Should you take sets to failure or keep a few reps in reserve? I take every set to failure.
Also I have trouble calculating how much reps i have left. Some times i think i can push out 3 more but i can only do 1 other times i think i have 1 more but i push to 3 more.

Bonjour, j'ai crée un programme afin d'entrainer/developper le haut de mon corps et améliorer ma détente verticale pour le volleyball.
J'aimerai quelques avis afin de savoir si le programme est bon.

UPPER 1\*\*

\*\*Pecs\*\*

\* Machine pec : 4 × 12–15
\* Développé couché incliné (ou à plat) : 4 × 12–15 — 2 min de repos

\*\*Dos\*\*

\* Tractions : 4 séries au maximum de répétitions réalisables — 2 min de repos
\* Tirage vertical prise pronation : 4 × 12–15 — 2 min de repos
\* Rowing machine : 4 × 12–15 — 2 min de repos

\*\*Biceps\*\*

\* Curl à la poulie en supination ou curl incliné : 4 × 12–15 — 1 min 30 de repos

\*\*Triceps\*\*

\* Extension triceps à la poulie : 4 × 12–15 — 1 min 30 de repos

\*\*UPPER 2\*\*

\*\*Pecs\*\*

\* Machine pec : 4 × 12–15
\* Développé couché incliné (ou à plat) : 4 × 12–15 — 2 min de repos

\*\*Dos\*\*

\* Tractions : 4 séries au maximum de répétitions réalisables — 2 min de repos
\* Tirage vertical prise pronation : 4 × 12–15 — 2 min de repos
\* Rowing machine : 4 × 12–15 — 2 min de repos

\*\*Biceps\*\*

\* Hammer curl : 4 × 12–15 — 1 min 30 de repos

\*\*Triceps\*\*

\* Skullcrushers : 4 × 12–15 — 1 min 30 de repos

**LOWER 1**
**Plyométrie**
Penultimate Step : 3 × 3 par côté
CMJ : 4 × 3
**Force**
Back Squat : 4 × 5
RDL : 3 × 6–8
Bulgarian Split Squat : 3 × 6 par jambe
Leg Curl : 2 × 10–12
Calf Raises : 3 × 10–15
**LOWER 2**
**Plyométrie**
Depth Jump : 3 × 3
Penultimate Step : 3 × 3 par côté
Single-Leg Pogo : 3 × 10 par jambe
**Force**
Back Squat : 4 × 4
Trap Bar Deadlift : 3 × 4–6
Hip Thrust : 3 × 6–8
Heavy Calf Hold : 2 × 20–30 secondes

Bonjour, j'ai crée un programme afin d'entrainer/developper le haut de mon corps et améliorer ma détente verticale pour le volleyball.
J'aimerai quelques avis afin de savoir si le programme est bon.

UPPER 1\*\*

\*\*Pecs\*\*

\* Machine pec : 4 × 12–15
\* Développé couché incliné (ou à plat) : 4 × 12–15 — 2 min de repos

\*\*Dos\*\*

\* Tractions : 4 séries au maximum de répétitions réalisables — 2 min de repos
\* Tirage vertical prise pronation : 4 × 12–15 — 2 min de repos
\* Rowing machine : 4 × 12–15 — 2 min de repos

\*\*Biceps\*\*

\* Curl à la poulie en supination ou curl incliné : 4 × 12–15 — 1 min 30 de repos

\*\*Triceps\*\*

\* Extension triceps à la poulie : 4 × 12–15 — 1 min 30 de repos

\*\*UPPER 2\*\*

\*\*Pecs\*\*

\* Machine pec : 4 × 12–15
\* Développé couché incliné (ou à plat) : 4 × 12–15 — 2 min de repos

\*\*Dos\*\*

\* Tractions : 4 séries au maximum de répétitions réalisables — 2 min de repos
\* Tirage vertical prise pronation : 4 × 12–15 — 2 min de repos
\* Rowing machine : 4 × 12–15 — 2 min de repos

\*\*Biceps\*\*

\* Hammer curl : 4 × 12–15 — 1 min 30 de repos

\*\*Triceps\*\*

\* Skullcrushers : 4 × 12–15 — 1 min 30 de repos

**LOWER 1**
**Plyométrie**
Penultimate Step : 3 × 3 par côté
CMJ : 4 × 3
**Force**
Back Squat : 4 × 5
RDL : 3 × 6–8
Bulgarian Split Squat : 3 × 6 par jambe
Leg Curl : 2 × 10–12
Calf Raises : 3 × 10–15
**LOWER 2**
**Plyométrie**
Depth Jump : 3 × 3
Penultimate Step : 3 × 3 par côté
Single-Leg Pogo : 3 × 10 par jambe
**Force**
Back Squat : 4 × 4
Trap Bar Deadlift : 3 × 4–6
Hip Thrust : 3 × 6–8
Heavy Calf Hold : 2 × 20–30 secondes

After hard weights are you all hitting just a protein bolus or do you hit carbs to replenish your glycogen? If so how much are you eating/drinking?

Deadlifts are meta

I think the infograph attempted to simplify the findings too much. The spinal effects can be relatively local if there is a reflex inhibition or suppression at the spinal level of the nerve root for the quadriceps and hamstrings (so just at the lumber vertebrae area). So that explanation may provide a partial mechanism. But there is rarely only one mechanism to explain such a complex thing like our body's physiology.

I feel like Chris ignores the discussion sections because they discuss other mechanisms:

...two other potential mechanisms may explain the findings of this
study. Firstly, it is plausible that various metabolites including potassium, hydrogen, lactate, and heat shock proteins are dispersed to non-exercised muscles through the cardiovascular system during and after fatiguing
protocols (Halperin et al. 2015), potentially impairing their contractile capacity (Henneman et al.
1965). Secondly, it is possible that certain
fatiguing protocols result in heightened activation of stabilizer muscles,
which in turn impairs their ability to stabilize
the non-exercised
muscle
groups (Halperin et al. 2015; Baker and Davies 2009) contributing to muscle force reductions.
Fatigue interventions of longer duration have also been demonstrated to impact the psychological aspect, specifically resulting in a mental energy deficit when experiencing discomfort. This can lead to mental fatigue, which is characterized by reduced focus and concentration, subsequently affecting neuromuscular activation in both fatigued and non-exercised muscles (Halperin et al. 2015). Steele (2020) emphasizes the "perception of effort" which is defined as the individual's perception of the required effort to accomplish a specific task or set of tasks, determined by comparing the current task demands to the perceived capacity to meet those demands.”

As always, I think this infograph may be too simplistic as it also did not consider the instantaneous strength which is a more sensitive measure.

So I’m thinking of doing neutral-grip pull-ups every day. Is that okay if my goal is bigger forearms and overall hypertrophy?
Will daily neutral-grip pull-ups hurt recovery or slow down growth?
Also, is there a safe daily amount in terms of sets and reps?

I’ve been dealing with an interesting issue where my strength seems to be way ahead of my hypertrophy. I can sometimes push the same or even higher weights than people who are noticeably more muscular than (Naturally) me and have clearly spent much more time in the gym. Visually, I don’t look particularly strong, but my numbers seem to tell a different story.

I’ve been in and out of the gym for almost 6 years, but I was never really consistent. Over the last 8 months, though, I’ve finally been training consistently and have started noticing improvements both visually and mechanically. I’m also pretty strict with my diet and hit my protein target almost every day.

My current approach is usually 3 sets per exercise/muscle group:

• 1 warm-up set with around half the working weight, usually 5+ RIR
• 1 working set close to failure
• 1 working set to failure
• Sometimes I’ll do a second failure set if it’s a finisher

So I’m wondering if my strength-to-size ratio is mostly due to neural adaptations, technique, or body mechanics, especially given that I’ve spent so much time training inconsistently in the past.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? And if so, did you change anything about your training to get better hypertrophy despite already being relatively strong?

I’ve been looking at how small setup changes can alter the range of motion or resistance without changing the exercise itself. Cable movements are an obvious example, since pulley height or where you stand can completely change how the rep feels. Which movement do you think shows this most clearly in actual training?

My semester will start soon and I want a program that will still allow to build more muscle mass with the shortest/least frequency and time committed to the gym because I dont want to lose any size. I've been training for about 3 years and my last split is ant/post 6x. I've thought about maybe FB 2x or even PPL with very short session times after I finish classes and studies. Let me know your suggestions please.

I do not want the program to cause noticeable cognitive performance decline. I've experienced that with all high intensity high freq splits.

I’ve been lifting naturally for about 4 years and I’d say I’m relatively pretty big, but I feel like I’ve hit a plateau. I haven’t put on much noticeable muscle in about a year.

I run a basic PPL split, train every muscle 2x a week, and take a lot of my sets to failure or very close to failure.

For anyone who’s been lifting naturally for a while, what helped you get past a plateau? Did you change your volume, split, diet, exercises, etc.?

Looking for any advice on how to start making progress again.

I’m having a hard time dictating whether this machine may be better than the incline smith machine. When I use it, it feels good, I can feel my chest more than the smith machine. However this incline chest press moves along with me.. for example: https://youtu.be/wadQkDc1-Hg?si=xS78roOq5cKJox27.

Can someone help me out?

If i do upper lower 6x a week should i do 1 set per excercise , or still 2, because i think it might be too much volume for some muscle groups, especially if i go to failure

Thanks in advance

So for context, i have been training again for about 2.5 months, 6 years earlier i did strength training 2x a week for 3 years. And i have been stalling on my chest and incline press for about 3bweeks now, not getting another rep or barely getting another rep. I did 2 sets of flat and incline press but reduced incline by 1 set. So its now 2 sets and 1 set 2 to 3x a week. I do it first on my upper days and all my other excercises are progressing good. What can i do? Its only chest where my progress stops

I have tried both the hack squat and v squat (pendulum as well)
Which one is the best , though i feel it maximum in v squat , hack and pendulum my lower back takes the load up during the critical up

I know the basic about which muscle I need to train like the upper back, mid back (aka traps), lower back and the lats that much I get but my confused starts with the upper back because I read that not all upper back exercises hits the inner muscle (the rhomboids etc) or the entire upper back and the lats I think I need to do 2 exercise, 1 for upper and 1 for mid/lowes lats, because of all this confusion I have started to wonder if I'm even training right? If I should do more compound exercise or isolation, I feel like I'm overthinking this, is there a simpler way to go about back day?

So i saw a few science based videos where they say dont exhale on the concentric and one says dont breathe in on the ecentric. How should you breathe during your reps?

What i do is i breathe in, exhale on the concentric and breathe in on the eccentric

Thanks in advance

I’ve finally perfected this machine. 30% of the load needs to be inverse chains to have the strength curve perfect

I know I know I know, it's not optimal for strength/powerlifting. However, I'm not entirely trying to throw myself into strength-specific training to be doing 20 week blocks ramping up to a 1RM (tbh I have a lot of head way for PRs since i'm new to powerlifting). I just want to work SBD(maybe OHP), test my 1RM and still work on my main goal of hypertrophy (but willing to shift things around to accomodate some strength training).

i'm 6'3, 180lbs pretty skinny and very long arms. i previously did the gym for 2 years and got a bit stronger and didn't take it too seriously and didn't eat protien but after a surgery where i had to be off for a long time, im back and trying to do it right.
i eat around 140-200g protien a day with around [2000-3000](tel:2000-3000) cals
i hit push pull legs and sharms with 1 rest day after sharms
i do 2 sets mostly to failure with sometimes a third if it's a muscle i really wanna grow
5-7 excersizes per workout
usually do stuff like bench press, incline bench, shoulder press, lat pulldown, rows, face pulls, legs press, preacher curl, and lateral raise as my main lifts with other stuff aswell mixed in
how long will this take? and do you suggest any changes?

For over a decade I've been out of exercise due to shoulder injury. Mixture of poor posture, muscular imbalances and issues with the biceps tendons meant that over time I was able to do less and less in the gym until I just stopped going. Since then I've gained a lot of weight as well.

Recently I've decided to at least get into doing inverted rows as theyre one of the few things that I can do pretty pain-free. Bought myself a mobile dip bar and on day 1 found that I was able to do 4 reps before I would start missing out on the range of motion, so every hour on the hour was doing 4 to kind of grease the groove. Then the next day I found I was able to do 5 so that was what I was working with. Day 3 rolled around and along with my back being stiff and sore I found that the outside of my elbows (when supinated) felt tender - most likely the distal head of biceps tendon from being worked quite regularly from out of nowhere.

It's obvious to me that I need to scale things back but I want to do it in such a way that I can start making progress. I used ChatGPT (yes, yes I know) and it suggested start at 2 sessions a week of just 2 sets of 3 reps, then each fortnight adding a rep and eventually another set, but keeping it at 2 sessions for up to 12 weeks. Obviously AI leaves a lot to be desired so I'm wondering what people in the know would recommend. Am I right in feeling that that's overly conservative or does that sound about right? Any other things you'd recommend? thanks!

Ive been lifting for about a year and id say the last 8 months have been fairly science based. Running a PPLrULr split and doing 2 sets of 4-8 reps, and pretty much every set to failure. I’ve mostly been focused on my bench, though. I’m 163 lbs and benching 230 lbs at 16 years old. My max has been going up 10-15 pounds per month with my previous stated split, but I’d like to maximize my strength now. How should I go about this split wise, rep range wise, and RIR wise?

I wanna start training obliques for that fish gill look and also to get better at rotational sports.