How many times have you been given an exercise and wondered “what is with the magic number of 3 sets of 10?”
If you’re someone who’s currently working out at home during lock down and wants to improve your fitness goals then keep reading because there’s much more to consider when it comes to exercise dosage.
Personally speaking, physiotherapists have a bad reputation for drawing stick figures on a piece of paper after treatment and writing 3 sets of 10 for every exercise.
This is probably because 3 sets of 10 is the general dosage to achieve most fitness goals but this is not always the case, especially if you have specific training goals in mind.
Now we all know exercise is good for our health and well being and most would agree that doing some exercise is better than no exercise but how can we optimise our training program?
The type of exercise and dosage should ideally be specific to your fitness goals.
To help you break down exercise selection and dosage. I’ve come up with an acronym GANES to help you identify the most important factors in exercise prescription.
Goal - Be very clear on what fitness goal you are aiming to achieve. Are you looking to build a big and chiseled chest (hypertrophy), bench three plates on the bar (strength), run a marathon (aerobic capacity and muscular endurance), slam dunk like Kobe Bryant (power), run as fast as Usain Bolt (speed) or to be able to do the splits (flexibility)? Your exercise selection should match the fitness goal you want to achieve.
Activity - Clarify what activity or sport you wish to improve in. Your exercise selection will be very different if you are aiming to hit a new personal record in your next powerlifting competition as opposed to winning the footy season.
Niggles - Identify whether you have any niggles, aches or pain. Your exercise prescription should be tailored to meet your previous and existing injuries.
Experience - Be aware of your current training experience. Are you a beginner, intermediate or advanced lifter? It also helps to identify which type of exercises in the past have worked well and which ones did not work well for you.
Satisfying - Last but not least, your exercises should be enjoyable and fun. There’s no point following a training program that isn’t satisfying to your goals. The more fun you have along the journey, the more consistent you will be with your training and the closer you’ll get to reaching your training goals!
To help you optimise your exercise prescription, the table below aims to guide you on what variables to manipulate according to your fitness goals.
Aim: Power - Moderate weight, low to moderate reps, focus on speed on movement / 2-5 reps / 2mins work-rest ratio
Aim: Strength - Heavy load, low reps, no emphasis on speed / 2-6 reps / 90sec work-rest ratio
Aim: Hypertrophy - Moderate to heavy load, higher reps / 8-12 reps / 60sec work-rest ratio
Aim: Muscular Endurance - Lighter load, high repetitions / 12-20 reps / 30sec work-rest ratio
It is important to note that there is no ‘’magical number’’ for rep ranges as the fitness components generally overlap with each other, for example strength and power, hypertrophy and muscular endurance.
Therefore, exercise dosage is never as clear as black and white and should not be prescribed as a one-size fits all approach. You can finally ditch the 3 sets of 10 and assess whether your training is achieving your desired results with the acronym GANES.
Thank you for sticking around and I hope you make some loyal gains in your training
Author: Gary Cheung (Physiotherapist)
If you need further advice or require treatment for an injury our physiotherapists from Healesville Physio & Sports Medicine can certainly assist you.
Healesville Sports Medicine is close to the following suburbs/regions including Badger Creek, Chum Creek, Mt Toolebewong, Tarrawarra, Yering, Steeles Creek, Toolangi, Kinglake, Yarra Glen, Dixons Creek, Hoddles Creek, Marysville, Fernshaw, Alexandra, Thornton, Eildon, Warburton and Millgrove. We have early and late appointments for all your Sports Medicine and Physiotherapy needs.