Reps in Reserve method: Managing stress whilst chasing gains

As a coach, one of my key challenges is ensuring my clients are adjusting their training loads to cope with the external stressors in their life. Whether your stress stems from a deadline at work, an argument with your partner, a calorie deficit, poor sleep or even your physical training, each of these creates a similar response in the body which combines to add to what we refer to as allostatic load. Allostatic load is the sum of all of the external stressors that cause our body to deviate from homeostasis. Too little external stress and we don’t grow, too much and we increase our risk of illness and injury whilst negatively impacting our ability to recover and adapt from training.

The effect of allostatic load on factors such as training readiness and neuromuscular efficiency will affect  our strength and how hard a given 1RM% is on a particular day. What is a 7/10 on the RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) scale one day, might be an 8 or 9 on another day, so you can see why an inflexible training plan that doesn’t take external stress into account, might actually be harming our performance. This is where the Reps in Reserve method can be helpful.

So what is the Reps in Reserve method?

Reps in Reserve is an autoregulation technique which personalises our training intensity and volume based on our daily readiness to train. This allows our program to be flexible to how we feel. It allows us to pull back when our body needs it whilst encouraging us to push hard when we feel great.

The Reps in Reserve method is based on the RPE scale. The RPE scale simply rates effort on a 1-10 scale with scores being closely linked with physiological measurements such as heart and respiration rate. The only issue is that whilst these are great measures of aerobic intensity, they don’t translate well to the weight room. Strength coach, Mike Tuchscherer adapted this scale to suit strength training by associating RPE with ‘reps until failure’ thus creating the Reps in Reserve method.

Utilising this method, I like to provide targeted rep ranges along with Reps in Reserve to guide load e.g., 3 × 4-6 reps @2-3 Reps in reserve. In this example, the athlete goes by ‘feel’ to choose the weight and would ideally end up reporting an RPE between 7.5 to 8.5 regardless of how much external stress they were carrying into the training session.

Across a training cycle we can utilise Reps in Reserve to manipulate internal load (stress the body feels) rather than just external load (weight on the bar). A sample training cycle might look little like this:

Front squats

Week 1: 3 × 4-6 @ 3 Reps in Reserve

Week 2: 3 × 4-6 @ 2-3 Reps in Reserve

Week 3: 3 × 4-6 @ 2 Reps in Reserve

Week 4: 3 × 4-6 @ 1-2 Reps in Reserve

Additional Notes

• This method can take a little getting used to and you may make some mistakes early on. However, that is kind of the point. Every mistake you make will be a lesson and lead to improved intuition and ability to listen to your body.
• I recommend testing yourself and pushing to failure once every 4 to 6 weeks. This will work as a reference point for future sessions.
• This method works on a bit of a trust system, which means it can be easy to cheat! If you tend to be lazy and rarely push near failure, you will most likely not do enough to illicit a strength response. If you are someone who is interested in getting stronger, working around your lifestyle and building some longevity, this is the method for you.