Way back in Volume 2 of MASS, Dr. Helms reviewed a study by Barbosa-Netto and colleagues investigating how hard lifters habitually train (2). Researchers asked 160 trained subjects what load they’d normally use to perform sets of 10 reps on the bench press. Then, the researchers had the subjects complete a set to failure with their self-selected load. On average, subjects completed 16 reps, and more than a quarter completed at least 19 reps. Notably, 76% of subjects reported that their primary goal was hypertrophy, and 80% reported that they generally performed bench press as the first exercise in their training sessions (meaning they didn’t select relatively light loads because they typically train bench press when they’re already fatigued). So, it appeared that many of the participants self-selected loads that were likely too light for their primary goal. While you don’t need to go to failure to maximize hypertrophy, you’re probably leaving a lot of muscle growth on the table when you habitually train with >5 reps in reserve (and you’re certainly leaving a lot of muscle growth on the table if you do most of your training with >9 reps in reserve).
A recent meta-analysis by Steele and colleagues investigated effort in resistance training from a slightly different angle (1). The researchers started by identifying studies that met three inclusion criteria:
The studies needed to be published in English, in a peer-reviewed journal, or as a Master’s or Doctoral thesis
The studies needed to include healthy subjects, who completed at least one resistance training session with at least one exercise using self-selected loads
The subjects needed to complete a 1RM test for the exercise(s) with self-selected loads
So, the aforementioned study by Barbosa-Netto and colleagues (2) was not included in the present meta-analysis (since subjects never completed a 1RM test), but 18 studies did meet these inclusion criteria. These studies included a total of 368 subjects (about 37% male and 63% female), with a relatively even split of trained (n = 163 subjects) and untrained (n = 204) subjects.
