After spending a lot of time analyzing, studying, and testing the best strategy for gaining muscle mass based on current training knowledge, scientific studies, and recommendations from top professionals, one thing has become clear to me:

To achieve muscle growth, you need to provide the muscle with a stimulus close to muscle failure, with a volume of sets that ensures this stimulus reaches all muscle fibers.

That's why I came up with a simple routine to achieve this optimal stimulus, which I'll present below.

Forced Descending Ladder Routine

I chose this name because I think it accurately describes what we’re going to do—a descending ladder routine. However, it's not about doing fewer reps in each set because we have a set number planned, but rather because muscle fatigue itself will naturally reduce the reps we can perform. Let’s get into it.

First, choose an exercise for the specific muscle or muscle group you want to train. It’s important that you can perform between 10 and 20 repetitions of this exercise—no more, no less. For example, in my case, I chose strict pull-ups with a dead stop (full stop at the bottom).

Next, perform the first set of the exercise, stopping just short of muscle failure, leaving only 1 or 2 reps in the tank at most. Try not to stop before this point, as the routine won’t be as effective if you do. Make sure you're really pushing close to failure.

Set a rest period of at least 1 minute 30 seconds and at most 3 minutes. Personally, I feel more comfortable with relatively long rests, so I usually go with 2 minutes 30 seconds. Keep in mind that this rest time will remain fixed throughout the routine, and you should time it strictly.

Once the rest is over, perform another set, again pushing close to failure. Naturally, you’ll be able to do fewer reps than in the first set. After completing the set, start the rest period again.

Repeat this process as your reps decrease, until you reach a point where you perform the same number of reps in two consecutive sets. At that moment, we consider that your muscles have received all the necessary stimulus for growth, and it’s time to end the routine.

For example, with the pull-ups I mentioned, my rep count throughout the routine might look something like this: 18-15-13-10-8-7-6-6. As we can see, when I reach 6 reps, I’ve hit my "baseline level," meaning I’ve given my muscles all the growth stimulus I was aiming for.

Why This Routine Is So Effective

With this type of routine, we ensure that we train close to muscle failure with a rep range suitable for hypertrophy. By continuing to perform sets until we reach our baseline level, we guarantee that the set volume is just right to maximize the effort our muscles can give in that session—without undertraining or overtraining.

This way, our own muscles indicate the optimal number of sets for that muscle group in that session, in a fun and manageable way.

How to Progress Over Time

I recommend doing this routine between 1 and 3 times per week for each muscle group you want to improve.

If you continue performing it consistently over weeks or months, you’ll likely notice that you can complete more reps in the initial set. When you reach more than 20 reps, I suggest switching to a harder exercise or adding weight so that you're back within the 10-20 rep range for the first set.

Should You Complement This Routine?

If you’re doing this routine for an isolated muscle with an analytical exercise, such as a biceps curl, a leg extension, or any other single-muscle movement, then this routine alone should be enough for that specific muscle.

However, if you’re using this routine with a compound exercise that involves multiple muscles, like my example with pull-ups, it could be beneficial to add 3 or 4 additional sets targeting a specific muscle in each session. For instance, in my case, I would complement it with 3 sets of biceps curls using resistance bands after my pull-ups.

If you want more examples of ladder routines and hypertrophy training programs, check out the ones available on Calisteniapp.

Hope this helps!

By Yerai Alonso