How to Lose Weight and Build Muscle on a Tight Schedule
Want to lose weight and improve your muscle while on a tight schedule? Here’s how you can fast track your way to better results.
If you’re like most adults in today’s world, your schedule is packed. Between meetings, family responsibilities, and trying to have a life, fitness often gets pushed to the bottom of your priority list.
Over time, you’ve found that in the pursuit of your career, family, and doing your best to handle the busyness of life, your health has fallen behind and it’s time to do something.
But how? There’s no possible way you can work out every day with your schedule. It seems completely impossible to begin prioritizing workouts again, while juggling everything else you have going on in life. But something has to give if you want your health to improve.
What do you do?
That is what I’m going to help you with today.
I am going to rip a page right out of my coaching playbook and hand it to you. This “page” is called the 4-Day Fit Formula.
It’s what I use to help my busy clients reclaim their health without living in the gym for hours every day of the week.
Let’s dive in.
You Don’t Need More Time
When it comes to working out regularly again, it’s not more time that you need.
And even if you did need more time, trying to find it wouldn’t be a worthwhile endeavor because you cannot add an extra second, minute, or hour to your day. You’re not some sort of magical time bender.
The only thing you can do is better manage the 24 hours you have in a day.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you that we all have the “same” 24 hours in a day. We all have 24 hours in a day, no doubt.
But what those 24 hours consists of looks a lot different for a 19 year old fitness influencer with zero responsibilities than it does for you.
Regardless, we all must face this fact and accept it : everything in life has a trade off.
And when you have responsibilities that you must attend to and a desire to work out more, it means that other things will need to be sacrificed to make it happen.
This likely means one or more of the following will need to be cut or reduced:
Scrolling on social media
Streaming your favorite show every night
Playing video games
Reading your novel for hours
None of these things are bad.
I scroll on social media
I’ve watched The Office all the way through at least 30 times
I’ve got no shame in admitting that I play my college roommate in Mario Kart on occasion (and I whoop his tail every time)
I love reading and will get lost in a book, too.
But I also understand that I cannot have my cake and eat it too.
I cannot watch two hours of Netflix and then proceed to say I don’t have time to ______.
That’s just a complete lie, and it keeps me from realizing that I do have time to make the change I desire in my life.
The same goes for you.
Without a brutally honest audit of your priorities (based on your actions, not your words), it will be impossible to make fitness a priority once and for all.
So, your first action step before moving on to the rest of this article is to do a brutally honest audit of your day.
In 15 minute increments, write out how you spend every waking minute Monday through Sunday.
From there, you need to figure out where the most time is spent that doesn’t form you into the person you want to become.
Then, reduce or eliminate that thing so you can create space to take care of your body.
Without this step, the rest is meaningless. You need to first see where you truly have time so you can buy into the truth that change is within your control.
You Need a Better Strategy
After your time audit, you may realize that you don’t have all the time you wish you did have to work out.
That’s ok.
This isn’t about maximizing total time.
This is about maximizing the time you do have.
One of the most common misunderstandings about getting in great shape is that it requires an insane amount of time in the gym.
But in reality, you can get in incredible shape with just 3-4 workouts per week, anywhere from 45-75 minutes per session.
So, without further ado, let’s go over some effective ways to improve your workout strategy by shortening your workouts without sacrificing results.
More Effective Warm Ups
As mobility has gained popularity over the years, so has wasting an enormous amount of time warming up.
That’s no knock on mobility - it has it’s time and place - but too many people waste valuable time doing unnecessary warm ups that have very little payoff.
Instead of doing 15-30 minutes of foam rolling, stretches, and the fancy mobility exercise you found scrolling on social media, we’re going to use warm up sets to get you ready for your first exercise of your workout within five minutes of walking through the door.
You, when you waste time flopping around and call it a “warm up”
There is no hard and fast rule for this, but I’ve found the following guidelines to work very well for both myself and my coaching clients.
Guideline #1: Do 1-3 Warm Up Sets
Depending on how you feel before the exercise, do 1-3 warm up sets. Fewer sets if you feel good and ready for your first working set (the first hard set in your workout), more if you don’t.
I’ve found that 2 warm up sets works really well.
Guideline #2: As Weight Increases, Reps Decrease
I like to start my first warm up set with 50% of the weight I plan to use for my first working set.
Let’s say you’re about to do the leg press. Last time you did the leg press, your rep target was 10 reps and you lifted 90 pounds. Since you hit your rep target the first set, you need to increase the weight this workout. You want to do 100 pounds this time.
For your first warm up set, do 50 pounds for 4-6 reps and see how you feel. Control the whole range of motion, mentally and physically engage your muscles in each rep. Get connected with your body.
For the second warm up set, do 75% of the weight you plan on lifting for your first working set. Since you plan on lifting 100 pounds, do 75 pounds in your second warm up set for 3-5 reps.
Note that the closer you get to your first working set’s weight, the lower the reps need to be. We do this to get your body primed without tiring it out.
If you do a ton of weight for a ton of reps, you’ll go into your first working set too fatigued, significantly reducing your chance to set a personal best.
Think of it like warming up for a sprint. Ramping up to full speed can help, but doing a full on sprint multiple times before your official sprint is only going to negatively affect your performance.
Use those two guidelines and over time you will find what works best for you.
Another thing to consider is the exercise you’re doing. The more complicated the exercise is, and the more load needed for that exercise, the more warm up sets you may need.
For example, warming up for a 3 rep max squat for 300 pounds is going to take more warm up sets than a set of bicep curls for 12 reps with 20 pounds.
Here’s sample breakdown of warming up for a barbell bench press with 135 pounds for the first working set, aiming to hit 8 reps.
Warm up set #1: 5 reps x 75lbs
Warm up set #2: 3 reps x 105lbs
Working set #1: 8 reps x 135lbs
Note that those numbers aren’t precisely 50% and 75% of the first working sets weight. That’s ok. Those numbers are just guidelines.
What about rest periods?
Because warm up sets are well below max output, you don’t need to rest much. You can rest a lot if you’d like, but it’s only going to take more time. I’ve found that 30-60 seconds rest between warm up sets is plenty.
You’ll want more rest 90-120 seconds in between working sets, however.
Now that we’ve discussed how to warm up in a time effective manner, let’s go over a workout “hack” to shave time off your training session without sacrificing results.
Pairing Exercises Together
This one tip will help you take the same workout and help you get the same results in less time.
Here’s how it works.
Instead of doing consecutive sets of one exercise with rest periods in between, you do one set of one exercise, rest a bit, do one set of the next exercise, rest a bit, and start from the first exercise again.
Here’s an example of the “old way” (taking a long time in the gym) and the “new way” wich is much more time efficient:
Old Way:
Set 1 of Leg Extensions
Rest 2 min
Set 2 of Leg Extensions
Rest 2 min
Set 3 of Leg Extensions
Set 1 of Leg Curls
Rest 2 min
Set 2 of Leg Curls
Rest 2 min
Set 3 of Leg Curls
Rest 2 min
New Way:
Set 1 of Leg Extensions
Rest 60 seconds
Set 1 of Leg Curls
Rest 60 seconds
Set 2 of Leg Extensions
Rest 60 seconds
Set 2 of Leg Curls
Rest 60 seconds
Set 3 of Leg Extensions
Rest 60 seconds
Set 3 of Leg Curls
Rest 60 seconds
The idea is that you can shorten the rest periods because the muscle group that was just working (quads from leg extensions) is resting a bit while the other muscle group is being worked (hamstrings from leg curls).
This method allows you to have shorter overall rest, which can shave a significant amount of time off your workouts, especially if you have multiple pairs (or “supersets” of exercises).
You could arguably rest shorter than 60 seconds in between each set, but I would advise against that.
Fit as much rest as you can into your workouts. Your performance and results will only be better.
But, there’s one caveat. This only works well when you have workouts that train multiple different muscle groups.
Here’s why:
When pairing exercises together, it’s ideal to pair exercises that work opposing (or completely unrelated) muscle groups.
If you pair two exercises of the same muscle group together, all you are going to do is drastically increase the amount of muscle tissue damage (which doesn’t result in muscle gain, by the way), and drastically decrease your recovery and performance.
Seeing improvements in muscle isn’t about obliterating the muscle in one workout, but rather, steadily progressing in reps and or weight over time.
Instead of pairing together a leg extension and a squat, it would be wise to pair together a leg extension and a hamstring curl, as the quads and hamstrings are opposing.
Or, you could pair a leg extension with a dumbbell lateral raise, as the quads and shoulders are completely unrelated and one won’t impact the performance of the other.
Just make sure that you’re not pairing exercises in a way that will impact performance in the rest of your workout.
For example, let’s say your workout is as follows:
Deadlift
Leg Press
Bench Press
Pull Up
Triceps Extension
Biceps Curl
You wouldn’t want to pair your leg press with your triceps extension, because your triceps will be gassed going into your bench press, and your bench press performance will suffer.
Now that we’ve ripped a couple pages out of the 4 Day Fit Formula (the programming I use to get my clients incredible results) to address the two things that will drastically improve your workout time while still prioritizing your muscle development, let’s briefly go over how you can lose fat in less time.
Batching
There are several different methods and tools I use to help people lose fat in less time. For the sake of making this lengthy article a bit shorter, I’ll quickly go over one of my favorites: batching.
Batching can be defined as the concept of grouping similar tasks together and completing them at once to save time, reduce decision fatigue, and improve consistency.
Batch cooking will be the most impactful for you if you find yourself needing time efficient methods to lose fat and stay lean year round.
Here’s a simplified version of how this works:
Cook 2-3 proteins (beef, chicken thighs, etc.)
Roast or air fry 2-3 veggies at once
Cook 2-3 base starches (rice, potatoes, quinoa, etc.)
Mix and match the proteins, veggies, and starches for a variety of meals throughout the week
Simple as that.
When you do this, you eliminate 90% of the friction around food decisions, practically putting your fat loss results on autopilot.
By the way, if you want to try this out but don’t know how many calories you need to be eating each day to lose weight, build muscle, or both, you can use my free calorie calculator here.
Bonus tips:
Use your favorite sauces for flavor variety from meal to meal (I like anything that Kinder’s makes)
Use multiple different appliances at the same time. For example, veggies roasting in the oven, rice in the pressure cooker, chicken in the air fryer (this is an underrated tip that will save you an immense amount of time).
Use the “Assemble, Don’t Cook” rule when it applies. If your meal is greek yogurt, apple, walnuts, and some granola, don’t take the time to combine them until you’re about to eat it.
Remember, this isn’t just about mastering your nutrition. This is about following through on the person you’re becoming.
And lastly, keep this in mind: The more decisions you remove, the more discipline you gain.
And there you have it, a quick guide to losing weight, and building muscle on a tight schedule.
As always, if you have any questions, send an email to adam@poehlmannfitness.com. I read every email.
To your health,
Adam
PS. Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help you.
Should You Lose Fat or Build Muscle First?
Should You Lose Fat or Build Muscle First? This article will help you decide which goal to pursue, and how to set yourself up for success.
If you’ve ever looked in the mirror and thought, I need to lose some fat or I wish I had more muscle, you’re not alone. One of the most common fitness questions is whether you should focus on losing fat first or building muscle first.
And, like most things in fitness, the answer isn’t one-size-fits-all.
Choosing the right approach depends on a few key factors—your current body composition, personal preference, and what you’re willing to do. Getting this decision right can mean the difference between months of frustration and making real, noticeable progress.
In this article, I’ll break down how to determine whether you should lose fat or build muscle first and how to set yourself up for success. By the end, you’ll have a clear roadmap to help you move forward with confidence—no more second-guessing or spinning your wheels.
Let’s dive in.
Understanding Body Composition
Before deciding whether to build muscle or lose fat first, it’s important to understand body composition—the ratio of muscle, fat, bone, and water that make up your body. When most people say they want to “get in shape,” what they really mean is that they want a better body composition: more muscle, less fat, and a leaner, more defined physique.
Body Composition: Why It Matters
Muscle and fat have very different effects on your appearance, health, and metabolism:
Muscle gives your body shape and definition. Whether you want to look “jacked”, “lean”, “defined”, or “toned”, you need to have a good amount of muscle. Even if you’re lean (have little body fat), your definition will not be there if you don’t have enough muscle to begin with. This is a common frustration people have with their abs at lower body fat percentages. When your muscles are underdeveloped, there won’t be much to show when the body fat percentages are low (that rhymed).
This is something my client Catherine was frustrated with before we started working together. She wasn’t overweight, but she was feeling “flabby” and wanted a change. 9 pounds of lean body mass gained and 6 pounds of fat lost later, she had the muscle definition, confidence, and strength she was looking for.
Fat sits on top of your muscle. The more fat you have, the less visible your muscle definition will be.
Muscle increases your basal metabolic rate (metabolism). More muscle means your body burns more calories at rest, giving you a bigger calorie budget, making fat loss and weight management much easier.
Excess body fat and too little muscle affect hormone levels and health. Carrying too much fat—especially around your midsection—can increase your risk for health issues like insulin resistance, inflammation, and metabolic disorders. Carrying too little muscle increases your likelihood of all cause mortality and injury.
Why Body Composition Is More Important Than Weight
Though I’m a big fan of using the scale to assess trends in weekly average weight, you can’t put all your eggs in the scale basket, so to speak. The number on the scale doesn’t tell the full story. Two people can weigh the same but look completely different based on their muscle-to-fat ratio.
For example:
A 170-pound man with 12% body fat will look lean and muscular.
A 170-pound man with 25% body fat will likely have less definition and appear “soft.”
A 140-pound woman with 20% body fat will have a toned, athletic look.
A 140-pound woman with 30% body fat will have less muscle definition and a softer physique.
This is why it’s important to understand that the scale is a tool to be used to assess progress, but not as the only judge of body composition improvements.
For example, if you’re eating in a calorie deficit and the scale is going down over time, there’s a 99% chance you’re losing fat. But, it doesn’t tell you how much fat you’ve lost or how much muscle you’ve gained or lost.
Bonus tip: The more often you weigh yourself, the more likely you are to lose fat and keep it off. Weigh yourself fir thing in the morning, after using the restroom, and before eating/drinking. Calculate the average for the week and take a look at the trend over time in order determine whether or not you’re losing fat.
Now that you have a better understanding of body composition and why it’s so important, let’s figure out whether you should lose fat or build muscle first.
Should You Build Muscle or Lose Fat First?
If You Have a High Body Fat Percentage (Over 20% for Men, Over 30% for Women)
If you’re carrying excess body fat, you should focus on fat loss first for the following reasons:
You’ll improve insulin sensitivity, improving overall health, reducing your risk for type 2 diabetes, and you’ll make future muscle-building phases more effective.
You’ll enhance muscle definition and look more “toned” even without gaining much extra muscle. This will also help you get a better understanding of how much muscle you may want to build once you see yourself at a lower body fat percentage.
You will likely be healthier across the board, improving blood markers, sleep, inflammation, and overall fitness.
You’ll avoid gaining even more unnecessary fat from trying to build muscle.
If You’re Lean But Lack Muscle (Under 15% for Men, Under 25% for Women)
If you’re already relatively lean but feel “skinny” or just don’t have much muscle, focusing on building muscle first may be the better option.
If You’re Somewhere in Between
If you’re in the middle—not super lean but not overweight—you might not need to choose a bit of both, which takes us into the next section.
Can You Lose Fat and Build Muscle at the Same Time?
Yes, it’s possible to build muscle while losing fat, and if you were to ask me about this topic years ago, I would have told you that it requires a very specific approach, and it was only for you if you’re brand new to strength training, or have taken a significant amount of time off (months or years) from lifting.
But after seeing dozens of people lose fat and build muscle without fitting into either of those categories, I’ve since changed my views on losing fat and building muscle at the same time.
Whether you’re someone who’s been lifting for a long time or brand new to lifting, you should expect to build some muscle while losing fat if you’re following a proper resistance training program. However, those who are new to lifting will see much more dramatic changes compared to someone with experience who is closer to their genetic potential.
How to Successfully Go Through a Fat Loss Phase
If you find yourself with excess body fat and you aim to lose fat first, you’ll want to focus on the following:
Calories
You should be eating in a calorie deficit (eating fewer calories than your body burns in the day) to lose body fat.
Rather than focusing on a calorie amount (300-500 calorie deficit) like most general recommendations give, you want to focus on percentages.
After all, a 500 calorie deficit for a 200 pound, active individual is a much smaller percentage than a 150 pound inactive individual.
In other words, eating 500 fewer calories per day is no big deal for someone who needs 3,000 calories per day to maintain their weight. But for someone who only needs 1,800 calories to maintain their weight, that is a steep deficit.
You want to pick your calorie deficit based on two things:
What will allow you to lose the most fat without losing muscle.
What you’re willing to tolerate. A larger calorie deficit will require more sacrifice (more activity, more calorie restriction, less room for error, etc.) Always make sure you select a goal or deficit based not only on what makes sense, but what you’re willing to commit to.
With that said, here’s a chart you can use to determine what approach to take when aiming to lose fat:
*Original Table from Hensemans PT Course
I have most of my clients go into a 20-40% deficit depending on their tolerance and timeline for their fat loss goals.
Note that those who are in the overweight and obese categories may want to consider a steeper deficit upwards of 50%. Though it is possible and will lead to significant fat loss, I don’t recommend it unless advised and supervised by your doctor or dietitian.
Macronutrients
Macronutrients consist of protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
They are nutrients our bodies need in large quantities (hence “macro”) and contain calories.
Although you could pay attention to your intake of all three, I’ve found it most beneficial to focus solely on protein for body composition purposes.
Manipulating carb and fat intake may make sense for someone who is trying to compete in a bodybuilding or figure competition, but for those of us who just want to look better naked and feel more confident in the way our body feels and moves, tracking specific carb and fat goals is a lot of mental energy for very little return.
Protein intake is the opposite. It’s one nutrient that has a massive impact on your results.
As I mentioned earlier, it’s generally a good idea to aim for a minimum of .7g per pound of bodyweight per day.
You can also use the goal of a minimum of 1g per pound of goal bodyweight per day.
Again, don’t worry about how many grams of carbohydrates you get.
Since fat is an important nutrient for health, be sure to have no less than 25% of your calorie intake come from fat.
If you’re eating a whole food diet and aim for a solid amount of protein, getting that amount of fat in your diet should happen without a thought.
Aside from calories and protein, I recommend paying attention to your fiber intake as well.
Though fiber doesn’t have a direct impact on body composition like protein and calories do, it’s very beneficial for health, and I’ve found tracking a fiber target is a very easy way to make drastic improvements in someone’s diet.
Aim for at least 14g fiber per 1,000 Calories consumed. So if you need 1,600 Cals per day to lose fat, aim to get at least 22.4g of fiber from whole natural foods.
It’s very difficult to hit a fiber target while eating a diet dominated by ultra processed foods.
Activity
When aiming to lose fat, your activity plays a huge role in your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), especially your NEAT.
NEAT stands for Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis and consists of all the non formal activity you do (fidgeting, chores, standing, walking, etc.)
Depending on the individual, NEAT can account for 10-30% off the calories you burn daily.
This is why it’s so important to make a daily step goal.
I have my clients aim for a minimum of 10,000 steps daily, unless it’s simply unrealistic and we need to throw some formal cardio into their workouts.
Walking is easy to do, doesn’t need any skill, and it’s little to no stress on the body, meaning it really doesn’t need any recovery.
Strength Training
Though this article isn’t about how to put together the ideal strength training routine, I wanted to include a brief section to highlight the importance of it even when you’re wanting to lose fat.
Strength training is extremely important not only for body composition change, but health and longevity as well.
When you consistently follow a strength training routine while you aim to lose fat through your calorie deficit, you will at worst maintain muscle and at best gain muscle as you build that defined physique you’ve always wanted.
You will also increase the amount of calories you burn at rest, improve your bone density, increase your strength, improve your resilience both in the gym and in life, and dramatically increase your confidence.
Your strength training routine should include the following:
Training muscle groups (chest, back, biceps, quads, glutes, etc.) twice per week
3-4 sessions per week. You can do more if you’d like, but I haven’t needed to put a single client on more than a four day routine to make dramatic progress.
Progressive Overload: Each time you repeat a workout, you are aiming to lift more weight for the same reps or the same weight for more reps each time.
A strength-focused intention. You’re not in the gym to burn calories, get sweaty, sore, tired, or out of breath. Those may be completely acceptable byproducts, but they are not the main intention. The intention of your workout should be to get stronger and stronger over time.
How to Successfully Build Muscle
If you find yourself lean and mean already and you want to build muscle, you can use the following recommendations:
Calories
Unlike losing fat, you will need to be as close to maintenance calories as possible. Perhaps even in a slight surplus (eating more calories than you need to maintain your weight).
A common misconception is that the more you eat, the moe muscle you will build. Unfortunately this is not true.
After a certain amount of calorie above maintenance, the only extra tissue that is gained is body fat.
So there’s no benefit to eating way more calories than you need.
I generally recommend eating no more than a 5-10% surplus. This means your calorie goal is 5-10% more than what you need to maintain your weight.
If you need 2,000 calories to maintain, a 5% surplus would be 2,100 calories.
Again, you can use my free calorie calculator to determine how many calories you need to build muscle.
Macronutrients
You can use the exact same guidelines from the fat loss section.
Aim for at least .7g protein per pound of bodyweight.
Aim for at least 14g fiber per 1k Cals consumed.
Don’t worry about carb or fat targets. Just make sure your fat intake doesn’t consistently go below 25% of your calorie intake.
Activity
Though steps aren’t going to be nearly as important for building muscle as they are for losing fat, I still recommend getting a lot of steps in throughout the day for the following reasons:
You will have a bigger calorie budget, allowing you to git in more “fun” foods and social events
You will minimize the risk for fat gain as you pursue building muscle
You will create a lifestyle habit that will benefit your health for the rest of your life
Strength Training
Believe it or not, my recommendations for strength training are the exact same whether you’re wanting to build muscle or lose fat.
The only big difference between the two approaches is the nutrition, specifically your calorie intake.
Before you going on your muscle building or fat loss goals, let’s talk about some common mistakes to avoid.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Mistake #1: Aggressive Calorie Defici
Many people will tell you that cutting your calories too aggressively will lead to weight regain and the only way to approach fat loss is slow and steady.
Though this isn’t entirely true, being moderate with your deficit is generally best in order to avoid muscle loss.
The more aggressive your deficit is, the more at risk you are for muscle loss unless you are at a very high body fat percentage. The leaner you are, the more conservative you want to be with your deficit.
Mistake #2: Aggressive Calorie Surplus
Though I went over this earlier, it’s worth mentioning again.
More calories does not mean more muscle gain. After a slight surplus, the only thing you’re going to gain as you increase your calories is fat.
When aiming to build muscle, eat in a small surplus and dedicate all of your muscle building attention on being as strong as you can in the gym.
Mistake #3: Ignoring Protein Intake
Though calories dictate the large majority of the fat you’ll lose and the muscle you’ll gain, protein intake may as well be tied with it.
Protein is extremely important whether you want to lose 50 pounds of fat or gain only 2 pounds of muscle.
Do anything you can to structure your diet in a way that allows you to easily hit your minimum protein target every day.
Do not underestimate the power of a high protein diet.
Mistake #4: Neglecting Strength Training During Fat Los
The only thing you’ll end up with when you neglect strength training while losing fat is disappointment.
Instead of having that lean, toned, defined look you wanted, you’ll likely feel skinnier and flabbier than you anticipated.
This is a point of frustration my client Jerome had after a couple months of overlooking his strength training. After having an encouraging “come to Jesus” conversation with him, he started prioritizing his lifting and made dramatic progress.
Your strength training is just as important when you’re losing fat as it is when you’re building muscle.
Do not neglect it.
Mistake #5: Lack of Patience
Losing fat takes time.
Building muscle takes even more time.
Be patient.
The worst thing you can do is switch back and forth between different goals every month.
Stick with one pursuit for at least 12 weeks before changing things.
If you’re not seeing fat loss progress within the first 4 weeks, you need not switch goals, but take a closer look at the following:
Your calorie goal
Your activity
How you’re tracking your food intake
How you’re measuring your progress.
If you’re stuck with fat loss and you’re not sure what to do, here’s how I can help.
Conclusion
Whether you should lose fat or build muscle first comes down to your starting body fat percentage.
If you are higher than 20% as a man or 30% as a woman, you need to prioritize fat loss first.
If you are lower than that, you can do either.
If you’re lean but lack muscle, focus on building muscle for a period of time.
No matter what path you take, the key to success is consistency. Pick a goal, commit to it for a few months, and adjust based on progress.
All you have left to do now is take action.
Let’s get to work.
How Do You Know If You’re Lifting Enough Weight?
You know you need to work hard, but how can you know when you’re lifting enough weight?
Let’s be honest.
You’re not in the gym to putz around, going through the motions.
It may feel like that some days, but it’s not your intention all the time.
You’re there to get a specific result.
You’re there to get stronger, build some muscle, make fat loss easier, and improve your muscle definition.
Maybe you’re in there to improve your performance and mobility, too.
But more likely than not, the reason you’re in the gym is because you want to change the way you look by building some muscle and losing some fat, so that is who I will speak to today.
Those changes, specifically building some muscle and gaining strength require a specific intention with the weight you’re lifting.
The question is, how do you know you’re lifting enough weight? How do you know when your intention is in the right place?
That is what we will seek to discover together today.
Building Strength and Muscle: A Brief Overview
Strength and muscle gain are the result of a lot of interesting things that happen in the body when exposed to a challenging resistance.
To spare you the exercise science lecture, let’s keep things simple.
In order to build muscle and strength, you need to challenge your muscles with enough resistance in order to create something called mechanical tension, which is the primary driver of muscle growth.
Think of it like this: Your muscles are a team of workers pulling on a heavy rope. If the weight (the resistance they’re pulling with the rope), is too light, they barely have to work. If they barely have to work, there is no need to adapt and improve in order to make the rope easier to pull. It’s already easy enough.
But if it’s heavy enough, they will struggle, pull harder, and call in more workers (build more muscle) to have an easier time pulling the rope.
In a nutshell, as you lift more challenging resistance, you will build more muscle and as a result gain more strength over time.
But this brings us back to the first question: How do I know if the resistance (the weight) is challenging enough to create that response?
Reps in Reserve (RIR)
Reps in reserve is another exercise science term that is used to refer to the amount of reps one has left in reserve (reps left in the tank) at the end of a set.
Let’s say you’re doing push-ups, and you fail after 10 reps. Failing means you literally couldn’t push yourself off the ground no matter how hard you tried. That would be considered 0 reps in reserve (RIR) because you didn’t have any reps left in the tank.
If you completed 10 reps knowing you could’ve only done one more if your life depended on it, that would be considered 1 RIR because you stopped the set with 1 rep left in the tank.
I generally recommend my coaching clients stop their sets with 1 RIR, meaning they stop their set when they know they only have one rep if they were to give every ounce of effort they’ve got.
Problem is, this leads us to another question: How do you know when you only have one rep left in the tank?
Experience
The best teacher with RIR is experience. The more you’ve worked out, and the harder you’ve pushed yourself, the more in tune you are with your body and what it’s capable of doing.
One of the best ways you can gauge how close you are to failure is to actually go to failure. However, I only recommend doing this with exercises that are more stable and secure, and if not, have a training partner to spot you.
For example, going to failure on a belt squat machine is far more forgiving than a barbell back squat.
Force Velocity
The next best teacher is force velocity.
This is nothing more than a fancy term to describe the speed of your reps.
When you first start out, you’re fresh, and you’re able to move the weight at a decent speed.
As you progress through the set, the speed of those reps should begin to slow down.
The more your reps slow down despite your hardest effort, the closer you are to failure.
Here is an example of what this looks like:
Now looking at the video, I should have pushed for one more rep. I think I had another rep left.
So, if you watch a video of yourself going through an exercise, and you notice that the speed of the reps is pretty similar during the last rep compared to the first rep, you know you’re not anywhere close to failure.
That last repetition should be an absolute grind.
The tricky thing to be aware of with force velocity is that it’s very easy to trick yourself into feeling like your reps are slowing down, by intentionally slowing them down.
A common sign of this is a drastic difference in speed between one rep and the next.
It should be a gradual decrease in speed from one rep to the next.
So be mindful, and remember that as you get more fatigued, as you feel more of a burn in your muscles, you will be tempted to slow your reps down intentionally in order to help yourself believe you’re pushing yourself harder than you actually are.
This is where it becomes extremely helpful to have actually practiced going to failure in order to have more of an objective measuring stick, so to speak.
Decreasing Reps With Each Set
The next thing to look for to know if you’re lifting enough weight in your workouts is to see how many reps you’re doing from one set to the next.
As you train hard in each set, you are accumulating fatigue. The more that fatigue accumulates, the lower the chances are that you will be able to lift the same weight for the same reps, even if you’re resting a long time in between sets - which you should be.
Whenever I go through my client’s workouts, this is what I look for:
As you can see in this client’s seated leg curl, they have the same weight performed for the same reps each set.
This is a clear example of not pushing close enough to failure during the first set, which is what we call our benchmark set.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean they are wasting their workout, or not getting results.
Here’s how I described it to my client:
Imagine you are in the gym giving a 6 out of 10 effort, for a 4 out of 10 return. That’s what’s going on when you’re lifting the same weight for the same reps every set. You’re getting results, but relative to the work you’re putting in it’s not much.
If you were to bump up to a 8 or 9 out of 10 effort, you would get a 7 or 8 out of 10 return. A little bit more work for a much bigger return.
Here’s what it would look like from one set to the next if you were to increase the intensity (the weight you use) in the first set.
If that first set is performed just shy of failure, the remaining sets should decrease due to fatigue, looking something like this:
Set 1: 10 x 125
Set 2: 8 x 125
Set 3: 8 x 125
Or
Set 1: 10 x 125
Set 2: 9 x 125
Set 3: 7 x 125
It doesn’t matter how they’re decreasing necessarily, but just that they’re decreasing in general.
Now you may be wondering, “Well Adam, if I need to do 10 reps, shouldn’t I be doing 10 reps in every set?
Nope.
Your body doesn’t care or know how many reps you’re doing.
Your muscles don’t respond to reps.
They respond to load (overall weight) and proximity to failure.
Whether you’re doing 6 reps, 10 reps, or 15 reps, they will respond when they experience a real challenge, which is what happens when you push near failure.
This is a concern my client, Jerome had when we were first working together. He was super consistent with his workouts, but the muscle definition just wasn’t coming in like he wanted.
We did an in depth dive into his workouts, and it was clear he just wasn’t pushing himself enough.
After a great conversation and clarity on how to push himself moving forward, he got in the best shape of his entire life.
You may not have a coach to have that conversation with at the moment. If that’s the case, you’ll have to have that conversation with yourself.
Take a look through your workout log and try to identify exercises where you’re not pushing yourself as much as you could be.
If you don’t keep a workout log, that is your most important homework assignment after reading this article.
You should also consider recording yourself doing your exercises and assess the speed of your reps as you get closer and closer to your rep target. Believe me, there is always a difference between what you perceive yourself to be doing in the first person, and objectively viewing what you’re doing from the third person.
Regardless of what information,data, or feedback you look at, be as objective as you can, and spot any areas where you have room for improvement.
Common Questions
“I don’t want to get bulky. How hard should I push myself if I just want to get toned?”
Whether you want to pack on 20 pounds of muscle, or just a few to improve your definition, you should lift the exact same way. Follow the guidelines I laid out in this article.
The amount of muscle isn’t determined by how hard you push. It’s determined by how often you’re pushing yourself to that point.
So once you get to a point where you’re happy with how much muscle you have, you can reduce the amount of sets you do per week if you’re worried about putting on too much muscle.
For example, let’s say you’re happy with your physique and you’ve been doing 12 sets per muscle group per week.
You can reduce the amount of sets to 9 sets per muscle group per week, if you’d like, as it takes far less training volume (sets per week) to maintain the muscle you’ve already built.
“What are some exercises I can do to practice pushing myself to the limit in order to get a better gauge of what failure looks and feels like?”
You want to use exercises that have very low injury risk.
Think, “can I easily put the weight in its starting position if I reach failure?” If so, that may be a good option for you.
Here’s a list of ideas to get you started:
Push ups
Lat pulldown machine
Belt Squat Machine
Leg Extension Machine
Leg Curl Machine
Machine Chest Press
Any Biceps Curl
Any Triceps Extension
Seated Cable Row
Seated Machine Row
Note the machines are a great option as they are extremely stable compared to free weights, and provide an easier way to control the weight back to its starting position if you reach failure.
Practical Application
Unfortunately, building muscle and strength is much harder than losing fat. Not only does it require good sleep, sound health, and proper nutrition, it requires you pushing yourself hard in the gym. Perhaps, harder than you’ve pushed yourself before.
But the good news is that if you’re already working out, chances are you’re already putting in a solid 6/10 effort with the weight you use and how hard you push yourself.
So all you need to do is bump it up to a 8 or 9 out of 10, and your body will respond like never before.
Here are your key takeaways:
If you want to build muscle, strength, and improve your definition, you should be pushing yourself just shy of failure each set, with about 1 rep left in the tank.
You can get a better understanding of what it looks and feels like by practicing going to failure on more forgiving machines and exercises.
If the speed of your reps is slowing down, with the last rep in your set being an all out grind, you are lifting enough. If the speed of your reps isn’t slowing down much, and you have more reps left in the tank when you hit your rep target, you are not lifting enough.
If you are lifting enough on the first set, you shouldn’t be able to lift the same weight for the same reps in the subsequent sets.
If you are lifting the same weight for the same reps every set, you are not lifting enough weight.
Record yourself performing exercises to assess your intensity and the speed of your reps.
When in doubt, push yourself more. Do one more rep. Then another. Then another. Odds are, you will be able to do much more than you thought you could.
Any questions? Feel free to shoot me an email.
For more information on coaching and what it’s like to work with me, click here.