So most of us have come to know and use “AMRAP” as a pretty common acronym in the strength and conditioning world, but in case you don’t know “AMRAP” stands for As Many Reps As Possible.
We used to just call this “taking a set to failure.” But with all things terminology changes and training to failure has kind of earned itself a negative connotation for better or worse. So we’ll go with the times and talk about the most effective strategies when using an AMRAP set or sets in your programming.
So why do AMRAP in the first place?
Well, good question and some coaches argue against it and not without merit. But there are two main reasons why one might do an AMRAP set – testing and training.
An AMRAP set can be an effective way to run a “test” if you want to gauge where your strength is at during a given training cycle or perhaps at the end of a training cycle. This would be in lieu of testing a heavy single. If you want to gauge absolute strength, singles are the most reliable method since you are basically cutting right to the chase. If you want to see how much weight you can lift….then see how much weight you can lift.
But this has it’s draw backs. Mainly taking out a random 1RM on the Squat, Bench, or Deadlift is fatiguing as hell and can screw up a training cycle when you time it wrong. Others might want to avoid singles because they have previous injuries they don’t want to provoke with extremely heavy weight or perhaps they train alone and prefer to not handle weights on a squat or bench press that they might get pinned with.
In these cases you can use an AMRAP set as a metric for testing strength. I’d suggest using weights in the 3-6 range for these types of AMRAP sets as they tend to be more reflective of actual 1RM strength than say a 10-rep max which has a major conditioning / endurance component to it. I’ve seen some brutally strong men who probably didn’t have a great 10-rep max….mainly because they don’t train with 10+ reps. Given a few weeks of specific training they COULD have a big 10-rep max, but they simply lack the stamina to get there. So for this reason, I like lower rep sets.
So for instance if you know your previous best Bench Press at 275 lbs is 3 reps, then AMRAPing 275 and hitting 4 or 5 reps is a good indicator that you have gotten stronger without having to test a 1RM. If you REALLY want to know your 1RM – then test a 1RM. But if you just want to know if you are getting stronger….adding reps and/or weight to a 3-6 rep max is fine.
Training w/ AMRAPs
I do actually like AMRAP sets when used appropriately. There is always debate on how total volume, training to failure, fatigue, muscular damage, and metabolic stress factor into muscular hypertrophy. Most of the current thinking tends to lean towards total volume as the primary driver of hypertrophy while other mechanisms are considered to be irrelevant or of lesser importance.
So in terms of hypertrophy does 405 x 10RM yield to more gains than 405 x 5 x 2??? Volume is the same, but the stress is a bit different. I’d argue that the former is more powerful than the latter…….in the short term. In the long term, the 405 x 10RM is a helluva difficult thing to perform week in and week out, whereas 405x5x2 can probably be improved upon more linearly by adding sets/reps/weight more easily and in the long term you can argue that 405x5x2 is more powerful than 405x10RM.
So I like AMRAPs, but sparingly and I tend to use them on ASSISTANCE AND SUPPLEMENTAL work far more often than I do with the primary exercises. I tend to rotate assistance and supplmental work in and out of the program on a fairly regular basis and for this reason I find AMRAPs work great. I get the most out of the exercise as I can NOW! and then I switch it out for something else and come back to it in a few weeks.
FOUR WAYS TO AMRAP
If you are just doing a single set of an exercise for an AMRAP then it’s pretty straight forward. Typically I’ll program this for a client as a single set back off for max reps, either with the parent exercise, or as a slight variant. For instance, on the Deadlift I might have the person work up to a heavy single for the day and then back off to 80% and hit an AMRAP of between 4-6 reps. On the Deadlift example, I only use Deadlift AMRAPs after a heavy single. If I have the client work up to say a heavy set or sets of 3-8 reps (the “training reps”) then I might do their single set back off AMRAP as a Stiff Leg Deadlift, RDL, or Deficit Deadlift. So maybe they Deadlift for 3 sets of 5 and then hit an SLDL for an 8-10RM. Or maybe I’ll have them Bench for 5×5 and then hit a close grip bench AMRAP for a set of 8-10. etc, etc. I believe these types of sets go a long ways towards building muscle mass and work capacity.
If I want to do an AMRAP for multiple sets there are three main ways to go about this.
First is to AMRAP the first set and then AMRAP out the subsequent sets as well. Lets just assume 3 work sets of Dips. In the simplest version of this, you’d perform an AMRAP set of Dips and then rest for a set period of time that allows for complete or at least mostly complete recovery. We’ll say 2-5 minutes of rest between sets. What might be common in this scenario is a set of 15, a set of 12, and a set of 9. Basically the trainee will always hit the biggest number on the first set and then lose some reps as he goes.
The second option is to AMRAP the first set and then rest very little and hit a bunch of very “small sets” until you reach some sort of cut off point in terms of reps or sets. There are several popular iterations of this. Currently “MYO-REPS” (credit to Borge Fagerli) are popular. With Myo-Reps the trainee might do a max effort or semi-max effort set of say 10 reps and then rest about 10 seconds and bang out 5-10 more sets of 2 reps with 10 seconds between reps until the trainee hits a total volume of between 20-30 total reps. This is similar to the DoggCrapp method which has been around since the early 2000s. Dante Trudel was epically successful with his clients (and himself) and created an entire bodybuilding system out of “DC” sets in which the trainee hits a max effort set (usually between 6-15 reps) and then takes a bit longer rest, usually in the form of 10-20 big deep breaths (about 30-40 seconds) and then hits another set to failure. The trainee then repeats this process one more time. The result is 3 sets done in quick succession. Usually about a 50% loss in capacity is normal. So it’s normal for a DC set to go from 8 to 4 to 2. Far less volume than the My0-Reps approach, but the weights are generally far heavier.
The third option, which I often use with my clients is to perform two sub-maximal work sets and then have them AMRAP a third set. John Scheaffer of GreySkull Barbell uses a similar format in his version of his novice linear progression with the Squat, Bench Press, and Press. I don’t use this approach much with my clients with the main exercises, but I do it all the time on assistance exercises. For instance, if I’m having them perform a Dumbbell Bench Press I might have them do 2 sets of 8 with 75 lbs with maybe a 2-3 minute rest in between. On set 3, I’ll have them AMRAP out a set and hopefully hit around 10-12 reps to failure. Having a detailed history of past performances is critical with this method so you have an idea of what rep-max to shoot for on set 3 and how many reps to use on sets 1 and 2. I’ve found that this method allows for more overall total volume with meaningful weight, but still getting the benefits of taking sets to failure, creating fatigue and metabolic stress.
I find potential benefits in all of these methods and potential risks in all of them as well. These are just some ideas for you to think about in your own training, as in all things training, there is usually more than one way to skin the cat.
