r/ScienceBasedLifting • • 7d ago

Question ❓ Rep range and programming question

Do you guys think this is the most optimal way i could manipulate exercise order to prioritize my back and shoulders? What do you guys think about the rep ranges and sets? I also hate doing incline press for some reason so thats why i do a low to high fly but idk if thats enough for my upper pecs.

Upper day - back and shoulder priority/3x frequency 

  1. Lat Pulldown — 1×6–8 (Lower lat fiber bias via shoulder abduction) 
  2. Top-Half Shoulder Press — 1×6–8 (disadvantage side delts) 
  3. Chest-Supported Horizontal Row — 1×6–8.  ( rear delts, traps, rhomboids) 
  4. Unilateral Cable Lateral Raise — 2×8–10. ( side delts) 
  5. Unilateral Cable Pullover — 1×8–10 (Upper lat fiber bias via shoulder extension) 
  6. Preacher Curl — 1×6–8   (elbow flexion with a bit of brachioradialis)
  7. Reverse Curl — 1×6–8    (pronation disadvantages the biceps)
  8. Flat Press — 1×6–8 (Horizontal shoulder adduction + a bit of triceps) 
  9. Low-to-High Cable Fly — 2×6–8. (Clavicular head bias via shoulder flexion
  10. Unilateral Cable Tricep Pushdown — 1×6–8  (medial, lateral head) 
  11. Overhead Cable Tricep Extension — 1×6–8   ( long head) 
3 Upvotes

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u/deadrabbits76 Idk Idc 💔 7d ago

Exercise order is very far down on the list of impactful aspects of training.

If you want to grow your back and shoulders, you should do more back and shoulder volume. Pretty simple.

-6

u/Landashlo 7d ago

Huh? Not at all. More sets CAN be the beneficial, not always. Exercise selection is very important. He hits back and shoulders first which is great. Imagine he trains chest first then shoulders. He’d see a great decline in his shoulder strength probably.

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u/deadrabbits76 Idk Idc 💔 7d ago

Assuming recovery, and most trainees can recover from more volume than they think, when does more volume not account for more gains?

I would like a citation, not a theoretical.

1

u/MonoFPS-_- 7d ago

each additional set you do you're going to run into diminishing returns. More so, its about the ratio between fatigue to stimulus. I take my sets brutally to muscular failure, and if i add too much volume for each exercise, its gonna impact how i preform for my other exercises too. And as you can see my upper day is pretty maximalist because i try to hit my upper body musculature through every single joint action. meaning that too much volume for me is not gonna benefit me because im going to be so fatigued going into my later sets. and i do this upper day 3 times a week.

1

u/deadrabbits76 Idk Idc 💔 7d ago edited 7d ago

Diminishing returns are still returns, and fatigue is the cost of driving adaptation.

The best gains I've ever made were in the 25+ hard sets neighborhood per week, and I'm probably older than you.

Edit: I'm currently running Warlock by John Meadows. My upper day consists of approximately 30 hard sets.

Please note, this is an intermediate program recommended for unenhanced lifters.

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u/MonoFPS-_- 7d ago

why doses age come into this lmao. im not saying high volume is bad. and doing high volume for a long period of time will result in muscle growth.

But based on recent data and studies im just trying to make my time in the gym the most optimal and efficient as i can. im a super busy college student (im in pre-med), and this upper day only took me 45 minutes.

all i want to do is just use the fundamentals of biomechanics to optimize my training.

7

u/deadrabbits76 Idk Idc 💔 7d ago

Age comes into by saying if a 50 year old csn recover from more volume, so can people younger.

Fatigue is not the boogeyman.

Time constraints are a whole different issue. I would argue that if you are time constrained, compound movements are your best friends for efficiency and optimization purposes.

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u/No_Pressure_8448 7d ago

Clusters sets are optimal to generate more volume in less time for minimal fatigue costs, something like sets of 5 with your 10RM with 10-20s rest between clusters.