Mike Israetel

But if you have objective criteria of this is what I did last week and I just want to go a little bit beyond, it is inevitable that one of two things happen over the long term. One, you will reach muscular failure and you will be unable to do a repetition. Or the other is you'll get infinitely strong forever and now you're Superman. One of those is more realistic than the other.

So when people say, I don't know what's close to failure or not, my answer is very easy. Download the RPI, no, sorry, wrong, sales pitch, oops. Put some numbers on the board and just by a little, two and a half or five pounds or one rep each week, beat those numbers week upon week. Commit yourself. I must hit 18 reps. That's the goal. If you can't do it, success, you went to failure.

So when people say, I don't know what's close to failure or not, my answer is very easy. Download the RPI, no, sorry, wrong, sales pitch, oops. Put some numbers on the board and just by a little, two and a half or five pounds or one rep each week, beat those numbers week upon week. Commit yourself. I must hit 18 reps. That's the goal. If you can't do it, success, you went to failure.

Now you know where the limit is. Now you're building an intuition. But if you did get those numbers, next week you go higher and you go higher and you go higher. Versus if just like, oh, I think I went hard. I don't know what that means. You could be very wrong and oftentimes are.

Now you know where the limit is. Now you're building an intuition. But if you did get those numbers, next week you go higher and you go higher and you go higher. Versus if just like, oh, I think I went hard. I don't know what that means. You could be very wrong and oftentimes are.

Below five or 10 sets per week is not a sufficient effort to expect your best results. between 10 and 20 sets per week is fine. But for many people, you have to use a second qualifier, which is what's actually happening to you.

Below five or 10 sets per week is not a sufficient effort to expect your best results. between 10 and 20 sets per week is fine. But for many people, you have to use a second qualifier, which is what's actually happening to you.

If you aren't getting super sore or super mega tired in your muscles for a day or two after training, if your strength continues to be stable or increases session to session to session, And you're on that fewer than 20 work sets per muscle per week.

If you aren't getting super sore or super mega tired in your muscles for a day or two after training, if your strength continues to be stable or increases session to session to session, And you're on that fewer than 20 work sets per muscle per week.

I take that offensively, by the way. So then if all of the signs show that you're not actually excessively fatigued, your volume is either okay or less than it could be.

I take that offensively, by the way. So then if all of the signs show that you're not actually excessively fatigued, your volume is either okay or less than it could be.

If you're not getting great results visually, but you're always running into strength plateaus, if you're always tired and sore, and if you're north of 20 sets per muscle per week, on average, hard sets, then probably doing less is good because you have almost every indicator of doing too much. And so you'll be able to intuit rather quickly if it's too little or too much.

If you're not getting great results visually, but you're always running into strength plateaus, if you're always tired and sore, and if you're north of 20 sets per muscle per week, on average, hard sets, then probably doing less is good because you have almost every indicator of doing too much. And so you'll be able to intuit rather quickly if it's too little or too much.

Those are most of the variables involved in the gym part except for one. And that is, when is the last time you took a break? Because there is a concept called accumulated fatigue or cumulative fatigue. your muscles and the rest of your body recover very well between sessions, but not 100%, maybe 90 or 95.

Those are most of the variables involved in the gym part except for one. And that is, when is the last time you took a break? Because there is a concept called accumulated fatigue or cumulative fatigue. your muscles and the rest of your body recover very well between sessions, but not 100%, maybe 90 or 95.

And if you're a mathematics fan, if you multiply 0.95 by 0.95 by 0.92 by 0.9 by 0.95 enough, you're down to 50% recovery within like six or eight weeks. And then how could you possibly be making gains? So, Every, for the average person cranking away, probably the person listening to this podcast, one week out of every eight, one week every two months, don't go to the gym. Stay active.

And if you're a mathematics fan, if you multiply 0.95 by 0.95 by 0.92 by 0.9 by 0.95 enough, you're down to 50% recovery within like six or eight weeks. And then how could you possibly be making gains? So, Every, for the average person cranking away, probably the person listening to this podcast, one week out of every eight, one week every two months, don't go to the gym. Stay active.

Maybe do a bodyweight squat or a pushup or two in your hotel room or something. Ideally, try going on vacation.

Maybe do a bodyweight squat or a pushup or two in your hotel room or something. Ideally, try going on vacation.

If not, try to not exercise and be a little easier at work, be a little easier on family stuff, have some fun cheat foods, eat a little more than usual, be a little less active so that your body can recover in a way that it can never recover between sessions, but it gets a whole week to do this. And once a year, at least, take two whole weeks like that. We call that active rest.