Which sets/reps should you use?

There are few things I love more than an intense discussion on which set/rep scheme to choose.  Optimizing for performance is an art more than a science.  True success takes into account:  body type, % fast twitch to slow twitch fibers, mindset, experience, technique, health history, THEN goals.   There isn’t an equation where you can plug this information in and come out with your personalized answer.  It takes years and years of your personal trial and error in the gym.  You can often speed that process along by hiring and working with a professional.  The skill of the professional will directly relate to how fast they get you on the right track.  But even the best ones will need regular sessions in order to see what works, make changes, and progress based on rate of progress.  

So, the reality is if you’re hoping to reach success you’re going to need both passion, time, and resources to make that happen.  But that’s true in any field.  The great news is you can achieve a huge number of health benefits without any of those things (cultivating a passion towards your own health is highly encouraged though)!  You can lower your risk of all cause mortality by 25% if you expose your body to 60 minutes of heavy strength training COMBINED across a calendar week.  That's it!  You need to actually make sure the training is heavy though.  The strain is what is beneficial.  If you’re unable to expose your body to heavy strain you’ll need to spend more time.  But the end goal is very achievable even with the busiest lifestyles.   It’s important to note if you have an injury, lack of experience, or aren’t confident in your technique you should, without question, consult a professional to help you get going.  Heavy resistance training is potentially dangerous.  But what i’m hoping to convey is the end result is worth it! 

Motivational comments aside.  The basic outline you can follow is below:

For Power:  1-3 reps   4-6 sets

For Strength:  3-8 reps   4-6 sets 

For Hypertrophy:  8-15 reps 2-4 sets

This all assumes you are working at or near failure for each set.  Most people are either unwilling or unable to go to true failure.  But if you stop at 10 reps each time hoping to build muscle and in reality you could have gone for 8 more reps you aren’t challenging your system enough to generate a muscle building response.  

Lifting doesn’t have to be an isolated penance you pay to have good health.  You eat with family, you go out for drinks with your friends, you walk the dog with your spouse, you can workout with other people as well!   Success is all but assured if you can bring one of the people who you enjoy spending time with into your workouts. 

Are you a Protein Pro?

How much protein should you be taking?  

What better example of dispute amongst experts than the argument of how much protein to take.  There seems to be uniform agreement that you need protein.  So why can't we agree on how much?  

 If you’re someone who licks the frosting from an oreo then throws it away here’s what you need to know; “the frosting” if you will.  Unless you’re a hyper specialized athlete or body type, 1.2-1.6g/kg body weight is your target.  Ergo, if you weigh 100kg (220 pounds) you should be aiming for 120 grams a day (lighter exercise) up to 160 grams a day (heavier exercise). 

There doesn’t appear to be anything inherently wrong with taking as much as 1g/pound body weight but once you get above 1.6g/kg the bulk of existing science indicates there is no meaningful gain.  There is an issue with not getting enough however so if you’re not sure where you stand try keeping a daily journal for a few days tracking only protein intake. Your body won’t disintegrate if you get below 1g/kg but you start to see a decline in your body’s performance which increases the lower you get.

Your protein can be taken within 3 hours before or after a workout and ideally spread out over 3 different feeding periods.  I will concede I wasn’t blown away by any specific expert testimonial advising this but in my mind it stands to reason your body will absorb and utilize a greater % of the protein if it’s taken over 3 meals rather than all at once.  

Because nutrition wouldn’t be fun if it were easy; here are some other variables you need to be considering to maximize the usefulness of the protein you’re ingesting

• What kind of protein is it?

• Animal:  Casein, Whey, Egg, Meat etc.

• Plant:  Soy, Pea, Brown Rice etc. 

This understanding is pretty important and will drive the rest of your diet choices.  If you are a plant based diet person you are ingesting many incomplete amino acids in their protein, supplementation will be critical.  If you are animal based you need to more closely monitor the quality of the animal you are consuming (where did it live, what was it fed, do you trust the company to use organic practices etc.)

• In what form is the protein? 

• Bar, Powder, Animal Food, Vegetables etc. 

This will dictate how efficiently your body will use the protein.  10 grams of steak will be used nearly 100% compared to 10 grams of gas station protein bar which maybe your body can pull 2-4 useful grams from. 

Certainly consulting with a professional for your more specific range is a good idea to take into account your age, gender, pre-existing medical conditions, level of activity, lifestyle habits etc. But using these rough measurements is a good place to start!

Conclusion:  

This a huge (and fun) rabbit hole to go down and one I would highly encourage you to take the time to understand.  The good news is you can make plenty of mistakes and still improve.  The bad news is you have to be mindful of how your body is feeling, pay closer attention to your workouts and daily activity, and work with your physician if you have pre-existing health conditions that may impact your ability to workout or digest protein.  After a month of trying one method, try another!  Keep evolving your approach as your body evolves to reach the best version of yourself! 

When deadlifting, is it a problem to have the shoulders in front of the bar?

As with all things; it depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.  So let's take a look at what’s happening during the lift before deciding if it’s acceptable for each individual person.  

In this example there are two main variables at play.  What is in front of the line of the bar and what is behind?  The further away a body part is from the midline of the bar the more work it has to do to reach full extension.  Leaning forward over the bar shortens the distance from the hips to the bar, reducing the amount of work required by the hip extensors to lift the weight.   Everything else behind the bar is likewise also exposed to less force.  So, each level of the lumbar spine now has less torque to deal with moving on up the thoracic spine until the point of the weight center.   On the front side of the bar the knee provides the driving vertical force. 

So here’s a question:  if the shoulders move back to the line of the bar and the knee stays the same distance in front of the bar, is it doing the same amount of work?   

The total mass in front of and behind the bar now becomes relevant.  The short answer is “no.”  Imagine doing a wall sit and how hard that is for the knees.  Now imagine doing a bodyweight squat.   You don’t feel nearly the same tension in the knee.  The reason is the shifted body weight of the torso serving as a counter force over the knee during the squat.  

Final question:  If the knee is doing less work then where is the extra force coming from?   Again, look at which major players are in front of the line.  As with all deadlifting form variations, the shoulder is the dynamic stabilizer connecting the bar to the body.  So the missing arrow in this picture is the line from the shoulder to the midline of the bar.  The lats are strongly firing along with the posterior deltoid to provide the missing force required of shooting that bar weight back towards the hips for full extension.   

Now the personalization of the lift starts to matter.   What is your goal for performing this lift?  Is your body doing this as a compensation movement?  If so, what’s not firing the way it should?  Does that change your ideal sets and reps?   You better believe all these variables matter!   As long as you’re performing smarter you can rest easy knowing your effort is translating to results that are important to you!