Simple, Safe and Straight Forward Strengthening!
Use sets with a total rep count to optimize your strengthening routine safely!
There are lots of exercise programming protocols out there, but the one that summarizes the best available data to back it up is the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) guidelines.
These Strengthening Guidelines were developed by the American College of Sports Medicine to guide how intensively and how much someone should work out depending on their goals. The number of reps recommended is based on someone’s 1 rep max, or how much one person can lift, one time, with good form.
What makes the ACSM guidelines great is its emphasis on good form to the point of fatigue. And by fatigue, they don’t mean feeling the burn. It’s the point at which your core system can no longer stabilize the movement and your start doing funky cheats (substitutions) to make the movement happen.
The old school protocols out there are mostly combinations of completing 1 to 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions no matter what. The ACSM protocol emphasizes rounds or sets with a maximum number of total reps. That means you can complete up to 50 reps of an exercise with 1-3 rest breaks until form breaks down and you can’t recover after a short rest. If you are doing maximum total reps and it still feels easy, it’s time to up the intensity of the exercises, period. The reason why 50 was chosen is that is the magic number where endurance can be worked without increasing the risk for repetitive use injuries. On the other end, if you can‘t do at least 8 total with good form, it‘s too heavy. You need to lower the weight.
This simple summary on how to use the ACSM strengthening protocol will give you a straight forward guide to figure out where to start, when to progress and how to adjust if a progression was too hard. Remember form and alignment come first:
When you feel fatigued or cannot hold your form, stop and rest.
If you meet the maximum total reps without fatigue and kept good form the whole time, you can increase the weight by 10% next time you work out.
If you start another set of the exercise again after a rest and you cannot keep good form for the minimum total reps the weight is too heavy.
Decrease the weight by 10% next time you work out. Move on to the next exercise.
If you start another set of the exercise again after a rest and you:
Already met minimum reps
Cannot keep good form anymore
it’s time to stop and move on to the next exercise.
Goal: Build Strength and Bulk
8 reps minimum, max 35
2 minute rest break in between rounds
1 rest before moving onto a different exercise.
If you can’t do at least 8 reps with 2 rest breaks lower the weight
Goal: Muscular Endurance (Stronger for Longer)
10 reps minimum, max 50
30 - 60 second rest break in between rounds
2 rests before moving onto a different exercise.
If you can’t do at least 10 reps with 3 rest breaks lower the weight
Now Put These Guidelines Into Practice
Knowing how many repetitions to perform is only one piece of building a successful strengthening program.
The next challenge is choosing the right exercises, progressing them at the right pace, and maintaining good form as you get stronger.
That's exactly why I created the Home Fitness Circuit.
Each workout is designed using the same evidence-based principles I use with my physical therapy patients:
Progressive strengthening
Functional movement patterns
Joint-friendly exercise selection
Strength, endurance, balance, and core training in one workout
Minimal equipment required
➡ Start the Home Fitness Circuit
Tools to Get Started!
Take the guess Work out of adding to your home exercise and self care tools with my tried and true list here!
Ready to Stop Guessing Your Workouts?
If you've ever wondered...
✓ Which exercises should I do?
✓ How much weight should I use?
✓ When should I progress?
✓ How do I build strength without irritating my joints?
The Home Fitness Circuit gives you a complete, progressive workout plan based on the same strengthening principles described in this article.
No gym required.
Minimal equipment.
Clinically tested.
Short on time, space or equipment? Here is a free minimalist whole body short circuits you can do in 2-5 minute chunks or 15-20 min if you do all three rounds of the circuit back to back. All you need is one kettlebell or dumbbell!
Free 2-5 min home or office work out circuit
