Keep Strength Simple: Consistency + Stimulus = Benefits

Almost two years ago I wrote a blog about the various types of strength and how they can impact your performance and function. What I failed to convey is how strength training can change your life and how simple it can be to implement. Recently, the American College of Sports Medicine updated their strength training guidelines for the first time in 17 years. One of my biggest issues with the health and fitness space is how complicated and unattainable we make good information, but alas, these guidelines finally reveal what most of us have been saying…

1. strength training is vital for our health and longevity

2. implementing a great strength training program can be simple

Highlights:

• consistency beats complexity >> any resistance training is better than none

• you can optimize efforts for strength, power, or muscle hypertrophy BUT simple steps can significantly improve daily tasks, balance, and walking speed

• no need for fancy methods or equipment >> gyms settings are great, but elastic bands, bodyweight exercises, and home-based programs also show benefits

• effort and progressive overload do not need to be overly complicated

Why consistency matters?

The numbers speak for themselves: studies show ~30% of adults perform some strength training activity twice a week, and as high as 60% of adults do not perform any strength training activity. The fact is that even minimal amounts of resistance training have substantial effects on strength and function.

Despite its safety and effectiveness, participation in resistance training only seems to worsen with age. It is easy to see how resistance training can be important for growth, development, and sports participation while we are young, but we fail to recognize the utility of strength as we age. Concerned about maintaining your independence as you age? How about your ability to walk across the street to beat traffic? Starting to recognize changes in your balance? Resistance training is safe and effective for making noticeable improvements in all these areas. Strength is for everyone.

Stimulus? What is it and how do we monitor it?

The positive health and functional adaptations from strength training are realized by providing a sufficient stimulus or stressor to the body. In resistance training, this happens when our muscles are conditioned in response to an external resistance, which could be machines, free weights, elastic bands, or body weight exercises. And while you might think that that external resistance drives the adaptation, it is the body’s response, or the internal load, that determines the stimulus. Think about it this way:

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You give three individuals a pair of 15-pound dumbbells and ask them to perform bicep curls (3 sets of 15 repetitions). One of the individuals is a 19-year-old college student, one is a 34-year-old accountant, and one is a 65-year-old real estate agent. Do you expect all three of these individuals to respond the same to this bout of resistance training? Absolutely not.

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Let’s go one step further…

What if that 19-year-old college student was out till 2:00 AM the night before? What if that 34-year-old accountant is in the middle of peak tax season? What if that 65-year-old real estate agent is recovering from a week-long bout of the flu?

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The point is depending on an individual’s exercise experience and fitness levels; they may need more (or less) to drive a beneficial response. But even fluctuations in sleep quality, stress, hydration, and motivation can have effects on day-to-day performance.

So how do we choose an appropriate load while also accounting for individual differences and daily performance changes? This is when an autoregulation tool such as rate of perceived exertion (RPE) or reps in reserve (RIR) can be super helpful. Instead of using a predetermined weight or calculating a percentage of your maximal strength, these tools use a subjective measure to self-determine the difficulty of an activity or exercise. With this approach, adjustments can be made for the individual person on any given day.

Rate of Perceived Exertion and Reps in Reserve: Subjective Scales

It’s best to think of RPE and RIR as scales of effort or your proximity to failure. RPE is a 1-10 scale, where numbers on the lower end are minimally fatiguing and numbers on the higher end are closer to maximal effort. RPE was originally created as a proxy for heart rate response and can be used for both strength training and cardiovascular efforts. An example RPE scale is shown below.

RPE 1-4: easy to moderate – comfortable and could repeat the efforts

RPE 5-6: moderate effort – starting to feel challenging

RPE 7-8: hard effort

RPE 9: very hard (near maximum effort)

RPE 10: maximum effort

RIR is more specific to strength training efforts, but is best summarized by the question, “how many more reps could I perform?”.

RIR 0: couldn’t perform another rep

RIR 1-2: could maybe perform 1-2 more reps

RIR 3-4: could likely perform 3-4 more reps

The good news is that these scales are reasonably correlated and can be used in combination depending on the activity. The table below shows how these tools can be used in concert.

Rate of Perceived Exertion	Reps in Reserve	Intensity - Effort	Activity Speed
10	0	Maximal Effort	Severely Slowed - Halted
9	1	Very Heavy – Near Max	Significantly Slowed
8	2	Heavy - Tough	Mildly Slowed
7	3	Somewhat Heavy - Repeatable	Minimally Slowed
6	4	Slightly Difficult	Not Slowed
5	5	Warm-Up Weight	Could Perform All Day

How to Use RPE and RIR in Strength Training

A common problem I find in my patient’s strength training efforts is stagnation or an unwillingness to progress their efforts. A simple way to trial these tools is to ask yourself, “how many more reps could I perform?” at the end of every set. I would then challenge to perform that number and ask yourself the same question again. I can’t count the number of times someone performed 7-10 more repetitions after telling me they only had 1-2 more left in the tank. Reflection is the first step, but getting outside your comfort zone to test your body’s capabilities is the best way to begin implementing autoregulation strategies.

For most people just trying to get stronger and tap into the numerous health benefits of strength training, we want to shoot for a Rate of Perceived Exertion between 7-9 or 1-3 Reps in Reserve. More specific programming can be found below.

Compound Movements and Basic Strength (Squat, Deadlift, Bench, or Main Movements)

• Heavy Sets: RPE 7-9 or 1-3 RIR

• Warm-Up Sets: RPE 5-6 or 4-5 RIR

Accessory Exercises*

• Supporting Strength: RPE 7-8 or 2-3 RIR

• Isolating Muscle Group: RPE 8-9 or 1-2 RIR

*When I am in a crunch, most of my accessory work is programmed as 2 sets @ 1-2 RIR

How RPR and RIR can Showcase Improvement

The biggest misconception is that progression only means adding more weight to a given strength training exercise. If this blog didn’t make it clear enough, 1) consistency is going to prevail over complex strategies and 2) daily fluctuations in our performance are inevitable. If we are willing to be honest about our effort and consider the factors that influence our daily performance, adaptation and improvement are right around the corner. Here are a few scenarios that show the utility of autoregulation tools:

A weight that was once performed for 6 reps at RPE 9 is now an RPE 7 after routinely performing the exercise for a few weeks.

You’ve been working on improving your hydration and sleep quality before your toughest strength training session of the week. When performing splits squats (BW @ 1-2 RIR), you can now perform 12 reps instead of 8.

You are new to strength training, and every exercise has felt like an RPE 9-10. Recovering from soreness and discomfort has been very disheartening. You start to wonder if the weights you are selecting are too difficult. You lower the weight and utilize 2-3 RIR instead. Your soreness reduces and you begin to see more progress in the gym.

For those of us that love strength training in a gym setting, it is easy to see why a tool like this can be beneficial. They remove the pressure of executing rigid programming that does not fluctuate to our individual differences and the life circumstances that affect our performance. But I wish more people would realize how approachable a basic resistance training program can be, because the long-term health benefits can be life changing. And as beneficial as it can be to start early, we have an overwhelming amount of research that says you are never too late to start (even into your 70s, 80s, and 90s). Resistance training does not need to be perfect; it just needs to make sense for you.

If you are looking to start or enhance your strength training journey, please give us a call and let’s get after it!