WHAT DOES LIFTING VOLUME EVEN MEAN? How the heck do I understand workouts? ⁣
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Confused? I got you.
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Workouts are going to be written as your SETS and REPS. Usually as 3×10. Followed by the exercise being done THEN a weight or RPE target.⁣
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💡 NOTE: Check out my post on RPE to understand how to pick your weights better.

Now let’s say you were doing back squat and trying to get those leg gains. You did RPE8 and got 125 for 10. Your VOLUME moved for a single lift is going to then be four REPS * SETS * WEIGHT. So 3*10*125 = 3,750 lbs “moved”. ⁣
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Dang girl, you strong.⁣
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As you’ve likely heard, one of the major drivers of both muscle strength AND growth is going to be TOTAL VOLUME. You’ve also likely heard about progressive overload. One way we do this is by increasing the volume we do over time.⁣
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This can be done 3 ways:⁣
1️⃣ Increasing weight⁣
2️⃣ Increasing reps⁣
3️⃣ Increasing sets ⁣

As you can see here, by doing any one of these we increase that total volume number. BAM we’re doing more total work and giving a greater stimulus to our bodies to adapt to. Over time strength and/or muscle gains will develop.⁣

Option 1: INCREASING WEIGHT

OPTION 2: INCREASING REPS

OPTION 3: INCREASING SETS

⁣Uh, so which do we do https://doclyssfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2E85B3F6-CC1D-45E0-B9A3-E2EE04D8C478-1.jpeg? So this depends! One, you’re not going to increase sets every week forever. 3-5 sets at a single exercise is a good range for most beginner to intermediate lifters.

Most likely as your skill progresses and you’re ready to adapt more, you’ll be increasing your weight and/or reps gradually overtime.⁣

This isn’t always linear. A future post will lay this out more as well. But simply by adding even a few lbs every session or over time, or another rep at the same weight you’re still doing more work.⁣

Easy way to know it’s time to go up in weight or reps? USE RPE 🤟🏻

Want more evidence-based fitness info? Check my guide TRAIN!⁣⁣