Understanding Reps

Understanding reps is essential to understanding resistance training. After all, a workout is just a collection of reps. If you optimise the rep, you are well on your way to effective training. However, to optimise your reps, first you have to actually build out your understanding of reps. As such, the aim of this article is to clear up any confusion you have around reps, so you can more comprehensively understand exercise and get better results from your training.

To really dig into this topic, I am going to assume that you already understand why exercise is important, the goals of exercise, the types of exercise we have available to us, and you have a rough idea of the general exercise guidelines. It would also be helpful if you had a good understanding of why and how we use resistance training to build muscle and strength. I am also going to assume that if you intend to use this information to make better exercise programs, you have already spent some time thinking about your exercise selection and have ensured it is appropriate for your goals. You can also visit our exercise hub for more content on exercise.

Before we get stuck in, I would just like to remind you that we offer comprehensive online coaching. So if you need help with your own exercise program or nutrition, don’t hesitate to reach out. If you are a coach (or aspiring coach) and want to learn how to coach nutrition, then consider signing up to our Nutrition Coach Certification course. We do also have an exercise program design course in the works, if you are a coach who wants to learn more about effective program design and how to coach it. We do have other courses available too.

Now, with all that out of the way, we can actually get stuck into understanding reps more thoroughly.

Understanding Reps

A “rep” (short for repetition) generally refers to one complete movement of an exercise. Reps are typically grouped into sets, with a set being a series of consecutive repetitions performed without rest. For instance, if a workout program prescribes “3 sets of 8 reps,” you would perform 8 reps of the exercise, rest, and then repeat this sequence two more times.

A full rep involves both the lifting (concentric) and lowering (eccentric) phases of the movement (although not always in that order).

For example, a single rep of the bench press would include lowering the weight to your chest (the eccentric portion) and pressing the weight off your chest (the concentric portion). However, in something like an overhead press, a single rep would include lifting the weight from your shoulders to over your head (the concentric portion) and then lowering the weight back down to the starting position (the eccentric portion).

• The concentric phase is the part of the movement where the muscle shortens as it contracts. This is typically the “lifting” or “upward” movement in an exercise.

• The eccentric phase is the part of the movement where the muscle lengthens while under tension. This is typically the “lowering” or “downward” movement in an exercise.

Now, this is important to spend a moment on, because most people really only tend to think of reps in relation to the concentric phase, and they just let the weight fall for the eccentric phase.

As a result, they are missing out on half the benefits of the rep. If not more than half the benefit, as the eccentric phase results in arguably more benefits than the concentric.

Eccentric Phase

The eccentric phase is a very important part of a rep, and you don’t want to just mindlessly rush through it or let gravity do the work. You want to actively control the eccentric portion of the movement. As we discussed in our article on exercise selection, a rudimentary understanding of how muscles work really helps to underscore the importance of the eccentric portion of a rep.

While we tend to think of reps as the contracting of muscles, it is actually also the releasing of that contraction. If we use the analogy of velcro to explain the sliding filament theory of how muscles work, when we contract a muscle, we are creating more velcro overlap (actin-myosin cross bridging). The eccentric portion is where we peel that velcro apart.

There is a very clear difference between rapidly peeling the velcro off (letting gravity do the work and not controlling the eccentric), and slowly trying to slide that velcro apart (controlling the eccentric).

This analogy also helps to better explain the phenomena you have more than likely experienced, whereby you are actually much stronger lowering a weight than you are raising a weight. You already have a lot of velcro overlap when your muscles are contracted, so you can control the lowering much more easily compared to raising it where you have very little velcro overlap (there are other contributors too, such as having more favourable joint angles and body positioning, but we don’t need to get into those).

Now, you may be thinking; “Cool story, but how does that help me get stronger or build more muscle?”

Well, as you are aware from reading our article on why and how we use resistance training to build muscle and strength, there are a few key drivers of muscle growth and strength building.

One of the key things we need to do optimise if we are to build muscle and/or get stronger, is mechanical tension.

Mechanical tension is the force that muscles produce and experience during contraction (concentric and eccentric (an isometric, which is where muscles contract but there is no movement)) against a resistance. This tension is created through two types of muscle actions:

• “Active” Tension: Generated by the muscle fibres during voluntary contractions (concentric and eccentric movements).
• “Passive” Tension: Produced by the stretching of muscle fibres when they lengthen.

We are generally most concerned about active tension, and passive tension is really just coming along for the ride, assuming you train effectively through your available ranges of motion. (Although sometimes we will train that passive tension component more directly with lengthened range resistance training and stretching protocols)

Mechanical tension is one of the primary drivers of muscle hypertrophy and strength development.

Sufficient resistance leads to more mechanical tension, which means more motor units and muscle fibres have to be activated, particularly the high-threshold motor units that consist of fast-twitch fibres (these fibres have a higher potential for growth). So with sufficient resistance, the body (nervous system) has to coordinate more velcro overlapping (actin-myosin cross bridging) and it is more likely to ensure the velcro that sticks together quickly (fast twitch muscle fibres) is used.

As a result, with sufficient mechanical tension, the body is forced to get better at coordinating the muscle contractions. This translates into you getting stronger.

However, tension on muscle fibres also triggers a cascade of cellular and molecular responses. This signalling leads to the synthesis of muscle proteins and thus muscle growth.

The eccentric portion of a rep actually allows you to technically place the muscles under more mechanical tension. This is obvious enough if we compare someone who only really does the concentric portion of the rep and lets gravity do the eccentric portion, to someone who does the concentric and eccentric portion of the rep under control. The person doing both the concentric and eccentric portion is placing the muscles under more tension, as the muscles are under tension with both portions of the rep.

However, as you are actually stronger on the eccentric portion of the rep, you can actually place the muscle under more mechanical tension. You don’t have to do anything fancy to achieve this, you just have to perform the eccentric portion of the rep slightly slower than the concentric portion. Now you can’t just extrapolate this out indefinitely, and more time under tension doesn’t necessarily lead to more muscle growth or strength gain (we will discuss this in a future article on tempo). However, it generally is a very good idea to take slightly longer on the lowering portion of the rep, compared to the raising portion of the rep.

Consistent exposure to high levels of mechanical tension leads to structural changes in the muscle, such as increased cross-sectional area (i.e. the muscles get bigger), which directly contributes to greater strength. So, if you want to grow your muscles or get stronger, you want to optimise mechanical tension.

However, if the mechanical tension aspect doesn’t convince you to actually perform the eccentric portion of your reps slowly and under control, there are actually even more reasons.

The eccentric portion of the rep does actually tend to result in slightly more muscle damage, which is another key factor in muscle building. Lowering the weight under control is effectively the peeling apart of the velcro, which you can imagine leads to some muscle damage occurring. The lowering portion is also the lengthening of the muscle, and getting a muscle into its lengthened range under load is also associated with more muscle damage. Muscle damage stimulates muscle repair and growth. So, we likely want to ensure the eccentric portion of the rep is actually performed correctly.

Lengthening the muscle under tension can improve its flexibility and range of motion. This is particularly beneficial for activities that require a wide range of motion, helping to prevent injuries and improve performance.

Eccentric contractions can also increase metabolic stress in the muscles. The increased time under tension during the eccentric phase can lead to greater metabolite accumulation and thus metabolic stress, which is another key trigger to muscle growth.

Eccentric training can potentially also help prevent injuries. Controlled eccentrics reduce the risk of injury firstly by actually ensuring you are in control of the weight at all times. You don’t want to have a weight put you into an incorrect position while doing your reps, as this just increases the likelihood of injury.

By controlling the eccentric portion of the lift, you are also able to start the next rep in a much better position. For example, if you compare a rep of the bench press where the bar is effectively dropped and bounced off the chest, to a controlled lowering to the chest, the potential to get out of position is much higher with the bouncing off the chest version.

The eccentric portion of the rep also allows you to spend more time under tension, which is beneficial for muscle growth, but also for strengthening the tendons and connective tissues. Improving the resilience of these tissues, makes them less susceptible to issues, and combined with a reduced chance of getting out of position while performing the rep, drastically reduces your injury risk.

There are certain circumstances where we may not actually want to perform the eccentric portion of the rep though. For example, someone may choose to not perform the eccentric portion of their reps on deadlifts, and effectively allow the weight to drop back to the ground (with only a slight bit of control). The reason for this is generally because the deadlift is associated with a fair bit of neural fatigue, so spending more energy controlling the eccentric does generally result in a lot of fatigue being generated with deadlifts.

In powerlifting, you don’t get extra points for slowly lowering the deadlift, so many powerlifters choose to almost exclusively focus on the concentric portion of the exercise.

As the eccentric portion of a rep is potentially associated with more muscle damage and generally more delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), many athletes also avoid excessive eccentric training. This is so that they can remain fresher for competition and sport specific training.

Naturally enough, explosive training designed to enhance power and speed, generally doesn’t lend itself to controlled eccentrics. Jumps, throws, and slams generally don’t require much eccentric focus. However, explosive training isn’t always concentric only training, as many people will perform the concentric portion of a rep explosively, but then perform the eccentric slowly, under control.

For example, someone doing a banded bench press may lower the bar slowly to the chest, but then explosively perform the concentric portion of the rep.

But for most people, in most circumstances, performing the eccentric and not just letting the weight freefall is generally a good idea. But, the concentric portion is also important and shouldn’t be rushed.

Concentric Phase

The concentric phase of the rep is generally what people tend to think of when they think of performing a rep. It is the actual lifting of the weight portion of a rep, where the muscles shorten.

While we just discussed how the eccentric phase results in muscle growth and strength gain, the concentric phase also causes these adaptations. Mechanical tension is still present during the concentric portion of the rep, thus it leads to the very same adaptations discussed above.

The concentric portion of the rep tends to be overemphasised in most trainees’ training, but it is still an important part of the rep. It is where you are actually doing the movement, pressing, pulling, or whatever. If you actually want to do something in the real world, you are going to want to improve your muscle’s ability to shorten (concentrically contract).

Nobody wants to just be able to do the lowering portion of a movement, they want to be able to do the movement itself.

During the concentric portion of a rep, the muscle generates force to overcome resistance. Consistent concentric training helps improve the muscle’s ability to contract forcefully, and thus you get stronger. Executing the concentric phase with proper form and control enhances neuromuscular coordination and motor control. This improves your ability to perform exercises correctly, reducing the risk of injury and ensuring that the targeted muscles are effectively engaged and thus get stronger and bigger.

Concentric movements are also key for developing power and explosiveness, which are important for athletic performance. Exercises that focus on the concentric phase, such as jumps, throws, and slams, help improve the ability to generate quick and powerful movements.

So, it is still important to perform the concentric portion of a rep correctly, if you want to actually get results from your training. As a result, we do still want to perform the concentric portion of a rep under control. This ensures that you are keeping the tension where you want it to be.

Very often you will see trainees performing the concentric phase by using a lot of momentum. This is less than ideal, as tension is developed in the muscles by contracting against resistance. If you use momentum to effectively perform the concentric portion for you, you are actually just short-changing yourself. So, the concentric phase should be done under control, and actually involve contracting the target muscle(s) against resistance.

There are some times when using some momentum or perhaps not even performing the concentric portion of a rep is actually appropriate, however. These are generally centred around overloading the eccentric portion though.

During some injury rehabilitation, you may want to avoid the concentric phase of a muscle contracting, but still want to overload that muscle (or surrounding tissues) eccentrically. For example, in rehabbing some sort of tendon issue, we may do something like an eccentric portion of an exercise with one limb, and then use the other limb or other devices to get us back to the starting position.

Some individuals will also try to overload the muscle more than they can concentrically, by getting to concentric failure, and then having someone else help them with the concentric portion of the lift, so they can go to eccentric failure. For example, someone may perform the bench press to failure concentrically, and then have someone lift the weight off their chest to the start position, and then the trainee lowers the weight to the chest under eccentric control, until they reach failure there.

You can also do this with strategic use of momentum too. For example, using momentum on a bicep curl to get the bar to the top position, and then lowering the weight under eccentric control.

Some individuals will also use the fact that they can use heavier weights eccentrically, to get stronger. To do this, they will lower a weight that is much heavier than they can use concentrically. This serves to improve their neuromuscular control, and gets the used to handling heavier weights.

For example, a powerlifter who has been stalled on their squat for a while, may use a weight that is 10-20% (or sometimes more) heavier than their max to perform the eccentric portion of the squat. This serves to get them more comfortable controlling that weight and having it on their back, and may translate into strength improvements. However, it is important to understand that this sort of training is generally quite neurologically demanding, and thus fatiguing. There is also a greater risk of injury, as you are using weights that are technically beyond your capacity.

Similarly, some individuals will perform eccentric only reps, so that they can actually improve their strength by virtue of allowing them to either better learn the skill of the movement or so that they can actually put the muscle under more tension. In the last example, they used a weight that was far beyond their max, but this doesn’t necessarily need to be the case.

For example, someone who is trying to improve their chin ups, but can only get 3-5, may perform eccentric only reps to overload the movement. They will use something like a box or a step, to get to the top of the chin up, and then lower themselves under control. They can repeat this multiple times, getting closer to eccentric failure. This can help them to get stronger over time, and to allow them to get more “reps” of the movement.

However, while there are some exceptions, generally we do want to control both the concentric and eccentric portions of a rep. We will discuss tempo in a future article, but in general, we generally advise performing your reps with a controlled tempo, where the eccentric phase is slightly longer than the concentric (e.g. lowering for 2 seconds and raising for 1 second).

Now, technically, there are two other portions of a rep; the turnaround portion from eccentric to concentric, and the turnaround portion from concentric to eccentric. And there is technically also an isometric contraction (where the muscles contract, but no movement occurs). But we will discuss these further when we talk about tempo.

Stretch-Shortening Cycle

Now, before we move on to optimising your reps, and a discussion around how many reps you should do, I do just want to touch on the stretch-shortening cycle.

You see, there are slight differences between whether a rep is performed with the concentric or eccentric phase first. You have likely experienced this, but may not have understood why certain movements feel the way they do.

For example, you may have noticed a distinct difference between how a squat feels compared to a deadlift, despite them both using similar muscles groups. Similarly, you may have noticed how different an overhead press feels compared to a bench press.

Even the same movement can feel completely different if you perform it in the opposite order than you normally perform it. For example, do a normal squat where you do the eccentric (lowering) portion of the rep first. Next, do the exact same weight, but instead, do it from the bottom first (this can be done by performing what is often called a pin squat, where the bar rests on the support pins). The movement will feel completely different, and you will more than likely feel that the pin squat is much more difficult.

Now, while there are other things at play here (notably inertia), the thing I want to draw your attention to is how the stretch-shortening cycle is involved. The reason I want to draw your attention to the stretch-shortening cycle is because it really helps to round out your understanding of how to perform reps.

The stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) is a normal part of muscle action that occurs in the transition from an eccentric (muscle lengthening) contraction to a concentric (muscle shortening) contraction. During the eccentric portion of a rep, the muscles lengthen. As the weight is lowered, elastic energy is stored in the muscles and tendons. I often think of this as though the muscles are elastic bands and are being stretched back.

There is a lot of stored elastic energy by the time the muscles get to the bottom of the rep. Effectively, the elastic band is fully pulled back and ready to release that energy. The stored elastic energy can then be released during the concentric portion of the rep, and the combination of the stored elastic energy and the force of muscle contraction actually allows for a much more powerful movement.

This SSC is really important for sports, as it enhances the power and efficiency of muscle movements, especially those that require explosive strength and speed, such as jumping, sprinting, and throwing. Effectively, the SSC is the muscle version of cocking the hammer back on a gun.

Now, while there is actually some really cool physiology and physics behind this phenomenon, from muscle spindles and Golgi Tendon organs to force-velocity relationships and the conservation of energy, we don’t need to dig into that here. But understanding that the SSC is a thing is important for how we perform our reps.

The reason being, you may wish to take advantage of the SSC if you are trying to maximise the weight you are lifting, whereas you may wish to minimise the SSC if you are trying to make the muscles have to work harder (potentially leading to more muscle growth).

The SSC can be manipulated by altering the time in between the eccentric part of the rep and the concentric part of the rep. To utilise the SSC, you would aim to minimise the time spent in the turnaround portion of the rep, effectively lowering the weight under control and then quickly performing the concentric portion. This takes advantage of the SSC and makes it much easier to overcome the inertia of the weight (objects in motion tend to stay in motion), allowing you to lift the weight more easily.

However, if you were to spend more time in the turnaround portion of the rep, you would allow some of the stored elastic energy to dissipate. This in turn would mean that your muscles have to contract harder to overcome inertia. Now, you realistically would have to spend something like ~8+ seconds in this turnaround phase to really allow a lot of that elastic energy to dissipate, but even pausing for a second in this phase does allow some of that elastic energy to dissipate and thus make your muscles have to work harder.

The analogy I often use for this involves the ropes on a wrestling ring. These ropes have some spring in them, which wrestlers can use to bounce off. If they run into the fast and hard, they get catapulted back with a lot of force. However, if they were to run at them fast and hard, but then actively stay there and resist the rebound, the stored elastic energy in the ropes would dissipate and thus wouldn’t provide them with as much force. They would then have to actively use their muscles more if they wanted to explode forcefully towards their opponent.

This is very similar to the SSC. Spending more time in the turnaround portion of the rep, reduces the contribution of stored elastic energy and it means your muscles have to do more of the work. Now, whether it matters all that much is debatable, however, it is generally good practice to take advantage of the SSC if you are really focused on strength or athletic performance, and to minimise its contribution if your goal is muscle building.

Optimising The Rep

Overall, the way you perform the reps is important and very often gets glossed over in discussions about reps. Yes, people tend to emphasise the importance of executing your exercises correctly so they target the adaptations you want, but rarely does the discussion extend into the actual manner in which you perform the rep in relation to manipulating stuff like the eccentric and concentric portions of the rep.

Understanding stuff like this doesn’t need to overly complicate your actual training. However, if we want to get the most from our reps, we do generally want to follow a few key points.

Firstly, exercise selection is incredibly important. You can discuss the minutiae of reps, but if you are not performing exercises that target the adaptations you want, the discussion is futile. Once you have chosen appropriate exercises, you then do need to actually perform these exercises with appropriate technique for your goals. Some of this is just about learning how to perform these exercises properly (which our YouTube Exercise Library will help with), but this also involves understanding how to perform the reps of the exercise in a way that optimises the amount of tension you place on a muscle.

This is why you need to understand the stuff we discussed above about the eccentric and concentric portions of a rep, and the stretch shortening cycle. Depending on the goal, and the specifics of the exercise, you may need to perform exercises differently.

We will dig into this a bit deeper when we cover tempo in a future article, but for now, for most goals, it generally makes sense to perform the eccentric slowly and the concentric a bit more forcefully.

To optimise each rep, we not only need to discuss how you perform the rep, we also need to discuss how many reps you should be doing and how close to failure you get on these reps. We will discuss proximity to failure in a future article, as we need to dig into concepts like reps in reserve (RIR) and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) to really answer this. However, we will discuss how many reps you should do below!

How Many Reps Should I Do?

The rep range we choose influences all other aspects of a workout, and training program in general, because the amount of resistance we use for a specific exercise is probably the single most important variable in resistance training. The amount of weight lifted will determine how much tension is placed on a muscle (given appropriate exercise selection and exercise execution), and as a result, influences the training response.

The number of reps we perform influences the amount of weight we lift (and vice versa) and thus the adaptations we get from training (i.e. you can do more reps with a lighter weight versus a heavier weight, and each of these elicits different adaptations).

The number of reps performed for a given time under tension (TUT, which we will discuss in a future article) also dictates the training effect. As a general rule, lower repetitions elicit a greater neural adaptation, whereas higher repetitions elicit greater muscular adaptations. So if your goal is purely strength, lower repetitions will generally be used, and if size is the goal, then higher repetitions will be used (we will discuss proximity to failure in a future article, but for now, let’s assume that in both situations the lifter is getting relatively close to failure).

Maximal voluntary contractions are essential to the strength training process. The weight has to be heavy enough to actually require the muscle to use all the muscle fibres to lift the weight. You simply can’t make 10kg feel like 100kg, as hard as you may try. So you can’t just choose a rep range, you have to choose a rep range and lift an appropriately heavy weight for that rep range.

The intensity (percentage of your 1 rep max) of your lifts should be appropriate for the goals of the workout. Trying to get a hypertrophy response by only lifting 1 rep maxes is not as effective as lifting at a lower intensity for more reps. That doesn’t mean heavy weights don’t have their place, we still need tension to be placed on the muscle, but the intensity should match the goal of the workout.

The intensity zone is also specific to the muscular function, as some muscles have a greater percentage of slower twitch fibres and some have faster twitch fibres, depending on the function of the muscle. For example, it has been suggested that as a hip extensor the hamstrings are slow twitch, but as a knee flexor, they are fast twitch. I don’t think this actually matters a huge amount, or that it should be the basis for your training paradigm, but to some extent, fibre type must be taken into consideration. 

We generally recommend that people should train a large spread of rep ranges for best results, however, certain muscles/muscle groups, generally, will respond better to certain repetition brackets. We must also factor in the stability of the movement, as you simply will not be able to lift heavy loads in an unstable environment, however, you may be able to lift lighter loads to failure in an unstable environment (for example, try to perform a 1 rep max on a cable flye and then try to perform a 15 rep max on the same movement, and you will quickly see that a discussion of what rep range is useful for a given exercise, must include some consideration to the stability of the movement and practicality of performing that rep range).

The number of repetitions required should dictate the load used. If the goal is muscle hypertrophy and your workout calls for 6-8 reps (with no reps in reserve), a load that you are at or near failure at 8 reps is to be used. If you use a load that has you failing at 3 reps, then you are working a different muscular quality than the workout is aimed at targeting. Now, of course, there is a large degree of overlap between rep ranges, and in some cases, the differences in outcomes are going to be negligible. However, if you are selecting a weight that has you failing to come close to your target rep range, then something is amiss.

But how do you decide what rep range to use in the first place?

Rep Ranges

Obviously, you have to be clear on goal(s) first, but I presume you are actually settling on goals before you go about setting up a training program, otherwise, you will be doing random things just for the hell of it. The rep range you choose will dictate the adaptations you elicit from the training program. So it is imperative that you choose the right rep range for the job. Now before we get into what each rep range achieves, I do want to emphasise again that there is obviously a huge overlap, and although the rep range dictates the adaptation, this is only true in the context that the overall volume of the training program is supportive of the rep range chosen (i.e. doing 1 set of a given rep range may just be an insufficient amount of stimulus to elicit the adaptations desired, conversely, doing too many sets may also be counterproductive). This will become clear as we go through what the “main” target of each rep range is.

The 1-3 rep range:

With this rep range, you are going to be using quite heavy weights and the main benefit of this rep range is neurological improvement. This is not to say you won’t build muscle using this rep range, however, it is to say that the main adaptation you are going to get from using this rep range is an improvement in your ability to maximally recruit muscle fibres to lift heavy weights.

Essentially this rep range is improving your nervous system, and exercising using this rep range can be quite neurologically fatiguing. What I mean by that is, it won’t necessarily be your muscles fatiguing due to the build of metabolic byproducts (i.e. the stuff that accumulates as you get a pump), but rather because your nervous system just can’t “activate” the muscles to lift the weight.

Using this rep range also perfects the skill of lifting heavy weights and can be used to “prime” the nervous system to lift heavier weights in other rep ranges. You may have heard of a technique called “over-warming up”, whereby you have a rep target and a set weight you are going to use on a given day, and as you warm up for that weight you actually go beyond the weight you intend to use. So if you planned on squatting 140kg for 12 reps, you might warm up to something like 160kg or maybe even 170-180kg if you were feeling particularly feisty and this would serve to “remind” your body to maximally recruit the target muscles. It certainly does serve to make the weights you intend to use on that day feel a lot lighter.

The vast majority of people have no real need to use this rep range, unless you are actively engaged in a sport such as powerlifting or weightlifting that has you test your absolute strength in a 1 rep max. If you are looking to improve health and fitness, while building a better physique, it would be rare you would need to use this rep range. It is also quite neurologically fatiguing and you will limit the total number of sets you can do, and thus the volume you can accumulate.

If you think of traditional training programs where you are doing 3 sets of 10 reps, if you were to try and match that volume, you would have to do 10 sets of 3 reps. This is fine, if you don’t mind only doing one exercise in a training session and are solely trying to get stronger with heavier weights (e.g. powerlifting), but the fact that the heavy weights you use also mean you have to take 3-5 minute breaks between sets doesn’t lead to a lot of volume actually being done during a session (we will discuss more about sets and overall volume in future articles).

The 3-5 rep range:

This is very similar to the 1-3 rep range, but I have split it up from that because it is on that border where you could likely get a good bit of volume in without it being too neurologically fatiguing. Obviously, as you go lower in the rep range the more neurological it becomes, and as you go higher the more hypertrophic it becomes. There is no clear-cut delineation as to when it is more muscularly taxing, versus being more neurologically taxing, and it likely isn’t a perfect “oh more than 4 reps it builds muscle, lower than 4 it builds strength” and it is more shades of grey.

5 reps, in particular, have been used for their strength and muscle-building properties for years and although you still have to do a higher number of sets to accumulate a decent amount of volume, it isn’t too far off for matching the higher rep ranges volume (5 sets of 5 reps is a traditional rep scheme that would yield 25 total reps, and that is close to the 3 sets of 10 reps that gives you 30 total reps). The lower end of 3’s is probably a bit too neurological in nature, but as has been stated there is quite a bit of overlap and no neat divides. There are some people who swear they grow best using 3’s, so that can’t be overlooked.

For most people, I would probably only ever go as low as 5 reps as the risk-to-reward ratio for the lower reps just isn’t worth all the extra risk and joint wear and tear. Going as low as 5 reps does give you some practice handling heavier loads, and helps build more confidence and strength when you go back to the higher rep ranges. There is no “need” for you to ever go this low, unless you are a strength athlete, but it does have some utility.

The 6-8 rep range:

This is the rep range people often call the functional hypertrophy rep range, as it gives you a nice mix of heavier weights while also allowing you to accumulate a good bit of volume. You get the benefit of handling relatively heavy loads, especially at the lower end of 6 reps, while also not having to be so limited in your exercise choices by having to do a ridiculously high number of sets to accumulate enough volume. Even at 6 reps, doing 3-5 sets of an exercise yields you between 18-30 reps, which makes it very easy to accumulate enough volume to really induce hypertrophy.

If your goal is to put on some size, but also be decently strong, this rep range is likely to be your bread and butter. You will be able to apply quite a bit of mechanical tension to the muscles, and also accumulate a good bit of metabolic byproducts thus really maximising your muscle building.

The 8-12 rep range:

This is generally the higher end of the rep range that bodybuilders will use, and although it doesn’t get you as strong as the lower rep ranges, it is easier to accumulate more volume with this rep range, thus it can lead to some pretty good muscle growth. You are able to accumulate a lot of volume with this rep range, while using fairly heavy weights, but the main thing you will experience here is the “pump”. You will get a lot more accumulation of metabolic byproducts and cell swelling with this rep range. You also don’t need a huge number of sets to get a lot of repetition volume, and this allows you to perform multiple sets of different exercises and focus on different aspects of the muscle as a result. This rep range is a favourite amongst those that are looking to get a pump while also building muscle. You likely won’t be able to get as strong as your body is truly capable of if you only ever work out in this rep range, as it isn’t as neurologically stimulating as lower rep ranges. However, you will likely have bigger muscles with this than if you only ever work out in the lower rep ranges. Again, it depends on your goals but a substantial amount of your training time will likely be spent here. 

The 12-15 rep range:

Moving even further away from the heavy weights we start actually building less muscle for a given unit of training time, and you would think this makes no sense as the last two rep ranges moved further away from the heavy stuff and were better at building muscle, why is it different now?

Well, with the higher reps comes a lower weight being used, and this lower weight just isn’t great at stimulating muscle building. If you step back and think about training times when you have used the higher end of the rep ranges, you likely didn’t feel a huge amount of muscle contraction until you got to the last two to three reps and even then you were somewhat limited by substrate availability, hypoxia, and a build-up of metabolic byproducts in the muscle.

Although all of those things do contribute to muscle building in some capacity, they pale in comparison to the ability of mechanical tension to build muscle. Getting stronger in this rep range will allow you to progressively overload the muscles with tension, but it is likely not your best bet in terms of time efficiency in getting to your goal.

So the 12-15 rep range certainly has a place in a training program, and it can be a valuable tool in building better muscular endurance. This rep range can also be used effectively at the end of a session to exhaust a muscle more fully (if that is the goal of the training program), build up a good bit of metabolic byproducts and get a good pump.

The 15+ rep range:

I am basically lumping all the rest of the rep ranges in here, and although they do have validity and will work certain aspects of your muscular capabilities, they likely aren’t going to make up a large part of your training time. There are certain training programs that call for higher rep ranges, like the 20-rep breathing squat training program, but they are actually lower rep training programs with short rest periods disguised as high rep training programs. The 20-rep breathing squat training program is actually a cluster set of reps with short rest periods and not a true 20-rep set. The limiting factor with this rep range is often going to be either a build-up of metabolic byproducts or just straight-up a lack of substrate availability, or even more likely, you just get bored.

It should also be noted that the more advanced trainee will actually get more out of the higher reps, because they will be able to sustain a higher level of focused muscular contraction and be able to load the muscle more effectively. This is partly why you see more advanced trainees espousing higher rep training, forgetting that a less advanced trainee isn’t getting the same benefit from that training.

Rep Range Overview

Very simplistically:

• 1-3 reps = strength with little muscle building,
• 3-5 reps = strength with some muscle building,
• 6-8 reps = muscle building with some strength,
• 8-12 reps = muscle building with more endurance and a greater pump,
• 12-15 reps = some muscle building, good pump promoter, but mainly endurance benefits,
• 15+ reps = endurance building.

Now, obviously, there is a huge amount of overlap, and it would be silly to think the benefits of certain rep ranges simply stop when you go to the next rep range. A well-structured training program will take into account the goals you are trying to achieve and then that will dictate what rep range you should be working in.

It isn’t just convention you should follow when designing your training programs and doing sets of 7 or 9 or 11 isn’t going to make the universe implode, and it is only convention that dictates that you need to only do even numbers (except 1s, 3s and 5s are ok, but hmm, 2s and 4s don’t look too hot on a training program, so we will forget them too). Instead of just following convention, think about why you are using that rep range instead.

Realistically, there is a large degree of overlap between the rep ranges and the results they produce. However, there is still a more optimal rep range for specific outcomes (the darker blue).

So, when designing your training program, you do need to be specific when choosing your rep range. The rep range does influence the type of adaptations we will get from training. Certain rep ranges are better for specific goals, thus, if we have specific goals, we must perform the right rep ranges to accomplish those goals. In general, it can be very helpful to just break the rep ranges into three sweeping categories, and while there is more nuance to this and significant overlap, the general categorisations are helpful.

• 1-5 reps leads to greater strength gains and some muscle building.
• 6-15 reps leads to greater muscle building and a decent level of strength building.
• 15+ reps leads to improved muscular endurance and a bit of muscle building.

In general, for most goals (outside of sports that require you to express 1 rep max strength i.e. powerlifting or weightlifting), the vast majority of your training is going to be done in the 6-15 rep range. There may be certain exercises or periods of time where we go with lower or higher reps, but the 6-15 rep range is usually the biggest return on investment rep range for most people. If there are specific adaptations or specific goals we are aiming towards, then it may make sense to use lower or higher rep ranges. 

However, just because your goal dictates that a certain rep range would be of benefit, that doesn’t mean we will always use that rep range. Different rep ranges lead to different levels of fatigue and for some exercises or movements, certain rep ranges are just not practical. Just because you want to build your strength doesn’t mean we are going to always stick to the low rep range, and it certainly doesn’t mean we are going to use it for every exercise or do as much overall volume as someone using another rep range. What we will likely do is vary your rep ranges over time, even within the same category. This usually leads to better results, because you get a variety of adaptations and you avoid boredom. We usually program workouts in 4-16 week training blocks, and what often differentiates these blocks is simply the rep range.

When designing a program for our coaching clients, we will take into account their goals and experience level, and we will choose a rep target that makes sense for those goals. We will generally start people off with a distinct rep target (i.e. 8 reps), but over time we will likely begin prescribing rep ranges as the target (i.e. 6-8 reps). This is due to the fact that over time, as you get closer and closer to your genetic potential there is generally a bit more day-to-day variance in performance. You simply can’t be at your peak all the time, despite what everyone wants. So having a rep target gives us a bit of wiggle room to still accomplish effective workouts (this is especially true in combination with RIR/RPE, which we will discuss in a future article). 

Using a rep range is also valuable in that we can also use a variety of progression models. The name of the game with training is progression, and using a rep range rather than a distinct target allows us the ability to target the right adaptations but also provides a simple means of progression.

Let’s say you are doing a 6-8 rep range target, you can do 3 sets for 6 reps and over time build up to do all 3 sets for 8 reps. The weight would stay the same, but over time, you would actually be doing more total work by virtue of the fact that you have actually added 6 reps across the 3 sets. This is only one method, but you get the idea. Having a bit more flexibility does actually allow us to find a variety of ways to progress training. We will discuss progression models in depth in a future article.

What Weight Should I Use?

Related to this conversation is the topic of actually choosing what weight you should use for a given rep target or rep range. Now you could just pick a weight and max out your reps with that weight, and hopefully, by just going to failure every time, you will progress long term.

However, that generally doesn’t happen unless you are the type of person who can be 100% focused and 100% connected with every movement while in the gym. Most people can’t and simply won’t be able to achieve progression with that method, as they will encounter a little bit of fatigue/pump/muscular-pain and then stop. Nobody likes being in pain after all.

So how do you know what weight to use?

Well to some extent you will have to “max out” the weights you use for a given rep target at some stage. It doesn’t have to be a 1 rep max and it could be a 12 rep max for all I care, all we are trying to do is find a rough baseline. With this, we can establish a rough guideline for other rep ranges.

You certainly don’t need to be maxing out every week, and in fact, that would probably be counterproductive, but at some stage, you will need to reach true failure to know what you are capable of. You can then use this to calibrate your ability to know how close to failure you actually are (we will discuss this more when discussing RIR/RPE), and to know what kinds of weights you are likely to be able to handle for various rep targets/ranges.

But I want to say, before giving you these guidelines, they are highly individualised and you will find your body has certain correlations itself. So do pay attention to your own body and keep track of what it is telling you.

Very roughly speaking, the percentages of your 1 rep max (the max weight you can lift for 1 rep) that correlate with different rep ranges are as follows:

These aren’t perfect, and they should only be viewed as a rough guide. Some individuals and some exercises may not follow these rough guidelines, however, they do provide a rough starting point. 

The majority of the rep ranges you will likely be using are covered there, but how do we put this into practice?

Well, let’s say for example you are using a certain weight and your training program dictates you do 12 reps. You get your 12 reps and over a 4-week training block, you get stronger and add 5kg to that lift. Hooray, you are making progress! Then your training program dictates that you transition to a lower rep range of 8 reps per set. How do you know what weight to use? Well, the weight you were using for 12 reps roughly correlates with roughly 70%, so the weight you are using for 8 reps should roughly correlate with 80%.

So you can divide the weight you are using by 0.70 and multiply by 0.80 and you will have a good idea of what weight to use for your 8 reps.

Now, this method isn’t foolproof and I would definitely err on the side of caution when using it. Some people may find they are really good at higher reps and that doesn’t correlate with where their rough percentages would put them (this is especially true if you take longer “mini-breaks” between your reps). You could also be slightly off the targets and have a 3 RM that correlates with 92% and a 12 RM that correlates with 65%. So use this as a very rough guideline to help you decide what weight you should use when transitioning rep ranges.

Now I should also mention that certain muscle groups may act differently. Depending on both the muscle and the way you have trained that muscle, the percentages may be skewed. If you have only ever trained singles in the back squat, and are really efficient at that, you will likely struggle with the higher reps. This is the same vice versa, if you always do high reps, you probably aren’t great at lower reps.

So again, this is a very rough guide and you should be able to correlate rough percentages yourself when you really get to know your body.

All of this assumes perfect execution, however, and a standardised technique and tempo, and I really can’t stress this enough. If you are just going through the motions and bouncing reps around, there is no way to, in any accurate way, predict whether the rep range you are using is actually achieving the goal you have set out to achieve. Just the act of doing 12 reps at 70% means nothing if you use momentum to move every single rep.

So if your execution leaves a lot to be desired, that should be your starting point, and I would not be too concerned about what each rep range targets or how much you should be lifting for that rep range unless your technique is excellent or at the very least progressively getting better.

I should also mention, that you simply do not need to reach failure on every single set to get results. Most people would actually do well leaving a few reps in the tank, which brings us to the topic of reps in reserve (RIR) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE), which we will discuss in the next article.

Reps Conclusion

Many people labour over the minutiae of programming, but never actually spend the time to understand and optimise each individual rep. If you can optimise each rep, you can then optimise each set, and then each workout. The rep is effectively the fundamental unit of a resistance training program. So spending the time to understand reps will actually allow you to get much more from your exercise programs.

As with everything, there is always more to learn, and we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface with all this stuff. However, if you are interested in staying up to date with all our content, we recommend subscribing to our newsletter and bookmarking our free content page. We do have a lot of content on how to design your own exercise program on our exercise hub.

If you would like more help with your training (or nutrition), we do also have online coaching spaces available.

We also recommend reading our foundational nutrition article, along with our foundational articles on sleep and stress management, if you really want to learn more about how to optimise your lifestyle. If you want even more free information on exercise, you can follow us on Instagram, YouTube or listen to the podcast, where we discuss all the little intricacies of exercise.

Finally, if you want to learn how to coach nutrition, then consider our Nutrition Coach Certification course. We do also have an exercise program design course in the works, if you are a coach who wants to learn more about effective program design and how to coach it. We do have other courses available too. If you don’t understand something, or you just need clarification, you can always reach out to us on Instagram or via email.

The previous article in this series is about Exercise Selection, Variety and Ordering and the next article in this series is about RIR & RPE (Do You Need To Train To Failure), if you are interested in continuing to learn about exercise program design. You can also go to our exercise hub to find more exercise content.

Paddy Farrell

www.triagemethod.com

Hey, I'm Paddy!

I am a coach who loves to help people master their health and fitness. I am a personal trainer, strength and conditioning coach, and I have a degree in Biochemistry and Biomolecular Science. I have been coaching people for over 10 years now.

When I grew up, you couldn't find great health and fitness information, and you still can't really. So my content aims to solve that!

I enjoy training in the gym, doing martial arts and hiking in the mountains (around Europe, mainly). I am also an avid reader of history, politics and science. When I am not in the mountains, exercising or reading, you will likely find me in a museum.