HEALTH: Don't Sweat the Small Sets

Friday, June 26, 2009

Posted by Yaqub Khan

Every page of the old muscle-building playbook includes some prescription for sets and reps: a fixed number of sets of each exercise and a fixed number of reps in each set.

But if you follow Principle 3 and quit each set when your speed slows down or your form changes, you can't complete a fixed number of repetitions.

The new playbook says this: Focus on total reps for each exercise, and let the sets take care of themselves. Say you're doing a workout that specifies 5 sets of 5 reps. That's 25 reps total. Now let's say you use my method of doing all your reps perfectly: It might take you 6 sets instead of 5 to hit your 25-rep goal. The reward is a better workout, because you're doing more work with your biggest, strongest muscle fibers.

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