HIGH LEVEL Questions about Exercise - Help please!

[aRegularDude]

Hello friends!

I come bearing questions.

I am sure this have all been answered. But I've tried searching the forum, and searching the internet, and asking people I know who have spent time trying to advance their bodies in health and ability... and there's just no consensus!! Not that I can find. So, if anyone can help me.... I would really appreciate it.

NOTE: I'm aware of the differences between "endurance strength", "raw" strength, and "explosive" strength, but below I'm referring mostly to just plain old strength and growing muscles.

NOTE 2: I am an expert in two things (not even kind of in fitness), but enough to know that the answer to some may be "God only knows" or "it's different for everyone." I'd still like to hear your thoughts!


QUESTION #1) HOW MANY REPS?

Is 12 the magic number? Or does this matter a lot less than "time under tension"?


QUESTION #2) HOW MUCH TIME UNDER TENSION?

Is 40-60 seconds the magic number?


QUESTION #3) WHAT IS THE BETTER BALANCE?

Doing 18 hard sets in one day and then taking 3-4 days off? Or doing 6 hard sets per day for 3 straight days and then taking 3-4 days off?


QUESTION #4) HOW MUCH TIME BETWEEN SETS?

Is this important? I do not go to a gym and work out at home. Sometimes I like to put 15 minutes between sets and spread them out all day. Is it better to cram them all in together?


QUESTION #5) TO FAILURE, EVER?

Should every set be to failure? Or should they be "1 less than failure"? Or should they not be to failure at all?



I guess that would really help me for now.... I have many more questions, but I can wait for now.

THANK YOU.

DGN

[SuffolkPunch]

1. higher weight lower reps to emphasise motor pathway training for peak force (i.e. 1 rep maximum) aka. strength. Hypertrophy can be attained using a very wide range of resistances from 30% to 90% of 1RM - which can yields anything from about 3 rep upwards.

2. Irrelevant. TUT is just a correlating factor with hypertrophy. If you are lifting a heavy weight, it will result in more TUT than a lighter weight. If you are deliberately slowing your tempo, that doesn't improve results.

3. Again, a wide range of possibilities. I would regard once per week or more than 3x a week to be on the fringes of what is practical and efficient

4. Enough time to produce a good performance in the next set but without being lazy. It's total work that counts.

5. Can be useful for higher rep exercises which incur no risk from form failure. For example a bicep curl is OK when taken to failure but a deadlift probably is not.

[FaIIen]

QUESTION #1) HOW MANY REPS?

Is 12 the magic number? Or does this matter a lot less than "time under tension"?

For what? How high effort, for how many sets and what does the total volume for that body part look like?
It depends on a lot of things.

QUESTION #2) HOW MUCH TIME UNDER TENSION?

Is 40-60 seconds the magic number?

Refer to the answer on question 1. Also, how are you measuring TUT? Full set lengths? Do you count in time at the top/bottom?

QUESTION #3) WHAT IS THE BETTER BALANCE?

Doing 18 hard sets in one day and then taking 3-4 days off? Or doing 6 hard sets per day for 3 straight days and then taking 3-4 days off?

Neither, spread them out evenly - every other day.

QUESTION #4) HOW MUCH TIME BETWEEN SETS?

Is this important? I do not go to a gym and work out at home. Sometimes I like to put 15 minutes between sets and spread them out all day. Is it better to cram them all in together?

> 10 will probably make you loose focus and get you cold. About 2-4 minutes is probably a good average. Depends on what you're doing.

QUESTION #5) TO FAILURE, EVER?

Should every set be to failure? Or should they be "1 less than failure"? Or should they not be to failure at all?

1-3 reps shy of failure in general. Depends on the exercise and purpose. You can probably take isolation exercises closer to failure.



I suggest getting on a proper routine. It'll take care of most of the questions you have.

[WolfRose7]

Hello friends!





QUESTION #1) HOW MANY REPS?

Is 12 the magic number? Or does this matter a lot less than "time under tension"?

It depends, but there is certainly no magic tension

QUESTION #2) HOW MUCH TIME UNDER TENSION?

Is 40-60 seconds the magic number?

TUT is so misused it would probably be better if the entire fitness community forgot the words...
Do enough volume overall, using a tempo that fits your goals (and technique) for each movement, generally intentionally slowed eccentrics and concentric are not beneficial

QUESTION #3) WHAT IS THE BETTER BALANCE?

Doing 18 hard sets in one day and then taking 3-4 days off? Or doing 6 hard sets per day for 3 straight days and then taking 3-4 days off?

That's not really a balance question, perhaps do you mean which would result in more quality work over time? It depends..... though most seem to do better with volume spread out a bit

QUESTION #4) HOW MUCH TIME BETWEEN SETS?

Is this important? I do not go to a gym and work out at home. Sometimes I like to put 15 minutes between sets and spread them out all day. Is it better to cram them all in together?

Enough that you haven't lost volume, not so much that you are losing volume

QUESTION #5) TO FAILURE, EVER?

Should every set be to failure? Or should they be "1 less than failure"? Or should they not be to failure at all?

Depends on the exercise and training protocol. Generally heavier compound work should shy somewhat away from failure, lighter isolation work can be pushed closer to or till failure