This Week in Training Science

Key takeaway: Manage fatigue proactively using subjective and recovery inputs—log RPE, energy, rest, and Apple Health sleep/recovery trends—rather than waiting for performance to decline. This week also covered evidence-based caffeine use, practical exercise-selection heuristics, and how to structure varied programming in Kenso's custom builder.

Research Highlights

Caffeine for Acute Performance: Caffeine at roughly 3-6mg per kilogram of body weight taken pre-workout can acutely improve performance outputs such as strength, power, and muscular endurance, with limited added benefit (and more side effects) at higher doses. Importantly, these are acute, performance-focused effects rather than proven enhancements to chronic strength gains. See the ISSN position stand on caffeine and exercise performance (Grgic et al., 2020).

Exercise Selection Volume: As a practical heuristic—not a precise research finding—many lifters do well with roughly 2-4 exercises per muscle group. Beginners often progress with 1-2 compound movements per muscle group, while more advanced lifters can add variety with 3-4 exercises when recovery capacity supports the added volume.

Training Takeaways

• Programming Variety in Kenso: Kenso ships with 14 programs plus a custom builder. There's no dedicated conjugate/Westside template, but the custom builder can be configured for max-effort and dynamic-effort work if you want to structure that kind of rotation yourself.

• Fascial Release Timing: Self-myofascial release (e.g., foam rolling) can produce modest, short-lived improvements in range of motion when done shortly before training, and may aid perceived recovery afterward; effects on performance and recovery are generally small. See Wiewelhove et al., 2019, Frontiers in Physiology, 10:376. Avoid extended, aggressive pre-training sessions that could transiently reduce force output.

• Fatigue Management Systems: In Kenso, you can track training stress using logged RPE, energy ratings, and rest-timer data, alongside Apple Health inputs like sleep and recovery score. Watching trends across these provides practical indicators for adjusting training intensity before performance declines significantly.

• Grip Training Specificity: As practical guidance, lifting gloves can help lifters with grip limitations or skin sensitivity, while training with bare hands is often preferred for developing grip and "feel" on the bar. Individual preference and goals should guide the choice.

• Recovery-Based Programming: Fatigue management works best as proactive adjustment rather than reactive recovery—monitoring trends in your logged metrics lets you modify intensity before accumulated fatigue impairs progress.