Still making progress.
On one hand, it’s the most progress I’ve made in the shortest amount of time.
On the other, it’s not NEW, it’s still getting back to where I’ve been before - and that’s an important thing to keep top of mind.
That said, this progress is being made spending less than 70 minutes a week in the gym.
I believe the simplicity is a big reason for the efficacy.
Here’s how it works:
Pick a basic movement
Pick a weight I can do 6 times
Fight like hell to do it 6 or more times
End
That’s it.
And then next week
Same movement
Same weight
Do more reps than last week
End
Until I can muster ten reps
and then…
Same movement
A new weight I can only 6 times
Fight like hell to do it more than 6 times
End
Once I can do ten, bump the weight to something I can only 6.
And.
That’s it.
At some point I might have to get creative. The reality is, this is the most efficient, highest return, lowest cognitive burden progress I’ve ever made.
So I’m not gonna fuck it up by trying to get too cute.
Why 6 -10 reps?
Because I’m working to failure. More specifically, muscular failure.
Below 6 would be incredible taxing on my nervous system - it would take significantly longer to recover from from that standpoint. Over a few weeks, it would be more likely that my nervous system, not muscles, are the reason for failure.
Above 10 and things like endurance, lactic acid, etc are more likely to be the cause of failure.
So, this gives me a big enough range to make progress over the weeks while keeping me in the range where failure is most likely to be muscular.
If you have different goals, probably shouldn’t model this - but the principle would be the same:
Work in a range and frequency with the highest probability of accomplishing the thing you actually want
Again,
Simplicity.
Nic
Brilliant and simple to remember. Thanks Nic!