Set Science is a science-based system to help you make steady, predictable and consistent progress in your strength and muscle building workouts, and set new personal records while avoiding plateaus. Plus, it's just plain fun!
Stop getting 'stuck' in your workouts doing the same things over and over, and start making steady progress again!
When you improve your efficiency, you save time - Time that you can spend doing other things.
Hit new size and strength personal records, and know the exact day that you will reach them.
Optimize your lean muscle growth with a powerful workout assistant that's already right in your pocket.
Your body responds well to a variety of rep ranges, and Set Science has variety built right in!
Personal development expert Tony Robbins claims that the secret to life is that: "Progress Equals Happiness".
I don't know how strong you are, how long you've been training, or whether you're a man or a woman, so I'm just going to make up some numbers here to make a point.
Imagine for a moment that you are about to do a set of Bench Presses. You load the bar with 200 pounds, and when you do the lift, you are able to complete 6 reps before reaching momentary muscular failure.
Which of the following options would be the most effective, reliable & safe way for you to continue to make strength and muscle gains at your next workout?
Do another Bench Press set with 200 pounds for 6 reps.
Add 5 pounds, and do a Bench Press set with 205 pounds for 6 reps
Perform a Bench Press set with 200 pounds for 7 reps
Lower the weight and add one rep: 195 pounds for 7 reps.
Set Science was designed specifically to keep the size and strength gains coming, so let's answer this question with some screen shots from the app.
Nope. In a progressive resistance program, you want to keep the focus on "progressing". Keeping everything exactly the same results in a progress improvement of "0".
The number in the middle of the circle in this screen shot from the app tells you how much harder this set is compared to the previous set (spoiler alert: it's not).
No, again. Five pounds may not seem like much, but if you reached failure at 6 reps of 200 pounds, you are not going to be able to complete 6 reps of 205 pounds.
In fact, take a look at that small number in gray next to the "6" at the bottom. Set Science has calculated that you would get just 5.2 reps at this new weight... and that rounds down to 5. Your progress would be going backwards.
No way. If you thought that adding five pounds was hard, then adding one rep is ridiculously hard! It's more than 30% harder than adding 5 pounds (and not gonna happen).
If you reached failure at 6 reps with 200 pounds, there's no way that you would magically get 7 reps next time, and a failure at an attempt is a failure to progress.
So, how the heck do you make any progress?
The surprising answer to keep making steady progress is to drop the weight by five pounds AND add a rep. Yes, you sometimes decrease the weight to keep making size and strength gains.
Set Science has calculated that you would be able to do 6.8 reps with 195 pounds. You can round that up to 7 reps by working hard for it. Getting that 6.8 calculated reps up to 7 actual reps IS your progress. It's that easy.
After locking in this new personal record, this set becomes your new set to beat, setting you up to make progress again at your next workout.
Options A, B and C are unlikely to lead to any gains AT ALL... and yet, these are the exact things that most people are doing! No wonder they hit plateaus and stay stuck.
"I Love that the app just tells me what to do in order to make progress. I have been looking for something exactly like this for years."
L. Robinson, Customer
Getting smarter about making progress means that you won't be getting stuck for weeks at a time. Plus, not only do those continuous gains really add up, they also make it less likely that you will get injured, and more likely to love your training days!
As you saw in the workout Quiz above, the steady gains come from a sometimes surprising combination of weight and rep changes. At times, the weight will go up, and at times, it will go down. You are given a choice as to which of the recommended sets you would like to perform.
This built-in variety, combined with the relentless progress in strength and size, means that Set Science will take the boredom out of your workouts and bring back the fun!
That's how you break through a plateau.
That's how you never deal with one again.
"The difference between try and triumph is a little ‘umph’."
"Success isn't about 'greatness'. It's about consistency."
"Getting in shape is not a sprint. It's a journey."
"Push yourself. No one else is going to do it for you."
Set Science allows you to make predictable, continous, and steady progress by smoothing out the rungs of advancement of your resistance training. One of the best strategies for steady progress is to follow these steps:
With this strategy, you will make continuous, smooth and steady progress, setting a new personal record with every exercise in every workout. Your workout will basically be a rolling window of Sets that exist within a long sequence of progression.
Each workout will have you moving forward in that sequence: First completing a new personal record, then reinforcing your personal record from your last workout, and finishing with the personal record from two workouts ago.
Imagine how good you will feel when your previously hardest Sets become your easiest Sets... and then become too easy for you to even waste your time on anymore!
The most important part of your progression will be your Set selection. Choosing the right Set can mean the difference between hitting a new personal record or hitting a frustrating plateau.
There are a few things to look for when choosing a Set, so let's examine the Set information for that winning Option D Set from the Quiz above in detail.
Set ColorYou can quickly evaluate the general difficulty of any Set by its color. Green Sets are challenging, but should be possible. Yellow, orange and red Sets become increasingly more difficult, with red Sets being unlikely to be possible at your current level of training.
The number in the center of the circle is the difficulty rating for the Set. It is how much harder (or easier) this Set is, compared to the reference Set and is stated in basis points. Continue reading to the F.A.Q. below for more information about basis points.
The Weight number is the target weight for the proposed set, expressed in pounds or kilograms.
The large Reps number is the target for how many full repetitions to perform in good form in order to complete this Set.
The smaller number in gray next to the target Reps is the Calculated Reps. This is an important number, since it is the exact number of reps that Set Science has calculated you can complete at your current training level. If you can beat this number, you make instant progress!
Look for Calculated Rep numbers that end with .8 or .9 for the best chance at success. With effort, you can often 'round up' those Sets to the next whole number, which will lock in your gains.
The proposed Sets that appear are a function of the Weight and Reps from your reference Set, as well as your selected Target Points and Minimum Plate Size (both of which can be changed on the Settings page). You will always get to decide how aggressive you want to be with your progress.
"When I have work deadlines to meet, I look for sets with lower reps so I can keep making progress even when I am short on time."
M. Weston, Customer
The core of Set Science is based on research conducted during the 'Golden Era' of strength training and bodybuilding, which has been revived and entirely repurposed for a new generation.
The research was originally intended to help with analyzing competition preparation and performance. Back then there would have been no practical way to use the equations and formulas in 'real-time' to help guide a live workout.
However, today everyone has their smart phone with them at all times, making it super convenient to carry a powerful workout assistant right in your pocket!
Set Science takes a brand-new, science-based approach to your training. Instead of just tracking what you do in your workouts, Set Science actually guides you toward your goals and helps you decide what to do next... in real time!
The suggested Sets are determined by using some of the most accurate general use formulas currently known. Following the suggested Sets will always keep you progressing, as you will eventually come around to a Set with the same number of Reps that you have done previously, but with more Weight - proof that it is working.
If you feel that you are capable of performing an additional Rep more than suggested, just record that set as your new Reference Set and progress from there.
Similarly, if you fail to complete the suggested number of Reps, simply record what you were able to get, and continue progressing from there. Set Science will quickly calibrate to your training level and find your limits.
However, if you find that you are consistently capable of performing more or less than the calculated number of reps, then it is time to increase or decrease the Point Targets on the Settings screen to make the suggested sets more or less difficult for you.
Changing the Point Targets in the Settings screen
You start by typing in the weight and reps for the last challenging set you did of an exercise. This doesn't need to be exact, as the system will quickly converge on your present level and keep your body challenged with every workout.
Based on that initial set, Set Science will give you one or more suggestions for what to do for the next Set. From there, the system learns from your choices, and it tells you where to go, based on where you've been. You decide which Set to do, and if you successfully complete it, then that Set then becomes the new Set for comparision... and you are ready to make gains again!
There is no need for your personal details. Incorporating variables such as gender, age, height, weight, and body fat percentage did not improve accuracy of the equations.
The numbers in the center of the circles are the number of basis points of difficulty between the reference Set and the suggested next Set. It's a measure of how much harder (or easier) a Set will be compared to the last Set you did.
A basis point is one-hundredth of 1 %. Stated differently, a '50' in the center of the circle means that this suggestion is 0.50 % harder (half a percent harder) than the previous Set. That might not seem like a lot, but don't forget that it compounds, and that your muscles need time to adapt and grow.
If you bench twice a week, and you were able to consistently go up by 'just' 50 points each time, you will add over 100 pounds to your bench press in less than a year. So, 50 isn't 'small' at all!
It actually isn't all that important to know the exact meaning of the numbers in order to use them to compare the relative difficulty of the various sets: Lower numbers are easier sets, and Higher numbers are harder sets.
In general, we suggest finding a harder Set to start your workout, and then finding easier Sets after that. In other words, you will be INCREASING the difficulty between workouts (getting stronger and setting personal records every time you train), and DECREASING the difficulty within a workout as your body fatigues.
In fact, it is very common for the "hardest" Set from last week's workout to show up again as a recommendation for an "easier" Set in today's workout... proof that Set Science is working!
The recommendation algorithm needs flexibility to be able to come up with its suggestions. If you are using light weights (for example, while doing lateral raises), there may not be a lot of flexibility in what to recommend. Most gyms do not have a dumbbell between 20 and 25 pounds.
Set Science works best with exercises where a range of weights and reps can be evaluated.
Sometimes, the ideal weight for your next Set will go up by a multiple of 2.5 pounds (or even less). Set Science tries to keep you right on the edge of what you are capable of doing, so even small increments matter.
If your gym can not easily handle a load of that weight, you might want to bring your own 1.25 pound mini plates to put on each end of the barbell to provide that flexibility to the suggestion engine. If you do a lot of work with dumbbells, you might consider getting some 2.5 pound wrist weights or a set of Micro Gainz fractional plates, which will automatically unlock some very cool new Sets.
You can select the Minimum Plate Size for the suggestion algorithm to use on the Settings page.
Your muscles have both fast-twitch fibers and slow-twitch fibers which respond optimally to different types of resistance training. Your fast-twitch muscle fibers respond best to lifting heavier weights for fewer reps and your slow-twitch muscle fibers respond best to lifting lighter weights for higher reps.
The catch is that each muscle has both types of fibers, in different proportions that depend on the muscle, on your past athletic experience, and on your genetics. In addition, muscles can grow due to something called myofibril recruitment (which comes primarily from lower reps) and something called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (which comes primarily from higher reps). To activate as much of the muscle as possible, it can help to take it through a variety of rep ranges.
It is also important to consider joint and tendon health. Going heavy at every workout may eventually lead to problems with knee and shoulder joints, so it can help to vary your workouts to prevent injury.
Another good reason to consider a variety of rep ranges is because of the flexibility that provides in ensuring your continued progress. Instead of being 'stuck' at a certain weight and unable to add even 5 pounds more, you can choose a different Set that will guarantee your progress, and will actually get you to your goals much faster.
Yes, you can use Set Science to map a path to a specific goal. If you don't want to wait for the actual training sessions, you can get the app to show you the path to your goal by following these steps:
For example, let's say that you had a short-term goal to increase your Bench Press by 10 pounds (from 200 for 6 reps to 210 for 6 reps). The app would show you the path through each of the eight Sets between now and reaching your goal.
The path happens to go through each of the Sets from the Bench Press Workout Quiz above (colors have been added to remind you of those sets from the Quiz). Each step is sensible, safe and realistic... all the way to your goal!
(The colored text shows each of the options from the Quiz above)
While each of the Sets on this list were determined scientifically, you can see that patterns begin to emerge naturally. The pattern here appears to be that the weight goes down by 5 pounds while the reps go up by 1 for each Set, until the Sets 'reset' and the weight goes back up while the reps go back down.
However, each step of the path is between 40 and 70 points harder than the one before it, no matter if the weight or reps are going up or down. In other words, the progress feels relatively smooth and steady.
In trying to reach this goal, many people would make the mistake of immediately jumping from the starting set to 'option B' or 'option C'... and then wonder why they are failing to get it. It's not that you can't do those Sets... it's just that you aren't at that step yet!
