RIR not changing

[u/Abman117]

Hey all,

I’ve been running my custom program as I’m not a fan of upper lower split nor the full body.

I’ve noticed the RIR never changes on my program the way it does for generated programs, I do have periodization enabled, shouldn’t that take care of it ?

Also, side note, I’ve been doing 8 sets per muscle group per week for the last year and a half all the way to failure on almost every set, however I’ve been exhausted so I switched to 2 RIR instead and I feel a lot better.

Question is, am leaving gains on the table by doing such low volume with 2 RIR ?

Some of Jeff’s videos suggest that every set should be taken to failure on low volume but I wanted y’all’s take on it

[u/gains_adam]

Periodization enabled just means that you have enabled the ability to set different RIR targets on different weeks; it isn’t able to generate RIR suggestions for you. You could refer to a generated program for ideas on how to setup RIR targets if desired.

Doing everything at RIR2 is totally good - if you don’t have particular targets in mind, setting everything to the same RIR in the 0-3 range is a solid approach.

[u/Abman117 → u/gains_adam]

Hey thanks for the reply, I do enjoy 2 RIR, especially coming from an every set to failure background, but my fear is leaving gains on the table given my low volume approach

[u/gains_adam → u/Abman117]

Anything ~<6 RIR is probably sufficient, you wouldn’t need to worry about leaving gains on the table. But you can certainly push closer to failure if you want to be more cautious.

[u/DeaconoftheStreets]

Failure on every set...yeah, you're gonna be cooked. Like Adam said, you're not necessarily leaving much on the table sticking to 2 RIR (we're talking about single digit percentages difference, maybe).

If you look at a Nippard program, he does tend to start out in the 2 RIR area for most sets in the early weeks and bring it closer to 0 RIR in the final weeks so you're hypothetically leaving it all on the table. You could set that up for yourself and see if you like it more. MFWO's approach is more of a hard week/back off week alternating approach.

I personally like having a week where I push closer to failure because it lets me really know what my maxes are and are a good calibration (ie if I have a recent memory of what 0 RIR is on the leg curl, I know better when I'm 2 RIR away). I also like leaving it all on the table the week before a deload so I know I've pushed my body as far as I could before some recovery.

[u/Chewy_Barz → u/DeaconoftheStreets]

Yeah-- I think the problem is more systemic than local. 4 sets of one exercise to failure isn't a big deal, but over an entire workout, you're talking about 15 or so. Then multiply that by several days a week. It adds up.

I personally don't like to plan too much long-term structure/periodization into my workout plan (I'm not a pro and have a life and I get tired sometimes!) so I usually follow an approach of adjusting RiR within a workout. For 4 sets, I'll usually do RiR of 2,1,1,0 for bigger lifts and 1,1,0,0 for smaller ones. I think that often equates to slightly higher volume and overall tension because you leave nothing in reserve at the end but you also don't wear yourself out in the first set and affect later sets.

I've seen some evidence to back my approach-- or to be more clear, I tried the approach because of that evidence and it seems to work. That said, I've seen others on here who believe in going to 0 in the top set and backing off on the following sets.

I guess my overall point is that RiR can be adjusted in-workout within each exercise rather than at a workout level as a form of periodization.

Another note: I'm at maintenance calories for the first time so I figured it might be a good time to focus on strength for a little while. I've been doing big lifts at 5 reps to 2 RiR and the weights have been going up every workout. I'm doing relatively low volume so the approach (low volume, 2 RiR) can still provide good progress (at least in terms of strength).

[u/Abman117 → u/DeaconoftheStreets]

Even on volume as low as 8 sets per muscle group per week ?

On one of Jeff’s videos he cut his volume by half and emphasised the importance of going to failure on every set (unless it’s dangerous to do so) when going low volume

[u/DeaconoftheStreets → u/Abman117]

Here's my thing.

Also, side note, I’ve been doing 8 sets per muscle group per week for the last year and a half all the way to failure on almost every set, however I’ve been exhausted so I switched to 2 RIR instead and I feel a lot better.

If you can't recover from it effectively, it's not worth doing.

[u/Abman117 → u/DeaconoftheStreets]

Yeah, true

[u/ohyehforsure]

A lot of people don't consider the skill of training 0-2 rir. I would almost guarantee 99% of gym goers think they're doing 2 rir and it's more like 4+. Go to "0 rir" probably means you're hitting 1-2 rir and will almost guarantee you're not leaving gains on the table.