FIVE THINGS RANKED BY RESEARCH

Five variables determine your results — this guide, the Direction Decoder, covers all five, strongest evidence first. Everything else is noise.

⟳ 5 MIN TO THE FIVE · 9 MIN FULL GUIDE

"The industry gave you complexity.
The research gives you five things."

Take me straight to the five  ↓

You know what you want to still be doing. This is the filter for the training that gets you there.

Nick coaching a client on exercise form

You've spent months in the gym measuring the wrong things. Here are the five that actually determine everything.

Not supplements. Not meal timing. The five variables that drive results, ranked by the research. And why soreness proves nothing.

This resource is for educational purposes and operates within the scope of an ESSA Accredited Exercise Scientist and PN Certified Nutrition Coach. It is not medical advice and does not diagnose or treat any medical condition. If you are experiencing mental health concerns, please speak with your GP or a registered psychologist.

THE FIVE VARIABLES

WHAT DRIVES
RESULTS

MINIMUM VIABLE

One exercise per muscle group. Fewer than five sets. Close to your limit. Hit your protein. That is the entire system on the hardest day.

01

VOLUME

More sets grow more muscle — but each extra set does a little less than the one before.

  • Count sets per muscle, per week — not per session
  • More sets means more growth, up to a point
  • Each extra set adds less than the last one did
  • Even under five sets a week measurably works
  • Sets you actually do beat sets you planned

Next sessionCount the sets you do for one muscle. Write the number down. That's your baseline — next week add one set, not five.

Research indicates that more weekly sets per muscle group generally produce more growth, with each extra set adding a little less than the one before. Even fewer than five sets a week measurably works. Fewer sets done consistently beats more sets done sporadically.

02

FREQUENCY

How often you train a muscle does not change how much it grows. It only spreads your weekly sets out.

  • Frequency is how many times a week you train a muscle
  • Same weekly sets, split any way, grow the same amount
  • Frequency is the vehicle. It delivers your weekly sets
  • It is not the driver. Your weekly set total is

Next sessionWrite down which muscles you trained. At the end of the week, add their sets up. That weekly total is the number that matters — not how many days it took.

Research indicates that when total weekly sets are equated, training frequency does not meaningfully change how much a muscle grows. It is the vehicle that delivers your weekly sets. Not the driver.

03

PROTEIN

Eat enough protein most days. There is a range, and you only need to land in it.

  • Aim for 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight, per day
  • At 80 kg that is roughly 130 to 175 grams a day
  • The older you are, the higher in the range you sit
  • That range covers close to all the growth available
  • Most days is the target. Not every day

Next sessionWork your number out once — bodyweight in kilograms times 1.6, then times 2.2. Write both down. That is your range from here on.

Research indicates that somewhere between 1.6 and 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day covers close to maximal muscle growth for most people, and the need drifts up a little with age. Land in that range most days.

04

EFFORT

Push a set until you have one to three reps left in you, then stop.

  • One to three reps left is enough to grow
  • Going all the way to failure may add a little on top
  • But it costs more fatigue and recovery than it gives back
  • That cost stacks up across a week of training
  • Stopping short is what keeps you progressing session after session

Next sessionPick one set and stop while you could still do two more reps. That is what one to three left feels like. Copy it across the rest.

Research indicates that finishing sets with one to three reps remaining provides the stimulus required for muscle growth. Going all the way to failure may add a little extra growth, but it costs far more fatigue and recovery than it returns, and that cost compounds across a week of training. Stopping short keeps you progressing session after session.

05

SELECTION

Pick your exercises and stay on them long enough to get strong at them.

  • Swapping exercises constantly can work against you
  • You never stay on a movement long enough to load it properly
  • Changing things is fine when the change is planned
  • Run the same exercises for eight to twelve weeks
  • Then assess

Next sessionWrite down the exercises you ran today. That list is yours for the next eight to twelve weeks. Same list next time.

Research indicates that constantly swapping exercises may work against you: you never stay on a movement long enough to load it properly. Planned variation has its place, but it is planned. Pick your exercises. Run them for eight to twelve weeks. Then assess.

That is the whole system

Five variables. Nothing else on that list moves the needle the way these do. If you would rather not map them to your own training week alone, that is exactly what the consult is for.

Book your consult  →

Thirty minutes, free, no pitch script. Or keep reading — why it looks complicated, the checklist, and how Sam’s story ends are below.
The five keep. The year spent testing them alone doesn’t.

Why it looks complicated

The fitness content industry makes its money keeping you searching a little longer.

Every new variable creates a new product to sell you. Optimal rep ranges, anabolic windows, muscle confusion. Complexity is what they sell you.

Research indicates that meal timing and training time of day have negligible effect when progressive overload is in place. Five variables account for the vast majority of results. Everything else is noise.

Think of it like building a brick wall. Progressive overload and effort provide the bricks. Protein is the mortar. The fitness industry sells you different coloured hard hats and tells you they build the wall.

Soreness is not progress

One more thing — and this will feel backwards.

Research indicates that soreness and muscle damage do not track with growth. The early-week soreness fades as your body adapts, and the real growth arrives later than most people expect. Less soreness does not mean the training stopped working. It means your body caught up.

Progress your reps and your load. Not your pain.

IF–THEN

After I put my gym bag by the door —
I will check which exercises I am running today and what I lifted last session.

CELEBRATE

The moment you add a rep or add weight to the bar — say it. That is the primary variable moving. That is the wall going up.

AFTER EACH SESSION

CHECK THESE

I progressed my load or reps this session

VolumeI hit my planned sets for the muscles I trained

FrequencyThis muscle is on track for its sessions this week

ProteinI hit my protein target today

EffortI finished sets with 1–3 reps left

SelectionI ran the same exercises as planned

Did you change anything based on a supplement ad, a tip, or a new routine?

Note what you changed and why. That is the noise. Come back to the five.

The signal is clear.

Back for next session within 72 hours

By Week 4: find the weight or reps you recorded in Session 1 for one exercise.

Compare it to today. That number moving — not the soreness — is the wall going up.

0 day streak

Nick and a client — Direction Decoder close

Your Direction Decoder

"You're not someone who lacks information. You're someone who has too much of it. This is the filter."

Keep this on your home screen. Check the five. Run them. Track the number that moves.

The Signal

Sam was three tubs deep in a supplement aisle, basket filling and certainty draining, after a week of the feed swearing blind in both directions. Here’s what happened next.

The guide ranked it. Five variables that determine nearly everything, strongest evidence first. Then a long tail of noise engineered to feel urgent. The industry sells complexity because confusion keeps you buying. Even soreness proves nothing.

Sam checked the list against a normal week. Sets in. Sessions in. Protein close enough, most days. Sets finishing with a rep or two left in the tank. The same exercises, run long enough to load them properly. All five, already ticking, and not one of them in the basket. The tubs went back on the shelf, one by one.

Five things determine the results. Sam was already doing all five.

Want it done with you?

The five are yours to run. If you would rather not run them alone, the consult is thirty minutes, free, and there is no pitch script.

Book your consult  →

The research behind this guide

  • Morton et al. (2018). A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 52(6), 376-384.
  • Tagawa et al. (2021). Dose-response relationship between protein intake and muscle mass increase. Nutrition Reviews, 79(1), 66-75.
  • Schoenfeld, Ogborn & Krieger (2017). Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(11), 1073-1082.
  • Schoenfeld, Grgic & Krieger (2019). How many times per week should a muscle be trained to maximize muscle hypertrophy? Journal of Sports Sciences, 37(11), 1286-1295.
  • Refalo et al. (2023). Influence of resistance training proximity-to-failure on skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Sports Medicine, 53(3), 649-665.
  • Robinson et al. (2024). Exploring the dose-response relationship between estimated resistance training proximity to failure, strength gain, and muscle hypertrophy. Sports Medicine, 54, 2209-2231.
  • Kassiano et al. (2022). Does varying resistance exercises promote superior muscle hypertrophy and strength gains? A systematic review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 36(6), 1753-1762.
  • Damas et al. (2016). Resistance training-induced changes in integrated myofibrillar protein synthesis are related to hypertrophy only after attenuation of muscle damage. Journal of Physiology, 594(18), 5209-5222.
  • Nosaka et al. (2002). How long does the protective effect on eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage last? Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 12(6), 337-346.
  • Kassiano et al. (2026). Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. (Progressive overload as the primary driver of hypertrophy.)
  • Aragon & Schoenfeld (2013). Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. (Post-exercise protein timing.)
  • Grgic et al. (2019). Chronobiology International. (Training time of day and muscle adaptation.)

Every claim in this guide is either cited above or drawn from my own coaching floor, and I say which is which.

Nick Franich · Catalyst Nutrition & Fitness · ESSA Accredited Exercise Scientist · PN Certified Nutrition Coach · 1:1 at I Feel Good 24:7, Coopers Plains, Brisbane, Australia

This resource is for educational purposes and operates within the scope of an ESSA Accredited Exercise Scientist and PN Certified Nutrition Coach. It is not medical advice and does not diagnose or treat any medical condition. If you are experiencing mental health concerns, please speak with your GP or a registered psychologist.