How to progress: reps, RIR and weight

The three numbers on every row

Every exercise in our plans has three numbers: a rep range (8–12), an RIR target (RIR 2) and a rest time (2 min). The range says where to work, RIR says how hard, and the rest time keeps one session comparable with the next.

RIR, reps in reserve, is how many more clean reps you could have done when you stop the set. RIR 2 means you stop with two good reps left. Sets that stop 1–2 reps short of failure build about as much muscle as sets taken to failure, with less fatigue (Refalo 2024), so our plans never ask for failure.

Most people misjudge RIR by about one rep, and beginners by more (Halperin 2022). Check yourself now and then: film a set, or on a machine keep going past your planned stop and count the reps you really had left. RIR = 10 − RPE.

The RIR target is the same on every working set; warm-up sets have none and don't count. Rest the time on the row: beyond about 90 s, longer rest adds little muscle growth (Singer 2024), but on the big lifts it keeps your reps comparable from week to week.

Week 1 is calibration

Week 1 has the same exercises, sets and rep ranges as the rest of the plan, one RIR easier: RIR 3 where the plan later asks for 2, RIR 2 where it asks for 1. Its job is to find your weights: for a row of 8–12 at RIR 2, pick a weight you can lift 8 times with 3 reps in reserve. The reps are the bottom of the range.

Use the same weight on every working set, even if the first set feels light, and write down weight, reps and RIR for each set. For a first guess, enter a recent set into the starting-weights box on any plan page or into the 1RM calculator; both work from the widely used RPE chart (RTS).

From week 2 you train at the target RIR: in the intermediate plans, RIR 2 on most compound lifts and RIR 1 on most machine and isolation exercises.

1RM calculator →

From week 2: add reps first

Keep the weight and add a rep to every set that you can still finish with the planned reserve. The first sets usually get there first and the last set lags a rep behind: that is normal fatigue, and it catches up in the next sessions. One rep per set per week is a good pace.

Adding reps at the same weight builds muscle about as well as adding weight (Plotkin 2022), so these weeks are progress too.

Earn the weight increase

When every working set reaches the top of the range with the same weight, and the hardest set is at the target RIR or easier, go up one step next session. How often that happens depends on how fast your reps climb and how often the exercise comes round.

The table shows the usual smallest steps. For dumbbells the step is the next pair: 2 kg, or 2.5 kg if your rack goes 22.5, 25, 27.5. If your gym has 1.25 kg plates, a smaller step on the barbell works too.

After the step, expect fewer reps. The RPE chart gives a fair estimate: 3 × 12 with 22 kg dumbbells at RIR 2 becomes about 3 × 9 with 24 kg. Start the new weight there, near the bottom of the range, and build the reps up again.

When the next step is too big

On light exercises one step is a big jump: 8 to 10 kg on a lateral raise is 25%. That is why raises use 12–20 reps and most isolation exercises 10–15. Use an in-between weight if you have one, such as small plates or an add-on weight for the stack, or stay and go a rep or two above the range for a week or two before you take the next pair.

If the reps after a step fall below the range, the step was too big for now: go back to the lighter weight and use one of those two options.

When a session was too hard

A session was too hard when sets fell below the range, or your hardest set had 2 or more reps less in reserve than the target (RIR 0 when the target was 2). First check the plain causes: short rest, poor sleep, a rushed warm-up or drifting technique.

Keep the weight next time. If sets fell below the range, take one step off and build the reps back up from there. If you had only one rep less in reserve than planned, simply repeat the session: same weight and reps. Never add weight to push through a session like that.

When you stall

A stall is two sessions in a row at the same weight with no added reps and no easier RIR. Then work through these steps in order:

• Check that you rest the planned time and log RIR honestly.
• If a third session brings nothing, take about 10% off and build back up with reps.
• Or swap the exercise for a substitute from the plan page at the start of the next 8 weeks.
• If many exercises stall at once, it is recovery, not the exercises: take the deload week now.

After every session: the short version

The table sums up the rules above. Look at your last session of an exercise, find its row and do what it says next time.

The deload

Intermediate plans end with a deload in week 8: about 60% of the sets (4→2, 3→2, 2→1), the same weights and rest, every set stopping at RIR 4. The easy sets are not a result to compare: the next run starts from your last regular week, not from the deload.

Why at the end: a one-week deload in the middle of a 9-week study added no muscle and cost a little strength (Coleman 2024), and coaches usually deload every 4–8 weeks (Bell 2023). If you feel fresh, you can skip it and start the next run.

Beginner plans have no scheduled deload: at their volume, beginners recover between sessions. For everyone: if two sessions in a row go backwards on most exercises, or sleep, illness or stress get in the way, deload now (half the sets, the same weights, RIR 4). Afterwards return to the weights of your last normal week.

Keep the volume as written

Volume means hard sets per muscle per week. The app counts a set as 1 for a muscle the exercise trains directly and 0.5 for one it trains indirectly. Beginner plans keep the big muscle groups in the Growth zone; intermediate plans give them about 9–12 sets where the days allow, around the start of High volume, and the glute and leg priority plans go higher for those muscles. No plan reaches Very high volume.

Each extra set adds less muscle than the one before (Pelland 2025), and the ACSM's 2026 position stand puts the best results at about 10 or more sets per muscle a week. Keep the sets as written: a day that feels easy means the weight will go up soon, not that you need more sets.

To bring up one muscle, add 2–3 weekly sets for that muscle only. The chart on every plan page shows where each muscle lands; in the app, the volume analysis is part of Premium, and the studies behind the zones are under Profile > Settings > Information > Volume Zones: Methodology and Sources.

Missed sessions and breaks

Missed a session? Do the next one in order; don't skip it or double up. The app runs the sessions in sequence, so the 8 weeks simply end a little later.

After one or two weeks off, repeat the last week you completed with about 5–10% less weight. After a longer break, start again from week 1.

After 8 weeks

Run the plan again with your weights carried over, or take the next step on the path: 2-day full body, 3-day full body, 4-day upper/lower, then the intermediate plans once your weights go up only every 1–2 weeks, which is how the app defines that level.

When you start a plan again, week 1 is calibration again: enter a set from your last regular week into the starting-weights box (week 8 in beginner plans, week 7 in intermediate plans, never a deload set). Expect to start heavier than last time.

Swap an accessory exercise only at the start of a run, and keep the substitute for all 8 weeks.

All workout plans →

Log RIR on every set

Log weight, reps and RIR for every working set right after it. RIR is what tells an easy 12 from a grinding 12.

Without RIR, the rules on this page can't tell a set with reps to spare from a set at your limit. Log a set you couldn't finish with the reps you did at RIR 0. If you prefer RPE, the app can show RPE instead.

What the app does, and what is Premium

Free in SmartWorkout: the whole plan with all 8 weeks, logging weight, reps and RIR, the rest timer, your history with the previous results next to every set, and the calculators.

This page teaches the manual method. With Premium, the app suggests the weight and reps for every set after each workout, from the weights, reps and RIR you logged, including week-1 calibration and the deload. Its suggestions can differ from this simple rule because it uses more of your data.

Everything on this page also works with a notebook; the app keeps the records for you.

Progressive overload app →

Worked example: beginner dumbbell bench press

From the 3-day full body plan for beginners: dumbbell bench press, 3 × 8–12. The numbers come from a simulated lifter, worked through with the rule on this page.

Week 1: 22 kg for 8/8/8 at RIR 3. From week 2 every set gets one more rep while it still ends at RIR 2 or easier; when the first set reaches 12 before the others, the other sets catch up first. In week 6 all three sets reach 12 at RIR 2, so week 7 goes up one step to 24 kg, and the reps drop to 9, as the RPE chart predicts. Week 8 ends at 24 kg for 10/10/10, and the starting-weights box turns the last set into 26 kg for week 1 of the next run.

Worked example: intermediate barbell squat with the deload

From the 4-day upper/lower plan for intermediates: barbell squat, 3 × 6–10, with the deload in week 8. Again a simulated lifter and the rule on this page.

Week 1: 92.5 kg for 6/6/6. By week 7 the reps climb to 9/9/9 at the same weight, about one rep every week or two, which is what intermediate progress looks like. Not every set reached 10, so the weight never went up inside the block, and that is fine: the extra reps are the progress.

Week 8 is the deload: the same 92.5 kg, two sets instead of three, each stopped at RIR 4, which gives 8/7. The next run starts from week 7, not from the deload: 92.5 kg for 9 reps at RIR 2 in the starting-weights box gives 100 kg for 6 reps at RIR 3 in week 1.