Old Forum RM and hypertrophy confusion

[JulianWLucas]

Hello. So I'm a little confused about the RM at a given weight and the amount f reps needed to be done in order to optimize hypertrophy. I'm a fitness model and "social media inspirational figure" I was born with one arm!

I know Pavel and Dan John both recommend sets of 5 or even lower. If I'm doing sets of 5 what RM am I using? Ive seen 7RM and I've seen him write 10RM(slow twitch fiber series)

Can you really optimize hypertrophy keeping 5 reps in the tank?  I know a ton of the literature shows that training to failure is important but of course we all know there's a million people out there that never train to failure.  So I'm just a little confused! Thanks!

 

 

[puddleduck]

The recommendations of Pavel and Dan John are usually specific to a program or goal.  I don't recall reading a blanket recommendation to do 5 reps or lower for hypertrophy without further qualification.

 

You can achieve hypertrophy using 5's.  The Bear is one approach, whereby you add in volume in terms of numerous sub maximal sets of 5.

 

If your goal is purely hypertrophy, there are lots of ways of achieving it.  Don't eschew traditional 'bro' approaches either out of some misguided gym snobbery.  Protocols like 3 x 10, 4 x 8 etc etc work just fine as long as you adhere to progressive overload.

 

Broadly, for hypertrophy, keep reps between 5-15, with 80% of your work being in the middle of this range.

 

Training to failure works, but is hard on the CNS, so must be either cycled properly or employed infrequently for long term use.  Pavel's writing about avoiding failure usually comes from a strength perspective whereby grooving techniques and neural pathways frequently and with volume is desired.