DELT's next move is always grounded in evidence — the methodology and science that many researchers have built up. The app guides your progress whether or not you know any of it. Even so, the more you understand the reasons, the surer each step becomes.
Progressive Overload
Start with the complete guide; each topic also reads standalone.
The Complete Guide to Progressive Overload
A systematic treatment of progressive overload — from definition to implementation to deload. Comparison of Double Progression, Linear Progression, Periodization, and Autoregulation (RPE/RIR), with the applicable conditions for each.
Selecting a Rep Range
The basis for the traditional three zones — strength (1-6), hypertrophy (6-12), and endurance (12-20) — the refinement of range tolerance for hypertrophy, and criteria for selecting a range by exercise type.
Double Progression: The Method DELT Adopted
Add reps within a rep range, raise the load by one step at the top, and rebuild from the bottom — a "two-axis" approach to progress. Why DELT placed this method at the core of its suggestion algorithm, and the conservative -5% deload on consecutive failures.
Volume Landmarks and MEV/MAV/MRV
A design metric that divides weekly effective sets by three thresholds. Build per-muscle volume around MEV (Minimum Effective Volume), MAV (Maximum Adaptive Volume), and MRV (Maximum Recoverable Volume) — the starting point for reading stagnation and judging a deload.
RIR and Autoregulation
Reps in Reserve (RIR) as a 0-4 self-assessment of how many more reps were possible at set termination. Application to Autoregulation — daily load adjustment and stagnation detection — and the semantic distinction between an unrecorded set and reaching failure (recorded as 0).
Deload Criteria
A temporary reduction in load that re-drives progress stalled by accumulated fatigue. The two triggers — consecutive failures and stagnation detection — the basis for DELT's conservative -5% design, and how excessive deloading impedes progress.