RIR and Rounds

You’re reading your program and you see something like this:

3-4 rounds:

10 ring rows

10 db floor press

Naturally, when many people read this, they assume it says, “you’re a lazy cheater if you only do 3 rounds.”

The range is there to help you determine how much work you do. And if you have a lot of RIR — doing fewer rounds at a heavier weight will be greatly beneficial to you.

RIR = reps in reserve. It’s representative of how many additional reps you could keep doing at the end of your set (with good form, of course). The sweet spot to getting stronger is having about 2 reps in reserve. I find that many people finish a set, and have 10 or more reps in reserve — they’re not working nearly hard enough to elicit strength gains. And when you’re working at a more appropriate level, doing 3 rounds sounds a lot better than 4.

If you find yourself automatically going to the bigger sets/rounds number — ask yourself, am I working hard enough now? How many reps in reserve do I have? Could I actually slow down and go heavier?

Justin Miner

@justinminergain