How Should You Strength Train for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?

Sep 25

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In this article:

As with any physically demanding sport, strength training is a non-negotiable for anyone who wants to participate in BJJ for the long-term.

While it is possible to participate in jiu jitsu as a hobbyist without regular resistance training, studies show that strength training can reduce the risk of sports injuries, including acute and overuse injuries (Lauersen et al, 2018, PMID: 30131332), and can also play an important role in rehabilitation and may help athletes return to sport sooner after certain injuries (Wulff et al, 2024, PMID: 39263259)(Hameed et al, 2024, PMID: 38470015). This is in addition to the improvement of positive long-term health outcomes and quality of life as we age that are associated with regular strength training.

For BJJ practitioners who are competing, whether at an amateur level (i.e. NAGA Competitions) or at a pro/semi-pro level (ADCC Trials, IBJJF, CFFC BJJ, UFC BJJ, etc.), a strength training program is essential to success in the present and for your longevity in the sport.

What BJJ actually demands physically

Brazilian jiu jitsu is characterized by a relatively chaotic environment where the two combatants are attempting to enforce their physical will upon the other through takedowns, throws, top pressure, and submissions that, in most cases, would be catastrophically injurious to a joint if applied to their full extent.

In a competition environment, this would last for several minutes (depending on the ruleset), and possibly more than one round. In a self-defense environment, there is no time limit; the grappling lasts until the opponent is subdued and/or controlled, or until help arrives (if it does at all).

This requires pushing and pulling movements against an unwilling partner at potentially odd/irregular angles of effort, explosive movement, and cardiovascular exertion in both anaerobic and aerobic contexts.

In other words, you need to be strong in various planes of movement, to be able to keep a sustained effort up for extended periods of time, and to be able to recover from those efforts quickly so as to do them all again.

What does "being strong" mean

First, let’s define some terms that we’ll be using so there’s no confusion.

Strength is the ability to exert force against an external resistance; this is affected both by muscle size and by motor unit recruitment (the number of muscle fibers that are being activated when moving weight). Both muscle size and motor unit recruitment are positively impacted by resistance training.

Power is how much work is done over time. The more weight moved over a shorter period of time indicates greater power being generated.

How many days to lift

While there is no “right” number, we can offer some guardrails for optimal effectiveness: minimally, at least two days a week, and maximally as many as you can reasonably recover from while having at least one full rest day per week.

This isn’t to say that if you only have the time to lift once per week that you won’t get any benefits from that one session. You absolutely will. Don’t let “perfect” be the enemy of “good enough”. Life is a thing, and it’s messy, and it gets in the way of things. One day of lifting (or exercise, etc.) is better than no days, hands down.

The number of lifting days each week will be determined by your schedule (work, family, personal time, BJJ days, etc.), your ability to recover from previous lifting and grappling sessions, your injury history, and your goals.

If you are a hobbyist:

Jiu jitsu, while being a good form of exercise, doesn’t promote much hypertrophy (muscle growth). Studies show that lean muscle mass is a key indicator for reducing all-cause mortality (Cheung et al, 2021, PMID: 33997303) and for improving quality of life as we age. Additionally, as previously mentioned, research shows that resistance training can reduce the risk of injury (Lauersen et al, 2018, PMID: 30131332). Because of this, I would recommend that you find at least one, preferably two, days a week to strength train.

If, due to your schedule, energy level, etc., one of those days must either be your strength training day or jiu jitsu class, I would recommend the strength training, as there will be more long-term health benefits. The mats will always be there, but your muscle won’t be. (All adults start losing muscle mass as they age, a process that accelerates the older we get. Women see this more extremely. In both men and women, building muscle when younger, even into their 40s, has been shown to have multiple positive impacts on physical and mental health.)

If you are an amateur competitor:

Find the right balance. Strength training is important for your success on the mats, so I would recommend 2-3 days per week for strength training when in the “off-season” (between competitions) and possibly reduce that to two days per week when “in-season” (4-8 weeks out from a competition; see “Competition Preparation” below).

If the choice is between attending BJJ training or strength training on one of those days, my vote would be to go to BJJ in lieu of lifting, especially when in-season. If you’ve been consistent in your lifting up to this point, you’ll get more from being on the mats an extra day than you will from being in the gym. The priority should be technique > cardio > strength training.

If you are a pro/semi-pro competitor:

Strength training is a non-negotiable at this point.

You must assume that 1) everyone else you’re competing against is strength training, and/or 2) everyone else in your division is at the same or slightly higher technical proficiency as you.

In either case, strength training either keeps you competitive with your field, or gives you an edge. Additionally, because of your increased mat time, you have greater exposure to injury risk; heavy resistance training can help reduce this risk, and can decrease your return-to-sport time if/when you are injured.

In addition to your mat time, you must find the time to fit in 2-3 strength training sessions a week in your off season (more if you have the time and want a specific split; see “Templates” below). When in-season (4-8 weeks prior to a major competition), you should schedule at least one, preferably two sessions a week to preserve muscle and strength while allowing for more energy you can dedicate to honing your technical skills and upping your cardio.

This will likely mean you are training two, sometimes three times a day; in this case, fatigue management becomes an even bigger factor (see “Managing Fatigue” below).

Exercise Selection

According to Mike Israetel, a PhD in exercise science and a BJJ black belt under Josh Vogel, jiu jitsu practitioners should focus on strengthening their anterior chain and their posterior chain.

The major muscles of the anterior chain are: quads, hip flexors, abs, and pecs.

The major muscles of the posterior chain are: calves, hamstrings, glutes, spinal erectors, lats, traps, and rear delts.

An easy way to visualize this: we use the anterior chain to throw a medicine ball from over our heads into the ground, and we use the posterior chain to pick up that medicine ball from the ground and throw it over our heads and behind us.

Knowing which muscle groups we want to target, exercise selection then comes down to how much time you can spend in a lifting session, and your injury history.

Generally speaking, start by choosing a compound lift for your targeted muscle group, and make this the first lift of your strength training session. Compound lifts achieve several things:

They save time by hitting multiple muscles at once
They can act as a warmup for all of those muscles, further saving time (see Milo Wolf’s work regarding the need for warmup sets)*
They build coordination in those muscle groups, allowing you to recruit them for athletic movement more efficiently

Depending on your split (see “Templates” below), you may do more than one compound lift per session.

Some compound lifts, such as back squats and deadlifts, generate a higher degree of CNS (central nervous system) fatigue than others. You may notice that you don’t perform as well on lifts later in that session. This is normal, and should inform how you order your exercises.

If, for example, you are trying to improve your bench press, it may be better to have that be your first lift, and do your back squats later in the workout.

As you progress, you can start adding in more isolated lifts and accessory lifts (lifts that target smaller muscle groups, such as biceps, triceps, delts, etc.) to address areas of perceived weakness, or to help progress your compound lifts.

Examples of compound lifts:

Bench press (all variants)
Deadlift (all variants)
Squats (all variants)
Barbell rows
Overhead press
Pull-ups
Dips
Sit-ups/leg raises

* Research on warm-up sets is mixed, but systematic reviews suggest that specific warm-up sets can improve performance under some circumstances. See Milo Wolf's discussion of the research on warm-up sets for a deeper dive. Warming up may help you engage mentally with your upcoming lifts, and if you have a history of injury to the targeted areas, warming up is recommended.

Sets/Reps

How many reps should you do?

Research shows that reps anywhere from 5 to 30+ are effective at growing muscle and driving motor unit recruitment (and hence, making you stronger), provided that those last reps of each set are at or near failure (Bernárdez-Vázquez et al, 2022, PMID: PMC9302196) (see “RPE/RIR” below).

In general terms, lower reps with heavier weight tend to build more power, whereas higher reps with lower weight tend to focus more on endurance and hypertrophy (muscle size).

The sweet spot for BJJ seems to be between 6-12 reps; this is a good balance of building repeat power without over-taxing your joints and connective tissue (which tends to happen with lower reps at heavier weight).

Why not just build raw power?

While this is a fine strategy, the biggest argument against it is the increased risk of injury.

Tendons and ligaments adapt at a slower rate than muscle tissue; muscles can get “too strong” for the tissue connecting them to the bones, and this can result in tendon and ligament ruptures and tears.

On top of that, you aren’t just lifting…you are also training in a combat sport, probably several times a week. This creates an increased risk of injury. Better to leave some in the tank at the gym than to injure yourself and not be able to lift or roll for several months.

Can I try for 1RM (1 rep max)?

This is not recommended, as it carries a high degree of injury risk. Proper form is absolutely required if attempting this, as is a proper warmup, and knowing what your current limits are. If you’ve never deadlifted 315 before, and you’ve only been doing working sets of 225, throwing three wheels on the bar and trying to lift that is not a smart idea. 1RM lifts should only be attempted under the supervision of a qualified strength coach.

How many sets should you do?

Most people will start with 3 sets of 8-12 reps.

Set up your workout schedule, and keep at this rep/set range for 6-8 weeks, and see how you feel. You may consider adding more sets after that initial period if you’re feeling pretty recovered after your sessions (minimal to no soreness 2-3 days after lifting, good energy throughout the week).

To achieve optimal growth, studies show that doing anywhere from 15-20 working sets for each muscle per week is best (Baz-Valle et al, 2022, PMID: 35291645), but this may vary among individuals.

In the context of strength training for BJJ, aim for the most sets that you can reasonably recover from so that you are still able to participate in jiu jitsu. (In other words, don’t grind yourself into dust in the gym and not be able to move effectively on the mats.) The number of sets will also be determined by your schedule, and your injury history. This doesn’t mean you’ll never be sore; it means you need to figure out how much you can do in the gym and still function on the mats.

To determine sets for a muscle:

If that muscle is the primary targeted muscle of the lift (such as the pecs for a bench press, or the biceps for dumbbell curls), count each set as 1.
If the muscle is a secondary muscle of the lift (such as the triceps or front delts for a bench press), count each set as ½ a set.

RPE/RIR

Lifts are most effective when they are at or near failure (“failure” being defined as still being able to perform the lift with excellent form). In fact, lifts too far below the “at or near failure” threshold largely do not grow muscle.

There are two primary ways to measure the difficulty of a lift: RPE (relative perceived effort) and RIR (reps in reserve).

RPE is rated on a scale of 1-10 (1 being the easiest, 10 being the absolute maximum effort, lifting until complete failure).
RIR is measured by how many more reps you think you could do before reaching failure.

Research shows that there is little difference in gains from lifting to failure (10 RPE/0 RIR) and lifting just shy of failure (8 RPE/2-3 RIR) (Grgic et al, 2022, PMID: 33497853); in fact, research shows that by not lifting to total failure, you can lift more sets in a workout, and can target that muscle group more times in a week, thus resulting in greater gains (as increasing strength is a matter of total volume lifted; more volume means more gains).

RPE and RIR are relatively subjective, and most people who are just starting don’t have the experience to accurately make those estimations. Most of the time, people will underestimate how many more reps they can do, and overestimate how much effort they are putting forth (Halperin et al, 2022, PMID: 34542869). This isn’t a bad thing, but merely a lack of experience.

There are three ways to counteract this:

Intelligently progress your lifts every week (see “How to progress” below)
Work with a personal trainer or strength coach (or even a lifting partner, though see the note below)
Use a device to measure bar velocity (Gpath is an example)

The first option doesn’t cost anything, but it may also take you longer to really push yourself to your limits and start seeing real progress.

The second and third options will cost you some money (unless you have a lifting buddy; again, see the note below), but will likely result in faster gains.

With a strength coach or PT, you’ll have instruction on proper technique and form, you’ll have someone to push and challenge you, and you’ll have a spotter, allowing you to lift heavier weights more confidently. You will, however, have to pay them for their time. A good coach or PT is well-worth it if it’s in your budget.

With a bar velocity device, you’ll have empirical data showing loss of bar velocity and this will help you determine whether you really are at or near your limits. In addition to having to pay for the device, you will likely also have to subscribe to an app that records and interprets the data from the device. Again, well-worth it if it’s in the budget.

A note about lifting partners: Lifting with other people is awesome: you can get the same benefits as working with a coach (encouragement, spotting), but unless your partner has lifting experience and knows proper form (and, more importantly, can cue you effectively when your form breaks down), you could be setting yourself up for increased risk of injury or overtraining. So lifting with your buddies is great…just make sure that you are all doing your research and learning how to lift the right way from reputable sources.

How to progress

You won’t be able to stay at the same weight, reps, and sets forever. Your body will adapt.

When you wrap up a lift, take note of how you felt: were you able to nail that last rep of that last set, or were you struggling to get the barbell back into the rack? Were you able to hit your targeted reps every set, or did you exceed them? Or fall short in one set? Did you finish that last set and feel like you could have cranked out 3-4 more reps, or were your arms shaking as you racked the weight?

If you felt good, or even a little challenged by your set, the next week you should either:

Add 5 pounds to the bar (2.5 lbs per side, or if using dumbbells, whatever the next weight up is)
or
Add 1 rep to each set

Don’t do both, unless this week’s sets were very unchallenging. Progressing slowly like this will allow you to continue to push closer to your limits and push past them once you’ve reached them while minimizing the risk of putting too much weight on the bar at once and risking an injury from lifting too much, too fast (and likely with poor form).

If, however, you were really struggling with your final reps, it’s OK to keep the weight and reps the same for the next week.

Will my progress be linear?

No, progress will not be linear. Some weeks you will level off, and even might stay there for several weeks. Some workouts you might even feel like you need to drop a few pounds off the bar. And eventually, you will reach your maximum weight you can lift for that exercise.

All of this is normal. Maybe you had a bad night of sleep, or maybe you aren’t as fueled as you were last time. Maybe your allergies are kicking in, or you have the beginnings of a cold. Maybe you’re just tired from a harder night on the mats yesterday. Many things can affect our performance in the gym. Don’t let one or two less-productive sessions get you down, and don’t let a plateau stop you from consistently hitting the gym.

That said, we should pay attention to our fatigue and performance, as it can be an indicator that it’s time to take a break, or at least a deload. See “Managing fatigue” below.

Managing fatigue alongside BJJ

You are going to get tired. Full stop.

Adding strength training to what might already be intense BJJ sessions will accumulate more fatigue at a faster rate. Managing this fatigue is essential to maintaining progress on the mats and in the gym, as well as maintaining your overall quality of life.

Some non-negotiables:

Sleep. You must aim for a good night of sleep every night. Generally, this is 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night for adults. Teens generally need more (8-10 hours). Sleep is when much of the recovery and adaptation from training occurs, memories are consolidated, the CNS recovers, and all of the other processes you need for solid recovery take place.
Rest days. You must have at least one full day of rest. That means no gym, no jiu jitsu, no long, punishing runs. Active recovery activities such as relaxing yoga or a short, casual walk are fine. Your body needs periods where you're not continually adding more training stress so it has an opportunity to recover from the demands of the rest of your week. You may determine you need more than one rest day…that’s fine. Listen to your body.

Some notes about getting a good night’s sleep:

No caffeine within 6-8 hours of your bedtime. This will differ individual to individual. Even if you can fall right asleep right after downing a shot of espresso, the caffeine may interfere with your ability to achieve deep, restorative sleep.
The same goes for any other stimulants (nicotine, energy drinks, etc.).
No alcohol before bed. In general, there is no “healthy” amount of alcohol consumption. (A recent systematic review of health-related alcohol studies has shown that even if there may be some small benefits in one element of health that most other elements are negatively affected, thus negating any benefit (Sarich et al, 2024, PMID: 38465993).) That said, consuming alcohol is a personal choice. If you decide to drink, finish drinking several hours before your bedtime. Alcohol may help you get to sleep (it is a depressant), but it interferes with the ability to achieve deep sleep.
Turn all of the screens off an hour before bed. Bright light in the evening can suppress melatonin and interfere with your circadian rhythm.
Reduce your stress before bed. No playing intense video games right before you go to sleep. If possible, no intense exercise right before bed. While these might be fun, they can increase physiological arousal and, for some people, interfere with falling asleep.
Stick to a schedule. Make your bedtime and wakeup time the same every day, whenever possible. Changing your sleep schedule on the weekends, for example, can shift your circadian rhythms and affect your sleep during the week.

As you’re training keep an eye out for some of the following symptoms:

Unable to get a good night’s sleep (outside of things that deliberately interfere with sleep, such as caffeine, noises that are waking you up in the night, etc.), or not feeling rested after waking up from a full-night’s sleep
General, uncharacteristic irritability
More than 2 weeks where you can’t progress 3 or more lifts
General soreness that doesn’t completely abate and is interfering, even in small ways, with normal, daily activities
General brain fog (that isn’t the result of injury)
More than 2 weeks of feeling like you’ve plateaued on the mats

These can be signs that you need a more intensive recovery period, or that you're accumulating more fatigue than you can currently recover from. In some cases, persistent symptoms can be an early warning sign of overtraining.

Some steps that can help with this:

Take a night or two off of jiu jitsu, or, at the very least (and if you’re disciplined enough) keep the drilling light, and don’t roll.
Program in a strength training deload week: cut your working weight by 50%, and only do 1-2 sets of your normal reps with the reduced weight. (Taking an entire week off from the gym is also acceptable.)
Focus on getting a good night’s sleep.
Take the time to address any external stressors that may be affecting your rest and recovery.
Re-evaluate your training schedule. If getting to this point is becoming a regular occurrence, it’s likely time to tone down your training intensity or the number of sessions you’re doing a week.

In short, don’t be afraid to give yourself days off, or even weeks off, when needed. The mats and weights will always be there.

How to organize lifting around BJJ

Strength training is meant to supplement and support your BJJ practice, not interfere or hinder it. Regardless of which option you go with, when you first start strength training, you’ll likely note that you are more sore than usual both in the gym and in BJJ class. This is normal, and will likely last 2-4 weeks. However, your body will adapt relatively quickly (these are known as “newbie gains”) provided you are eating well, getting enough sleep, lifting an appropriate amount of weight, and allowing yourself rest days.

You may find that you need to take it a little easier when rolling during this timeframe until you’ve adjusted to the additional activity.

Here are some options for how to organize your lifting around your jiu jitsu practice.

Scenario 1: you can schedule your strength training for days when you don’t have BJJ.

If you have the ability to do resistance training on the days when you aren’t on the mats, and can manage to still work in your rest day, this could be the ideal scenario. In this case you should have enough time between lifting sessions to fully/mostly recover and get the most out of each session, and you will likely be less fatigued when it’s time to train jiu jitsu.

For instance, if you have BJJ class on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, you could lift on Mondays, Wednesdays, and/or Fridays (depending on your split).

Scenario 2: when you will have to do strength training on the same day(s) as BJJ

In this scenario, you don’t have the option to lift on non-jiu jitsu days, either because of your schedule, your split, or your goals. In this case, you will find that at least one of your lifting days falls on a jiu jitsu day.

Option 1: lift in the morning, train BJJ at night

This is an ideal scenario if you must train twice a day.

Lifting in the morning will allow for a more maximal effort in the gym
Allowing for as much time as possible between lifting and jiu jitsu will provide more recovery time and more energy for the mats
Even if you are still tired/sore from lifting, you can still focus on your technique without the fear of “muscling” things (the idea being that you’ll be too tired to replace technique with strength)

Option 2: lift before BJJ

Regardless of what time your BJJ class is, if you can’t allow for several hours between strength training and jiu jitsu, the next best option is to lift prior to training. You’ll be more tired for class, but the theory from option 1 above still holds: you’ll be forced to focus on technique. This is less ideal than option 1, especially if you’re training for competition, but it can still reap the benefits of your lifting and jiu jitsu practice.

Option 3: lift after BJJ

By far the least optimal option, as you’ll be tired from training BJJ and won’t be able to offer your best effort in the gym. That said, if this is the only option, it’s better than not training or lifting at all. Gains may not happen as quickly, but they will still come.

As mentioned before: don’t let “perfect” be the enemy of “good enough”.

Competition Preparation

Strength training for competition deserves a much deeper dive and is a more nuanced discussion depending on the athlete, their needs, their goals, and their injury history, but there are some basic principles that can be put into place right away. These are built around your training “seasons”: off-season, in-season, and post-season. While these terms may seem familiar in the context of other professional sports, we need to adapt and apply them to jiu jitsu.

Off-Season: The period when there are no tournaments or competitive matches scheduled.

This is when you should focus on building your foundation for your jiu jitsu (acquiring new techniques, polishing your existing technique, tinkering with your game/strategy, etc.) and in the weight room (lifting more often, beginning with low-to-moderate intensity when the off-season begins, culminating in higher intensities as you approach in-season, and shifting from almost exclusively building strength to building power/explosiveness).

This is when the bulk of your strength gains will happen, and will likely comprise the majority of your time (unless you are competing often, though again, this requires a more nuanced and context-specific conversation…this is where working with a strength coach will be very useful).

In-Season: This is the active time of matches (or preparing for a specific match/tournament), and may be anywhere from 4-8 weeks leading into the competition.

When in-season, your strength training will shift into a maintenance phase, eventually tapering down as you approach your competition date. This will usually mean reducing your lifting to 2 days a week, and while you will still look to progress your lifts, you’ll want to do so less aggressively so as to allow for more energy to dedicate to your BJJ training (which should now focus more on strategy, tactics, honing your existing skills, and ramping up your cardio to meet the demands of your match(es)).

Post-Season: This is the time immediately following your competition. In BJJ, this can be 1-2 weeks, or more depending on any injuries you may have sustained in-season.

The focus of your post-season is recovery. Your body and your mind need a break after all of the hard work you just put in. This is also a good time to let any nagging (or more serious) injuries heal. Little aches and pains from pushing yourself should resolve after a week or so of taking it easy; more serious injuries should be looked at by a sports medicine doctor. This, as well as your overall feeling of wellness, will determine how long your post-season will need to be.

A good guideline is to give yourself a vacation of at least one week of relatively no activity; definitely nothing that’s pushing yourself. No lifting days, limiting yourself to light, unstructured physical activity just to stay loose.

Don’t worry about losing your gains if you don’t train for a week or two. It takes longer than that to completely “detrain”. You can expect some of your weights to go down a little when you transition back into the off-season; for this reason, once you start lifting again, start at ~80% of what your max working load was prior to competing. It will likely only take 2-4 weeks to regain any strength you may have lost with the layoff, and you’ll be back to pushing yourself again.

Common mistakes

No rest days. Your body needs time to recuperate. Grinding in the gym and on the mats every day isn’t a recipe for success, it’s a recipe for injury and burnout.
Not being consistent. Being “optimal” once every couple of weeks will never beat being 85% optimal 3 days a week, every week, for months on end. A lack of consistency on the mats and in the gym will hold you back more than any amount of being “sub-optimal”.
Pushing too hard, too fast. Be patient. Trying to move too much weight before your body is ready, or trying to throw weight around with Olympic lifts without having the form down, or doing too many days in the gym without a break…these and other examples of going too hard, too fast all lead to one of two places: injury, burnout, or both.
Program switching. Stick with a program for at least 6-8 weeks before you make major changes. Switching out an exercise here and there to better meet your needs (i.e. back squats hurt your shoulder, but Zurcher squats feel great) is one thing, but changing what you’re doing whole cloth every couple of weeks? It will be hard to build real strength if you aren’t giving yourself enough time to adapt and progress what you’re already doing.
YOLO lifting. This is going 1RM all the time, or lifting every day to exhaustion with no breaks, or trying that 500 bicep curl workout you saw on YouTube. It all looks like fun until you get hurt. And the older we get, the more likely lifting like this will do just that.
Not changing your lifting program with your competition schedule. Your needs will change depending on what season you’re in, and you can’t keep lifting the same regardless of when you’re competing next. While program switching isn’t great, either is an inflexible program that doesn’t change to meet your current needs and goals.
Not listening to your body and giving yourself a deload when needed. Taking a night, a week, a month off isn’t a sign of weakness or a character flaw when your body is screaming at you to take a break. Jiu jitsu, and lifting, are ultra-marathons. Don’t sacrifice the whole race over the next mile.
Comparing yourself to others. It doesn’t matter how much you’re benching or deadlifting, or how many sets you get in a week, or how many days you lift, as long as you are pushing yourself. Only benching 135 for 3 sets of 6? If that’s your limit right now, awesome. This is a competition of one, you versus you. It’s fine to aspire to want to do more, but don’t denigrate the work you’re doing because the gal at the bench next to you is hitting 255 for 10. Someone lifting more doesn’t mean you’re lifting less, or that your progress isn’t any less important than anyone else’s. You’re here doing the work. That’s what matters.

Example 2-, 3-, and 4-day templates

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I've put together free 2-, 3-, and 4-day strength-training templates specifically for BJJ practitioners.

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Sources & Further Reading

The recommendations throughout this article are informed by the current research on resistance training, strength and conditioning, recovery, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The resources below provide the primary research and professional guidance behind the recommendations discussed above, along with a few useful resources for readers who want to dig deeper.

Research & Evidence

American College of Sports Medicine. Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Schoenfeld, B. J., et al. Research on resistance-training volume, intensity, repetitions, and hypertrophy.
Grgic, J., et al. Research and systematic reviews examining resistance-training frequency, volume, intensity, and proximity to muscular failure.
Suchomel, T. J., Nimphius, S., & Stone, M. H. Research on muscular strength and its relationship to athletic performance.
Helms, E., et al. Research and practical recommendations regarding resistance training and athletic development.
Andreato, L. V., et al. Research examining the physiological demands of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.