Hey, it's Gautam.
This week was all about personal records: the little moments when the bar goes up a notch. Turns out the science on how to chase them is kinder than gym culture makes it sound.
This week was really hard for me personally because I was really busy with work and I had to cut down on the gym which in hindsight was not a great decision. But nonetheless, I made my workouts count and achieved a PR of 50 lbs x 8 reps for one arm dumbbell row. I felt great and it was indeed a proud moment for me.
Do you need to go to failure to get stronger?
Short answer: no. Going to failure means grinding a set until you physically can't do another rep. It's the classic "leave it all on the floor" move, and it feels like it must be the secret.
A 2021 review pulled together the studies comparing sets taken to failure with sets stopped just short of it. Strength and muscle gains came out about the same either way (Grgic et al., 2021). What actually drives progress is progressive overload: doing a little more over time, like one extra rep or a slightly heavier weight.
So the smart play is hard, then stop. Leave one or two reps in the tank on most sets, recover properly, and come back able to beat last week. You don't need a heroic grind every session.
And the rep range is more flexible than you'd think. Muscle grows across a wide range of loads, while heavier weights lean more toward pure strength (Schoenfeld et al., 2021). Recco's take: "Pick a weight where the last two reps feel honest, not desperate."
New in RecompX
PR and streak cards you can share. Hit a personal record and RecompX turns it into a card showing your old best next to your new one. They're made for your group chat. Each card now carries recompx.app/get, so a friend who asks "what app is that?" can find it in one tap.
This newsletter has a home. Every issue now lives at recompx.app/updates, so you can catch up on anything you missed.
Coming soon: little milestone notes. Your first workout, your 10th, your first PR, a month of hitting your plan. Small emails to mark the moments that are easy to rush past.
Try this week
Pick one lift. Beat last week's number by one rep, and stop with a rep still in the tank. That's a PR, and it counts.
Hit reply and tell me: what's the one lift you'd love to see go up by the end of the year?
Gautam