How Many Reps Should You Do?

**Photo Credit – Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) because he’s a beast.

 

All of them.

I know that’s a shitty answer, so let me explain.

 

Each Rep Range Stimulates a Different Adaption.

1-5 reps is best suited for strength.

6-12 reps is best suited for size.

And 12+ reps is best suited for size and endurance.

Each adaption overlaps (i.e. you’re still building strength when training with higher reps and you’re still building size when training with lower reps), but in order to maximize a particular adaption, you have to train in the specific rep range associated with it.

If you’re someone who cares about multiple fitness qualities, it probably makes sense that training in multiple rep ranges – as opposed to just one – is beneficial.

If you only care about one fitness quality, that’s probably a little harder to understand.

After all, if you just want to get bigger or stronger, you’d be better off just sticking to the rep ranges geared towards those particular goals, correct?

Not necessarily.

Why?

Because Each Fitness Quality Effectively Feeds the Others.

If you increase size, you increase your ability to get stronger (because a larger muscle has the capacity to be a stronger muscle).

If you increase strength, you increase your ability to gain size (because more strength allows you to use more weight in the rep ranges geared towards muscle growth).

And if you increase endurance, you increase your ability to gain both strength and size (because a higher work capacity allows you to handle more volume, and more volume equals more progress).

By sticking to only one rep range, you develop weak points that limit your true potential.

By training in all rep ranges, you bring up your weak points, allowing yourself to get closer to your true potential.

 

Ok Cool – We Should Train In All Rep Ranges.  But, Should We Train Them All Equally?

No.

It’s important to stay well rounded, but you still want to emphasize the rep range and fitness quality you care about the most.

If your top priority is strength, spend the majority of your time training with low reps and heavy weight.

If your top priority is size, spend the majority of your time training with moderate reps and moderate weight.

It’s not about being equal.

It’s just about being smart.

Emphasize one rep range.

Spend a small amount of time training all of the rest (to bring up your weak points).

And you’ll make amazing progress.