#548 The 3 Most Underrated Set/Rep Schemes, My Experience w/ the "Wolverine Stack" & More!

[MUSIC] >> He started this first gym out of a 500 square foot storage closet. >> Boss, we got it. >> Now, work to set us off to build a world-renowned brand while becoming a legend in the sports performance industry. >> So, well, here's how to work through my office, turn this little gym into a world-renowned place. >> And I'm not going to be satisfied until we are number one in the world and the country on this block everywhere. >> Damn. [MUSIC] >> I'm not trying to blend with the crown. [MUSIC] I'm trying to make an impact in this industry. [MUSIC] >> And now he's bringing his personality, passion and expertise to you. >> Through this powerful podcast. >> Welcome to the industrial stretch show. >> He is your host, Joe DeFranco. >> Hey guys, welcome to episode number 548 of the industrial strength show. Today, we're going to do a little bit more probably a bite size to episode because I am doing one of my late night recordings. Been a busy, rough week in the DeFranco household, some personal issues, post surgery for my dad. Although I will say his recovery, I think is going great for those who have been asking. I really appreciate it, he appreciates it. I went with him to his one week follow up last week. It was on Thursday, so I had already recorded the show, so I didn't have an update. But everything looks great one week post-op and now we are closer to two weeks post-op. It's crazy. His shoulder was so bad. He literally started physical therapy yesterday. So with before he even started physical therapy, at his one week post-op visit, before he had done any physical therapy, still swelling from the surgery, didn't get the bandage off yet. His hand was still swollen yet. He could lift his arm on his own, almost close to 45 degrees, which he wasn't able to do pre-surgery. So the surgeon was like, "Bow, well, you're not even supposed to be moving it. You're supposed to just be straining your elbow and bending your elbow a little bit, squeezing the ball with your hand, but we don't want much shoulder movement." But my dad was like, "But check this out. I could lift it higher already than I was able to pre-surgery." I was just like, "I don't know if you should brag about that." You probably waited a little too long for surgery if that's the case. It's also good news. He's already in less pain and has more mobility, and he didn't even really start the recovery process yet. So it looks like as long as he doesn't overdo it, and that's why we're doing our best to remind him to listen to the doctors. We were all trying to help as much as we can so he could actually heal. But yeah, if I remember, I'll put the, I took a picture at the appointment. I don't know if you guys have ever seen a reverse shoulder replacement, but they put the X-rays up. The before X-ray, it's just like a bunch of arthritis and just a messed up shoulder. But then the after with the replacement parts in there, it looks wild. It is crazy. I never saw a reverse replacement. It's literally the ball and socket is reversed, where it's like the top of your humerus, the arm bone, instead of that being the ball, that's where kind of the socket is now. And then the ball is placed in, it's like attached to the shoulder blade. So it's like a instead of a ball and socket, a socket and a ball, but literally reverse shoulder that just looks wild in the X-ray. So I'll post that for those who are interested in seeing technologies crazy. But so far, so good on that front, I was able, I'll talk about, I'll give you guys an update on my shoulder, the SC joint issue that's been pissing me off. I will give you a little sneak peek. Good news. Nade some progress where I was actually able to, speaking of my dad's surgery, was I was able to help my mom get out of the house today. She has not left their condo in a month. Felt horrible. She's been cooped up in there without my dad being able to take her out. So he started physical therapy today. And I took her out to get her hair done. And I was able to, you know, lift her out of the wheelchair, put her in my truck, get her out of my truck, back in the wheelchair, bring her into the hair salon, put her in the chair there and knock on wood. My, the SC joint was not aggravated by any of that. So I was happy to get mom out of the house, get a little fresh air and see that I could do some stuff, not be all show no go. Although I feel like I don't even, I don't, I feel like I lost a lot of my show from taking about three weeks off of training, which I'll talk about in a minute. But good news there. But I kind of, I mentioned all that just because between helping out, you know, with, with my parents and, and bringing my mom out today and unfortunately our next door neighbor passed away who it's the, the father of a client of mine who we happened to be next door neighbors with when we moved into the house we currently live in. He just passed away earlier this week, horrible. So Ashley and I went to the wake. I hate starting the show with like negative depressing news. But next thing, you know, it's 11 30 at night. I'm getting home and I, I do what I say. I tell you guys, I'm going to give you a podcast every Thursday. So I still got to record something, but didn't have much of a chance, much time to prepare anything. So I will be answering just two questions that I got this week and making two announcements beforehand though. And the first announcement is going to make up for any negativity or depressing news because I got some great news. And that great news is new merch is now available. It's actually been up for two days, but I haven't even had a chance to post it online. So this is the official first announcement. New merch. This is a pre sale one week. I think we'll maybe go eight days. Black Friday will probably be the last day to order the new merch. So just do it now. Pause the show. The direct link will be in the show notes. It's not defranco shop.com anymore. It is part of forever fiercest website. They kind of made like a defranco store on their website. They've been designing my merch for like, shit, 15 years now, maybe more. Man, I don't even know how long it's been, but it's been a while. They've been amazing. It's just easier for to track the orders and they do the fulfillment for me. So I don't even remember what the website is, but the direct link will be in the show notes. It's also in my Instagram bio, the very first link you'll see new merch. We got three new items. One is for our team forever strong members or I mean, anyone could purchase it, even if you're not a member of team forever strong, but we made a specific T for our team forever strong family. And this one is an NWO inspired T. We got a lot of wrestling fans who have requested the iconic, you know, new new world order, the black and white T-shirt made famous during the Monday Night Wars. We made a team forever strong T with that design. So it says TFS with team forever strong written underneath. And then on the back, it says for life. It's it's pretty badass. So we got that. We have a classic defranco barbell logo, big red logo on a black T, which is always a badass color combo black and red represent strength. And since I've been speaking so much about experience, you know, I call myself an experience based trainer as the evidence based world has kind of taken over online and everybody jumping on that bandwagon, I've always liked to kind of lead from the front, follow or not, not follow, but create my own path instead of following everyone else and and very proud to say I am an experience based coach and trainer and this podcast is based on experience. My experience is training thousands and thousands of clients over the course of 30 plus years at this point. So we have a little like underneath the barbell guy, it's got the word experience and then you know the I guess it's like the greater than symbol or Trump's science. It's experience greater than symbol and then the word science written a little bit smaller. It's cool. It's like simple, but badass design. So that's the other T and then we have a heavy weight zip up hoodie, which I love this design. It's got it's a gray hoodie with a red and white barbell guy chest logo and then defranco's training and the barbell guy on the back as well. They are super high quality heavy weight. These aren't like the thin little hoodies these I don't own a winter jacket. So to be just to be very transparent. I've done in the past we've done the zip up stutter like thinner athletic fit you know which are great. I love them. I still wear my my industrial strength show zip up hoodie like almost every day, but it's just getting too cold where I need something heavier. So we went with if you ordered a zip up hoodie last year, it's that same brand, but a completely different design. So go grab those unfortunately it is US shipping only. And the pre sale will end black Friday or the Saturday after black Friday. So you only have about one week to order these and then that's it. They're gone. They're we're going to do a one week pre sale. We placed the order for the merch. So we could get them to everyone hopefully before Christmas. I don't like to promise that but the past couple years 99% of the orders arrived before Christmas. So that's what we're trying to do again this year. By the way, if you're not from the United States of America, I will make it up to you next week. I got something for everyone. I got something for the entire world. I've been sitting on this one for months and we are 90. 8.9% sure that next week's show will be this announcement that I am very excited. It's something that everyone could benefit from everyone could physically get their hands on all over the world throughout the globe. So stay tuned my international listeners. I hate that we can't get the merch to you and the supplements to you but I got something for you and it's coming real real soon. And now final order of business before I answer these two questions. Let me tell you about today's sponsor. I'm not sure if you're going to get the merch to you. store. 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I don't just say that and it's like right when I have like one or two servings left and I start getting worried like oh shit I'm running what am I gonna put in my freaking overnight oats. Boom right at my doorstep. I got my new jar of honey and then I'm fully stocked for the month and I feel better. So go get yours big shout out to Monocora honey. Thank you so much for sponsoring today's show. Now let's get into the two questions that y'all asked me. Well you asked me a lot more this week but I got I saw two and I'm gonna answer to first one being from Tanner and a bunch of you have been asking me this but just for whatever reason I didn't get to it and I'm glad I didn't get to it before today's show because I would have had a much different answer and perspective and waiting an extra week or two was the best thing I could have done to answer this question which states "Jody you never gave us an update on the SC joint has anything helped? Did you end up hopping on any peptides? Would love to hear how you're dealing with the injury Tanner?" So in case you missed the show I think I guess it was three or four weeks I think it was three weeks ago I mentioned I was pissed off although the the quote unquote injury or the pain started like four or five weeks ago and I was kind of hoping it would just go away but it didn't it got worse. Right where my your SC joint where your your collarbone meets your sternum kind of right under the base of your neck severe pain and burning not from anything specific that I did just you know wear and tear over the years is what I'm assuming because it wasn't a specific set or rep it just started I just started feeling it one day when I was warming up and it just it got really really bad and so I mentioned on the podcast I was pissed off and I was trying to work around it but anything I did made it worse so I really this is the first week I won't even call it training I started doing push ups body weight push ups and body weight inverted rows and I was able to do three supersets of each without increasing any pain so that was a good sign so now I'm gonna train I'm gonna do a little bit more tomorrow I mentioned today I didn't train I I've been doing cardio in the morning I walked three miles with a a lightweight vest because even a weight vest anything over 15 pounds kind of pulling down on my shoulders that aggravates everything was aggravating it so I was kind of stuck to just easy cardio and some lower body mobility and like I so hold lunges I couldn't do anything else but it's I looks like I just turned the corner now that I've been able to lift my mom and it didn't seem like I aggravated anything I still have pain but it didn't get any worse so that's a good sign and the pain is better than it was a week ago so just to catch everyone up if you know you ever if you're dealing with like a soft tissue with tendon or a ligament especially around the the SC joint that's those ligaments are it's they're very strong and when I was talking to Dr. Doar about it he said that when you have a tear and one of those, like it just, it just one of those pain in the ass things that takes a while. So anyway, what I've been doing, quick recap. And if you ever, you know, keep this in mind, if you ever have a soft tissue injury, a tendon or ligament tear, I've been going hard on the glucoseamine, congroid, and MSM every single day, I have not missed in almost a month now, four weeks, 1500 milligrams glucoseamine, 1200 milligrams, congroid, and a thousand milligrams of MSM, also 20 grams of grass-fed collagen peptides every day, type one and three. That's what I have been taking, have not missed a single day of the peptide, the collagen. Of course, my muscle mag 300, which is really probably what's doing the bulk of the lifting here, let's be honest, that shit cures everything. And especially when you're taking almost double the amount that you normally take, I've been taking two caps in the morning, four caps at night before bed, that's 450 milligrams of the highest quality, highly absorbable magnesium that you could get. It is a blend, a perfect blend of mag, Tory, mag, glistening, and mag, malley. So that's been a staple, and I think very helpful fish oil. I've been taking quite a bit three to four grams, not milligrams, like grams, three to four thousand milligrams of fish oil per day. My Omega D3 in the morning, and then I take a Nordic Naturals fish oil that has extra curcumin at night, gives me about three to four grams per day of anti-inflammatory fish oil. And then I guess the big news, the big cliffhanger, when I spoke about this a couple of weeks ago, was I was thinking about hopping on some peptides, everybody's raving about them, but this is where my brain is a bit different, like when I don't have an ego, like I love learning from other people, I say it all the time, I am a life long white belt, white belt for life, constantly learning, I love learning from other people, and it's not like I have to be the one that comes up with everything, or I'm too good to take someone else's advice, but when I see almost everybody online, like just raving about one thing, and the thing I was struggling with, there's a lot of my colleagues that I have a ton of respect for, that were telling me, yeah, you do, you gotta hop on the BPC157 and the TB500, the Wolverine stack as they say, this is nothing new, by the way, this has been around now, but I haven't really had to use it, thankfully, and but when this happened, a bunch of people I really respect said, absolutely, you gotta get on it, but I just have this thing, when you also see every shit-fluencer on Frickin Instagram and TikTok pushing peptides and their peptide company, it just makes me not want to do whatever other shit-fluencer is doing, but I said, you know what, I can't just sit around and let this thing kind of heal on its own, I need to speed up the process a bit, and there are quite a few people that I respect telling me, man, for soft tissue injuries, it will help. So I ended up, literally, it was actually the day after the podcast that I said, I didn't know if I was gonna hop on or not, I pulled the trigger, I lasted one day, so it's been three weeks now that, well, I got the BPC157 first, I was gonna just do that, I did it for a few days, and then I was like getting impatient and just reading more and more on how much better BPC and TB500 work together, so I did BPC157 by itself for a week, didn't feel anything that first week, then got the TB500 in the mail, started that, and I will say, so let me back up just for a second, 'cause I don't wanna just assume everybody is an expert on peptides. One, and I'm, I don't know if I could give this my full endorsement yet, but I'm just gonna be honest and transparent where I got it from. I just ordered it online from a website called peptide sciences was the website that was recommended the most to me from people saying, if you don't have, if your doctor doesn't have a pharmacy, they work with and you're gonna just order online, I'd say eight out of 10 people were like, yeah, if you're gonna order online, go with peptide sciences, best reputation, as far as purity and trustworthiness, although I still, I'm just going on with other people, have told me, and I am starting to feel better, we're gonna get to that. So that's where I got it from, if anybody cares, and for those who maybe aren't as familiar with peptides, BPC stands for body protection compound, and basically what that is most known for, the, there are animal studies that have shown it to accelerate the healing of just general wounds, like general wound healing, muscle tears, as well, and damaged tendons and ligaments. That's kind of the big one. And again, just speaking with Dr. Doar and him evaluating my issue and my pain, he believes the ligament or ligaments surrounding the SC joint is what there's some, a tear or some tears in there, and those ligaments that surround the SC joint, they're pretty strong, right? It's not a huge joint, but it's, that, there's a lot going on there, and they're strong, and they could take a while to heal. So the BPC research seems to be, that would be the go-to for something like this. Also has been shown to increase blood flow, to damaged tissues, so that could obviously help. It's also said to accelerate collagen formation. So very, very promising compound with, with very little, or they say no side effects. So I haven't felt any, at least it, you know, short-term in three weeks, I haven't felt any bad side effects. And I've actually started feeling better. So that's kind of my experience with that. Anything else I want to, oh, so, also why I started feeling better is, you could tell this isn't my first area of expertise. I've never been a drug guy, you know, I was accused of being on steroids all through high school and college, never touched the stuff, didn't know much about it. Like, my thing was always the training, the nutrition. I'm not the guy that's like, oh, I want to achieve this goal. So what's the best drug? What's the best, you know, let me just have surgery for that. Let me just take this pill. I was always obsessed with the training aspect and the work that could be done to reach your genetic potential, get bigger, get stronger, get faster, get more mobile, not like the drug route. And not, you know, to each his own, but that, just my mindset and how I've always lived, I'm not against that stuff, especially, you know, TRT and things as you get older, if you need it, great, but I just bring that up because when it comes to needle, So you inject both the BPC 157 and the TB 500. I ended up, I have a lot going on busy. I'm like trying to look what's the minimal effect of dose. And so long story short, I think I'm taking the right amount or even on the low end, because I just wanna make sure I'm not gonna have any side effects, turns out the first week and a half I was taking close to three times the recommended dose because I, confusing micrograms with milliliters and units and the, you know, I won't get into all that, but I guess I loaded up on the BPC for the first week and a half, maybe two weeks I was taking three times the recommended dose. Now I am past few days, I got it straightened out, I am taking, so in that's the other thing, BPC, they, it's more concentrated than the TB 500. So when people talk about the BPC, they talk more in micrograms. So I've been doing 500 micrograms a day. So 10 units in like a little insulin syringe. And I've been, I've been just injecting it in my stomach. I might go to, I might switch and do it right in the, like grab, I don't have a ton of fat to grab in that area. Like the upper, upper, upper part of your chest right under your collarbone by your neck. I haven't injected it there yet with the BPC, they say right in the site under the skin, a sub-Q injection, but I just been going in my stomach and, um, yeah. So 500 micrograms are 10 units daily there. And that's every day I've been doing that. I'm going to do that for six weeks and then see how I feel and then maybe just do a maintenance dose of half that every other day or like three times a week. And with the TB 500, once I started the TB 500 with it, that's when I felt like, I, I turn the corner and I see what people are saying as far as the healing because after just my third shot of TB 500, that's when it was noticeably what I think, you know, starting to get better as long as I don't aggravate this thing and make it any worse. But the, the TB 500, which I believe it's, um, thymacin beta four or something, very similar with the, as the BPC, there's animal studies showing that it decreases inflammation. Again, improves wound healing tissue repair improves blood vessel growth, right? So lots of benefits there, uh, especially when combined with the BPC, the TB 500, I've been taking two milligrams or 40 units two times a week. I, I will take my fourth shot tomorrow, uh, so that's my, the, the, the kind of the end of the second week of the TB 500. And that's when I really started noticing a difference this week really. So together they, they call these two compounds, the Wolverine stack because anecdotally, people really do claim that the, the combo dramatically speeds up the recovery process, the recovery from soft tissue injuries, especially which can be very annoying. And take very long to heal. So they call it the Wolverine stack because apparently the, the comic book character, Wolverine, uh, I, I'm not a big comic book guy, but I guess Wolverine has rapid healing abilities. And that is what I'm trying to have as well. But that's my update. That's my experience so far, only about, you know, three, ish weeks on these two compounds, but doing much better this week than if I would answer this question last week, I would have still been in pissed off stage. So very good sign there. Uh, I will say, again, I, I, this is important. I, I just want to share this because I think 99 out of 100 times, if you have some kind of an injury, doing something is always better than nothing. You know, you, you hurt your low back instead of sitting down, you know, going to the doctor and they say, Oh, rest and take some Advil. No, walking is probably going to be better doing some light hip mobility is probably going to be better. If you tweak something at the gym, training around that injury is probably going to be better, training the other limb. It, you know, if, if you tweak your peck, maybe you could still do some upper back works, still train legs, get that blood flowing 99 out of 100 times. Something is going to be better than nothing. This was one of those times where the first two and a half weeks, three weeks, nothing was better. And when I say nothing, again, I still walked, I walked three miles every morning. I did, I so hold split squats for my lower body. But when I tell you grabbing any weight and doing anything, band pull apart, aggravated the hell out of it, but concentration curls, bicep curls, aggravated the hell out of it. I usually like chest supported rows are like the universal exercise, no matter what's wrong with you. You could always do even up until the day, up until my, my major shoulder surgery, I was doing light chest supported rows. I was able to do those. I couldn't do it with, with this thing, just like anything grabbing a dumbbell, lower body. I don't have a lot of, it's not like I have a leg press machine at my gym or like a leg extension or a leg curl. I obviously could have done things like that, but I don't have those machines. So it was just some body weight, lower body stuff. And I just share that because there are some exceptions to the rules sometimes, sometimes you just got to let give things time to heal and that meathead mentality of, oh, just lift around it. This was one of the few times where nothing was better than doing anything upper body wise at least. So I just share that with you guys to be smart. Listen to your body is the main message there. And final shout out to Dr. Doar by the way, because also he has helped tremendously, Dr. Doil, who is in his office, also the, between the soft tissue work, like the, the neck, the, the sub clavius, the man, they're digging into some areas that definitely contributed to this issue. I'm sure over the years, like some of these areas that you just, as much as I work on mobility, probably don't address my neck and that area as much. So I'm bringing back some of the, the barbell smashing on the traps that we, we have in some of our amp to warm up, warm ups and some areas that I've maybe neglected, they are digging into with their magic thumbs. So if you have any soft tissue injuries, always good to have a great soft tissue specialist, a RT practitioner, a chiropractor that maybe does some soft tissue work, that has helped tremendously. They, the shock wave therapy, I don't know how many of you are familiar with that. That helped tremendously for soft tissue injuries. It could really jumpstart the recovery process. It sounds like you're getting electrocuted. It's a pretty gnarly sound and it doesn't tickle. But it, thankfully, I wasn't able to handle it the first two weeks of this injury. It was just like too aggressive too much, but I've done three shock wave therapy sessions since after they did some soft tissue work and it's, it's helped. So as long as you, you incorporate it at the right time, I feel like it could really help with, with soft tissue, connective tissue stuff. It's, it's, I've read how it could stimulate cells that, that, actually generate new connective tissue amongst many other things like increasing circulation around the soft tissues and even just having a pain reducing kind of analgesic effect. I don't know if it's like overstimulating the nerve endings in the affected area so you kind of leave I know some people it could it can make you sore but for me the last two times I did it it actually gave me relief for whatever reason so definitely something to look into as well shockwave therapy it is called so there's my update My experience with the Wolverine stack so far we're gonna do another three weeks and then probably just Kind of go on maintenance I mentioned kind of half the BPC dose every other day. I'll do half of what I'm taking and then the TB 500 I'll maybe do one shot a week two milligrams or 1.5 milligrams one time a week until my vials run out and we'll see where I'll probably stick with all the supplements that I mentioned though um For the foreseeable future so that's that let me answer One training question we're gonna talk about today. This is a good one because I don't think we've spoken about this I might have done a podcast on this like my first year in podcasting and My answer has changed a little bit I think I haven't I'd have to go back and find that podcast but Let me read this question so you guys know what the hell I'm talking about This came from Alex who wrote when it comes to training variability Everyone seems to focus on exercise selection But the thing I've become most bored with is the set rep schemes used in almost every program If I never do three sets of 10 again, it'll be too soon Maybe you can cover your favorite or Or your most underrated set rep schemes for packing on muscle and building strength I think your listeners will appreciate that Especially the ones like me who have over 20 years training experience Thanks Joe keep the amazing podcasts coming Alex so First off, I do want to say this like yes Three sets of 10 is like everyone's default. I'm not gonna lie Myself included there's I I program three sets of 10 Quite often not you know, I would like to think we we have a lot more variety and put a lot more thought into our programming but I I still do program three sets of 10 Quite a bit because there's nothing wrong with it like it is it's a solid set and rep scheme right it the 10 reps is a nice area for most people where you know, you could build muscle and strength three sets is a good you know not not crazy volume but not super low volume It's kind of somewhere in the middle and I just bring that up because it's easy to bash three sets of 10 I'm sure I've done it in the past two, but there's a reason it's so popular it it It's pretty damn good right but when you do it all the time It's just like every program every exercise every day you're in the gym It's just like three sets of 10 three sets of 10 three sets of 10. Yeah, we We need to move on from that and and spice it up a bit and when we talk about training variability It shouldn't just be switching exercises up you could stick with the that's a that's and we've spoken about this But that's a great way for those who don't like changing up Exercises they really believe you should stick with one you know a handful of movement patterns and really really perfect them The the execution the PR's the perfect reps the pristine reps But you want some variety in your training Stick with the same movements but change the set and rep schemes and So I put a little bit of thought into this right before I started recording but maybe 90 seconds worth so I might Hopefully I I Don't forget or like when the podcast is over. I'm like oh shit. I should have said this or that You said I Want to just make sure let me you said You're fit you're most underrated so I'm not saying these are the best But if if from the top of off the top of my head right now whatever this is the Thursday November 20th you're listening to this I'll give you three set and rep schemes that are I feel suit very underrated But also very easy to implement very practical they also save time I've been using them more One of them I haven't spoken about a lot, but It's a little I'll give you a little sneak peek into phase three of Built different coming soon. We just started phase two But let me start with my my first one so here we go right now End of 2025 my top three most underrated set rep schemes for packing on muscle and building strength Not saying like a combination of both I'm not saying these are the best if you are a world-class powerlifter Trying to improve your one RM maybe these aren't the single best for that But for 99% of you who lift weights to get jacked and you want to be strong and pack on muscle These are phenomenal first one two hard sets of We'll say six to eight reps you could also say two hard sets of eight to ten you can kind of choose your poison depending on the exercise your your goal Training age and you know an experience etc. But well, let's say two hard sets of six to eight reps That that's a sweet spot. I like six to eight is like you could get strong a F great for strength But also great for packing on muscle. We've spoken about you know Effective reps the last five reps before failure. It are are the money reps the ones that we Know are at least at this point The most responsible for building muscle so We're in that sweet spot of just a little bit over the the Five rep, you know, I'm not just doing five rep maxes. So we got a little cushion in there And obviously you would warm up you would do as many warm-up sets low rep warm-up sets So you don't fatigue yourself and then you would it work up to two hard sets of six to eight reps Here's the execution your first work set Is going to be a one to two RIR. So Pick a weight that you know you could get for six probably eight and You're going to do six to eight reps stop At a one to two RIR you're not going to go to failure leave a little bit in the tank It's a hard set. It's a heavy set But we're leaving one to two in the tank. Then we're going to rest three minutes It's a solid rest interval, but not you know not five not ten minutes three minutes get some quality recovery And then you're going to hit the same weight for an am rep set as many reps as possible You might get say on the first set You got Six but you left two in the tank But you gave yourself a full recovery and you really you knew man This is I only have one hard set left Maybe you get nine reps on the second set you could also I don't want to I want to keep this simple, but with this Set reps scheme the the the simple two hard sets of six to eight You can add a rest pause to the second set as well if you really want to spice it up You do the first set leave one to two in the tank rest three minutes second set Am rep set go to failure. Let's say you you get six reps on the first set and then the second set you got nine rest 20 seconds and then do a Rest pause set as many as you could get maybe you get two or three more that is Do two super quality sets right there and you know 10 plus effective reps you know 10 to we could say 12 13 effective reps over the course of just two sets doesn't take a lot of time mentally it's like there's when you won't you know you only have two hard sets you're going to hit them a little bit harder I I really like that one and then you could have again depending on your goals and and what specific set reps scheme you choose let's say we're doing two hard sets of six to eight if you get 12 or more reps on that second set you could say I'm going to you know go up five pounds next week if you're really under shot and you got 15 reps go up 10 pounds you you could kind of have guidelines for going up I won't go into all those but I love that simply two hard sets of six to eight or eight to 10 with a rest pause added on to that second am rep set now my second most underrated set rep scheme for building strength and muscle is an undetermined set rep scheme it's a total volume approach which I love our members of team forever strong know that we throw this in we actually just use this in phase one in the built different in the built different program for chest supported lateral raises in the scapular plane we had our members pick away you're right around your 15 rep max or I'll say your 13 to 15 rep max I'll give you a little little wiggle room in there take away you could get for 15 reps 13 to 15 reps and you are going to do 40 total reps with that weight so let's say you're spot on you you pick away that is literally your 15 rep max you cannot get one more you do 15 reps just I'm giving you example you might undershoot you might overshoot maybe you get 17 reps on your first set you went a little bit light that's fine or maybe you only get 12 reps your first set that's not the end of the world either you could always adjust the next week but let's say you nail it right you take a weight and you go all out you get 15 reps then you're going to do the rest of the remaining reps rest pause style after depending on how close you go to failure you could eat I like staying away from failure on that first set we'll call it stay one or two shy away from failure push yourself you know go close but don't go completely to failure and then rest if you don't go to failure I would say that very first set maybe you rest up to like 30 seconds maybe even 40 45 seconds then you go again let's say you get 10 reps just as an example now as the reps get less you could take a little shorter rest interval maybe now it's 30 seconds and then you go again maybe you get six or seven six seven anybody wise kids stupid I don't still don't know what it means but every time I hear it someone now it's stuck in my head freaking immature fool over here but 50 years old saying six seven but then you rest again maybe you get here we go again yeah deep dude we got like every time I record the show late at night there's like it's like animal farm in my backyard we got raccoons there's rabbits there's freaking deer my my Google home thing just went off we there's like a family of rabbits this time it's remember I had that raccoon last time was creepy as hell anyway you get the point we're going rest pause style until we hit 40 total reps maybe it's like you do 15 then you do 10 then you do seven then you get five then you get three the goal is I like also timing the total like when I'm about to start my my first round of this I have a running clock and I see how long it took me to get to the 40 reps and then I try to beat that time it can I can I reach the 40 reps in less time with the same weight the next week and then maybe you do less sets if I did 15 10 7 5 3 that's five sets maybe in a week or two I'm able to squeeze that down into four sets then three sets and then at that point you know okay it's time to go up but I really love a total volume approach using rest pause anywhere we'll say 15 to 45 second rest intervals between each set or I should say 45 second to 15 second rest intervals between each set you kind of if you only have like one or two reps that you're doing at a time as you're approaching the the 40 total reps you don't need to be resting 45 seconds you might bang out you know three reps rest 10 15 seconds you bang out another one or two rest 15 seconds you get that last one or two you get the point you could also do that if you if you prefer going a little bit heavier you could do 30 total reps with your 10 rm we'll say 8 to 10 rm 30 total reps with your 8 to 10 rm or 40 total reps with your 13 to 15 rm and you want to do a rest pause style kind of as fast as possible but you know give yourself enough of a break that you don't want to get to a point where you can't do any right you go to failure and you only rest like 10 or 15 seconds and then you can even get one rep you want to it takes it takes a little bit of skill to perfect this set and rep scheme but when you get it down man it's it's a great pump you're getting a good amount of volume in with a decent weight it's it's awesome and it's just different right it's open ended it's you get out of that rut of like a 10 rep stop rest another 10 three sets 10 reps same old shit this this spices it up it keeps it keeps it fresh it's open ended right it's it's auto regulatory it's it's a lot of fun and and very very effective and then number three most underrated set and rep scheme I guess this is another kind of you I guess technically it's another rest pause technique this one is the 5 4 3 2 1 rest pause technique so this time I like to say take your six to eight rep max in a given exercise all right let's say you're doing a dumbbell bench press and you you could get the hundred pound dumbbells for eight reps what you would do is we're gonna get 15 reps with your six to eight RM so in this case if you're someone who could you know get seven eight reps with hundred pound dumbbells in a dumbbell bench you're gonna do a set of five rest don't want to go to failure again you want to leave I would say two two reps in reserve maybe even three reps in reserve depending on the the exercise and how heavy you're going in that exercise you know if it's something like a lateral raise maybe you just you leave one to two reps in reserve but if it's like a heavier dumbbell bench press or a goblet squat you know something where you're going heavier you maybe leave two to three reps in reserve on that first set which is still remember The weight is heavy. You don't want it to be easy. Performing five reps with your true seven or eight RM, that's a heavy hard set, but we're just not going to failure. We want the weight to be heavy, but not go to failure because if you do so on that very first five rep set, you will not have enough time to recover both neurologically or metabolically before your next effort. So you do five reps, rest, 20 to 30 seconds, then you do four reps. Then I'd say rest 15 to 20 seconds. Three reps, rest 15 to 20 seconds, two reps, rest 15 to 20 seconds, one rep. So it's five, four, three, two, one, resting between 15 and 30 seconds. We'll say that'll be my official answer. Between 15 and 30 seconds, between each effort. And again, if you choose your weight properly, your six to eight RM, you just banged out 15 reps in a short period of time with your six to eight RM. That's some quality work right there. And when you, if you nail the weight selection, I recommend just one of these sets, because again, one set equals five, 'cause you're doing a set of five, a set of three, a set of two, a set of one. So that would be, we'll call that one, five, four, three, two, one, rest, pause set. That would be my one main work set for a given exercise. Two of those sets would be the most I would ever do. And only if you're first set, you undershot on your weight a bit, or maybe you took too long to rest, somebody started talking to you or whatever, but if it's just too easy, you kind of blow through it, do another set, and either take shorter rest intervals or increase the weight. But if you nail it and you do it right, you should be that the last three, the three, two, one, it should be tough. You get it, you don't wanna be doing four reps, you should get it on your own, or maybe that last one, if you have a spotter, like you get stuck, they give you a little bit of help. That's fine, but you know, you shouldn't be having someone lift the weight off your chest if you're benching or pulling you up if you're squatting, you want it to be quality reps on your own, heavy, but clean without help. One set is all you need of those two tops. If you undershot a little bit, just know that the five, four, three, two, one technique, pretty neurologically and metabolically demanding. It's like a combo, but it's what also makes it great for building strength and muscle. Just another great one, size and strength, doesn't take a lot of time. That'll definitely spice up your training. Instead of three sets of 10, the, you know, you get yourself psyched up for a five, four, three, two, one, what you're six, seven, six to eight rep max, there you go. So that's my top three underrated set and rep schemes for packing on muscle and strength. That's all I got for today. Very, very late. Apologize, I know we didn't really get to a ton of different things, but, you know, I think that's still some quality information right there, useful information and a little sneak peak for all of our team forever strong members. That five, four, three, two, one method has made its way into phase three of built different coming soon. Don't let's not look past phase two, but I figure I'll just give you a give you a little heads up. It's on the horizon. So here's what we're going to do since today's podcast was a little bit, you know, off the cuff and maybe not the greatest show of all times, but I always show my love and respect for my listeners. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to do another giveaway on my Instagram when I post this show. Drop me a comment with speaking of set and rep schemes and exercise selection. Let me know what is your favorite program. DeFranco, either DeFranco old school DeFranco insider program. It could have been a free program. I posted one of one of my and Smitty programs, if you remember, a team forever strong. Just what's what's the favorite program of of mine and or mine and Smitty's that you have ever done? I'm very interested in hearing that first of all because it helps us. And me when I'm thinking of designing new programs kind of to just get a feel. Like what splits the people prefer? You know, what are the ones that were most popular? If there's one that really comes up more than others, maybe we'll do a part two or a part three of that program. So just interested to hear that's all you got to do. Drop me a comment with your favorite program of all time. I will rant. I'll do what I normally do. I'll have my daughters pick a number between one and however many comments there are and whatever comments coincide with the numbers they choose. I will send you from some free stuff. I got merch coming. I have some zip up hoodies. I think only in larger sizes, but I have some nice zip up hoodies from last year. But I think only in XL's. But whatever, if I don't have your size and merch, I am fully stocked on Muscle Mag 300. I'll send you some Muscle Mag and or free merch. So drop me a comment with your favorite program and I will pick two winners this weekend. And then next week, we are going to do a Thanksgiving giveaway episode where I'm going to be given away a bunch of stuff and big cliffhanger here. I am going to be introducing the world to a new coach. And I'm going to leave it at that. I am so freaking excited. I've been sitting on this for months now. This coach is involved in one of my secret projects, which I'm supposed to have my hands on this weekend. And then if so, they told me very, very, very good chance. If not by this weekend by Monday or Tuesday. So we should be good by by the time I record the podcast next week. Next week's episode will basically just be like a fun Thanksgiving giveaway episode and an introduction to the world to this new coach who worked with me on this amazing project that you guys are going to free. You guys are going to laugh. You're going to love. I just can't. I'm so excited. I don't want to overhype it though, because then maybe you'll be let down, but I don't think you'll be let down. I think this is going to be a fun one that lives up to the hype. So I'm going to introduce you to this new coach next week. And then we will be back to our regularly scheduled podcasting programs. I got Dr. Alan Bacon already booked for the show after Thanksgiving. Part two of the overrated underrated show. We did a couple of weeks ago, which was wildly popular. The most downloaded show that I've done in the past couple months. So we got we got some great training and nutrition talk coming next week, though, it's just going to be a fun one. So make sure to stay tuned. Drop me a comment with your favorite program and I'll talk to you next week. [MUSIC] (upbeat music)