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Optimize the work-to-rest ratio

Introduction

While the actual amount and quality of work performed are very important for stimulating maximum muscle growth, the significance of the work-to-rest ratio shouldn’t be underestimated either. This ratio plays a huge role when it comes to initiating the adaptation process and will thus have an important effect on the amount of muscle you will add to your frame.

There are several “levels” to the work-to-rest ratio; each of them playing a key role in the training process:

1. Intraset work-to-rest ratio 2. Workout density 3. Weekly work-to-restoration ratio

Intraset work-to-rest ratio This refers to the time proportion during a set where the muscle is under maximal tension. For example, if a set lasts 40 seconds and the muscles are tensed maximally for 25 of these seconds, the intraset ratio would be 62.5%. In other words, your muscles would be fully tensed 62.5% of the time while during the remaining 37.5% of the time they would either be relaxed or less than maximally tensed either because you are pausing between reps, lowering the weight without maximally contracting your muscle, or lifting the weight without trying to generate as much force as possible. If you are training to gain as much muscle mass as you can, you should strive to have an intraset ratio as close to 100% as possible. This means not taking pauses between reps, always flexing your muscles as hard as possible during the eccentric portion of the movement, and always trying to lift the weight with as much force/acceleration as possible. It also means avoiding unloading the muscles. Unloading occurs when the weight is not supported by the muscles but by the skeletal structure (for example, the arms locked out during a bench press). So, during movements such as pressing exercises, squats, leg presses, and hack squats you should stop just short of lockout to keep the muscles under load.

 Workout density

Density refers to the ratio of work per unit of time during a workout. If you are actively training for 30 minutes during a 70 minute workout you have a density of around 43%. In other words, you spend 43% of your training time actively working out and 57% of it resting. When training for muscle mass gains you should strive to increase workout density as much as you can without having to decrease the quality of each set. This means using as little rest as possible between your sets. How much rest should you take? I can’t give you an exact number because this will vary depending on the muscle(s) being trained, the exercise selection, and your level of conditioning. But you should shoot for incomplete restoration; don’t wait to be fully recovered before starting a new set. First and foremost, you should try to reach an important oxygen debt after each set, an oxygen debt is when you are out of breath after the set. The harder and deeper you have to breathe after a set, the more productive (when it comes to building muscle mass) it was. Obviously you will have a greater oxygen debt after a set of squats than after a set of dumbbell curl, but regardless of the exercise you should strive to attain the greatest oxygen debt possible with that exercise. You will be breathing hard after a set and you shouldn’t wait for your breathing to normalize before starting a new set. Incomplete rest is what you want: start a set when you are still breathing somewhat hard. Cumulative fatigue is a very important stimulus for muscle growth. Oxygen debt and lactate production are two things that lead to an increase in growth hormone production and as such they will have a positive effect on both fat loss and muscle growth.

Weekly work-to-restoration ratio  

This refers to the frequency of training compared to the restorative measures used. Quite simply, the more (or more often) you train a muscle group without exceeding your recovery capacities, the more muscle you’ll gain. This means that you can train a muscle very often (3+ times per week) using a low volume of work, often (2 times per week) using a moderate volume of work, or infrequently (once a week) using a high volume of work. In most cases, the second option (training each muscle group twice a week using a moderate volume) is the best solution. The weekly work-to-restoration ratio is also influenced by your nutritional status: if you are consuming a caloric deficit your body will not recover as fast and as such, you cannot have as many total training sessions during a week. For example if you are consuming a deficit, you might only be able to train 4 times per week while if you are consuming a caloric surplus, you might be able to have 6 weekly workouts. In both cases you can still train each muscle group twice a week but a lower nutritional intake should mean less total weekly workouts. Finally, this weekly ratio can be influenced by your work capacity. If you have a greater tolerance for intense physical work (mesomorphs and meso-endomorphs with an important training experience) you will be able to handle more frequent training sessions or more daily volume than someone with a low work capacity. So as you can see, it’s hard to recommend a universal weekly work-to-rest ratio, but as a rule of thumb you should strive to increase the amount of work performed per week as you increase your training experience and thus your work capacity.  

Key points

1. Always try to maximize the intraset work-to-rest ratio by avoiding pauses between reps, making sure that you are tensing your muscles maximally during the eccentric portion of the movement, and generating as much force/acceleration as possible on each concentric reps.

2. Try to induce an oxygen debt after each set. The oxygen debt is a good sign that you worked close to your limit and that the set was productive.

3. Shoot for an incomplete recovery between sets. Wait long enough to be able to give a good effort, but not so long that you’re breathing normalize.

4. Start by training each muscle group twice a week using a moderate volume. Depending on your nutritional intake and your body type you should split the weekly volume in 4-6 sessions. The fewer calories you consume, the less weekly sessions you should have.

Examples of good weekly training splits While I would suggest starting by training each muscle group twice a week (and adjust the frequency depending on how your body is reacting) the actual number of training sessions per week will depend on your own capacity to tolerate physical stress, your nutritional intake, and the level of non-training related stress you are under each day. Obviously the less stress you are under, and the better nourished you are, the more weekly training sessions you can have.

Individuals with an ideal recovery situation (low level of stress, consuming a caloric excess, good tolerance for physical work) can train 5 or 6 times per week. For these individuals, any one of these training splits can be used:

Split option 1 Day 1: Quadriceps and Chest Day 2: Back and Hamstrings Day 3: Shoulders and Arms Day 4: Chest and Quadriceps Day 5: Hamstrings and Back Day 6: Arms and Shoulders Day 7: OFF

Split option 2 Day 1: Chest and Back Day 2: Quadriceps and Hamstrings Day 3: Shoulders and Arms Day 4: Back and Chest Day 5: Hamstrings and Quadriceps Day 6: Arms and Shoulders Day 7: OFF

Split option 3 Day 1: Chest, Triceps and Shoulders Day 2: Quadriceps and Hamstrings Day 3: Back and Biceps Day 4: Chest, Triceps and Shoulders Day 5: Hamstrings and Quadriceps Day 6: Back and Biceps Day 7: OFF

Split option 4 Day 1: Chest, Quadriceps and Shoulders Day 2: Back and Biceps  Day 3: Hamstrings and Triceps Day 4: OFF Day 5: Quadriceps, Chest and Triceps Day 6: Back and Biceps Day 7: OFF

Individuals with a decent recovery situation (moderate stress levels, sufficient caloric intake, adequate work capacity); this includes the majority of the population, should train 4 times per week. The following splits are adequate for that type of frequency:

Split option 5 Day 1: Quadriceps, Chest and Triceps Day 2: Hamstrings, Back and Biceps Day 3: OFF Day 4: Chest, Quadriceps, Shoulders and Triceps Day 5: OFF Day 6: Back, Hamstrings and Biceps Day 7: OFF

Split option 6 Day 1: Lower Body Day 2: Upper body Day 3: OFF Day 4: Lower body Day 5: OFF Day 6: Upper body Day 7: OFF

Those with a lousy recovery situation (high stress levels, severe caloric deficit, and low work capacity) should train 3 times per week. The following split is adequate for that frequency:

Split option 7 Day 1: Whole body Day 2: OFF Day 3: Lower body Day 4: OFF Day 5: Upper body Day 6: OFF Day 7: OFF

The important thing to remember is that you should strive to hit each muscle group twice per week (some muscle groups receiving a lot of indirect stimulation, like shoulders, can be trained only once a week) and the total number of weekly training sessions will depend on your recovery situation.  

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