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How much working out do you need to do to see change? We are big fans of our Biohackr German Creatine, which when combined with strength training builds muscle (and yes, you all likely need to be on creatine). You can come by our SF or Palo Alto locations to get it or order it online in our shop if you aren’t living in the Bay Area. But what does science say about HOW much you need to be doing strength and resistance training. Is it daily? hours? Do you need to push yourself until you just can’t do that last rep?
This is a published study in the Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise Journal. “Without Fail: Muscular Adaptations in Single Set Resistance Training Performed to Failure or with Repetitions-in-Reserve.”
Study:
- Single set resistance training performed either to maximal effort (“failure”) vs. submaximal effort
- 42 young, men and women trained in resistance lifting
- Sessions were twice weekly for 8 weeks
- The exercises were a single set of 9 exercises that targeted all major muscle groups each session
- One group trained to failure on all exercises- ie you just cannot do that last rep, your muscles are fatigued
- The other group did submaximal effort – they did two repetitions in reserve for the same exercises.
- Measurements were taken of muscle thickness for biceps, triceps, quads, and measures of muscular strength, power, endurance, and ability to estimate how much they can bench press and squat.
Findings?
Both groups, the “FAIL” group and the repeat with some energy still in the tank had appreciable gains in the outcomes. Increases in strength, muscular endurance were similar. There was a slight but not statistical lead for FAIL for hypertrophy of muscles and increases in countermovement jump.
They conclude, “single set routines can be a time efficient strategy for promoting muscular adaptations in resistance trained individuals. Training to failure may modestly enhance some measure of muscle hypertrophy and power, but not strength or muscle endurance.”
How can Biohackr Health help?
We believe in building muscle.
Building muscle is a cornerstone of improving healthspan, helping bone health, sugar metabolism, balance, and avoiding dementia. We believe NAD and CREATINE are basic tenets of helping build muscle endurance and power.
- We sell creatine in our San Francisco and Palo Alto clinics. You can also purchase it online for those who do not live in the Bay Area (great presents for those you love!) SHOP
- We sell NAD- The best way to build NAD levels is with our oral supplement.
- We offer a comprehensive NAD program, with NAD testing to see your levels, IV NAD to quickly build your baseline, and then the NAD supplement (which is NMN and ribose SHOP).
- We recommend weight and resistance training to build muscle. Read our blogs to see more of the science. MUSCLE
This study shows that you don’t need to push it until muscle exhaustion to see benefits. So get out there- twice weekly is achievable to improve your health.
MEDICAL CITATION: