Dr. Eric Helms returns to add important nuance to the extreme and absolute claims we see on social media about building muscle.
Have you ever heard the following claims:
“Only the last 5 reps count, everything else is junk volume”
“You need to train to failure to build muscle”
“There’s no benefit to more than 1 hard set for hypertrophy”
“You never need to train more than 4–6 reps for hypertrophy”
“People can’t accurately assess their proximity to failure at higher rep ranges”
Eric tackles these and more hypertrophy claims and concepts with research and provides:
Where they may hold technical truth
Where they’re misleading
Where they’re lacking critical context or nuance
Where they don’t work for every population
Plus Eric explains why you might not be in calorie maintenance even though the scale stays constant while you gain muscle and lose fat, and how much of a calorie surplus do we really need to efficiently build muscle.
Eric brings practical reality to the divisive social media hypertrophy playground.
This is essential listening for anyone trying to build muscle, coaches people who want to build muscle, or feels confused about conflicting claims online.
Instagram: @helms3dmj
CHAPTERS
00:30 Failure Training Basics
03:44 Hypertrophy Evidence
05:52 Strength Versus Failure
07:01 Real World Failure Limits
10:13 Defining True Failure
11:30 Adapting To Hard Work
14:55 Volume Intensity Debate
16:51 Silos And Survivorship
25:50 Bodybuilding Volume Reality
32:05 Diminishing Returns Explained
38:44 Practical Constraints and Planning
40:40 Linear Vs Diminishing Curves
42:58 Volume vs Failure Tradeoffs
46:42 Do Last Reps Count
48:06 Beginners vs Advanced Needs
52:36 High Volume High RIR Methods
56:56 RIR Accuracy At High Reps
01:03:01 Why Heavy Reps All Count
01:07:20 Practical Rep Range Choices
01:08:58 Calorie Surplus For Growth
01:11:10 Surplus Data: Beginners vs Trained
01:21:38 How Big Should A Surplus Be
01:24:09 Wrap Up and Resources
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