The Vanguard app · The evidence

Every rule, and how sure we are

Every term in the app has a “?” beside it, and this page is built from the same file. Each rule carries a grade, and where the research is mixed, the grade says so.

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How to read a grade

Strong evidence: A meta-analysis or a position stand.Three terms
Moderate evidence: A controlled study consistent with one.One term
Emerging evidence: Limited evidence, or elite practice.Two terms
Coach's call: Practice, labelled as practice. Its sources are background, not proof.Seven terms

Rules and sources only. The numbers each rule uses for you stay in the app, and no one’s training appears here. A grade describes the research, never a promise about you. The Method’s chapters grade their claims on their own scale; this page grades the app’s rules.

Effort

Reps left

Strong evidence

Reps in reserve: how many more clean reps you could have done. Zero means nothing left.

Each week of a block asks for a number, and it moves closer to zero as the block builds. Most people stop with more left than they think, so the app reads your calls over time.

Sources: Zourdos, Klemp, Dolan et al., 2016 (opens in a new tab) · J Strength Cond Res; Helms, Cronin, Storey et al., 2016 (opens in a new tab) · Strength Cond J; Halperin, Malleron, Har-Nir et al., 2022 (opens in a new tab) · Sports Med

Effort check

Emerging evidence

Once a block, one machine or dumbbell set goes to your last clean rep. You call two left, keep going, and the app counts the reps after the call.

People tend to have more reps left than they think. After two checks your own count replaces the guess, so your targets can move up as well as down.

Sources: Halperin, Malleron, Har-Nir et al., 2022 (opens in a new tab) · Sports Med

The weeks of a block

Settle

Coach's call

The first week of a block. A touch lighter while the app learns you.

Sets start further from failure than written, so the first numbers it reads from you are clean ones.

No study sets this one. It is practice, and the app says so.

Build

Strong evidence

Sets and effort go up each week.

More weekly sets build more muscle, and each extra set buys a little less, so the climb is steady rather than steep.

Sources: Schoenfeld, Ogborn, Krieger, 2017 (opens in a new tab) · J Sports Sci; Pelland, Remmert, Robinson et al., 2026 (opens in a new tab) · Sports Med

Redline

Coach's call

The hardest week of the block, on purpose.

Every hard week builds fitness and fatigue together, and the fatigue fades first. Reset follows, so the fatigue clears and the fitness shows. The frame is useful; it is not a measurement of you.

Background, not proof: Chiu, Barnes, 2003 (opens in a new tab) · Strength Cond J

Reset

Emerging evidence

A lighter week: fewer sets, lighter loads, well short of failure.

Lifters commonly take one about every five to six weeks. How much it adds on its own is still open.

Sources: Rogerson, Nolan, Androulakis Korakakis et al., 2024 (opens in a new tab) · Sports Med Open; Bell, Strafford, Coleman et al., 2023 (opens in a new tab) · Sports Med Open

Sets per muscle

Strong evidence

Hard sets in a week, each counted toward the one muscle its exercise trains most.

Muscle size rises with weekly hard sets across the research, so the app counts your week in them.

Sources: Baz-Valle, Fontes-Villalba, Santos-Concejero, 2021 (opens in a new tab) · J Strength Cond Res; Schoenfeld, Ogborn, Krieger, 2017 (opens in a new tab) · J Sports Sci; Pelland, Remmert, Robinson et al., 2026 (opens in a new tab) · Sports Med

Holding

Coach's call

Under where growth starts for this muscle.

Where growth starts is a coach's estimate for each muscle. The research's smallest dose is a group average, not yours.

Background, not proof: Pelland, Remmert, Robinson et al., 2026 (opens in a new tab) · Sports Med

Growing

Coach's call

Between where growth starts and the redline. Each extra set buys a little less.

More weekly sets, more growth, to a point. Where each muscle's lines sit is a coach's estimate.

Background, not proof: Schoenfeld, Ogborn, Krieger, 2017 (opens in a new tab) · J Sports Sci; Pelland, Remmert, Robinson et al., 2026 (opens in a new tab) · Sports Med

Sweet spot

Coach's call

The band inside growing that buys the most growth for the fatigue it costs.

Growth per set falls as sets climb, so the middle of the range buys the most for what it costs. The band for each muscle is a coach's estimate.

Background, not proof: Schoenfeld, Ogborn, Krieger, 2017 (opens in a new tab) · J Sports Sci; Pelland, Remmert, Robinson et al., 2026 (opens in a new tab) · Sports Med

At redline

Coach's call

The most sets this muscle is set to recover from. The app stops adding here.

Past a point, more weekly sets have not clearly grown more muscle. Where that point sits for each muscle is a coach's estimate.

Background, not proof: Baz-Valle, Balsalobre-Fernández, Alix-Fages et al., 2022 (opens in a new tab) · J Hum Kinet; Camargo, Bittencourt, Michel et al., 2026 (opens in a new tab) · J Appl Physiol

Strength

Estimated max

Moderate evidence

What you could lift once, read from a set's weight, its reps and the reps you had left.

Your targets are built from it, so a heavy triple and a set of ten count toward the same number. It is an estimate, most accurate from sets of ten reps or fewer.

Sources: Reynolds, Gordon, Robergs, 2006 (opens in a new tab) · J Strength Cond Res; LeSuer, McCormick, Mayhew et al., 1997 (opens in a new tab) · J Strength Cond Res

Within normal variation

Coach's call

A change in an estimated max too small to be more than the day, up or down.

One session's numbers move a little with sleep, food and the day, so a change this small is read as the day, not as a gain or a loss.

No study sets this one. It is practice, and the app says so.

The research

Every paper the app cites

Thirteen papers, each one linked, with what it found.

Zourdos, Klemp, Dolan et al., 2016 · J Strength Cond Res
Validation study · n = 29 squatters
Effort rated by reps in reserve tracked bar speed: r = −0.88 in experienced lifters and −0.77 in novices. A 10 is no reps left, a 9 is one.
Read the paper by Zourdos, Klemp, Dolan et al., 2016 (opens in a new tab)
Helms, Cronin, Storey et al., 2016 · Strength Cond J
Applied review
A chart that turns reps plus reps in reserve into a share of the max, built on squatters' averages; the authors note that individuals differ.
Read the paper by Helms, Cronin, Storey et al., 2016 (opens in a new tab)
Halperin, Malleron, Har-Nir et al., 2022 · Sports Med
Scoping review and meta-analysis · 12 studies · 414 people
People underpredicted their reps to failure by 0.95 on average; more accurate closer to failure, with heavier loads and in later sets.
Read the paper by Halperin, Malleron, Har-Nir et al., 2022 (opens in a new tab)
Schoenfeld, Ogborn, Krieger, 2017 · J Sports Sci
Meta-analysis
Each extra weekly set added about 0.37% to the gain in muscle size.
Read the paper by Schoenfeld, Ogborn, Krieger, 2017 (opens in a new tab)
Pelland, Remmert, Robinson et al., 2026 · Sports Med
Meta-regressions · 67 studies · 2,058 people
Four weekly sets was the smallest dose with detectable growth; each further step took more sets (about 6 between 5 and 10 sets, about 10.75 between 19 and 29). Indirect sets counted as half fitted best. 78% of the growth data came from sets to failure.
Read the paper by Pelland, Remmert, Robinson et al., 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Chiu, Barnes, 2003 · Strength Cond J
Review
Applies the fitness-fatigue model to resistance training: each session adds fitness and fatigue, and fatigue fades faster.
Read the paper by Chiu, Barnes, 2003 (opens in a new tab)
Rogerson, Nolan, Androulakis Korakakis et al., 2024 · Sports Med Open
Survey · n = 246 strength and physique athletes
Athletes deloaded for about 6.4 days every 5.6 weeks: fewer sets and reps, lighter loads, more reps left, the same exercises and days.
Read the paper by Rogerson, Nolan, Androulakis Korakakis et al., 2024 (opens in a new tab)
Bell, Strafford, Coleman et al., 2023 · Sports Med Open
Delphi consensus · three rounds of expert coaches
A deload is a period of reduced training stress to mitigate fatigue, promote recovery and prepare for the next block. No percentages, length or frequency were agreed.
Read the paper by Bell, Strafford, Coleman et al., 2023 (opens in a new tab)
Baz-Valle, Fontes-Villalba, Santos-Concejero, 2021 · J Strength Cond Res
Systematic review · 14 trials
Counting sets taken to or near failure is a valid measure of volume for sets of about 6 to 20 or more reps.
Read the paper by Baz-Valle, Fontes-Villalba, Santos-Concejero, 2021 (opens in a new tab)
Baz-Valle, Balsalobre-Fernández, Alix-Fages et al., 2022 · J Hum Kinet
Systematic review · 7 trials · trained men
Moderate (12 to 20) against high (over 20) weekly sets: no difference for quadriceps or biceps; high was better for triceps.
Read the paper by Baz-Valle, Balsalobre-Fernández, Alix-Fages et al., 2022 (opens in a new tab)
Camargo, Bittencourt, Michel et al., 2026 · J Appl Physiol
One leg each · n = 25 trained · 8 weeks
Raising volume by 120% grew no more muscle than raising it by 20%.
Read the paper by Camargo, Bittencourt, Michel et al., 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Reynolds, Gordon, Robergs, 2006 · J Strength Cond Res
Prediction study · n = 70 aged 18 to 69
Predictions from a 5-rep max were the best (R² 0.993 bench, 0.974 leg press) and weakened at 10 and 20 reps; the authors advise 10 reps or fewer.
Read the paper by Reynolds, Gordon, Robergs, 2006 (opens in a new tab)
LeSuer, McCormick, Mayhew et al., 1997 · J Strength Cond Res
Validation study · n = 67 untrained · seven equations
Predicted and tested maxes correlated above 0.95, yet most equations were off on average for bench and squat, and every one underestimated the deadlift.
Read the paper by LeSuer, McCormick, Mayhew et al., 1997 (opens in a new tab)

Research describes groups of people, not you. Generated from the app's glossary as it was last changed on 29 October 2026.

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