Autoregulation_The Definitive Guide To

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The Definitive Guide to AutoregulatedTraining

By Armi Legge | September 12, 2015 | 0

You’ve beentraining for years, but your results have slowed.

In the past, you followed your program, ate smart, and kept getting stronger and building

musle.

!ut for the past few months, you’ve been stuk in "strength purgatory.# You have good

weeks where you add $%&'% pounds to a lift. Then, after a few bad workouts, you’re bak

where you started.

You know you an do more, but you’ve hit a plateau.

You’ve been following a solid program. (aybe you found it online or in a book. (aybe you

made it yourself. )hatever you’re doing, it’s not working anymore.

It’s time to try something new.

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What is Autoregulation?

Autoregulation means making some of the deisions about your training *during* your

workout, instead of having every detail planned beforehand.

In other words, you have more immediate ontrol over the variables in your workout thanwith most programs. You’ve probably used autoregulation before, whether you reali+ed it or

not.

-ested an etra minute so you ould push harder the net set/

Added 0 pounds instead of $% beause you felt good/

Dropped the weight when your form started to break/

That’s autoregulation.

This doesn’t mean that you make up a workout at the gym. You still need a plan.

Autoregulation helps you deide *how* to eeute that plan.

Autoregulation isn’t the same thing as "listening to your body# 1 you don’t go home at the

first sign of fatigue. Instead, you make hanges to your training based on how you

*perform*, not neessarily how you *feel*.

Autoregulation is not a speifi program. It’s a onept 1 a framework 1 and there an be

as many different versions of autoregulation as there are people lifting weights.

You an use autoregulation with any sport, as I do when I’m training for endurane events.

2ine most of you want to get big, lean, and strong, however, we’ll fous on strength

training in this artile.

Why You Should Autoregulate Your Strength Training

(ost programs are based around the idea that progress is linear. 3or beginners, it is, but

after about a year that stops being true.

It’s impossible to predit eatly what weights you should use a month from now, how muh

rest you’ll need between workouts or sets, or how muh total volume you an lift. You

should still make a plan, but that plan needs *strutured fleibility.*

2ome parts of your training should hange, and they’re going to do so in an unpreditable

manner. Autoregulation gives you a framework within whih you an make those hanges

when they’re needed.

http://evidencemag.com/power-meter-traininghttp://evidencemag.com/power-meter-training


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That’s not to say that programs are bad, but you don’t need to have every detail deided

before you walk into the gym.

In terms of researh supporting autoregulation, there isn’t muh, but the little we have is

promising.

The Science Behind Autoregulation

A reent review by (enno 4enselmans and !rad 2hoenfeld found that autoregulated rest

periods were as good or better than strutured ones for strength and musle gain.5$6

After si weeks of autoregulated strength training, Division $ ollege football players

inreased their benh and s7uat strength more than with linear periodi+ation.5'6

Another study found that in beginners, autoregulated training inreased their leg press more

than linear periodi+ation.586 9n the other hand, their hest press wasn’t any different.

The only other studies I ould find on this topi were done on in:ured athletes and in:ured

old people.5;,06

of your working weight 5the heaviest weight you used in your last workout6 for $%

reps.

2et '= ?0> of your working weight for @ reps.

2et 8= $%%> of your working weight for as many reps as possible.

After the third set, you ad:ust the weight based on how many reps you were able to perform.

If you performed fewer than 0&@ reps, you’d lower the weight. If you performed more than

that, you’d raise the weight.

2et ;= As many reps as possible with your new weight.

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4ere’s the original table=

The number of reps you perform in the fourth set deides whether or not you raise or lower

your weight in the net workout, based on the guidelines below.

You don’t need to use this eat system, and newer studies have hanged this slightly, but it

shows the general onept. You deide what to do in your net set based on the previous

one.

(enno 4enselmans, a bodybuilding oah and researher, uses what he alls

"Autoregulatory olume Training.# In this ase, you work up to a single set at one rep short

of failure. Bsing the same weight, you perform as many reps as possible for the presribed

number of sets.

You take every set one rep short of failure, or a C on a sale of $&$%. Aording to (enno,

you rest "until you feel fully reovered and an go all&out again.# If you an’t perform more

than 8 reps, lower the weight by $%&'%>.

http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/http://bayesianbodybuilding.com/


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Another bodybuilding oah, !rge 3agerli, uses some elements of autoregulation in

his (yo -epssystem. You go :ust short of failure on an eerise after '%&8% reps. Then you

re&rak the weight, take a short break, perform another smaller set almost to failure, and

repeat several times.

(ike Tuhserer’s -eative Training 2ystem 5-T26 uses time and -EF limits, along with

several other metris, to autoregulate the training of some of the best powerlifters in the

world.

-T2 isn’t a speifi program. It’s more of a methodology built around autoregulation. To give

you an idea of how it ompares to other programs, here’s a table from the -eative

Training 2ystems (anualH5http=store.reativetrainingsystems.omErodutDetails.asp/

ErodutJodeK86 that onverts relative pereived eertion, or -EF, into one&rep&ma

perentages=

http://borgefagerli.com/http://borgefagerli.com/myo-reps-in-englishhttp://www.reactivetrainingsystems.com/http://borgefagerli.com/http://borgefagerli.com/myo-reps-in-englishhttp://www.reactivetrainingsystems.com/


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There are infinite ways to autoregulate your training, so let’s walk through the basis.

How to Autoregulate Your Training in 4 Easy Steps

1. Decide on rep ranges.

If you’re trying to get stronger, it’s generally best to use lower reps, say around $&0. If you’re

trying to gain musle, you generally want to use slightly higher repsH

5http=evidenemag.omthe&best&rep&range&for&building&musle6, say around @&$'.

The important thing is that you stay onsistent over time. In other words, if you did s7uats

for reps of ;&0 last (onday, then do the same net (onday. -ep ranges are generally one

of the things you want to stay onstant.

2. Create fatigue stops

9ne of the biggest advantages of autoregulation is that it lets you more aurately manage

fatigue.

Instead of guessing that you’ll need three minutes of rest between sets ahead of time, you

an deide that during your workout.

4ere are two of the easiest ways to manage fatigue with autoregulation=

$. -EF limits.

'. Time limits.

-EF, or relative pereived eertion, is a fany way of saying how hard your training feels.

(ost studies have shown that it’s an aurate gauge of fatigue while strength training,5@&$%6

although not all have found this to be true.5$$6

-EF isn’t perfet though. It doesn’t always work well for kids and ineperiened athletes.

5$'6 !ut the more you train, the better you get at estimating your rating of pereived

eertion.5$8,$;6

(y favorite -EF sale was developed by powerlifter and oah (ike Tuhserer. It goes

from $&$%, with $% meaning you have no reps left. -EFs below ;&0 don’t matter, so they’re

not inluded in the hart.


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To use -EF limits, set an upper and lower -EF for your reps. 3or eample, you ould plan

to do ;&0 sets of s7uats at an -EF of ?&L.

4ere’s what your sets might look like=

8%% 0 M -EF ?

8$% 0 M -EF ?

8'% 0 M -EF L

8'% ; M -EF L

8'% ; M -EF C

9ne you hit an -EF of C within your rep range, you stop or lower the weight.

You an use any -EF sale you want, but you need to stay onsistent.

If you’ve never done this before or you’re new to training, :ust start traking your -EFs.

Neep doing your normal workout plan, and write the -EF net to eah set. This will give youa better idea of how hard the sets feel. After you’ve got the hang of it, you an start using

-EF to plan your workout, as in the eample above.

If you want, you an also reord an -EF for the total workout instead. 2ome data -EF may

be better at gauging fatigue than intensity.5$0,$@6


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To use time limits, you set a ap on how long you’ll spend on work sets for an eerise.

3or eample, in my last workout, I set my timer for '% minutes for work sets of s7uats. This

means that after warming up, I spent '% minutes doing s7uats, inluding rest periods.

)ithin that time limit, you an use whatever rest periods you need to omplete the net set.

Time limits largely determine how muh volume you perform on any given day. The longer

you give yourself to train with an eerise, generally the more volume you an do. A good

starting plae is to give yourself enough time to do at least 8&; sets.

2etting time limits an also make it easier to plan training into your shedule.

Time and -EF limits aren’t the only ways to manage fatigue. In the above eample, (enno

4enselmans lets his lients deide how many reps to perform after doing one set :ust short

of failure. They do the presribed number of sets, but they get to hoose the number of repsin eah set.

If you already have your rep ranges planned, it’s probably easier to use time and -EF limits

instead.

3. Record what matters.

9ne of the most important rules of autoregulation is that you pay attention. You need to

gather dataH5http=evidenemag.omtrak&your&workouts6 from your training and use it to

make informed hanges.

After every workout, you should trak the following=

Your eerises.

Your number of sets.

4ow many reps you ompleted in eah set.

4ow muh weight you used in eah rep.

4ow hard eah set felt on a sale of $&$%, using (ike’s -EF sale 5or an alternative6.

-ead this artile if you want a super easy way to reord all of this stuff.

There are a lot of other variables you an trak as well, but these are the most important

when you’re starting.

4. Show up and take it slow.

)henever you try something new with your training, your goal is to get in the habit first, and

then really push yourself.

http://evidencemag.com/track-strength-workoutshttp://evidencemag.com/track-strength-workouts


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(any people push too hard when they start autoregulating, and they aren’t honest about

their rating of pereived eertion. Then they stall after a few weeks.

As a general rule of thumb, if you’re unsure of how hard a set was, use the lower number. If

you’re not sure if a set felt like an L or a C, it was an L.

I’m still learning this myself, and it’s muh harder than you think.

It’s ot All!"r!othing

Oust about everyone autoregulates some aspet of their training, but most don’t do it in a

strutured way.

As a result, they don’t get as strong or as musular as they ould.

Fven if you don’t hange anything about your training, the big takeaway here is to pay

attention. (any smart lifters show up at the gym and push as hard as they an all the time.

They fall into the same rut of making progress for 8&; weeks, then lose it all after a few

workouts.

In other words, they don’t manage fatigue properly, and they plateau as a result.

You’re free to mi and math the onstants and variables to suit your goals and

preferenes. The two things I’d aution against are a6 hanging too many things at one,

and b6 hanging your eerises too fre7uently.

You should only hange $&' variables at a time. Try to use the same eerises for @&Lweeks before making substitutions.

Fven if you don’t hange anything about your urrent program, start looking at your training

differently.

Your goal is not to stik to your program eatly. Your goal is to get bigger, stronger, or

leanerP and in many ases, you’ll reah those goals faster if you autoregulate your training.


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'. (ann O!, Thyfault OE, Ivey EA, 2ayers 2E. The effet of autoregulatory progressive

resistane eerise vs. linear periodi+ation on strength improvement in ollege athletes. O

2trength Jond -es. '%$%P';5?6=$?$L$?'8. doi=$%.$0$CO2J.%b%$8e8$L$def;a@.

8. (


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Autoregulation_The Definitive Guide To