Fitness Experts Reveal Truth About Repetitions

Joe Wuebben explains how to reach personal weight
lifting goals

Weightlifters know that reps and resistance go hand in hand when
creating an effective training routine. The number of reps performed
depend on training goals, while the amount of weight lifted depends on
the number of reps desired. According to fitness experts Joe Wuebben
and Jim Stoppani, authors of

Stronger Arms and Upper Body, lifters should pick a weight
that will cause them to reach failure on the last set or two of the
exercise. But, the number of reps performed should depend on
individual goals:

• Muscular strength. When strength is the primary
  goal, the optimal rep range per set is three to six. The objective
  is to overload your muscles with as much weight as they can handle
  over a very short period, which won’t allow for a lot of reps.
  Strength is defined as the maximum amount of weight you can lift one
  time and is typically measured by low-rep maximum lifts, such as a
  one-rep, three-rep, or five-rep max. Conditioning your muscles to
  handle maximal loads is the key to developing all-out strength.

• Muscular size. Your muscles will grow when you
  train for strength, but not as much as they will when you do
  slightly more reps per set. Hence, the optimal rep range for maximal
  size is 8 to 12. In this range, combine relatively heavy weight with
  a sufficient number of reps to increase the muscles’ time under
  tension, or the amount of time a muscle contracts in a single bout,
  which causes the muscle fibers to grow. For a combination of
  strength and size, reps should fall in the top end of the strength
  range and the low end of the hypertrophy range, somewhere around six
  to eight.

• Muscular endurance. Increasing the endurance of
  your muscles is often confused with achieving more muscular
  definition. Often you’ll hear people say that doing higher reps (15,
  20, or more) helps you get more defined than lower rep ranges. It’s
  not quite that simple. Increasing definition requires losing body
  fat, which is achieved through healthful eating habits as well as
  exercise. Working in the 8- to 12-rep range is as effective for
  developing muscular definition, if not more effective, than doing
  sets of 15, 20, or more. Doing sets of 15 or more reps is ideal for
  increasing muscular endurance, which is especially helpful if you
  compete in endurance sports such as cross-country running, cycling,
  and swimming.

Regardless of the goal, it’s essential to alter rep ranges from
time to time. If the arms are trained with 10-rep sets week after
week, they will get accustomed to that rep range and will stagnate. It
is important to train them on occasion with lower reps (6 per set) and
higher reps (15 per set). Even though these rep ranges are best suited
for strength and endurance, respectively, combining them with a rep
range that promotes hypertrophy is the best way to make continued
goals.