My understanding is that the science atm suggest that, while near/to failure is best for hypertrophy, staying <7 rpe is best for strength. So will try to a bunch of solid 1-3 rep sets at low RPEs on assited OACs, plus one harder single now and then to mark progress, and basically everything else done at 8-10 RPE.
that's interesting. at some point in the past 6-7 years i stopped nerding out on training research the way i did in my 20s. all other things being equal, hypertrophy=strength gains, so this is news to me. you got a reference? i'm curious.
Yeah was pretty surprising to me too, but has ultimately come to make sense as I've thought about it.
I think the basic gist is that long term, you obviously want to maximise hypertophy b/c bigger muscle = stronger muscle
in general and for
low-skill movements. But if you want to maximise strength-specific adaptations on a single movement, then you want the practice to be as useful and specific as possible. So you want every training rep to at the sweet spot of fast + heavy, so you keep the RPE/velocity loss pretty moderate. Then, since each set is easier, you can do more total reps that are both (a) use a heavy load and (b) involve moving the bar/yourself fast. So, more, and better, specific practice.
So in running terms, you're conflating the the utility of the general prep of hypertrophy (i.e. base phase) with the specific practice of strength training (i.e. sharpening workouts like 5 x 1km for a 5k). Or like, we know that gaining muscle from moderate rep squats will help your vert, but at some point to maximise that you need to just practice jumping. 1 x 10 squats is more specific to 1rm squat than jumping, but still less so than practicing singles.
This is the latest big meta-analysis on RPE in general:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370837310_Exploring_the_Dose-Response_Relationship_Between_Estimated_Resistance_Training_Proximity_to_Failure_Strength_Gain_and_Muscle_Hypertrophy_A_Series_of_Meta-RegressionsIt's relatively clear in showing that higher RPE = better muscle gainz on a per set basis, and also shows that you don't need to go to balls-to-the-wall RPE to max out strength gains.
This is the latest meta-analysis specifically on RPE/velocity loss for strength:
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/11/3/337This is the key chart from the strength meta:
And yeah since I am in a fat loss phase, I'm not expecting to make any meaningful gains in back muscle, so I am happy to reduce my overall volume and do a bunch of "heavy easy" OAC sets in place of that work.
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