Reps in Reserve (RIR) is a concept used to gauge how many repetitions you could still perform before reaching muscle failure during an exercise. When applied to bodyweight exercises, RIR helps you manage effort and fatigue without pushing to complete failure every time. This approach can be very useful because it allows you to train effectively while reducing the risk of injury and excessive fatigue.
With bodyweight exercises, you often have less ability to adjust load compared to weightlifting, so managing intensity through RIR becomes important. For example, if you do push-ups and stop when you feel you could do 2 more reps before failure, you are leaving 2 reps in reserve. This helps maintain good form and control, which is crucial in bodyweight training to avoid injury and ensure proper muscle engagement.
Using RIR with bodyweight exercises also supports consistent progress. Training too close to failure regularly can lead to burnout and longer recovery times, especially since bodyweight exercises often involve multiple muscle groups and stabilizers. By leaving some reps in reserve, you can train more frequently and maintain better overall performance.
Moreover, research suggests that training near failure is important for muscle growth and strength gains, but training to absolute failure is not necessary and may even be counterproductive due to increased fatigue and recovery demands. Therefore, using RIR to stop short of failure can optimize training volume and intensity balance, especially in bodyweight routines where progression is often achieved by increasing reps or moving to harder variations.
In summary, reps in reserve is a practical tool for bodyweight exercises to control effort, maintain form, reduce injury risk, and support sustainable progress. It allows you to push hard enough to stimulate muscle adaptation without overdoing it, which is especially valuable when you cannot easily adjust external load.
Sources
https://www.getlabtest.com/news/post/reps-meaning-strength-training
https://rippedbody.com/rpe/
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/fitness/whats-the-ideal-rep-count-for-muscle-gain-new-study-answers/articleshow/125378237.cms
