#472 Dr Eric Helms - Do You Need To Train To Failure, Do You Need More Than 1 Set, Do You Need More Than 6 Reps To Build Muscle?

#472 Dr Eric Helms - Do You Need To Train To Failure, Do You Need More Than 1 Set, Do You Need More Than 6 Reps To Build Muscle?

From Lift Free And Diet Hard with Andrew Coates by Andrew Coates

May 25, 2026 · 1h 26m

About this episode

Dr. Eric Helms discusses common misconceptions about muscle building and training techniques.

Dr. Eric Helms returns to add important nuance to the extreme and absolute claims we see on social media about building muscle. Have you ever heard the following claims: “Only the last 5 reps count, everything else is junk volume” “You need to train to failure to build muscle” “There’s no benefit to more than 1 hard set for hypertrophy” “You never need to train more than 4–6 reps for hypertrophy” “People can’t accurately assess their proximity to failure at higher rep ranges” Eric tackles these and more hypertrophy claims and concepts with research and provides: Where they may hold technical truth Where they’re misleading Where they’re lacking critical context or nuance Where they don’t work for every population Plus Eric explains why you might not be in calorie maintenance even though the scale stays constant while you gain muscle and lose fat, and how much of a calorie surplus do we really need to efficiently build muscle. Eric brings practical reality to the divisive social media hypertrophy playground. This is essential listening for anyone trying to build muscle, coaches people who want to build muscle, or feels confused about conflicting claims online. Instagram: @helms3dmj…

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Host: Andrew Coates

Guest: Dr. Eric Helms

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