Yeah, but on the rep continuum ~7 reps is the golden number for strength/Hypertrophy together, before strength takes a dive.
And ~10 reps is gg for Hypertrophy.

I know it's only 3 more reps, but I want it to slightly favour my goals.


You know of a better routine than Blaha's full body?

I know this question wasn't directed at me, but I think cloudkicker would agree that Blaha's program is very well-rounded.

You'll get plenty of volume for every muscle group involved in a deadlift without having to do deadlifts often.

5x5 squat, hyperextensions, bent over rows, and a few deadlifts should be more than enough lowerback and hamstring work.

If anything, I always thought novice users might want more upper back work, but I might be impartial.

This is meticulous shit that isn't going to apply to you.

Perhaps. Thoughts on Blaha's routine?

continuum is a theory, i think you'll get similar results if you push yourself hard at 5 or 7 reps. if youre worried about volume matching, add an extra set of 3 reps in the middle of your 5 sets and make them heavy. or do 4x7, it probably doesnt matter. also i dont know jasons routine so idk

I remember Ethan analysed a ton of Hypertrophy studies and clarified 10 reps was gg.
I feel like although it's a theory, it's pretty damn accurate.
But yeah I understand when we're playing around with such minute variables there won't be much difference in results. Still, I am curious


This is it: https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/jason-blaha-ice-cream-fitness-5x5-novice-workout

This post was edited by uGhost on Apr 18 2016 09:34pm

who is ethan

also many bodybuilders alternate between different rep schemes, 10 is not optimal for anyone forever

why not just lift a couple days a week?

you could literally go into the gym and spend 15-20 minutes warming up and doing many sets up bench press to maintain most of your chest gains..

you could do the same thing with shoulder presses, squats, etc.


sometimes you just want to be lazy or spend time doing other things but seems silly to totally give up lifting when you could put in 20% of the effort you did prior to cutting back and come close to maintaining instead of atrophying

As I sort of described in the post above, 7 reps is only considered the gold standard based on a given TUT. If you don't follow the same TUT protocol in the study that said 7 reps were optimal for both size and strength, the amount of reps is not all that relevant as far as hypertrophy goes.

Anyhow, I'd recommend leaving the routine as is and cutting down rest times and increasing TUT if you insist on focusing on trying to manipulate the program to increase hypertrophy. If after a few months you feel the need to, add volume or manipulate the rep schemes to increase TUT.

20% isn't enough to maintain. 2/3rds is sufficient, as taught by my Resistance Training and Exercise Phys professors.
I stopped lifting because of the culture at uni, everyday all day different people have spare time and choose to smoke or drink or fuck around during that time, which is what I chose. Was too cbf to go lift unfortunately.
Fucked my gains but was worth it to have good times.






Aficionado





Mm good idea, I'll do that and see how we go! Cheers man, good to have you back dropping knowledge bombs every now n then