Author: Zane Kono

Publisher:

Published: 2020-06-19

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13:

This logbook is designed specifically for high level bodybuilding workout tracking. In this book the 'RIR' or 'Reps in Reserve' system is utilized. For more information on how to use the RIR system, see below. Each book contains 90 workouts logs. The book is 6 by 9 inches to make it more portable and convenient.In the introduction of the book you will find an example template already filled in to further demonstrate how to properly utilize this logbook.RIR System:Generally, with any program I write, I will have a set amount of reps to execute. I will stop at that rep number, even if I have more reps I could have completed. From there, I estimate how many more reps I could have done; Was that failure, so 0 more reps? Or did I have 1 or 2 reps left? Or was it too light and I could have done 5 more? Do your best to estimate how many you could have done had you kept going to failure. This is your Reps in Reverse, or RIR. I have created a way to use RIR in order to keep progressing, but not always pushing every set to failure. Always pushing to failure is not necessarily conducive to more results, and often leads to more nervous system fatigue than desired. You do want to go to failure sometimes, but you also want to keep that in moderation.What I have done is create the '20% Reps In Reserve Rule'. The 20% Reps In Reserve rule states that you should only go up in weight when you are able to do 20% more than your goal reps with a given weight. An example of this would be if I was doing a set of 10 reps, I would execute that set, then estimate my RIR. If I stopped at 10 and that was my failure, meaning 0 RIR, then I will come back to that same weight next time. If I had one more rep I could have completed, meaning, 1 RIR, that is only 10% more. Therefore I still come back to the same weight next time. However, if I feel I could have done two more, or 2 RIR, that is 20% over my desired reps, meaning, next time I come back to that exercise I will increase the weight. Then repeat that same process for the new weight, once at 20% or more RIR, go up in weight again. Easy math says, if the goal reps was 5, 20% RIR is 1. 10 Reps is 2, 15 Reps is 3, and 20 is 4. If you rep range is somewhere in the middle, like 8, then round to the nearest multiple of 5 (10, in this case) and use that as your number to find your RIR percentage. The final thing to note is that if you didn't hit your desired reps with a weight, but got close, you can write it as a negative RIR. For example, if I was aiming for 10 reps, but only got 8, that's -2 RIR. This simply tells you next week you'll need to back down in weight. A negative RIR should only occur at the beginning of your program, where you're trying to find your starting weights. If you're seeing negative RIRs later into the program, as in you're not even able to hit weights you've logged in previous weeks, this is usually an indication of needing a deload. The only real exception to that is if you're on a hard diet, then you may see strength loss simply due to that.