NEW CSCS Hypertrophy Guidelines

The NSCA recently released the 5th of the Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning (The CSCS Book)

This book is updated with new guidelines about every 10 years, and the hypertrophy guidelines definitely needed an update.

So today, let's discuss the updates to:

1️⃣ Rest Period for Hypertrophy

2️⃣ Rep Range for Hypertrophy

3️⃣ RPE and Repetitions in Reserve

4️⃣ Where Hypertrophy fits into an Athlete's Annual Plan

Let’s get into it.

1. Longer Rest Periods

The previous recommendation for hypertrophy was just 30-90 seconds between sets.

Now I don't know if you've ever done 4 sets of 10 back squats @70-74% 1RM, but if you have, you know that 30-90 seconds rest is way too short.

The updated guidelines in the 5th edition CSCS book are:

Multi joint exercises: 2-3 minutes between sets

Single joint exercises: 60-90 seconds between sets

Longer rest periods help athletes maintain load, hit target repetitions, and maintain technique across multiple sets.

And I'm glad to see this update, especially after reading current research like this that showed superior hypertrophy from 3 minute vs. 1 minute rest periods.

If you're a bodybuilder or have unlimited training time, I think you can even go a little higher, but this is a good update that balances what's optimal for adaptation with the time constraints that most athletes have.           

2. NSCA CSCS Rep Range for Hypertrophy

 The old CSCS Guidelines suggested a 6-12 rep range for hypertrophy.

The updated 5th edition guidelines now recommend:

Novice: 8-12 reps

Intermediate: 6-12 reps

Advanced: 3-12 reps

Advanced athletes are strong and technically proficient enough to generate meaningful hypertrophy with heavier sets of 3-6 reps.

Novice athletes generally benefit from moderate loads and more repetitions because they need more practice developing technique.

Also, novice athletes can't create the same muscular stimulus with low reps due to Golgi tendon organ inhibition and insufficient ability to create high tension.

The book also recommends:

Novice athletes: 1-3 sets per exercise

Advanced athletes: 3-6 sets per exercise

Now, I was sort of hoping to see a more detailed overall hypertrophy volume recommendation.

For example, we see a recommendation of 12-20 sets/ muscle group/ week in systematic reviews like this.

This may be more difficult to provide in the context of the CSCS, because athletes are often programming for multiple goals rather than just purely hypertrophy.

Below is an example hypertrophy program from The Movement System CSCS Study course.

You can see even though hypertrophy is the primary goal, there is still a power exercise each day and an accessory core exercise programmed for repetitions higher than the hypertrophy rep range.

The program is defined by the emphasis of the overall training and not every exercise has to fall within the exact hypertrophy guidelines.

3.   NSCA CSCS RPE and Repetitions in Reserve

The new 5th edition CSCS book provides more guidance on using RPE to prescribe intensity.

A simple way to interpret the RPE scale is:

RPE 10: To Failure

RPE 9: 1 rep in reserve

RPE 8: 2 reps in reserve

RPE 7: 3 reps in reserve

RPE 5: Approximately 5 reps in reserve

RPE 1-4: Warm-up sets

Most hypertrophy training will generally fall around RPE 6-9 depending on the exercise, athlete, and phase of the program.

You don't need to take every set to failure.

And programming too many sets to failure or programming more repetitions than an athlete can do (Ex: 4x4 @92% 1RM) is a common mistake that you need to recognize on the CSCS exam.

But to achieve meaningful hypertrophy, you do need enough proximity to failure to recruit and fatigue the large muscle meaningfully.

Overall, I saw a shift from the 4th edition book to the 5th edition toward using more RPE and programming based on multiple RM rather than just 1RM.

And programming this way is actually a bit easier than programming based off of 1RM.

If you're preparing for your CSCS Exam, make sure to practice writing and reviewing programs based on 1RM, multiple RM, and RPE so you're prepared to answer detailed questions on the exam.           

4. Where Hypertrophy Fits into an Athlete's Annual Plan

The majority of athletes follow a traditional (aka linear) periodization model. (Shown below)

This involves general preparation early in the off season far from competition.

As competition approaches:

Training intensity gradually increases

Volume decreases

Exercise selection becomes more specific

Power receives a greater emphasis

The GPP or off-season time period is when most athletes are focused on hypertrophy.

This is the time to build the strength and size to compete at the next level in their sport.

This is when a mesocycle or ~4-6 week program would follow the hypertrophy guidelines we've been discussing.

And an athlete may have time to complete ~1-4 of these mesocycles in the GPP window.

So hopefully seeing the typical athlete mesocycle below gives some context for how and when you would use the hypertrophy program design guidelines we've discussed today.

I hope you learned something!            

P.S. If you're preparing for your CSCS Exam, The Movement System CSCS Study Course is the most time efficient way to prepare and more than doubles your chance of passing. The study course has helped hundreds of students just like you pass the exam with confidence.