How Setlist reads your log
The method, named.
Fixed rules over your own log. Each number below is a named method with its source.
After a workout
Double progression, on the session's own range.
Reps build up the session's rep range at its reps in reserve. When every working set reaches the top, the load moves up.
| Reading | What the method does |
|---|---|
| Top of the range | Moves the load up; reps build back |
| Inside the range | Keeps the load; reps build |
| Under the range, once | Holds the load |
| Under the range, twice | Drops the load about 7.5%; reps build back |
| Experience | Workouts at the top before the load moves |
|---|---|
| New to lifting | 1 |
| After the first months | 2, since strength varies 3 to 5% day to day |
Reps in reserve
Reps in reserve (RIR) is how many more reps were there. The top counts only within one rep of the target RIR.
| Effort | Reading |
|---|---|
| Within 1 rep of target | The top counts |
| 0 RIR against a target of 1 or more | The load repeats |
| 2 or more reps past target, every set | A bigger step, about 2.5% per spare rep |
| No RIR logged | The set is taken at its word |
- Chaves 2024; Plotkin 2022 (load and reps grow muscle about equally)
- Robinson 2024 (proximity to failure); Halperin 2022 (RIR accuracy); Helms 2016; Zourdos 2016
- Stronger By Science: When to use specific progressive overload strategies
- Stronger By Science: Reps in reserve accuracy
- Barbell Medicine: Novice, intermediate and advanced training
When a load moves
The smallest sensible step. Never more than a tenth.
A step is usually 2.5 to 5% of the current load. No step is larger than a tenth of it.
| Case | Step |
|---|---|
| Usual step | 2.5 to 5% |
| Experienced lifter | The unit step or 2.5% |
| Easy sets | About 2.5% per spare rep |
| Under the range twice | Down about 7.5% |
| Any step | Capped at 10% of the current load |
Assisted lifts invert
On an assisted machine the number is help, so less help is harder. The least help is the top set and the record.
Assisted lifts have no estimated max.
- Renaissance Periodization: Progressing for hypertrophy
- Barbell Medicine: Strength vs hypertrophy training
- Halperin 2022 (people underestimate reserve by about one rep)
Weekly sets per muscle
Read against the research ranges.
A working set counts 1 for its main muscle and ½ for a helper. Warm-ups never count.
A set counts when within 10% of the session's top load.
| Goal | Research range, sets a week |
|---|---|
| Building muscle | 10 to 20 |
| Strength | 6 to 10 |
| Already grows muscle | About 4 |
Per muscle, building muscle
Renaissance Periodization's landmarks: starting points for intermediate lifters, not lab results.
| Muscle | Start | Aim | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chest | 6 | 8–16 | 22 |
| Lats | 4 | 5–10 | 13 |
| Upper back | 4 | 5–10 | 13 |
| Front delts | 0 | 4–8 | 16 |
| Side delts | 6 | 8–20 | 26 |
| Rear delts | 2 | 4–12 | 20 |
| Biceps | 6 | 10–20 | 26 |
| Triceps | 4 | 6–14 | 18 |
| Forearms | 2 | 6–16 | 25 |
| Quads | 6 | 8–14 | 18 |
| Hamstrings | 4 | 6–10 | 14 |
| Glutes | 4 | 8–16 | 24 |
| Calves | 6 | 8–16 | 22 |
| Traps | 2 | 4–12 | 20 |
| Core | 4 | 6–12 | 20 |
| Lower back | 2 | 4–8 | 12 |
Lower back's numbers are Setlist's. Past about 10 sets per muscle in one workout, returns fall off.
- Pelland 2025 (fractional sets, dose-response); Schoenfeld 2017; Baz-Valle 2022; Ralston 2017
- Stronger By Science: More training, more gaining
- Renaissance Periodization: Training volume landmarks
Estimated 1RM
Epley, from weight, reps and reserve.
e1RM = weight × (1 + reps ÷ 30)
Reps plus reps in reserve is the set's rep max. Warm-up sets never count.
| Use | Limit |
|---|---|
| Shown on screen | Sets of 12 reps or fewer |
| Sizing the next step | Up to a 20-rep max |
| Week 1 against latest week | Under about 5% can be an ordinary day |
- Helms 2016; Zourdos 2016 (reps plus RIR as rep max)
- Reynolds 2006; Nuzzo 2024; Grgic 2020 (estimate accuracy and retest variation)
Training blocks
Settle in, Build, Peak, Lighter week.
A program runs in calendar weeks. A six-week program, by training block:
| Training block | Weeks | Reps in reserve |
|---|---|---|
| Settle in | 1 | About 3 |
| Build | 2 to 3 | The session's target (2 compounds, 1 isolation) |
| Peak | 4 to 5 | A rep closer, never below 1 |
| Lighter week | 6 | 3 or more; half the sets, same weights |
Peak's closer effort: building muscle, past the first months. Other goals hold steady.
Programs run four to twelve weeks. Week 1 does three quarters of each lift's sets, rising to the full week.
- Williams 2017; Moesgaard 2022; Grgic 2017 (periodization)
- Robinson 2024; Refalo 2023; Refalo 2024; Grgic 2022 (effort)
- Rogerson 2024; Bell 2023; Coleman 2024 (lighter weeks)
- Renaissance Periodization: Progressing for hypertrophy
Stalls and lighter weeks
Read over weeks, never one workout.
A lift is stalled when its best estimated max in the window is under 2.5% above the eight weeks before.
| Experience | Window |
|---|---|
| New | 3 weeks |
| Intermediate | 4 weeks |
| Experienced | 6 weeks |
At least three sessions in the window.
Common ways past a stall: a different rep range, a variation, a set a week more, a second day.
A lighter week
Several lifts dropping at once reads as fatigue. The common answer is a lighter week.
| Reading | Rule |
|---|---|
| Window | The last 10 days |
| Lifts down | 3 or more, and at least 40% of those read |
| Down means | 5% or more below the median of the three before |
| The week | Same exercises, half the sets, about 10% lighter |
- Barbell Medicine: Understanding stalls
- Stronger By Science: The complete strength training guide
- Rogerson 2024 (deload survey); Bell 2023 (deload consensus)
What Setlist never does
It reads. It doesn't coach.
Setlist reads, shows, counts, compares, marks and keeps. What it builds is yours to change.
No language model
Every reading is a fixed rule over your own log.
No orders
Never "go up", "should" or "try". The method is named instead.
No crowd claims
It never says what other lifters do.
You and your trainer or clinician decide what you lift.
Full list of sources: Stronger By Science, Barbell Medicine, Renaissance Periodization.