Training blocks explained: hypertrophy, strength and deloads

A five-week hypertrophy block in the app starts at 3 reps in reserve, finishes at 1, and spends week five at half volume with 4.5 reps in reserve. That is the whole shape of a training block: effort and volume move on a plan for a few weeks, then a deload clears the fatigue. Training blocks are how a program decides in advance how hard each week should feel, rather than asking you on the day.

The app plans seven block types. Each one is a pair of numbers per week: a target RIR (reps in reserve, how many more reps you could have done when you racked the bar) and a volume multiplier against week one. RPE is the same scale read the other way round: RPE equals 10 minus RIR, so RIR 3 is RPE 7. Every block figure below comes from running the app's own block code, and every load comes from compute.mjs, the model behind the one-rep max calculator.

The seven block types, week by week

A working block of four weeks or more ends on a deload week. Recovery blocks keep their low profile from first week to last. Here is what each block type produces when you give it five weeks.

Read a row from left to right and the intent is plain. Hypertrophy adds volume and effort together, from 1.0x to 1.3x while RIR falls from 3 to 1. Strength holds volume flat and spends the block on effort alone, from RIR 2 to 1. Accumulation is the gentle version of hypertrophy: volume climbs further, to 1.4x, but effort never goes past RIR 2.

Intensification runs the other way. It starts slightly above week-one volume at 1.1x, trims to 0.9x, and takes effort all the way to RIR 0, a set to failure. Specialization uses the accumulation volume ramp with the hypertrophy effort ramp, and it is meant for one or two lagging muscles while everything else holds.

Length changes the steps, not the endpoints. A three-week hypertrophy block has no deload and goes RIR 3, 2, 1 with volume at 1.0x, 1.15x and 1.3x. Stretch it to six weeks and the five working weeks step through RIR 3, 2.5, 2, 1.5 and 1 before the deload in week six.

What the research says about periodizing at all

Planned variation helps strength more clearly than it helps size. A meta-analysis of 18 studies found periodized programs produced larger one-rep max gains than non-periodized ones, a moderate effect size of 0.43, with undulating plans doing better than the rest [1]. Untrained lifters gained more, and longer studies showed larger differences.

The case for hypertrophy is weaker. A 2019 review of the periodization literature concluded it is unclear whether periodized training builds more muscle than non-periodized training, and pointed out that most studies ran under 16 weeks and only a few used trained lifters [2]. That is a reason to stay modest about the block label, not a reason to drop the plan. A block still decides when effort rises, when volume rises, and when you back off, and those are the decisions a lifter otherwise makes badly on a tired Thursday.

The method for setting load inside a block matters less than the plan itself. In an eight-week study of 21 trained men on matched sets and reps, one group lifted fixed percentages of a tested max and the other picked loads to hit a target RPE [3]. Both groups gained strength and muscle thickness. The RPE group's squat rose 17.1 kg against 13.9 kg for the percentage group, a difference that did not reach significance. An RIR ramp is the RPE approach applied across weeks.

A worked example: one squat through a hypertrophy block

Take a 75 kg lifter who squats 85 kg for 8 at RPE 8 in the week before the block. The app's model puts that set at 115 kg for one. Ask the same model what 8 reps should weigh at each week's target and it answers 81.3 kg, 83.1 kg, 86.4 kg and 87.6 kg. A barbell steps in 2.5 kg, so on the bar those become the loads below.

The plate maths flattens the ramp into two steps. Weeks one and two use the same 82.5 kg, and the plan asks for it to feel harder in week two. Weeks three and four share 87.5 kg the same way. That is fine. It means the block progresses by effort inside each pair and by load between them, which is what a lifter feels anyway: the second week on a weight is the one where the last two reps slow down.

Check the end of the block against the start. The model rates 82.5 kg for 8 at RPE 7 at 116.7 kg for one, and 87.5 kg for 8 at RPE 9 at 114.8 kg. Those two estimates sit within 2 kg of each other and of the 115 kg the block was built from. The block did its job if week four's set lands at RPE 9 or easier. If 87.5 kg for 8 comes in at RPE 8, that set rates 118.4 kg, and the next block starts from a higher number.

How the app runs a block for you

When you plan a program, you pick a focus for a stretch of weeks and the app writes a target RIR into each week. The week's guidance shows it as "Target RIR this week", and the preview says it in plain words: "Starts easier (about 3 reps left) and finishes harder (about 1), with a deload in week 5." The block never edits your exercises. The volume multiplier is the plan's number for how much work the week should hold, and adding or removing sets stays your call.

The target RIR does change what the app prefills next. The rep-based progression schemes (Double, Load, Reps and Auto through them) normally add load as soon as every set reaches the top of its rep range. Inside a block they hold the load when your hardest set came in at least 1.5 RPE above what the week asked. In week one of the example, the target is RPE 7, so a set logged at RPE 8.5 or harder means the same weight again next time. The escape hatch is the stall rule: after three sessions at one load, the hold stops and the increase goes through.

This only works with RPE on the sets. A set logged without RPE never triggers the hold, because a missing number must never read as a hard set. If you want the block to steer the load, log RPE on at least the working sets. The top set RPE guide covers how to rate a set honestly.

The deload week never emits an increase. The app drops the next weight by about 10 per cent and prompts you to cut sets too. A Resensitize block is different: it holds the load, trims volume to 0.6x, and asks you to stop well short of failure. Neither block type adds load.

When to deload, and what a deload is

A deload is a planned week of less: fewer sets, lighter loads, more reps left in the tank. The app's default is half the volume at RIR 4.5, and the load about 10 per cent down. That matches what competitive lifters report doing. In a survey of 246 strength and physique athletes, every one of them deloaded, typically for 6.4 days every 5.6 weeks [4]. They cut sets and load, raised reps in reserve, and mostly kept the same exercises and the same training days.

The evidence that deloads build more muscle is thin. The one controlled trial so far gave a group of trained lifters a full week off in the middle of a nine-week, high-volume program [5]. Muscle growth matched the group that trained straight through, and the continuous group gained a little more strength. A week off is not the reduced week most programs mean by a deload, so the study does not settle the question. It does say a deload costs you no muscle, and a week off is not free for strength.

That points to a sensible rule. Plan a deload at the end of a block of four weeks or more, as the app does, and keep training through it at lower effort rather than stopping. Bring it forward when performance stalls for a couple of sessions or your joints start to complain, which were the two most common reasons in the survey besides "the program said so" [4].

The app warns you about two gaps. A plan that repeats forever with no deload week gets a warning that every fourth week, or whatever the cycle length is, will be your hardest, forever. A block of eight weeks or longer gets a note to rotate some accessories every four to six weeks.

Choosing a block, and the mistakes that waste one

Start with the goal for the next month, not the label. For size, pick Hypertrophy or Accumulation: Hypertrophy if you recover well and want to push effort, Accumulation if the last block left you beaten up. Strength suits a month where a lift matters more than the volume, such as before a test. Intensification belongs right before a peak, because RIR 0 every session in week four is not something to repeat often. Specialization is for one lagging muscle; keep the others at the volume they already grow on.

The first mistake is running Strength or Intensification without logging RPE. The block then cannot hold the load when a set was harder than planned, and the app adds weight on reps alone. The second is skipping the deload because week four felt good. Week four is supposed to feel hard, and the next block starts better from rested legs.

The third is changing the exercises halfway through. A block compares a lift to itself across weeks, and a new squat variation in week three resets that comparison. Swap exercises at the start of a block. The fourth is treating the volume multiplier as an order to add sets every week whatever happens. If your sets at the target RIR are already slowing down, hold the set count and let the effort ramp do the work.

Blocks chain. One way to run them is Accumulation, then Hypertrophy, then Strength, each ending on its deload, and the progressive overload guide covers how the weight should move inside them. If you would rather the weeks were planned for you, that is what Top Sets does.

Questions

How long should a training block be?

Four to six weeks covers most blocks. The app ends any working block of four weeks or more with a deload week, so a five-week block is four hard weeks and one easy one. Survey data puts the typical gap between deloads at 5.6 weeks for competitive lifters, which lines up [4]. Blocks of eight weeks or more get a note from the app to rotate some accessories every four to six weeks.

What is the difference between a deload and a resensitization block?

A deload drops the load about 10 per cent, halves the volume and leaves 4.5 reps in reserve. A Resensitize block holds the load, trims volume to 0.6x, and keeps effort at RIR 3 every week. It is for the weeks after a long, high-volume push, when the aim is to make future volume productive again. Neither one adds load.

Do I need RPE logged for a block to work?

For the plan, no: the weekly target RIR is there whether you log RPE or not. For the app to adjust the next weight, yes. The rep-based schemes only hold a load when a logged set came in at least 1.5 RPE harder than the week asked. A set without RPE never triggers the hold, so the app progresses on reps alone.