[XFrequentist]

YMMV, but I recommend more people try High Intensity Training (HIT). HIT explicitly contradicts several of the (well-supported) claims in the article, but I've personally found it effective, and I think there's a good case that it's a better fit for most adult lifestyles.

[ETA: Just to clarify, HIT is different from the more widely-known HIIT. This wikipedia article[1] is a good introduction, and the book "Body By Science" is an excellent deeper dive.]

I'm a 40-ish male with a long history of resistance training, and have tried many variations of sets/reps/volume/rest etc over the years.

For a few years now I've been doing a version of HIT, basically single sets (to failure), no (or little) rest between sets, full-body training once a week, supervised by a trainer. It sucks, but it's over quickly.

It's great. I'm significantly stronger than I've been in many years, have remained injury-free throughout (rare for me), and play competitive basketball several times a week without issue (beyond my inconsistent shooting).

The article cites its sources, has solid (for exercise science) evidence backing its claims, and is pretty convincing - if you're a college student with plenty of time, and you're seeking to maximize muscle growth, then yes there's a good case that you should do several workouts a week with more rest between sets.

However, if you're a working stiff who just wants to get it done efficiently, HIT is much easier to fit in a busy schedule. I think it's worth considering for the median person reading fitness articles on HN.

For most people, I suspect HIT is essentially just as effective as the type of protocol advocated in the article, but that's just a hunch and not a claim I could support with anything beyond personal experience.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_training

[amai]

I would recommend HIIT over HIT especially for the cardiovascular and other health effects (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_traini...).

I did HIT for a long time which made me stronger. But only since I do HIIT I also feel more healthy, my endurance increased and I lost some fat (in addition to getting stronger).

The HIIT I can especially recommend is https://www.12minuteathlete.com/ . And as a disclaimer I'm not in any way connected to that website.

[matwood]

I would add that while I agree HIIT is great, you're not just doing HIIT once/week, but also playing competitive basketball.

The other thing is it's been posited for awhile now, that gained muscle/strength requires less work to keep. You have a long history of resistance training, and presumably gained strength and muscle. Now you just need to be do maintenance to keep what you have while supporting your sport.

I say all this b/c I do something similar. I stopped power lifting once I got older and moved to more HIIT like workouts 3-4x/week. They take maybe 30 minutes each. But, I also train BJJ ~4x/week. Would my HIIT like workouts be so effective if I didn't start very strong and also do BJJ? IDK.

[XFrequentist]

HIT is not HIIT, it's a completely different thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_training

I'm specifically advocating for HIT resistance training, 1x/wk, as a highly efficient method to gain strength.

The book "body by science" is a great deep dive, it's simple enough but the underlying physiology is pretty interesting.