Open-ended sets done for as many reps as possible (AMRAP) can be used strategically as a form of autoregulation – that is, a way to adjust your training difficulty on a given day based on how good (or bad) you’re feeling. When I’m programming for our lifters at The Strength House, I typically include AMRAP sets for their main lifts (squat, bench press and deadlift variations) on one or two days per week, implemented differently based on their experience level.
To Fail or Not to Fail?
First off, AMRAP and going to failure are not one and the same. When our lifters do AMRAP sets with their main lifts, we stop the set at technical failure (i.e., they’re no longer able to maintain proper technique), not absolute failure (i.e., they literally can’t move the bar). There’s a time and place to go to absolute failure on some accessory movements when hypertrophy is the goal, but we typically stay away from that with variations of the squat, bench press and deadlift.
AMRAP Served Two Ways
We use AMRAP sets for the main lifts in 2 ways:
- Top set approach: the heaviest set of the day is done for AMRAP
- Backdown approach: after doing our main heavy sets, we reduce the weight and do AMRAP
For our more experienced lifters who have the technical prowess to lift heavy weights closer to failure, we often perform our top set for AMRAP, similar to the plus-set approach made popular by Jim Wendler and his 5/3/1 system. The weight is heavy enough to elicit strength gains in our stronger lifters, but also light enough that they should be able to hit at least 1-5 reps, even on a bad day. If they feel great, they push for more reps, and if they feel lousy, they’ll do fewer reps.
Here’s a clip of one of our Strength House lifters hitting an all-time bench PR at the time… for 5 reps. That’s often how it works when you slow cook the training process – you not only are able to hit new all-time PRs, but you’re able to perform them for multiple reps as well.
For our less experienced lifters, we’ll first do several working sets at a certain RPE, then reduce the weight and do AMRAP. This helps get newer lifters acquainted with high-level efforts with a weight that’s manageable (i.e., you can’t know what a 10 RPE is until you’ve been there). Also, the AMRAP set helps validate the weight we chose for our RPE sets. If the lifter hits somewhere between 8-12 reps on the AMRAP, we know they picked the right weight for their heavier sets. But if they’re always hitting 12+ reps on the AMRAP, we know they can push heavier on their main working sets.
So whether you’re a novice, intermediate or advanced lifter, there’s a productive way to implement open-ended sets in your training. A simple rule: if you’re a rookie, stay lighter with any sets approaching failure, and if you’re more experienced, you can push a bit closer to failure with heavier weights.