The 21st century has given us a lot of tech advances: high-speed internet, telescopes that show images of black holes, and nanotechnology to improve manufacturing, healthcare, climate work, and farming. Cauliflower crust is now a thing for pizza. The health and fitness world has benefited too, with trainers able to work with clients worldwide in real time. It’s remarkable that cauliflower crust exists and doesn’t taste like sawdust. We can also measure things like bar speed and heart rate variability with apps on our phones to help gauge our readiness to train each day. Technology is great, but when it comes to deciding if you’re ready to train I tend to favor what I call indicator sets.
What is an indicator set? I’ll explain with a story. I was walking to my studio the other day with a plan to show up, warm up, throw on some Mobb Deep, get fired up, and work up to a heavy-ish triple on my deadlift (535 lb). On paper it looked like a done deal. But once I started warming up, things didn’t go as planned:
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3
405 x 1 (felt okay, not great)
455 x 1 (indicator set)
An indicator set basically tells me whether I’ve got “it” that day. For instance, in the previous two weeks, 455 lbs (about 80% of my 1RM) flew up. By the feel of the bar speed and how easy the set felt, I knew I could push toward a high-500s pull. In other words, I gave myself the green light to go for it, and I did.
Conversely, 455 felt like absolute garbage the other day. It was slow off the ground and even slower at lockout, which I normally don’t have issues with. The message was: if you try to go higher you risk hurting your spine. So I did the smart thing and stopped, re-racked, and did my accessory work: dumbbell reverse lunges, a little sulking in the corner, and some pull-throughs.
Look, it’s not a perfect system, nor is it anything truly scientific. To be honest, I’m not anti-technology. But I’m wary that many people miss the big picture when it comes to their readiness to workout. If their Apple Watch shows some fatigue they’ll shut things down faster than you can say Apple. Just because a watch says you should skip doesn’t mean you have to. I’ve had clients who arrived feeling great only to have their watch tell them not to touch a barbell. And I’ve also had clients show up feeling like they’ve been through a petri dish, warm up, move around a bit, and suddenly feel like Leonidas leading the Spartans.
Indicator sets help you learn to FEEL whether you’ve got the juice on any given day. In short, they’re a form of auto-regulation that helps you avoid relying on an algorithm. Plus, they can save you money.
At the very least, indicator sets give you tangible, performance-based evidence to gauge your state. Muscle fatigue is one metric that’s easier for many people to use. If you’re very sore you can adjust your programming accordingly. CNS fatigue is a bit more nebulous and harder to pinpoint, or even feel. Indicator sets help with that.
So I encourage you to start using indicator sets as part of your warm-up on the days you know you’ll be pushing the envelope. Pick a weight during your warm-up that you can use to gauge where you’re at that day. It should be heavy enough to challenge you, but one you know you can perform quickly and with clean technique. This will likely be around 80% of your 1RM.
Trust me—the mindset of “lift heavy or go home” is admirable but isn’t always the best approach.
