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. 

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!