Most of my athletes have never really lifted
Many of the volleyball players who walk into my gym have never been in a true strength
and conditioning program. They're competitive and coachable, but a goblet squat, a trap
bar deadlift or a split squat is brand new to them.
Then a program shows up that says "squat 75% of your max." The problem is they don't
have a max, and I don't want them hunting for one.
Why I don't lean on percentages with new lifters
Percentages work when you have a trustworthy one-rep max. Testing a max on a lift an
athlete has done a handful of times tells me more about her technique than her strength,
and it's a poor use of her training time.
Percentages also can't read the room. A short night of sleep, sore legs from practice, a
heavy week of school and a tournament weekend all change what the same weight feels
like. The people who built the RIR-based effort scale designed it for exactly this: adjusting
daily training load to how an athlete actually shows up (Zourdos et al., 2016).
What RIR is, and what the research says
RIR stands for reps in reserve: how many good reps an athlete could still do when she
stops a set. Two reps in reserve means she could have done two more with solid form.
Effort ratings track something real. In a study of 29 squatters, both novice and
experienced, ratings built on RIR lined up closely with how fast the bar moved: a slower
bar meant a harder rating (Zourdos et al., 2016).
It can match or beat fixed percentages. In a 12-week squat program, 31 trained men
who set their load by RIR gained more strength than men on fixed percentages, partly
because they could train heavier as they got stronger (Graham & Cleather, 2021). It's
one small study, and a later review of athletes found the evidence leans toward
autoregulation but isn't unanimous (Frontiers in Physiology, 2021).
Train Hard, Not Reckless: Why We Use RIR
We don't need to chase failure for strength. A large 2024 analysis found that strength
gains changed very little with how close a set ended to failure, while the load itself
mattered more for maximal strength. Muscle growth was the outcome that improved
closer to failure (Robinson et al., 2024). So leaving a rep or two in the tank costs us very
little.
How we use it in the gym
Our rule is simple: hit the percentage, or land at 1-2 RIR. If an athlete knows her numbers
and feels good, the percentage is the target. If the lift is new, or she's running on four
hours of sleep, effort decides. Either way the goal is a set that's challenging and still looks
like a good rep.
Here's the cue I teach: at 1-2 RIR the bar slows down, but positions and control stay the
same. If form breaks down, that set was past the line.
There's a real catch. New lifters tend to underestimate how much they have left, and
accuracy improves with experience (Steele et al., 2017). On average, people in a large
review were off by about a rep, and they judged effort better on sets of 12 reps or fewer
and nearer the end of a set (Halperin et al., 2022). So I keep rep ranges low, watch bar
speed and positions, and coach the rating on every set.
The payoff shows up over time. As her technique improves, the same 1-2 RIR means more
weight on the bar, so progress is built in. RIR is one of three pillars in how I train, alongside
controlling the eccentric and isometric phases and owning the best range of motion she
can.
What parents should know
The National Strength and Conditioning Association's position is that a properly designed
and supervised youth resistance training program is relatively safe and effective
(Faigenbaum et al., 2009). The words that matter are designed and supervised.
In practice, that means your athlete won't be asked to max out on a lift she just learned.
She'll train hard, and her coach will keep an eye on her technique. Early strength gains in
young athletes come largely from the nervous system getting better at using the muscle
she already has, so don't be surprised when she feels stronger before she looks any
different.
Train Hard, Not Reckless: Why We Use RIR
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The bottom line
I want my athletes to get strong, jump higher and show up to club season ready. The best
plan is the one she can execute on a tired Tuesday: hard enough to improve, never so hard
that her form falls apart.
If your athlete is new to lifting and you want a plan built this way, reach out to Swift
Performance Training and we'll find the right starting point.
References
Faigenbaum AD, et al. (2009). Youth resistance training: updated position statement
paper from the NSCA. J Strength Cond Res, 23(5 Suppl), S60-S79.
Graham T, Cleather DJ (2021). Autoregulation by "repetitions in reserve" leads to
greater improvements in strength over a 12-week training program than fixed loading. J
Strength Cond Res.
Halperin I, et al. (2022). Accuracy in predicting repetitions to task failure in resistance
exercise: a scoping review and exploratory meta-analysis. Sports Med, 52(2), 377-390.
Robinson ZP, et al. (2024). Exploring the dose-response relationship between
estimated resistance training proximity to failure, strength gain, and muscle
hypertrophy. Sports Med, 54(9), 2209-2231.
Steele J, et al. (2017). Ability to predict repetitions to momentary failure is not
perfectly accurate, though improves with resistance training experience. PeerJ, 5,
e4105.
Zourdos MC, et al. (2016). Novel resistance training-specific rating of perceived
exertion scale measuring repetitions in reserve. J Strength Cond Res, 30(1), 267-275.
Auto-regulation method vs. fixed-loading method in maximum strength training for
athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Physiol, 12, 2021.