As a comment addressing several comment threads here, and what I believe is a fallacy in the article.
The main issue I believe at play is that non-competitive types (eg non bodybuilders) frequently are not very good at assessing how hard they're pushing themselves. Because of that working with 1lb (or very low % of 1RM) is often ineffective because they have a hard time telling if the 99th, 100th, or 120th rep is truly 1 Rep In Reserve (RIR). For a similar reason training "to failure" with a reasonably high % of 1RM means by definition that they're going to 0 or 1 RIR. Low rest makes it easier to truly hit that 2 through 0 RIR range because without sufficient rest you are essentially doing a broken up single set.
Jeff nippard has a bunch of good videos on the subject that pulls from similar studies as the author:
Agreed. This article doesn't try to navigate the nuance around why someone still may actually want to follow a program that sounds like disproven broscience. Whether it's about better understanding your limits, familiarizing yourself with the feel of much heavier weight, or trying to make the most of a very short workout, it often makes a lot of sense to include things that aren't the biological optimal choice.
Jeff Nippard does a much better job a presenting things as a trade-off that you should consider when choosing or designing your program.
WRT making the most of a very short workout time. Jeff recommends (presumably backed by science as that's his MO) for someone to instead do super sets/cycles with non correlated muscle groups.
Eg: Bench, Leg extension, Row, rest 60 seconds -- in a cycle so that by the time you get back to bench you've given the chest/triceps 3-5mins rest.
I highly doubt you're "most" weight lifters tbh. I would call the population of "weight lifters" as essentially anyone who does a workout involving added weight.
That population I suspect ranges from someone doing a 20/20/20 workout with 5lb dumbbells on all 3 moves of overhead press, tricep extensions, and squats. ranging to the guy who keeps perfect logs, preplanned multiweek training blocks with precalculated weights for every set (eg someone running Weiders 5/3/1).
But for every guy running a well crafted program, there's probably 10 guys just doing whatever he saw in mens health/Instagram that week, but with 30 seconds rest cause he wants to "tone".
Maybe. I think it takes a long time for people to learn how hard they can actually go. There's the muscle itself, CNS, and then the mental aspect. All must be trained to hit a true 1RM.
The main issue I believe at play is that non-competitive types (eg non bodybuilders) frequently are not very good at assessing how hard they're pushing themselves. Because of that working with 1lb (or very low % of 1RM) is often ineffective because they have a hard time telling if the 99th, 100th, or 120th rep is truly 1 Rep In Reserve (RIR). For a similar reason training "to failure" with a reasonably high % of 1RM means by definition that they're going to 0 or 1 RIR. Low rest makes it easier to truly hit that 2 through 0 RIR range because without sufficient rest you are essentially doing a broken up single set.
Jeff nippard has a bunch of good videos on the subject that pulls from similar studies as the author:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiJKa41Fsxo
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deDlhPmT2SY
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekQxEEjYLDI