Is 3 sets of 10 the correct way to exercise?

You're at the gym, you're at your physiotherapists and the instructor / physiotherapist gives you an exercise to perform. How many do I do?

3 sets of 10. However, is this based on science or any other reason? Actually, there is a long history behind the 3 sets of 10 prescription. We have Dr. Thomas DeLorme to thank for this process! Dr. DeLorme began his practice during World War II. He was tasked with rehabilitating injured serviceman from over-clogged hospital wards.

Back in the 40's, the idea of rehabilitation was rest, recover and don't over do it!

"Exercise is not desirable in any kind of physical training nor is it good for the heart."

Until this point, all rehabilitation was in the use of very light weights and to not fatigue the patient. Rehabilitation was slow in the 1940's.

Dr. DeLorme was ill in his formative years. He had been diagnosed with rheumatic fever and was prescribed bed rest for months. This wasn't for this young man. He began reading weight training magazines and thought he would give it a go. Within months, not only was Dr. DeLorme recovered from his rheumatic fever, he noticed his physique improving dramatically. Therefore, Dr. DeLorme decided to put his own experiences of how weight training helped him to the injured servicemen in the hospital. In those days, weights, dumbbells, barbells and machines we see in gymnasiums weren't readily available, so Dr. DeLorme took it upon himself to fashion weights out of scrap metal. He set his 20 patients on a training programme. All patients had to lift the maximum amount of weight they could for 7 sets of 10 repetitions over 5 of 7 days. Once the patients mastered the 7 sets of 10 with good technique and no fatiguing, they were instructed to increase the weight by 5lb. Within a month, significant muscle bulk was noticed, and all his 20 patients were finding significant functional uses in their limbs. Later research demonstrated strength may more than double in four weeks by following this style of training. One aspect that DeLorme had hypothesised was that muscles need to have good strength in order to work on endurance, speed, co-ordination and power. He stated "rather than attempt to develop endurance in atrophied (reduced in size), weakened muscle, it seems more logical to restore muscle strength to normal, and then to build on endurance."

Not only did Dr. DeLorme work with injured servicemen, he was tasked with working with the sick and infirm too. An epidemic of the 1940's was poliomyelitis or polio. Dr Delorme believed that not every muscle fibre in the effected was affected by polio and hypothesised that strengthening the unaffected fibres may allow some polio sufferers to regain some function.

He worked with 30 polio sufferers but had hit on another idea: "Fewer sets, permit exercise with heavier loads". It is here where 3 sets of 10 was born. However, not the 3 sets of 10 that has sadly become diluted in gym sessions and in some physiotherapists practices today. Dr. DeLorme suggested that each patient needed to calculate their 10 rep max (10RM) and this would be the basis of the 3 sets of 10 model.

Set 1: At 50% of 10RM (to allow muscle "warm up")

Set 2: At 75% of 10RM

Set 3: At 100% of 10RM Eg: If your 10RM is 10kg then your work with 5kg for your first set, 7.5kg for your 2nd set and 10kg for your third set. If you can lift 10kg 10 times in the 3rd set, then you need to increase your max load in your next session.

Over 5 of 7 days. Once each patient was able to achieve the above daily 3 sets of 10, they had to increase their weights for the following session. In less than 1 month, more than half of the polio sufferers had gained more than double their initial strength.

We have a lot to thank Dr. DeLorme in the physiotherapy and medical world. Not only has he shaped the exercise model that is still known today, but in his journey of doing this, designed and made the first exercise table, which later became known as The Elgin Table, the foundation blocks of resistance machines seen in numerous gyms around the world today.

Dr. DeLorme was also integral in the first limb reattachment following inadvertent amputation in the 1960's of a young boy. Without his work, there would not be any limb re-attachments today. This work has allowed scientists to go on and create prosthetic, working limbs for those who have lost limbs during conflicts or disasters.

Dr. DeLorme is one of my Physiotherapist heroes. I use his 3 sets of 10 model. I feel his model has become diluted over years, by inexperienced clinicians, and those who don't truly understand exercise physiology. People are prescribed 3 sets of 10, but never have it fully explained to them that the final set has to be almost impossible to complete. If you can, then increase your weight!

Muscles need strength in order for sport specific drills to commence that work on the above. Recent research has still concluded that for a muscle to gain strength, it needs to be worked to fatigue.