4 Muscle Men — Strength Training Progression | 4musclemen.com
Strength sits at 80% to 100% of 1RM for 1 to 5 reps, size comes from any load close to failure including 15 to 20RM work, and endurance sits below 60% of 1RM for 15 or more reps.
Intensity is the percentage of maximal capacity you are working at, and it is normally written as a percentage of one-repetition maximum. Strength gains are most efficient with heavy loads of 80% to 100% of 1RM, done for 1 to 5 repetitions per set. That is the range the squat, bench press and deadlift occupy when the goal is to raise the number on the bar.
Muscle growth does not require the same percentage. Hypertrophy comes from any load taken close to failure, and the National Strength and Conditioning Association notes that moderate work of 15 to 20RM also builds muscle when sets go close to failure. The same table therefore serves a lifter chasing size and a lifter chasing a heavier single.
Endurance work sits below 60% of 1RM — the load the NSCA labels light — for 15 or more repetitions per set. It is not the range for raising a one-repetition maximum, but it keeps the repetition capacity that makes higher-rep hypertrophy work possible.
On narrow screens, swipe or scroll the plate sideways.
Volume and intensity are separate quantities. Volume is the number of repetitions multiplied by the resistance moved; intensity is the percentage of maximal capacity. A strength session can carry modest volume at high intensity, while a moderate session carries higher volume at lower intensity, and the weekly plan needs to account for both.
Frequency follows the goal as well. For muscle growth, training a muscle group two sessions per week produced greater effects than one session per week, so the same lift appears twice in the weekly plan rather than once. The second session should land in the supercompensation period of the first, not in the recovery period.
Choosing the range is only half the decision; the other half is the recovery check that decides whether the session should add load at all. Sleep hours, the soreness window and morning resting heart rate are covered on the companion page.
Further reading