achieve this goal.

Once a lifter has learned good form on the basic exercises and establishes a solid work base, I start making changes in his set and rep sequence on a weekly basis. I’m referring to the core exercises, not the auxiliary ones or those for the lower back. Change is beneficial because it keeps the body from becoming too complacent, and the body is always seeking a state of complacency. The human body does not want to be in the weight room; the human mind does. The body would much rather be lying on a soft couch, watching TV, munching on Fritos, and sucking down a cold Miller. The body also has an innate ability to adapt to stress rather quickly. This, of course, is a built-in safeguard, so it must be overridden in order for continued gains in strength.

And one of the easiest ways to achieve this is to alter the reps on a core exercise. Even if the change is slight, it will still be effective because it will force the body to work harder, or in a different manner than before. I change the five sets of five in this manner: Three sets of five as warm-ups, followed by two or three heavier sets of threes. Next time, I do three sets of five, then two or three sets of twos. Finally, three sets of fives and three singles. All are followed by a back-off set of eight or ten. I flip-flop the four different sequences each week, which means the lifter will only be doing one of them in any given month on his heavy day.

Doing lower reps on a core exercise is most important to any strength athlete, but it has to be understood that they are not effective until the base is sound. Then they are beneficial simply because they bring the attachments into play more so than higher reps. Lower reps also help hone technique; Form on triples, doubles and singles has to be more precise than it is on fives, eights or tens. Equally as important is the factor of concentration. It has to be greater on a max triple than on a heavy five, a max double even more, and a limit single the most. By doing a heavy single periodically, the lifter perfects his technique on that lift, finds his weaker areas, and gains confidence. All these are elements which are essential to success.

There are some exercises that need to be done in lower reps even from the beginning. These include the two Olympic lifts: the snatch and the clean and jerk, as well as jerks from the rack, push presses and push jerks. The reason why lower reps are recommended is because they are all high-skill movements, which means they require most of all, concentration. It’s difficult for anyone, regardless of his strength level, to concentrate on doing five reps on any of these exercises with any amount of weight on the bar. To try to do higher reps typically ends with a failure, or the lifter starts using faulty form.

On high-skill exercises, do no more than three reps per set. Warm-up sets are the exception of course. How many sets? It depends on the overall condition of the athlete and also on how much energy he has on that particular day. An extremely fit individual may be tired at the end of the week because of all the previous work he has done. He comes to the gym with very little gas on Friday, so it would be a mistake to have to do lots of sets. The rule I follow is: Once a lifter’s form starts to deteriorate on a high-skill movement, he should stop doing it. He can move to a less dynamic exercise and still get in a good session, but if he continues to pound away on a quick lift when he’s fatigued, all that he is going to accomplish is to lower his confidence level and pick up some bad habits.

The front squat fits into the category of a lower rep exercise, but for a somewhat different reason than the quick lifts. The reason I keep the reps low, after the warm-up sets, on the front squat is because of the rack. When the lifter recovers out of the bottom position and comes through the sticking point in the middle, his rack always slips a bit. For some this is only a bit, but for others, it’s a lot. When the rack is not solid, there is far too much stress placed on the wrists and elbows. Some are not able to hold a firm rack for three reps. In those cases, I lower the reps to doubles or even singles, then add more sets to get in the required amount of work.

This is much the same reason I have lifters do jerks from the rack, push jerks, and push presses in lower reps. When the bar crashes back to the lifter’s shoulders after each rep, it moves out of the ideal positioning a bit. But a bit is a lot when max weights are being attempted, and rather than stress the joints too severely, I use fewer reps.

One final note: I believe it is useful to alter the sets and reps on all exercises in a program every so often, and this includes those for the smaller groups. This only applies to advances strength athletes however. I have my advanced lifters do lower reps for their calves, biceps and triceps. These low rep days have to be inserted with a grain of common sense. For example, it would be foolish to have anyone do heavy curls for low reps after he has done any form of pulling. Or to lean into low reps for the calves after they are completely shot from prior work. That’s inviting an injury. So on those rare days that I will allow athletes to go heavy on a small group, I make certain that they have not done any other exercise for that set of muscles.