HOW MANY REPS SHOULD I BE DOING?
The age old question - how many reps and sets should I be doing to see maximum results? Well the answer is not a 1 size fits all kinda thing, sorry y’all!
How Many Reps Are Enough?
There are several ways that different rep counts can be beneficial!
1-5 Reps - think STRENGTH. This rep count increases overall maximum strength while greatly improving your ability to lift heavier. The goal with this rep count is exerting max effort and force, essentially getting closer to your 1 rep max out. This lower rep count allows you to lift heavier without fatiguing as quickly so you can see increase in strength.
8-15 Reps - this is what we call HYPERTROPHY. While you are still increasing strength, hypertrophy is an increase and growth of muscle cells. Lifting within this range targets our type 2 muscle fibers which are the larger of the fibers and have greater growth potential. Type 2 muscle fibers are fast twitch fibers which contract more forcibly and therefor burnout quicker, mostly a larger muscle.
15+ Reps - range of ENDURANCE. Developing muscular endurance is another type of strength. We may use lower weights, however, this style focuses on the type 1 muscle fibers which are slow twitch fibers. They do not burnout as quickly, therefore, allowing for more continual strain to be placed on them for growth. Although this is considered an Endurance rep count, it does still inherently have some hypertrophic effects due to an increased time under tension when using a heavier set of weights!
Set the Foundation for Your Training
While you may have a goal of gaining overall power, or shredding body fat, it is definitely important to utilize all of the above rep ranges for a solid foundation in your training. You can’t have a well built house on a crappy piece of land!
Last month we saw our program land within the 8 rep range. This focused more on strength building through pushing us to increase overall weights within our exercises. This month we see our program back in the 4 sets of 12-15 rep range. This was a strategy with heavy thought behind it. The strength range, when applied with the correct weight, adds density to the muscle fibers as you get stronger whereas the hypertrophy range increases overall muscular size with a smaller increase in strength. Either way you’re getting stronger, but our goal here is to increase the muscle size and shape to create definition and a change in overall body composition. This month we encourage you to take the momentum you had last month and apply it here! Start off using the same weights you were for 8 reps and challenge yourself to see if you can reach the 12-15! As 12 become more attainable, add a couple more into the set, you will see a DRASTIC increase overall if you level up that mindset!
Be sure to follow along as we dive further into Programming, Tips/Tricks + Nutrition with our Bi-Monthly Blog!
xoxo wellnwhole
