I want to share something with you that I've been meaning to immortalize somewhere on the internet as an extremely simple way of thinking about how to string together a muscle-building workout.

Until I have a better name for it, I'm going to call it The Rule of 7's and 11's.

It’s best-suited for a few specific kinds of people and scenarios:

People who are brand new to the gym and feel clueless about how much weight to use, how many reps to perform, and how many sets to complete
Seasoned gym-goers who are lifting in a new gym with new machines due to vacation or travel for work
Anyone who is looking to incorporate a new piece of equipment into their routine

The common themes here are newness and ambiguity.

The Rule of 7’s and 11’s is most appropriately applied when we are forced to learn something new either as inexperienced lifters or long-time gym-goers being exposed to new equipment or new exercises.

Tracking so far?

Good! Let’s get into the details.

The Rule of 7's and 11's

Step 1

For every movement you choose to do in the gym, pick an initial weight that seems very doable for an easy set of 7. When you get to 7 reps, stop - even if you could have done way more (which you certainly could have because that’s exactly the point).

To keep this easily understandable, let’s use an example of a brand new machine bench press in my local gym.

Remember, the machine is brand new, which means I have no idea how much weight I should be using to elicit an optimal muscle-growth response.
As a complete shot in the dark, I pin the 120-pound mark and do an easy set of 7. Mission accomplished.
So my first set was 120x7.

Step 2

The idea from here is to continue doing sets of 7 while adding 10-20 pounds per set until you can no longer do 7 reps (or in some cases 11, which I will explain later).

In this case I would probably move to 140 and complete another 7 reps.
So my second set was 140x7.
My third set might be 160x7. It’s getting more difficult, but I’m still able to get all 7 reps, so I rest and continue on.
My fourth set might be 180x7, which feels plenty challenging, but I’m still able to get all 7 reps. So what I do? I rest and increase the weight for a fifth set.
My fifth set might be 200x6.

Great! I found the point at which I could no longer lift a weight for 7 full reps. Now what?

Step 3

Once you've identified that roughly-7-rep weight, hang out there for 2-3 additional sets of roughly 7 reps. These are what we call working sets: the ones that actually “count” toward your total weekly volume. And always count that “failure set” where you were unable to do the full 7 reps.

I also recommend resting around 90-120 seconds in between each of your working sets. I personally do 60-90 seconds on my feeder sets and 120 seconds on my working sets, but I encourage you to experiment with your own recovery ability.

So in this case, I would have done 4 feeder sets before finding my working weight. These may be new terms to you, but simply think of your feeder sets as the sets that lead you to your true working weight.

All in all, my logbook would look like this.

Feeder Sets for Machine Bench

120x7 (90 seconds rest)
140x7 (90 seconds rest)
160x7 (90 seconds rest)
180x7 (90 seconds rest)

Working Sets for Machine Bench

200x6 (120 seconds rest)
200x6 (120 seconds rest)
200x5 (120 seconds rest)

Step 4

And then you repeat that for each movement of the entire workout.

Boom. That's it. Seriously.

4 Reasons Why It’s a Very Good Idea

ReaSon 1: IT DEMANDS TRAINING CLOSE TO FAILURE.

Well, firstly and most importantly, it forces you to train within a few reps of a failure in a rep range that most experts in the muscle-building space agree is extremely effective.

I seriously doubt there's a single jacked person on the planet who would tell you that lifting within a few reps of failure between 7 and 11 reps is a bad idea.

So, if it's not a bad idea (and probably a great idea), why not do it?

Reason 2: IT INCLUDES A PROPER WARM-UP BY DEFAULT.

The next most important thing is that it forces you to warm-up for each movement properly. When you start with very doable weights and move up until you can no longer achieve a baseline rep range, you can know for sure that you've prepared your muscles properly to exert maximum force on those sets of 7 that "count."

Reason 3: IT CHALLENGES PEOPLE TO lift heavy.

Thirdly, it doesn't allow you to fall short of your potential because you have to increase the weight if you got your 7 reps the last time.

For example, if we were doing this on the squat, you might have gotten 225 for 7 last time and wanted to just hang out there even though you probably could have gotten 9-10.

The Rule of 7’s and 11’s would have you jump to 230 or 235 and force you to get 6 reps before calling it a day.

In my opinion, that's a great way to chase your true potential in each movement. It's like built-in wimp protection.

I also find that some movements hurt no matter what.

For me, these would be weighted dips and Bulgarian split squats. Bodyweight dips hurt just about as badly as weight dips with a 45 hanging from your belt.

The trap here is that you could easily misinterpret your discomfort for maximal effort. But this rule forces you to continue adding weight.

Reason 4: IT ENCOURAGES DISCOMFORT.

Fourthly, training like this forces you to enter into the suck zone when you don't want to.

Think about it. Squatting for sets of 6-7? Gross.

Deadlifting for 6-7? Gross.

Barbell reverse lunging for 6-7? Gross.

But this is how you grow muscle!

When should you use 11's instead?

If you've been lifting for awhile, you know which moves to use 11's on instead.

These are typically going to be isolation movements like exercises for your biceps or triceps or higher-rep stuff for your legs like leg extensions or hack squats.

Similar, I wouldn’t use 7's on super tiny muscles like your rear delts or calves in most cases. For those muscle groups, you’d probably even be smart to add a third tier rep range of 20-30.

But for the sake of keeping things as simple as possible, I encourage most people to think in terms of 7’s and 11’s.

Remember that training this way is particularly helpful when you're in a new gym or on vacation or on a business trip.

Why? Because you've got brand new machines to work with, so you can't really look to your logbook to help you much.

This allows you to keep adding weight to the random machine bench in your hotel in Dallas until you identify the weight you should be training with rather than "going by feel" and subjecting yourself to a suboptimal workout.

How do you know which sequence of exercises to do?

Unfortunately, the Rule of 7’s and 11’s won't help you figure out which moves to actually do. Fortunately, I've decided to help you out with a few structures below.

There's nothing magical about these sequences other than that they make good sense for achieving a full upper body, lower body, and full body workout.

If you want an upper body workout...

Some kind of vertical pull like an assisted pull-up or lat pulldown (7's)
Some kind of horizontal press like a bench press (7's)
Some kind of row like a seated cable row (11's)
Some kind of vertical press like a DB shoulder press (7's)
Some kind of bicep move like a DB curl (11's)
Some kind of tricep move like a rope extension (11's)

If you want a lower body workout...

Some kind of squat like a barbell squat (7's)
Some kind of hinge like a deadlift or a good morning (7's)
Some kind of lunge like a reverse barbell lunge (7 or 11's)
Some kind of stabilized squat like a hack squat (11's)

If you want a full body workout...

Pick a few superstars from each of the above categories and get to work.

For specifics, here's a sick 7-move upper body blast I like to toss in every once in awhile when my training schedule gets a little weird and I need a one-off pump:

Andrew’s Favorite One-Off Pump Session

Deficit Bent Over Rows for 7's
Incline Machine Bench for 7's
Assisted Pull-Ups for 7's
Seated DB Overhead Press for 7's
Seated Incline DB Curls for 11's
Straight-Bar Tricep Cable Pushdowns for 11's
Superman Curls for 11's

I really hope you found this article instructive.

If you feel like it brought you any value at all, consider sending it to a friend or family member - especially someone who might be using the classic “I travel a lot for work” excuse when it comes to neglecting their muscle gains.

Later, guys.

-Andrew