#472 Dr Eric Helms - Do You Need To Train To Failure, Do You Need More Than 1 Set, Do You Need More Than 6 Reps To Build Muscle?
Lift Free And Diet Hard with Andrew CoatesShow Notes
Dr. Eric Helms returns to add important nuance to the extreme and absolute claims we see on social media about building muscle.
Have you ever heard the following claims:
“Only the last 5 reps count, everything else is junk volume” “You need to train to failure to build muscle” “There’s no benefit to more than 1 hard set for hypertrophy” “You never need to train more than 4–6 reps for hypertrophy” “People can’t accurately assess their proximity to failure at higher rep ranges”
Eric tackles these and more hypertrophy claims and concepts with research and provides:
Where they may hold technical truth Where they’re misleading Where they’re lacking critical context or nuance Where they don’t work for every population
Plus Eric explains why you might not be in calorie maintenance even though the scale stays constant while you gain muscle and lose fat, and how much of a calorie surplus do we really need to efficiently build muscle.
Eric brings practical reality to the divisive social media hypertrophy playground.
This is essential listening for anyone trying to build muscle, coaches people who want to build muscle, or feels confused about conflicting claims online.
Instagram: @helms3dmj
CHAPTERS
00:30 Failure Training Basics 03:44 Hypertrophy Evidence 05:52 Strength Versus Failure 07:01 Real World Failure Limits 10:13 Defining True Failure 11:30 Adapting To Hard Work 14:55 Volume Intensity Debate 16:51 Silos And Survivorship 25:50 Bodybuilding Volume Reality 32:05 Diminishing Returns Explained 38:44 Practical Constraints and Planning 40:40 Linear Vs Diminishing Curves 42:58 Volume vs Failure Tradeoffs 46:42 Do Last Reps Count 48:06 Beginners vs Advanced Needs 52:36 High Volume High RIR Methods 56:56 RIR Accuracy At High Reps 01:03:01 Why Heavy Reps All Count 01:07:20 Practical Rep Range Choices 01:08:58 Calorie Surplus For Growth 01:11:10 Surplus Data: Beginners vs Trained 01:21:38 How Big Should A Surplus Be 01:24:09 Wrap Up and Resources
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