Programming
Rep Ranges Against Fixed Rep Schemes
Prescribing a range rather than a fixed number lets a session absorb daily variation in readiness, but it also removes the constraint that forces load to increase.
A programme can specify three sets of eight, or three sets of six to eight. The difference looks cosmetic and changes how the programme behaves across weeks.
Fixed schemes force a decision about load
With a fixed target, the lifter either completes the prescribed repetitions or does not, and the load for the next session follows from that result.
The rule is unambiguous, which is its main strength. Progress is visible and the next session is determined without judgement.
Its weakness is that it ignores how the lifter feels on the day. A poor night's sleep produces a failed session that reads as a failure of the programme.
Ranges absorb daily variation
A range allows the same prescription to be met on a good day and a poor one, with the repetition count carrying the difference rather than the load.
This makes the programme more robust across a period of disrupted sleep or high work stress, which is most of the time for most people.
It also reduces the number of sessions that end in failure, which matters for adherence more than the physiology usually acknowledged.
The drift toward the bottom of the range
The predictable failure of range-based prescription is that lifters settle at the lower end and stay there, since the minimum still satisfies the programme.
Over several weeks that produces a stable amount of work at a stable load, which is maintenance rather than progression.
The fix is a rule attached to the range: when the top of the range is reached across all sets, the load increases and the count resets to the bottom.
Range width should match the exercise
A narrow range suits heavy compound movements, where a large spread in repetitions represents a large difference in fatigue cost.
A wider range works for accessory movements, where the objective is accumulated work rather than a precise load, and where fatigue costs less.
Using the same width everywhere is where range prescription usually goes wrong, since the two categories of exercise are doing different jobs.
Effort ratings sit between the two approaches
Prescribing a set of eight with two repetitions left in reserve specifies effort rather than load, which handles daily variation while still constraining intensity.
The cost is that estimating remaining repetitions is a skill, and inexperienced lifters consistently overestimate how many they have left.
That skill improves with exposure to genuinely hard sets, which is why effort-based prescription tends to work better for lifters with some training history than for beginners.
