Weight Training – How Many Repetitions Per Set?
Thursday, September 16th, 2010So, you want to lift weights but have no clue how many repetitions to do? Many people don’t have a clue what repetition range they should stay in when weightlifting. The range depends on what your goal is. Do you want to get stronger, bigger, or leaner? Below are 3 repetition ranges explained.
For maximum strength gains, lifting a heavy enough weight that you can only do less than 5 reps is ideal for building strength. The primary adaptation made in this low range of repetitions is an increase in strength. While muscle may be built, improved strength is the main improvement that will be made. Athletes or anyone that wants to build strength and power without packing on muscle would want to primarily focus on staying in this range.
For those guys that want to seriously pack on the muscle, the best range of repetitions to lift in would be 6-12. When you stay in this range, the primary improvement made is a gain in muscles mass. Make sure you lift a heavy enough weight that you stay within the 6-12 range. If you get over 12, you will want to increase the weight so that you are primarily influencing muscle growth. You will build both size and strength, but the primary improvement is in size.
Women or anyone else that doesn’t want to pack on extra muscle mass, but wants to take part in the benefits of weightlifting, build lean muscles, or focus on improving muscular endurance, will want to do 13-20+ reps each set that they do. Lifting a high volume of reps has the added benefit of increasing the mitochondria count in muscle, and the number of capillaries in muscle. This means that after some time of doing high rep weightlifting, you experience improved blood flow through your muscles, and an increased capacity for energy storage in your muscles.
In summary, the amount of reps you do depends entirely on what your goals are. If you want to build as little muscle as possible, do 13-20+, if you want to build huge muscles, do 6-12, and if you want to primarily improve your strength, do 1-5 reps.
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