The Reset: Why and How

by Rori Alter

"The reset is a common thing that new lifters often misunderstand and misinterpret when navigating the world of strength on their own. You'll need to understand what a reset is, why it’s used, and how and when to implement it in your novice training program."

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This is a really great article!

Rory, great article, clears up a lot of misconceptions. Your bio is outstanding, consider adding more details in your author bio such as where your gym is located. MIGHT help people to reach out to you for coaching.

Very good article. The one exception to the Acute Injury I would suggest is something like tennis elbow, which I am currently discovering benefits from just being worked through.

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Eric Schexnayder

Very good article. The one exception to the Acute Injury I would suggest is something like tennis elbow, which I am currently discovering benefits from just being worked through.

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Thank you :)

Tendonitis is not an acute injury.

It's a chronic injury and often result from improper technique and/or poor loading progression.

I wouldn't suggest plowing through a tendonitis but rather resolving the underlying cause (usually technical or programming related...most often a combination of both) this does often require a reset to fix technical issues so the reset could apply in your case. You can review my views on that in this article Treat The Issues, Not The Tissues — Progressive Rehab and Strength

Thank you! And thank you for the recommendation. When I was asked for my bio I didn't know what it was being used for so next time I submit an article I'll see if we can change the bio to link to my website. Good idea. Appreciate it.

Thanks for that clarification Rori. I was actually wondering the same thing as I was typing. But I figured I’d learn either way!

Great article. One comment: For those of us over 65, who are intermediates, a one week layoff may require a reset. I was just off for exactly one week due to not wanting to spread my cold germs around the gym via the barbell (and feeling like shit!). I couldn't repeat the weights from the last week's lifts. I just squeaked by by doing 4 sets of 3 or using my last warmup weight for my work sets. Next time I'm off for a full week, I'll just program in a small reset.

I'm not old, but I'm not young anymore, either.

Gene

I really enjoyed this article. I'm currently going through form creep and missed reps after two and a half months of NLP. This article made it clear on what I should do next. Please write more, Rori! This is awesome. work.

I'm confused on a few points if someone would be kind enough to elaborate? I'm mainly confused on how to implement the reset. I'm unsure of what the %'s listed are referring too.

To clarify, a reset is just one day correct?

Under scenario 4, "When it does, you should reset 5% and make day 2 a light squat day (80% of Day 1’s load for 5 reps × 2 sets)."



So, "reset 5%", does that mean I reduce my weight per rep by 5% and that's it? That's what I would assume but the 80% information throws me off. Is the light squat day something you would do every week I'm assuming Wednesday? What is day 1? Like the first workout day of the week?

And then "80% of day 1's load" when referring to load is that specifically weight per rep or is that 80% of reps which would be the 5 x 2? Or is it implying that on the light squat days I reduce the weight per rep by 20% and still do 5 x 2?

Thank you.

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Originally Posted by alilgoat

I'm confused on a few points if someone would be kind enough to elaborate? I'm mainly confused on how to implement the reset. I'm unsure of what the %'s listed are referring too.

To clarify, a reset is just one day correct?

Under scenario 4, "When it does, you should reset 5% and make day 2 a light squat day (80% of Day 1’s load for 5 reps × 2 sets)."



So, "reset 5%", does that mean I reduce my weight per rep by 5% and that's it? That's what I would assume but the 80% information throws me off. Is the light squat day something you would do every week I'm assuming Wednesday? What is day 1? Like the first workout day of the week?

And then "80% of day 1's load" when referring to load is that specifically weight per rep or is that 80% of reps which would be the 5 x 2? Or is it implying that on the light squat days I reduce the weight per rep by 20% and still do 5 x 2?

Thank you.

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It means reset your work set weights 5%. Let's say you were stuck at 300, you'd reset to 285 for your working weight. So you'd do 285x5x3 on Monday, and then Wednesday would be 2 sets of 5 at 80% of that weight, so 230. Friday you'd do 290x5x3. The following Monday is 295x5x3, Wednesday is 235x5x2, and Friday is 300x5x3, and so on and so forth.

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Originally Posted by Dillon Spencer

It means reset your work set weights 5%. Let's say you were stuck at 300, you'd reset to 285 for your working weight. So you'd do 285x5x3 on Monday, and then Wednesday would be 2 sets of 5 at 80% of that weight, so 230. Friday you'd do 290x5x3. The following Monday is 295x5x3, Wednesday is 235x5x2, and Friday is 300x5x3, and so on and so forth.

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Thanks.

Great article. However, I remain unsure of two things.

1. How quickly would you recommend increasing the weight to get back up to the weight that you stalled at? For example, I have stalled on Bench Press at 100kg 3x5. From around 80kg, I have been progressing by 0.5kg per session. In this scenario, I reset by 5% to 95kg. Do I progress using 0.5kg increases.... Baring in mind I can lift 99kg 3x5 fine. Therefore, in theory, I could jump 2.5kg per session and be back up to stall weight in two sessions. I’m thinking it should be 0.5kg in this example and whichever weight you were progressing with before you stalled more generally?

2. Having switched to 5 sets of 3 on a particular exercise, do you then remain on 5 sets of 3, or switch back to 3 sets of 5 once you get through the stall weight? Do you ever revert back to 3 sets of 5 in the linear progression period once you have reset to 5 sets of 3?

Thanks

5% under 40, 10% over 40, how much of a drop do you suggest of one is over 65?