What If Your Workout Routine Is Secretly Holding You Back? Here’s How to Fix It Fast.

Machines (you’re already “spotted”)
Bodyweight movements (you can just stop without risk)

Less ideal:

Free weight movements like barbell back squats or heavy bench press (unless you’ve got a spotter and plenty of experience)

What are we looking for?

Compare your litmus set to your usual working sets.

Example:

If you usually do 3 sets of 10 reps and your litmus set gets you 12–13 reps, you’re right in that sweet spot within a few reps of failure.
If you hit 20+ reps, on the other hand, you’re leaving 10+ reps in the tank during your normal workouts. That means it’s time to increase weight or reps to keep progressing.

Most muscle-building happens when you’re within 1–4 reps of failure on a working set. But if you don’t know what failure feels like, it’s easy to stop short.