Training Deep Dive - Manipulating Exercise Variables for Various Goals

This post is maybe wider than it is deep. I may add depth later but I see it as a collection of some of the most crucial variables to consider when designing a training plan and carrying it out in the gym. Most of this information was derived from courses taken from StrongFirst and Functional Range Systems.

• What type of training are you looking for?

  • Stability is a prerequisite for mobility, mobility is a prerequisite for strength, strength is a prerequisite for endurance and power.

    • Stability and strength and synonymous but could be considered different parts of the spectrum

    • Mobility could also be considered stability and or strength at the end of your range of motion.

    • Mobility = Stability + ROM

    • Strength = Mobility (or Stability in some cases) + Force

    • Endurance = Strength + Density and or Volume

    • Power = Strength + Velocity

• What are the main variables to track for each type of training?

  • Progressive Overload

    • Stability - Time under tension

    • Mobility - Range of motion, and time under tension

    • Strength and hypertrophy - Weight, Range of motion, time under tension

      • Increase sets for less hypertrophy, increase reps for more hypertrophy (with a limit)

    • Endurance - Less weight than strength training but more volume (focus on increasing sets) and less rest (30-90 seconds generally)

    • Power - similar or lighter loads as strength but fewer reps and more speed (can be highly specific)

• How long should each set be and how long should the rest be?

  • Time under tension

    • 0-30 seconds on average will tend to train fast twitch fiber

    • 30-60 seconds on average will tend to train slow twitch fiber

    • 60-120 seconds (and beyond) on average will tend to train connective tissue

  • Energy Systems

    • Phosphagen (ATP-PCr): 0–10 seconds. Provides immediate energy for explosive movements (e.g., a 100m sprint or heavy 1-rep max).

    • Glycolytic (Anaerobic): 15 seconds to 2 minutes. Fuels high-intensity bursts (e.g., 400m dash).

    • Oxidative (Aerobic): 2+ minutes. The primary system for sustained, lower-intensity endurance (e.g., a 5K run)

  • Recovery - Recreated based on information from Strong First seminars

    • 5sec - Lactic acid reduced by 50% compared to doing reps consecutively

    • 30sec - Creatine Phosphate ~50% recovered

    • 1min - Steepest Creatine Phosphate recovery

    • 2min - CNS excitability starts declining

    • 3min - Fast Creatine Phosphate recovery phase; almost complete Creatine Phosphate recovery

    • >3min - Slow Creatine Phosphate recovery phase

    • 5min - CNS excitation rapidly declines after this point

    • 5-8min - Creatine Phosphate fully recovered

    • 10min - Performance fully recovers after a set to RM

    • 20min - 20% performance super-compensation after a set to RM

    • 15-20min - Creatine Phosphate super-compensation peak after strength exercise to RM

    • 30-90min - Total lactic acid clearance

• General Guidelines of Selecting Exercise Variables for different goals

  • Muscle gain - Varies a lot from person to person generally 6-20 reps coming close to failure by the end of the set, 1-3 sets. 1-3 minutes rest between sets will work for most people most of the time. Typically use between 50-70% of 1RM. Rest between 1 and 2 minutes.

    • There is a broad range of sets and reps that work because it can be highly individual especially at the higher levels.

    • It also depends on what type of muscle you are looking to build (see exercise timing above).

    • If you’re just starting out don’t worry too much about this, just focus on progressively overloading the muscles and it will almost certainly lead to hypertrophy.

      • For beginners I usually overload the time under tension from whatever can be handled, up to about a minute and then increase the weight. This allows for a broad range of muscle fiber types to develop and for there to be plenty of practice of good form (assuming good form is being practiced).

  • Strength - 70-80% of your 1 rep maximum (or a weight you can do for about 12 reps) doing sets of 2-6 (these should not be coming close to failure) and doing anywhere from 3-5 sets or more in some cases. Rest as needed but usually not more than 5 minutes. Occasionally add days where lifts range from 80-90% 1RM.

    • Strength will be built most rapidly by focusing on fast twitch fiber. These rep recommendations keep sets shorter than 30 seconds typically (see fiber type timing above) and can even get closer to 10 seconds to preferentially use the creatine phosphate energy system (the most powerful system).

  • Range of motion - hold a stretch for 30-120 seconds then do isometric contractions in that end range both trying to get deeper in to the range of motion (RAILs) and coming out of the range of motion (PAILs) with minimal movement. Then adding full range of motion exercises using the range you had and the range you gained.

    • These are averages, some may need to hold stretches more or less. If you feel you constantly need to hold a stretch for long periods of time and the tension returns quicker than you might expect, stretching may not be the answer. The tension could be residing in your nervous system rather than the myofascial system (hard to separate the two). Or could be a result of a compensation such as chronically tight hamstrings due to under active glutes, in which case no amount of stretching will change the hamstrings (in a beneficial way) until the source of the tension is corrected.

  • Strength Endurance - 50-80% of 1RM keeping sets shorter than 10 seconds (ideally 8 seconds) likely about 3 reps. No more than a minute of rest. Repeat several times (3-5x or more). Take a longer break (a few minutes). Repeat 1-3x

    • There are many different forms of strength endurance and different ways to manipulate the variables. StrongFirst has a two day seminar dedicated to just this goal. This is just the most basic set of variables for strength endurance and for most people most of the time will get you where you want to go.

  • Cardio Endurance - Use the “talk test” stay at the limit of that pace for up to 40 minutes. More if needed for specific goals but 20-40 minutes is sufficient for most people and more than that can become detrimental. Intervals can be used and helpful but require more thoughtful planning and are more beneficial for short periods of training. The simplest way to incorporate them is via “fartlek training” which is done by intuitively increasing the pace (as much as up to a sprint) then back down for recovery and repeating.

    • Like strength endurance this can be much more nuanced but for the sake of brevity (and my lack of knowledge on this subject) this will get most people where they want to go most of the time, unless you’re training for some competition.

  • Power - Varies. Speed is the focus. Keeps sets short and rest sufficient.

    • The variables within power are weight, and speed. There are several ways to manipulate them. Even more than “cardio endurance” I lack expertise and experience with power training so I suggest finding another source of information if you are interested in training power.