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zakruti.com » Sport, fitness, workout » Jeff Cavalier
3 Sets of 12- is KILLING Your Gains!

3 Sets of 12- is KILLING Your Gains!

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Rating: 4.0; Vote: 1
Performing 3 sets of 12 reps for the exercises your workout is likely killing your gains. Now, don-t get me wrong-I actually like the 10-12 rep range when it comes to building muscle and when the goal is muscle hypertrophy. The problem is, the focus is misdirected as it often times gets put on the number of reps and not the quality of the reps or the time it takes you to perform them. Let me explain. The genesis of the whole 10-12 rep recommendation for muscle growth actually came from the time under tension that that number of reps would equate to if you performed them with the right tempo. If you did an explosive one second up on the concentric portion of the lift and a slow eccentric lowering of 3 seconds on the way down (another way to increase the tension on the working muscle) then you would be at 4 seconds per rep which would equate to 40-48 seconds of tension in that set. Research shows that crossing the threshold of 45 seconds is important, and when paired with a high intensity effort which brings you to failure beyond this point can lead to more impressive muscle gains. What winds up happening however is that we don-t perform our reps at this speed and we end up performing them much faster. As you can see in this set of dumbbell incline bench press performed by Jesse, he finishes the set in just 26 seconds. But that is lost on most people that lift weights and train and instead they focus on the number of reps and doing anything they can to reach that goal number to determine whether or not their set was a success or conducive to new growth. Big mistake. If you were performing a set and noticed after completing three perfectly performed reps that there was no way you were going to be able to maintain that form for the entire set of 12 reps so you shortened your range of motion, that would be a critical mistake. What you wind up with is sub maximal reps at every point in along the way to twelve as explained in the video. Instead, you would want to accept the fact that you were not going to be able to make it and just do as many reps as you could until reaching failure. Each one would be performed as hard and with as most effort as you could generate. If the number wound up falling drastically short of the twelve that you set out to do you could always drop the weight on the subsequent sets to get you back into that range. If you picked a weight that happened to be too light and didn-t take you close to failure, you would want to continue to rep out no matter how many reps it took to eventually get you to failure and then adjust the weights up on a subsequent set. Alternatively you could stop the set at 12 reps if you knew you were far too light on the weights and consider it a warmup set and then adjust the weights up and start again. Either way, the point is not to focus on the number of the reps since after all, your muscles can-t count they can only feel tension. If you are skirting tension in an effort to reach a magic number I can guarantee you are shortchanging the amount of muscle that you can ultimately build in your workouts. Focus always on finding ways to direct more tension to the muscles that you are trying to grow instead of avoiding it and you will be much happier with your overall results. If you are looking for a complete workout and nutrition program that never takes the easy way out but delivers much more powerful results than those that do, head to and get your ATHLEAN-X Training System. See why when you train at a high intensity your workouts don-t have to be long to be effective. Start building muscle and making much faster gains by training like an athlete step by step
Date: 2022-04-22

Comments and reviews: 10


Jeff, I appreciate the video. You mention one of the things I have struggled with a bunch in my lifting. to go up or down in weight in subsequent sets. My workout approach is I know the exercises I want to do, the set and rep range I want to hit based on various personal factors, and slow controlled movement with pauses at the top and bottom. The only thing that remains is how much weight to use to hit all points on each set. I typically work out by myself (home gym) but when I have worked out with others, they always want to add weight before the next set. In my personal experience, if I am working out -properly-, I cannot do that. I will either cheat myself at the beginning (use less weight - easier reps) or not be able to get the reps I want at the end. However, I have always thought that by starting with a heavier weight and dropping some on subsequent sets was somehow doing it wrong and going to sabotage my gains. After watching this video I am thinking that it is not wrong to drop weight as you go. Do you have any additional comments on this approach? Thanks P. S. not that it matters, but I am over 40.
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I-m pretty new to the gym so forgive my ignorance but, this video seems more about time under tension rather than reps.
I-ve been at the gym 3 weeks since rejoining after a 7 year break (and damn am I weak now.
I decided to do a different routine of 3 sets of 12 as opposed to my previous 2 or 3 sets of 8.
The difference to the video however is I do all my reps very slowly, both up and down (time under tension seems to be most important from what i gather. And most of the time I will lift to just before fail and usually fail on the last set.
Perhaps this is wrong?
I-ve also notice that I have gotten slightly smaller over the last 3 weeks.
Any advice?
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For me, three sets of twelve has always been an end goal, not a starting point.
I'll pick a weight where i can manage something like 12, 10, fail on 8. I stick with that weight until I get 12, 12, 12, and then I increase the weight.
I keep a workout log, and I always try to beat what I did during the previous workout.
There's no point in doing three sets of twelve, and then coming back to the gym and doing three sets of twelve with the same weight again.
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My trainer had me do a weight that was too heavy. I got 6 reps out. So he gave me lift assistance. I was annoyed that I was going past failure, but now I suspect he was aiming to get me to 45 seconds. This makes me wonder what really counts as failure from a muscle tear perspective, vs 2 RIR, if someone can just reduce the resistance at the end? If I fail at a heavy weight, how does that tear too many fibers? I'm not sure I trust the 2 RIR theory now.
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8-12, if you hit 12, move up, if you cant hit 8, your weight is too high, do this for 3-5 sets. It is proven that doing 5 sets of 12 builds more muscle than 3 sets of 12, so, that garbage that you are not benefitting from partial sets is complete and utter BS, backed up by science, not just his subjective experiences as a trainer. Processive overload is the goal, always, whether it be one more rep, one more set, or more weight!
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I am 27. Doing bodybuilding since i was 16 but trust me if you are addicted to watch these sort of videos to find out what is wrong and what is right so let me tell you one thing these videos will confuse you more and more. Lemme give you a free advice ( go to gym and do workout as much as you can. Day by day you ill find out by yourseld that what is wrong and what is right )
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This video was an eye opener for me. I have always been fixated on the number of reps. i do try to do strict exercises on all my lifts, and do reach failure at about 10 reps, but still am stuck on the number and i'll admit that i know i stop sometimes when i reach that -number- that i'm shooting for, even tho i know i could go further. Thanks for another great segment Jeff.
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Can you guess the reason why I am standing the way I am for the entire video?
A. I had to stay low to make sure my head stayed in frame with Jesse sitting down.
B. My -Sore in 6- Legs workout (to be released Saturday) has left me plastered to the floor in this position!
C. Giving -the boys- some fresh air and room to roam.
D. All of the Above
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Doing a set to failure does this, also apply when doing left and the right set exercises separately. I couldn't word it properly but for example, I invested in my first 25-pound dumbell. When I do bicep curls for instance, should I do each side to failure or do equal amounts of sets on each side? I'm right-handed, and my left hand is a bit weaker.
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Do them slowly. example: 12x4
First set: i can do them all
Second set: i can do them all
Third set: can't do them all
Fourth set: can't do them all
Are you supposed to push to failure on every set even if its over 12 reps?
Or are you supposed to do the sets and if u cant do all of them dont worry just dont -cheat- through them?
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