00:00and there's one other thing that I do
00:01recommend sometimes especially for the
00:02purposes of bodybuilding is do a lower
00:05volume block primarily use machines
00:07Smith machines and ideally have a
00:08training partner and train to
00:12failure folks I am Dr Mike isol for
00:15Renaissance pation and I have the
00:17esteemed honor privilege of having Dr
00:20Eric Helms here from technically the
00:23University of New Zealand at Auckland
00:26the Auckland University of Technology in
00:29New Zealand it is in New Zealand God
00:31that I that up and Eric has a PHD
00:36in sport and exercise science so making
00:40people more jacked and more athletic and
00:42more strong and more fit and in a sense
00:44happier is the thing he cares about
00:46maybe one of the most things in this
00:48world now there is a
00:50problem Eric is what I would consider if
00:54not the preeminent researcher on repon
00:57reserve the preeminent uh and current
01:01best theoretician on reps and Reserve
01:03because to be a good theoretician you
01:05have to know everyone else's research
01:06front to back have tried to apply it to
01:08your life apply it to your clients apply
01:09it to other people and really have a
01:11holistic understanding of R which I
01:13consider you my absolute number one
01:14Authority on R yeah now mind you this
01:18all sounded like a compliment was really
01:19a great insult because on the internet
01:21Eric the point of this video here which
01:23why we have you uh people are telling me
01:26that R is stupid and then another word
01:29that starts with with a G which we don't
01:30say anymore cuz it's very mean and they
01:33say this and you ask them why and what
01:36you get from that is they say look I
01:40studies yes when there's 80 people
01:43yelling at you you will go to to R and
01:45it's really true R fine fine fine but
01:48out in the real world real people are 18
01:52or 19 R away from whatever the hell you
01:55charitably 3 four 5 six R more than you
01:58think that is their first away from
02:00failing you think so if we tell regular
02:02people listen go start your Messa Cycles
02:05at three reps in reserve they're really
02:07at six% Reserve which everyone agrees is
02:09too far away to remotely do efficient
02:12hypertrophy for any one of them
02:13beginners and so we're stuck with this
02:15conundrum of like shouldn't we be
02:16telling people just to go to failure
02:18because that will really actually be
02:19three R because people don't actually
02:21train hard Eric is it true that people
02:23in the real world have a very big
02:25problem with estimating R and are
02:27significantly and largely way behind in
02:30their estimate tell us a story great
02:32question and um according to the Mike
02:35mener crowd I actually have a PhD in
02:37being a wuss because my PhD was
02:39specifically on auto regulating what a
02:41waste of time I know Auto regulating
02:43powering training using an rir based
02:45perceived exertion model so um after
02:49studying for years to become a wuss I
02:50have learned some things um and the one
02:54thing that is actually challenging to
02:56answer about that question is what is
02:58going on in the real world because when
03:01you do experimentally test um people's
03:05rir accuracy I can't tell you with
03:08confidence that that's the same as the
03:10type of R accuracy that people have in
03:13the real world in all cases and I'll
03:16tell you why the way we measure rir
03:18accuracy is by actually having people go
03:21to a Target rir typically yep on bench
03:25press and then they'll stop at lock out
03:27and they'll call out when they think
03:28they're at a Target rir we set for them
03:30so like two R correct call out when you
03:32think you're at a two great two and then
03:35we go keep going go go go go go go go go
03:38go go go go go and then the spotter
03:40takes a smoke break and you die perfect
03:42yeah thank you for participating no
03:44problem so yeah so essentially what we
03:46do is we we calculate the difference
03:48between predicted rir when you said two
03:51versus how many reps did you get when
03:52you're being keep going you push them
03:54further you see the difference and
03:55you're like okay you actually got 10
03:57reps you stopped it we thought was two R
03:59ours eight it turns out you were 100%
04:01correct exactly okay and then we measure
04:04also what's called R directionality
04:06because there's multiple ways to to fail
04:09right so you could say I got two more
04:11and you get one you could say I get two
04:13more and you can get three both of those
04:15are an R difference for an absolute
04:18value of one but if we assess the
04:20directionality is it a negative or
04:21positive number on average in the groups
04:23then we can see if they're trending
04:25towards with that accuracy towards
04:27undershooting and thinking that they're
04:30closer to failure than they are
04:31overshooting and pulling kind of the the
04:33Bro on Instagram thing of yeah that was
04:35definitely a nine and a half and like
04:36you actually are on the ground while
04:38you're saying that right so over times
04:41depending on who I've talked to on the
04:43internet in the comments uh people will
04:45level the critique that people are
04:47always saying they have more when they
04:48don't kind of like these you know egoed
04:50out ego lifters more baby exactly or if
04:54you're have a cult based around being an
04:56ego to out lter AKA hit sor sorry then
05:00don't apologize to those people you know
05:03I'm kidding people Dogma bad um then the
05:06critique is now they're not actually
05:07going to failure you don't know what
05:09true failure is and I think that is one
05:14that that is I can understand the
05:16position and I can understand why they
05:19might be skeptical of the research but
05:21there's not many other ways to really
05:24ensure the r accuracy now you can level
05:26the critique at that model where you do
05:28it to a predicted are then you go to
05:30fail you look at the difference and you
05:31see where it is that maybe that's not
05:33actually valid because there's
05:34expectation if I say two I'm probably
05:37going to do two um and I would say there
05:40could possibly be an effect of that but
05:42it's not the only tool we have to
05:44estimate that um but I will say the data
05:47using that method of comparing predicted
05:49versus actual R bring in people who
05:51train out in the world who say whatever
05:53the yep you hit them up with a work
05:55set that they warmed up to yep you say
05:57tell us let's say to R when that happens
05:59so happens your go go go go go and see
06:02how many more reps they get exactly I've
06:04been in three different Labs including
06:07my own Dr zeros is out in FAU and also
06:10uh Darren kandal lab in Canada
06:14Vina and then there's also other
06:16research that's been done of what Regina
06:19uh it's a v or an R Regina yeah a v got
06:23it yes there's also uh work that's been
06:26done out of Daniel hacket lab in
06:28University of Sydney
06:30uh so all these various independent Labs
06:32have done this type of research all
06:34bought and sold by big failure Big R
06:37which bigger than big failure yeah oh my
06:39God Mega conglomerate almost as big as
06:42big volume so uh with these four Labs
06:47that I'm aware of and there's a few
06:48other um they've all measured this and
06:50they all come to very similar findings
06:52that's how you know things probably true
06:54yes and so what the findings the
06:56findings are that while there are some
06:58small effects on things that modify it
07:01generally people are pretty accurate so
07:04you're typically reporting somewhere
07:05between an accuracy of less than one rir
07:09error so Point like 34 or something like
07:12that to as much as maybe two reps off in
07:15certain conditions now those conditions
07:17are higher reps that's when discomfort
07:21can actually get in the way of your
07:22actual perception of true failure um and
07:25also doing higher like 20 plus over 12
07:29over 12 yeah starts to have to have
07:31that over 12 um and then potentially uh
07:34some other impacts that haven't been
07:36consistently shown but through all the
07:38research done across these five labs and
07:40a few others Halprin was actually able
07:42to meta analyze the actual versus
07:44predicted R back in 2021 I believe and
07:48their average error was one so power
07:51there was a decent amount of variation
07:53around it but you could say that the
07:55average person regardless of whether
07:57untrained are going to be with within
07:59one rep of what their prediction is
08:01typically under predicting so that
08:03that's one accurate thing if we give
08:04some credit to the mentor crowd sure
08:06people aren't overshooting more often
08:07than they're undershooting right and
08:09that's really important because if we
08:11saw it one way or the other be like told
08:12you people weren't trying here's the
08:14thing like you get people in a social
08:16setting where there's an expectation yes
08:19and all of a sudden like they're going
08:21pretty hard but you could say look like
08:23if they were undershooting it wouldn't
08:24look like this if they were overshooting
08:26so if it's about even it's kind of like
08:28look maybe people are going to a little
08:29bit easier outside the lab but if they
08:31were mostly going easier outside the lab
08:34what explains the fact that you know
08:36many of them unders shoot versus
08:38overshoot L they're trying to like
08:40posture like I really can do 110 kilos
08:42it gets to be a lot of supposition at
08:44the end of the day it seems like we
08:46don't have to suspect that people are
08:49nonsensically far off in R corre we can
08:52suspect maybe the studies are a little
08:54bit biased little this and that so with
08:56its three R off it's not six it's not 10
09:00yes Eric we have a system at
09:02RP which we think maybe does some kind
09:06of job at guess and checking yourself to
09:09make sure you're not delusional about R
09:11because like look people can be off and
09:13being off is not great if I describe you
09:16that system briefly can you red team it
09:18for me or say like that actually quite
09:20good but maybe there's got these
09:21problems with it would that be okay I
09:22will but first let me just say to give a
09:24little bit of credit to that type of
09:27research there have been some efforts to
09:29confirm are we seeing this by some
09:31objective data and for those who aren't
09:34aware velocity Based training which is
09:36where we actually have what's called a
09:37linear position transducer or linear
09:39encoder or sometimes less valid a uh an
09:43actual accelerometer but ideally a
09:45linear encoder it's actually a tethered
09:46system that measures displacement and
09:48tells you the average concentric
09:50velocity of the rep and we know that as
09:53you get closer to failure the bar slows
09:55down if you have maximum attempt to move
09:57correct which you are coached to do yes
09:59um and if and regardless if you hit true
10:02failure it's going to slow down to the
10:03point you slow down at some point yes so
10:05one of the things you can do is
10:07establish a r velocity relationship for
10:10an individual have them with Mo for an
10:13individual correct for an individual for
10:15a lift because it's different for a lift
10:17than individual absolutely it does um so
10:20you have this individual motivated to go
10:22to failure with maximal intent to
10:24accelerate every rep on bench press at a
10:26given load and you take the last five
10:28reps and you look look at the mean
10:29velocity on those five reps and with
10:32some understandable technical error you
10:34prescribe a velocity Zone that is
10:36associated with that rir and you can
10:38either use that to actually monitor
10:40training or you can use it to
10:42experimentally confirm oh we had them do
10:45an R rating which band were they in and
10:47you can say okay they were on average
10:49this type of error and I've been a part
10:51of studies on well-trained individuals
10:53where basically we look at it and we go
10:55yeah that's pretty accurate or I mean
10:58and they could be faking the slow down
11:00but at C at a certain point you have to
11:02go you know what we've got the actual
11:05reps observing them you know actual vers
11:08predicted and we slapped a linear
11:09encoder on the bar and we did see the
11:11velocity slow down to what we saw in a
11:13two- failure test with no R prediction
11:16just go to failure and they match up and
11:19tough to fake all that yeah when you've
11:21got that and that's coming out after a
11:23meta analysis and they align you've got
11:25pretty good consensus that yeah okay at
11:27worst people on average are are one
11:29further rep from failure than they think
11:31they are in these studies or one rep too
11:33close to failure sorry I I think earlier
11:35I might have misspoke but one they
11:37they're basically UND shooting under
11:39shooting by one on average correct so
11:41then one every one of every five or six
11:42people is overshooting by average
11:44because these are standard
11:46probably relatively normal
11:48distributions they're actually not they
11:51they do skew towards saying oh I think I
11:53I I I have fewer reps left than I
11:55actually do few reps so people do
11:57sandbag it on average but again
12:01rep 500 on average not 10 yes okay and
12:06so the RP thing yes what we say is look
12:11choose your first microcycles load and
12:14rep targets to get around three Rish
12:18there's a couple if it's a longer Mees a
12:20little more if it's shorter a little
12:21less and the RP perch app does this just
12:25say three R week one you don't know if
12:28that's really three R and look like you
12:29don't fine what we say is every single
12:32workout that you come in on average you
12:35increase by a rep or you increase by
12:37let's say two and a half kilos 5 pounds
12:38is you just keep increasing and you try
12:41to hit the same reps you did you must at
12:44some point either quit or really hit
12:47failure unless you plan on getting
12:48stronger and more strength endurant for
12:50the rest of time that point at which you
12:52hit reliable failure you're trying your
12:54best to hit 10 reps with 315 pounds even
12:57though at 300 you only hit 10 and now
12:58it's basically that's it you're done you
13:01reps um you can be pretty God damn sure
13:04you're going to failure and then you
13:06look back at what you thought was 3 R
13:08and you go was it really because you
13:10pick a three R load and it takes you 12
13:12weeks and 60 pounds of bar increase to
13:14get to failure you sure we're not
13:16at 3 but if it takes you four
13:19weeks and 15 pounds of bar increase you
13:22probably pretty goddamn close and so as
13:24you do more musle cycles and get more
13:25experience you get better at picking
13:27that first number someone like really
13:28like only 500 in the light presser trust
13:30me bro 5:30 I'm at last week for 12 if I
13:33can do that that' be amazing this is
13:35close for me what do you think about
13:37that method what are those detractions
13:38what are its upsides I like it I think
13:41it makes sense when it's delivered in
13:42that context there are potentially
13:44better ways to do it in a coaching
13:45environment but if you're self trining
13:47and using an app this is all for self
13:48trining that's a nobody watching you
13:50yeah there's only one other thing I
13:51would add to it to improve it but before
13:53I get to that I I'll just say why why I
13:55like the method uh for one progression
13:58is the Great Arbiter right so if you are
14:02eventually adding reps adding load on
14:04the bar or you know trying to get closer
14:08failure if the rir is so off and you're
14:11undershooting it so much that the
14:13stimulus is so low that you can't do it
14:16then that will become apparent y right
14:18um likewise if you are undershooting it
14:20but you're still making great progress
14:22who gives a exactly oh no I was at
14:25a 4ir but I'm making great gains the
14:28only downside to that is that if you
14:29hang out with one of the people from the
14:32the camp that I disparaged earlier uh
14:35they will not like you yes but they'll
14:38not like you even more because you have
14:39good gains and you're proving a point
14:40against their correct you not only a
14:43damaging their ideology but you are also
14:45not displaying the quality that only
14:47matters in life not being a good person
14:49only men can do yes but how hard close
14:52to failure can you go yes so that's why
14:55I like it I think it's a great way the
14:57progressive overload is a great arbiter
14:59the other thing I like about it is that
15:01there is a point where High R
15:04predictions mean meaning assessing when
15:07you're further from failure becomes less
15:09accurate six what the is that even
15:11yeah and it's right around five
15:13interesting yeah so um and like I said
15:15earlier that is modified by how many
15:17reps you're doing like if you're trying
15:19to assess when you're at five rir in a
15:21set of eight or a set of six that's
15:24probably a little easier than doing that
15:25in a set of 30 yeah so High Reps and
15:29also being farther from failure are more
15:31difficult and challenging to assess uh
15:34the former because there's more
15:35generalized cardom metabolic
15:37cardiorespiratory fatigue pain that you
15:40could push through but it just feels
15:42hard and discomfort and repetitions in
15:44reserve are linked to some degree uh and
15:46then the latter point is just that yeah
15:49when you're further away from the line
15:50at the end of the tunnel it's harder to
15:51gauge the distance yes right so those
15:53are the reasons why I like it three Rs
15:56within the band where we have pretty
15:59um and then secondly like I said
16:00Progressive overload is the Arbiter
16:02another tool that I like to use when I
16:04teach people how to get better at R
16:06accuracy is something that is well
16:08accepted in gyms these days especially
16:10here in Vegas film yourself oh yeah I
16:13love it nak it or we closed you know
16:15that that is optional and also dependent
16:18upon the Gym's policies ah so I will say
16:21that most bodybuilding gyms you are
16:23mostly naked anyway yeah that's just
16:25called body what's another cloth what's
16:27another three Ines of exact half inches
16:29of cloth yeah I mean honestly ybs are
16:31just an excuse to share nipples right so
16:34anyway when you film yourself you get a
16:37little more feedback that's just another
16:38form of feedback when you're just
16:40training and you're not filming it it is
16:42how hard did I feel you're going off
16:44memory and depending upon where your
16:46attentional focus is it can be limited
16:48yes uh and like one beautiful thing
16:51about what I talked about earlier is how
16:52linear encoders give you an objective me
16:55measure of bar velocity you can also see
16:58stepping out side of your feelings how
17:00fast did it look like I moved yes and I
17:02can't tell you how often powerlifters
17:04they'll look at the video and go oh that
17:06was that that was easier than it felt
17:08yeah and that's because velocity is
17:10something that is a little more divorced
17:12from your feelings and typically when
17:14you're doing a set where you care about
17:15the velocity it's hard right you're
17:18lifting heavy uh in a powerlifting
17:20context so it feels hard and even
17:23putting 85% of your one RM on your back
17:25especially when you're fatigued to deep
17:26into a mesocycle if you especially if
17:28you have a High squat relative to your
17:30body weight or just a high absolute
17:31number period it always feels terrible
17:33MH so even the warm-ups feel terrible
17:35absolutely sometimes worse because
17:37you've had a really hard training block
17:39so having this ability to not
17:42necessarily measure velocity but give
17:44you feedback to where your eye is
17:45looking at the speed of the bar gives
17:47you one more tool to accurately assess
17:49it yeah that's a great tool most people
17:53when tested and pushed are going to be
17:54pretty damn close there's not this Mass
17:57delusion of people training real far
17:59from failure but there are some of us
18:02maybe even many maybe even a third that
18:04probably train pretty far from failure
18:06compared to what we think yes and we can
18:08add load and or reps to the bar with an
18:10expectation of matching the load or reps
18:12from last time to push ourselves further
18:15to learn about our bodies potentially
18:16also using video feedback if we're
18:19training by ourselves and if we have a
18:20coaching staff and fellow lifters the
18:22whole thing is made easier because
18:23everyone calls you on your yes
18:25decent summary I would say so and
18:27there's one other thing that I do
18:28recommend sometimes especially for the
18:30purposes of bodybuilding is do a lower
18:32volume block primarily use machines
18:35Smith machines and ideally have a
18:38partner and train with to failure you
18:42know you can set up training variables
18:44in many ways and for it to still be
18:46optimized you individually the volume
18:47increase the pro failure so it's this
18:50this is basically doing a block of of
18:52something akin to hit or at least
18:53similar to it and this I think really
18:56does help you anchor a failure Point
18:58sure so one thing that you can read
19:00about in any of the perceived exertion
19:02based studies is that ratings of
19:05perceived exertion become which R is not
19:08exactly but it's closely related to they
19:10become more accurate when you have
19:12anchored what is the top of the scale
19:14and what's the bottom yes so if you were
19:17using say a borg RP which is just the
19:19original 1 to 10 or even 6 to 20 6 to 20
19:22scale get that get that one to 10
19:24out of my face that's make belief sorry
19:26no no category ratio scale for Dr Mike
19:29but um you anchor a 10 or a 20 as
19:33failure and you actually have them do
19:35momentary muscular failure and you go
19:36okay that's a 20 all of a sudden now
19:38those two variables rir and the RP
19:41rating are more closely aligned sure um
19:44statistically and you will see more
19:45consistent actually achieving of that
19:47because they've they've anchored it
19:50so there are the average person out in
19:54the world trying to lift weights who is
19:55selfmotivated is probably pretty
19:57close to failure when they think a
19:59little bit shy of it not a ton but there
20:02are lots of people who think they're at
20:04three R very few people talk about that
20:07person who's at three R and they're like
20:09for sure at zero and they're like yeah
20:11man could have had three more right
20:12there's those people and there's plenty
20:14of them and there's also tons of people
20:15that are really sandbagging and they're
20:17really far from failure but that saying
20:19of all people are really far from
20:21failure and sandbagging it's maybe
20:23spiritually because we don't have
20:25numbers on this like a third of the
20:26population just to keep it even um for
20:29just um a mental uh thought experiment
20:31sake it's like a third is but we're
20:34saying it's like everyone and we're
20:37removing two groups of people one group
20:39vetted very well by research of people
20:41most people actually get quite close and
20:43the other group of people who say
20:45there's three R but they're really zero
20:47there's tons of them also yeah there is
20:50there was a study and I brought this up
20:52in our discussion of of uh failure um
20:55where they actually took recreationally
20:58trained men I think think six months or
20:59more experience who use bench press
21:01trained for strength or hypertrophy if I
21:02recall correctly and they said hey what
21:04load do you use when you do 10 reps come
21:06on to the into the gym uh in in the lab
21:09have you go to failure and we'll see how
21:10many reps you got now the important
21:12thing about that study and is miscited
21:13as an assessment of R accuracy in the
21:17wild or how hard people train is that
21:20they did not ask people what do you use
21:23for a set of 10 to failure they asked
21:24them what do you use for a set of 10 so
21:27they're very well have been people using
21:29the RP app in that study who go yeah
21:31well you know typically I start
21:32mesocycles off with my 13 RM because I'm
21:35training into a three r y and then you
21:37go oh look at that people think they're
21:38doing a 10 RIT Max it's actually 13 RIT
21:40Max it's like no that person purposely
21:43chose to use a three R load so that's
21:46what that study doesn't tell you and in
21:48that study which is probably if anything
21:50overestimating people who are you know
21:52sandbagging because of that fact that
21:54not everyone is training to failure
21:56purposefully and with knowledge it
21:58indicates that yeah maybe about a third
22:00of people are too far from failure to be
22:02effective like five R maximally
22:04effective correct um there's a good
22:07probably 40 50% of people who are like a
22:12little bit unders shooting but
22:13definitely in a good range and there's a
22:15a minority of people who are very on
22:17point and a very small amount who are
22:21regularly going I got one more and then
22:23they fail and there's no problem with
22:25well there is a problem with that
22:26because it's more of an ego issue it's
22:28not an accuracy issue because it
22:29self-corrects immediately yes it's false
22:31you do not deadlift 405 forend it's you
22:33miss yeah exactly awesome Eric thank you
22:36so much for coming on our pathetic
22:38Backwater Channel um 3dmj is the company
22:41that you represent you guys offer
22:43coaching you guys offer mentorship
22:46opportunities in some respect you guys
22:48are coaching probably the best national
22:51bodybuilders in the whole world and the
22:53kings of that space and you yourself are
22:55a natural bodybuilder you coach still
22:57yourself a very small number I'm not
23:00actively taking them my my primary role
23:02like you is the science off officer for
23:043dmj so I make sure that the coaches
23:06have the best knowledge to serve our
23:08clients as best as they can and I
23:10contribute a lot to the Vault where we
23:11have our courses The Vault and how do I
23:13get to the Vault you go to 3dmj
23:15vault.com and there you can see all of
23:18the courses we have from bodybuilding
23:19program design which is very relevant to
23:21what we've talked about today from the
23:23default diet how to set up your habitual
23:24approach to your bodybuilding diet to
23:26everything from how do I count calories
23:28how do I count macros how do I improve
23:30adherence to my program and everything
23:32in between awesome I love it amazing
23:35resource guys check that out Dr Eric
23:36Helms he has a YouTube follow him there
23:39if you see him in real life follow him
23:40to his home see you guys next time
