Look around any gym and you'll see people making various training mistakes - a guy on the bench press bouncing the bar off his chest, someone doing curls with more movement in their hips than their biceps, another person pinching her bow tie. While these visual glitches can hamper your training progress, they're not the only thing to worry about. What about the bugs younotsee?
None of these mistakes will undermine your training efforts as much as confusingharttrain withcleverEducation. Training hard is easy, but training smart will get you closer to your goals. For example, let's say you want to build muscle. You can choose a light weight and repeat 50-60 reps or you can take a heavier weight and press it maybe 10 reps. Both examples are tough, but one method is superior for muscle building.
Effort is important, but it must be used properly. To optimize your effort in the gym, you need to understand what specific rep ranges can best help you reach your goals. Luckily, researchers have already looked into the topic. Here are the ground rules for choosing the right reps per set for your fitness needs!
Three goals, three rep ranges
1. Training for muscle size (hypertrophy)
If you're training for muscle mass, choose a weight that will allow you to hit muscle failure in the 8-12 rep range. In other words, after your warm-up sets - which are never done to failure - choose a weight that allows you to do at least 8 reps, but no more than 12 reps.
That means if you can only do 6-7 reps, the weight is too heavy, so reduce it on subsequent sets. It also means that if you can do more than 12 reps but just stop at 12, that's not a "real" set. A true set is one where you fail within the 8-12 rep target range - the point at which you can't do another rep with good form on your own. If you can easily get past 12, increase the weight on your next set to fail in the target zone.
Choosing the right load for your muscle building goal effectively targets the fast-twitch muscle fibers that are more apt to grow bigger and stronger in response to resistance training, with enough volume to stimulate growth.
Of course, the guy who swings the bar off his chest and the guy who uses every muscle group in the lower body to lift a set of curls are using bad form. If you're training with poor form, the weight is probably too heavy regardless of when you fail. Learn and practice textbook technique.
Choosing the right load for your muscle building goal effectively targets the fast-twitch muscle fibers that are more apt to grow bigger and stronger in response to resistance training, with enough volume to stimulate growth. However, these fibers tire fairly quickly, which is why you can't lift a very heavy weight very often.
Train like a bodybuilder: If you want to maximize muscle mass, aim for an average of 8-12 reps per set and choose multi-joint exercises like the bench press, squats, overhead press, bent-over row, and deadlift, which recruit more total muscle mass than single-joint movements, giving you able to lift heavier weights.
Hit a target muscle from multiple angles with high volume (sets and reps) to stimulate growth. In general, your rest periods should be in the 1 to 2 minute range.
Here's an example chest workout you can follow if your goal is hypertrophy:
Training 1
1
Incline bench press with dumbbells
3 sets, 10, 8, 8 reps
+ 4 more exercises
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2. Strength training
While choosing a weight that you can only do 8-12 reps with will build muscle, it will undoubtedly build strength as well. But it's not this weightoptimalto build strength. When you're focused on maximizing your strength, you want to train with even heavier loads that you can lift for only 1-6 reps. These very heavy weights provide the stimulus needed to get stronger.
In fact, this is how the tallest, strongest men and women in the world train—especially powerlifters. They throw superhuman weights in competition, and you can bet they practice in a similar fashion.
Train like a strength athlete: Strength coaches differ from bodybuilders in that they typically avoid sets to failure, which could damage the nervous system.
However, most of these individuals don't train hard all the time. They cycle periods of high intensity (heavy training) with periods of low intensity to protect their joints, reduce the risk of injury and achieve peak performance at the right time for the competition. So they typically follow a 12 or 16 week periodic program that gets progressively harder. That means doing sets of 5 reps, 3, and finally 2 and 1. The strength trainer also targets the fast-twitch muscle fibers. His focus is not only on building and strengthening the muscle fibers themselves, but also on training the nervous system.
Train like a strength athlete: Strength coaches differ from bodybuilders in that they typically avoid sets to failure, which could damage the nervous system. Rest times between sets for the main exercises are quite long - up to 3-5 minutes - so incomplete recovery doesn't hinder subsequent sets. After the main multi-joint movement, additional movements are added to strengthen weak limbs when performing the main movement.
Here's an example chest workout to follow if your goal is strength:
Training 2
1
Incline barbell press with medium grip
3 sets, 3 reps
+ 3 more exercises
BodyFit
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- How-to-Images
Check out our huge library of workout photos and see exactly how each exercise should be performed before you try it.
- Step by step instructions
Quickly read through our step-by-step guides to ensure you get every workout right the first time, every time.
Muscle endurance training
Your eye may be set on getting as big or as strong as possible, but not everyone wants to pursue that goal. The classic example of the marathon runner running more than 26 miles at a steady pace is one geared towards improving muscular endurance. In the gym, this means using a lighter load for 15 or more reps.
Low-intensity exercise is typically considered aerobic exercise because oxygen plays a key role in energy or production. This allows you to maintain your activity level over a longer period of time. This energy process occurs primarily in slow-twitch muscle fibers, so performing low-intensity, high-repetition training builds the mechanisms within the muscle cell that make it more aerobically more efficient.
This type of training improves muscle endurance without necessarily increasing enduranceSizeof the muscle. Highly trained aerobic athletes can do high reps for long periods of time without fatigue, but you won't typically see a sprinter's body on a marathon runner.
Focusing on muscular endurance means choosing relatively light weights that you can do for 15-20 reps or more.
Train like an endurance athlete: Most endurance sports aren't gym-based, so it's difficult to duplicate their movements with weights. Low-weight, high-rep lower-body compound exercises and even Olympic lifts can be done to improve muscular endurance as long as form is never compromised to keep a set going.
Rest periods should be kept fairly short as oxygen uptake and lactic acid breakdown should not be limiting factors during exercise.
Here's an example chest workout you can follow if your goal is endurance:
Training 3
1
Smith Machine Incline Press
3 sets, 12, 10, 8 reps
+ 3 more exercises
BodyFit
$6.99/month- 2.500+Individual training sessions created by experts
- 3.500+exercise videos
- Detailed training instructions
- Training tips step by step
- Training at the gym or at home
- Access to training plans
- Access to the Bodyfit app
- Shop discounts
Already have a Bodybuilding.com account with BodyFit?Register
What comes with BodyFit?
- Lehrvideos
Don't risk wrong training! Avoid injuries and keep your form in check with in-depth instructional videos.
- How-to-Images
Check out our huge library of workout photos and see exactly how each exercise should be performed before you try it.
- Step by step instructions
Quickly read through our step-by-step guides to ensure you get every workout right the first time, every time.
The relationship between reps and weight
Figuring out how many reps to do will also tell you how much weight to lift. Both are inextricably linked. If you were to draw a graph, you would discover an almost linear inverse relationship between the two: add more weight and you can do fewer reps; With a lighter weight, you can do more repetitions.
I'm always amazed when I train with a new partner who's stuck on a certain weight-and-rep scheme — say, 80-pound dumbbell bench press for 8 reps. I tell him to grab the 90s, to which he replies, "I can't!" Well, yes he can - just not for 8 reps. He'll invariably handle the 90's and even try the 95's and 100's with that newfound sense of power.
Over time, you'll understand your personal strength curve and weight-to-rep ratio for each exercise you do. Writing down your numbers in a logbook or on BodySpace will help you keep track of your reps and weights used.
This brings us to an important point: you don't have to train in one rep range all the time. You can start a workout with a heavy compound exercise for 5 sets of 5 reps. To focus on building muscle, you could follow that up with a few exercises in the 8-12 range. To finish off the workout, you could even tap into your slow-twitch reserves and end the session with an isolation exercise in the 15-20 range.
Over time, you'll understand your personal strength curve and weight-to-rep ratio for each exercise you do. Record your numbers in a logbook or onbodyspacewill help you keep track of your reps and weights used. This is important because the stronger you get, the more weight you'll want to lift in the same rep range. When building muscle, once you can do more than about 12 reps on a core lift, it's time to increase the resistance by about 5-10 percent.
The weight you choose along your strength curve should match the number of reps you want to achieve, which aligns with your training goals. With that in mind, your workouts should never be random where you just pick up some old weight; There is an optimal weight and number of reps you should be able to do. It just depends on which goal you want to prioritize!