Stronger with Time

How many sets does a muscle need to grow, and how much does each extra set add?
In this episode of Stronger With Time, I speak with Dr Jake Remmert about volume, frequency and effort, and what the research means for how you program for muscle growth.
Jake is an exercise physiology professor at Illinois State University and a strength and physique coach.
He did his PhD in Dr Mike Zourdos's Muscle Physiology Laboratory at Florida Atlantic University, is one of the primary authors of the recent meta regression on per session training volume, and co-authored the dose response analysis on weekly volume, frequency and proximity to failure with Josh Pelland and Zac Robinson.
Throughout, Jake makes the case that the big rocks (effort, recoverable volume and consistency over time) matter more than the fine details.

Modern Hypertrophy, my four-week live course on programming for muscle growth, starts 9 November: https://go.tonyboutagy.com/modern-hypertrophy-course

In this episode:
The eras of hypertrophy thinking, and why the language has moved from certainty to nuance

Per session volume, and the diminishing returns of each extra set

Why doubling your sets doesn't double your muscle growth

How many sets per session are productive for most people, and the minimum effective dose

Exercise variety and regional growth

What short, controlled studies can and cannot tell us

Whether training a muscle more often builds more muscle once weekly volume is matched

The point of undetectable outcome superiority, and the millimetre differences behind the debates

How close to failure you need to train, and whether that changes between heavy compound sets and isolation work

Overload techniques such as drop sets and supersets, and what they do and do not add

Periodisation for hypertrophy, and training for the area under the curve

Timestamps:
00:00 The eras of hypertrophy thinking
04:23 Per session volume, and why Jake looked at it
06:34 The diminishing returns of each set
10:47 Finding the productive range
12:17 How many sets to double your first set
15:19 Regional growth and exercise variety
17:47 What a ten-week study can and cannot tell you
25:06 Re-analysing the open data with Mark McKean
29:05 The minimum effective dose
31:25 The point of undetectable outcome superiority
37:26 The frequency debate
47:30 Proximity to failure
52:33 Overload techniques
58:05 Periodisation for hypertrophy
1:01:50 Rapid fire: overrated or underrated
1:04:25 Where to find Jake's work

Dr Jake Remmert:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jake.remmert.phd/
Website: https://jakeremmert.com/

Dr Tony Boutagy / Stronger With Time
Modern Hypertrophy (starts 9 November): https://go.tonyboutagy.com/modern-hypertrophy-course
Website: https://tonyboutagy.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyboutagy/

This episode is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as individualised exercise advice.

Professor Roger Enoka is one of the world’s leading authorities on the neuromuscular system and has spent more than four decades studying how the nervous system produces movement, strength and fatigue. He is the author of Neuromechanics of Human Movement, now in its sixth edition.
In this episode of Stronger With Time, we discuss why Type II muscle fibres are not simply high-threshold motor units, why light and heavy loads taken to failure can produce similar muscle growth despite differences in motor unit activity, and what can limit your ability to continue a set as you approach failure.
In this episode, we discuss:
What a motor unit is, and why muscle fibre type and recruitment threshold are not the same thing

How motor unit recruitment and rate coding change as force demands increase

Light versus heavy loads to failure, and the relationship between motor unit activity and muscle growth

Fatigue, fatigability and why the distinction matters when we talk about training to failure

How mechanical tension is generated and what we can measure in human muscle

Free weights versus machines, and how balance and stability change the demands on the nervous system

Lengthening contractions and the neural demands of controlling a load

Neuromechanical matching and regional hypertrophy

Motor neuron loss, rate coding and the role of resistance training as we age

Sex differences in fatigability and what they may mean for exercise prescription

Resistance training, balance and the role of impact exercise as we age

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:52 What is a motor unit?
03:20 Recruitment thresholds and the size principle
04:11 Muscle fibre type versus motor unit type
05:50 Fatigue, fatigability and failure
14:13 Light versus heavy loads and muscle growth
17:55 Mechanical tension and what we can measure in humans
25:40 What happens from brain to muscle across a set
29:01 Free weights versus machines
30:58 Lengthening contractions
34:34 Neuromechanical matching and regional growth
38:15 Ageing and the nervous system
42:19 Sex differences
46:52 Resistance training, balance and impact exercise
49:00 Where to find Roger’s work

Resources
Professor Roger Enoka
University of Colorado Boulder: https://www.colorado.edu/iphy/people/faculty/roger-m-enoka
Neuromechanics of Human Movement, 6th Edition: https://us.humankinetics.com/products/neuromechanics-of-human-movement-6th-edition
The Science of Movement on Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/science-of-movement

Dr Tony Boutagy / Stronger With Time
Website: https://tonyboutagy.com/
Explore Tony’s courses: https://tonyboutagy.com/explore-the-courses-page
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyboutagy/

This episode is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as individualised exercise advice.

How much of what we do in the gym today is genuinely new, and how much has been around for decades?
In this episode of Stronger With Time, I speak with Dr Conor Heffernan about where many of the training ideas we now take for granted came from, how they changed over time, and what their history can teach us about how we train today.
Conor is a historian and sociologist of sport at Ulster University whose work focuses on the history of strength training and physical culture. He is the author of The History of Physical Culture and When Fitness Went Global, and writes at Physical Culture Study.

In this episode:
How physical culture evolved into modern bodybuilding and gym culture

Eugen Sandow, the first modern physique star, and why he sold light dumbbells while training heavy himself

Where the squat, three sets of ten and body-part splits came from

What lifters already understood about progressive overload by the 1930s

The steroid era, and what changed in training once anabolic steroids arrived

Where single-set and high-intensity training came from

The history of women in strength, from calisthenics and “toning” to progressive strength training

What Conor takes from more than a century of strength-training history into how he thinks about training today

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:57 Physical culture and the origins of modern gym culture
06:28 Where three sets of ten and body-part splits came from
13:08 What lifters already knew by the 1930s
16:50 Eugen Sandow and early fitness marketing
21:39 What a 1930s lifter would recognise today
31:33 Silver Era training and the pre-steroid physique
39:18 When anabolic steroids entered strength sports
43:01 How steroids changed training
49:18 Single-set and high-intensity training
52:49 The history of women in strength
59:53 Where “toning” and light weights for women came from
01:06:15 What Conor takes from strength-training history
01:11:23 Where to learn more

Dr Conor Heffernan
Ulster University: https://www.ulster.ac.uk/staff/c-heffernan
Physical Culture Study: https://physicalculturestudy.com/
Physical Culture Study Substack: https://physicalculture.substack.com/

Books
The History of Physical Culture: https://cgscholar.com/publishers/books/the-history-of-physical-culture
When Fitness Went Global: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/when-fitness-went-global-9781350500785/

Dr Tony Boutagy / Stronger With Time
Website: https://tonyboutagy.com/
Explore Tony’s courses: https://tonyboutagy.com/explore-the-courses-page
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyboutagy/

This episode is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as individualised exercise advice.

VO2 max matters, but what else determines endurance, and how should you train for it?

In this episode of Stronger With Time, I sit down with Professor Andy Jones to explore where zone two and intervals fit, what elite endurance athletes can teach us, and what this means for training, performance and healthy ageing.

Andy is Professor of Applied Physiology at the University of Exeter and one of the world's leading endurance physiologists. He served as a scientific editor on Nike's Breaking2 project, worked with marathon world-record holder Paula Radcliffe for more than a decade, and has helped shape research on critical power, dietary nitrate and physiological resilience.

In this episode:
What VO2 max can and cannot tell you about endurance

Where zone two fits within aerobic training

Whether you should avoid the middle ground between easy work and hard intervals

How Andy approaches intervals for improving VO2 max

How to combine aerobic training with three weekly strength sessions

Whether men and women need different endurance training

What Breaking2 and Paula Radcliffe reveal about endurance beyond VO2 max

What Andy's research shows about nitrate, beetroot and carbohydrate fuelling

Resources:

Professor Andy Jones
University of Exeter academic profile: https://experts.exeter.ac.uk/1327-andy-jones
University of Exeter Sports Physiology & Exercise Testing: https://sites.exeter.ac.uk/spet/meet-the-team/

Dr Tony Boutagy / Stronger With Time
Website: https://tonyboutagy.com/
Explore Tony's courses: https://tonyboutagy.com/explore-the-courses-page
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonyboutagy/

Follow Stronger With Time for more evidence-informed conversations on training, health and performance.

This episode is for general educational purposes only and is not a training prescription or medical advice.

Two people can have similar muscle mass and very different levels of strength. What accounts for the difference?
In this episode of Stronger With Time, Tony speaks with Professor Paul Comfort, one of the world’s leading strength and conditioning researchers, about what influences strength beyond muscle size, and what that means for training.
Paul is Professor of Strength and Conditioning at the University of Salford in the UK, where he leads the Master of Strength and Conditioning program. He also holds an adjunct professorship at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. His research focuses on strength training, force production and the assessment of physical performance.
In this episode, they discuss:
How strength is assessed, and whether a true one-repetition maximum is as fatiguing as people think

Whether bar speed matters as much as intent

When slow, controlled reps help, and when they may not

How psychology and neural inhibition can affect strength expression

What stability and unilateral work can reveal about a weak link

Why lowering a weight is different from lifting it

What happens when training frequency changes but weekly volume stays the same, and whether microdosing works

Whether strength, hypertrophy and power should be trained together or emphasised at different times

How strength training priorities change with age

Professor Paul Comfort
University of Salford https://www.salford.ac.uk/our-staff/paul-comfort

ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Paul-Comfort

Google Scholar https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xukgqDQAAAAJ&hl=en

ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1131-8626

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/paulcomfort1975/

X https://x.com/PaulComfort1975

Books
Advanced Strength and Conditioning https://www.routledge.com/Advanced-Strength-and-Conditioning-An-Evidence-based-Approach/Turner-Comfort/p/book/9780367491352

Performance Assessment in Strength and Conditioning https://www.routledge.com/Performance-Assessment-in-Strength-and-Conditioning/Comfort-Jones/p/book/9781032831497

Laboratory Manual for Strength and Conditioning https://www.routledge.com/Laboratory-Manual-for-Strength-and-Conditioning/Miller-Comfort-McMahon/p/book/9781032033259

NSCA Developing Power https://us.humankinetics.com/products/developing-power-2nd-edition

Dr Tony Boutagy / Stronger With Time

Website https://tonyboutagy.com/

Courses https://tonyboutagy.com/explore-the-courses-page

Weak Links in Movement https://tonyboutagy.com/weak-links-movement-full-course

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tonyboutagy/

Follow Stronger With Time for more evidence-informed conversations on training, health and performance.

This episode is for general educational purposes only and is not intended as individualised exercise advice.