The Basics: Sets, Reps, and Supersets

Sets and reps are ways to organize how you do these movements so that you can get stronger, build muscle, or build endurance.

A set is a group of consecutive repetitions (reps) of an exercise. So, let's say you're doing push-ups. If you do 10 push-ups in a row, that would be 1 set of 10 reps.

Typically, people do multiple sets of an exercise during a workout. For example, you might do 3 sets of 10 reps of push-ups, which means you do 10 push-ups, take a rest, then do another 10 push-ups, take a rest, and then do a final 10 push-ups.

Reps are the number of times you do a movement, like lifting a weight or doing a push-up. When you're doing a workout, you might be asked to do a certain number of reps for each set. So, if you're doing 3 sets of 10 reps of push-ups, that means you'll do 10 push-ups for each of the 3 sets.

Supersets are a way to make your workouts more challenging and efficient. A superset is when you perform two different exercises back to back with little to no rest in between. So, instead of doing 3 sets of 10 reps of push-ups and then 3 sets of 10 reps of squats, you might do a superset of push-ups and squats.

For example, you might do 10 push-ups, then immediately do 10 squats, and then rest for a short period of time before doing another round of the same two exercises. Supersets can help you save time by working multiple muscle groups at once and can also help increase your heart rate for a cardiovascular workout.

There are times when you’ll see a time interval posted instead of reps. In that case, say 3 x 30”, you’d do 3 sets of 30 seconds.

Rest

Between each set, you’ll have time to rest so you are prepared for your next set or exercise.

Sometimes that will be clearly defined, like in our signal sessions. You are taking 30 seconds of rest and that is it, no questions asked.

At times, you’ll see “enough to feel rested or fresh.” This just means to take whatever time it takes to do the exercise with good form and intensity.

Other times, the workout will give you a range. For example, during our supersets, you’ll see rest can be from 1-3 minutes. A good rule of thumb is to take more of that time the harder the exercise seems to be.

Next are some guidelines to help you rate how hard your exercises feel.

Loading Exercises- RPE

Figuring out how much resistance to add to each exercise is a priority for us. We’ll be using a couple of different scales to help guide this process. The first is Relative Perceived Exertion or RPE. It's a way to measure how hard you're working during exercise. It's basically a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is very easy and 10 is difficult to the point of failure.

So, let's say you're running on a treadmill. If you feel like you're barely doing any work and it's super easy, you might rate your RPE as a 1 or 2. If you're sprinting uphill really hard and can barely catch your breath and nearly fall off, you might rate your RPE as a 9 or 10.

This is important because it can help you make sure you're getting the most out of your workouts. If you're not pushing yourself hard enough, you might not see the results you want. On the other hand, if you're pushing yourself too hard, you could do more harm than good.

So, the next time you're exercising, try paying attention to your RPE. See if you can rate how hard you're working on a scale from 1 to 10. These RPE descriptions may help:

1. Very easy: You're barely doing any work at all. You could keep this up for a long time without feeling tired.

2. Easy: You're still not really feeling much effort, but you're starting to get a little bit warmer.

3. Moderate: You're starting to feel your body working a bit harder. You're breathing a little faster and starting to sweat.

4. Somewhat hard: You're definitely feeling the effort now. You're breathing harder and starting to sweat more.

5. Hard: You're really starting to feel it now. You're breathing heavily, sweating a lot, and your muscles are starting to feel tired.

6. Somewhat hard (heavy): You're working hard enough that talking is difficult. Your breathing is heavy and your muscles are working hard.

7. Very hard: You're pushing yourself to your limits. You're breathing heavily and your muscles are working as hard as they can.

8. Very hard (unable to maintain): You're working as hard as you possibly can, but you can't keep it up for very long.

9. Extremely hard: You're pushing yourself past your limits. It's very difficult to keep going and you're almost at your breaking point.

10. Maximum effort: You're giving it everything you've got. You can't keep it up for more than a few seconds, and you're completely exhausted.

Loading Exercises- RIR

RIR stands for "Reps in Reserve." It's a way to measure how many more reps you could do before you reach muscle failure during a set of strength training. It's basically a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means you can't do any more reps and 10 means you could do 10 or more additional reps.

So, let's say you're doing a set of squats with a weight that you can lift for 10 reps. If you stop at 8 reps and feel like you could do 2 more reps before you can't lift the weight anymore, your RIR would be 2.

This is important since it can help you make sure you're lifting the right weight for your fitness level. If you're not lifting enough weight, you might not see the results you want. On the other hand, if you're lifting too much weight, you could hurt yourself.

Here's a cheat sheet of RIR going from 0 to 10:

0 - You can't do any more reps.

2 - You could do 2 more reps before reaching muscle failure.

4 - You could do 4 more reps before reaching muscle failure.

6 - You could do 6 more reps before reaching muscle failure.

8 - You could do 8 more reps before reaching muscle failure.

10 - You could do 10 or more additional reps before reaching muscle failure.

Putting it all together

You may find that one scale works better for you than another. Here’s a cheat sheet that connects our RPE, RIR, and rest concepts:

RPE 10: Maximum effort, unable to do any more reps, RIR 0, Rest 3-5 minutes

RPE 9: Extremely hard, can do 1 more rep, RIR 1, Rest 3 minutes

RPE 8: Very hard, can do 2 more reps, RIR 2, Rest 2 minutes

RPE 7: Hard, can do 3-4 more reps, RIR 3-4, Rest 1 minute

RPE 6: Moderate, can do 5-6 more reps, RIR 5-6, Rest 1 minute or less

RPE 5: Somewhat easy, can do 7-8 more reps, RIR 7-8, Rest 1 minute or less

RPE 4: Easy, can do 9-10 more reps, RIR 9-10, Rest 1 minute or less

RPE 3: Very easy, can do 11-12 more reps, RIR 11-12, Rest 1 minute or less

RPE 2: Extremely easy, can do 13-14 more reps, RIR 13-14, Rest 1 minute or less

RPE 1: No effort, can do 15 or more reps, RIR 15 or more, Rest 1 minute or less

Remember, the relationship between RPE and RIR can be subjective and will vary from person to person. It's important to listen to your body and use RPE and RIR as guides to help you adjust your workouts for the appropriate intensity and volume.