As a gym trainer people keep asking me that what should be the ideal rep range for hypertrophy or how many reps should we do to build strength etc.
It seems like there is a lot of confusion regarding the perfect rep range to achieve your physique goals. So here is the article that will clear all your confusion.
Ideal Rep Range For Hypertrophy
You must have heard the term “hypertrophy” by the pro lifters in the gym. But do you know what does that means? Let’s first understand some real science about muscle hypertrophy.
What Is Muscle Hypertrophy?
Hypertrophy is the increase in the volume of a tissue or an organ because of the enlargement of its cells. The total number of cells remains almost the same, it’s the size of cells that changes.
The increment in the number of cells is a different process called hyperplasia. Hypertrophy is the process of increasing the size of your cells that are already present in your body.
Now when this hypertrophy occurs in your muscle cells, then it is called muscle hypertrophy. To grow your muscle you have to attain this muscle hypertrophy.
Read more:
What Is Muscle Hypertrophy & How To Maximize It?
SUMMARY: An increase in the size of your muscle fibers is called muscle hypertrophy.
Rep Range For Hypertrophy
Most of the gym enthusiasts and youngsters want to build a classic physique like Jeff Seid. If your goal is to get that greek god physique, then your main focus should be on muscle hypertrophy.
To build that attractive physique, growing muscle size is more important than muscle power or muscle strength.
So what is the ideal rep range for hypertrophy?
The shortest answer to this question would be 6-12 reps. A lot of researches shows that this is the ideal rep range for hypertrophy.
Going for high reps with lightweight or low reps with heavyweight won’t affect muscle hypertrophy that much. Lifting moderate to heavy weights for 6-12 reps is optimal rep range for hypertrophy.
To increase muscle size, should you train in the hypertrophy rep range only?
No, this doesn’t mean that you have to train in this rep range to attain muscle hypertrophy. 6-12 is not a magical rep range to grow muscle. Higher and lower rep ranges have their own benefits.
You just need to put your most of the workout in hypertrophy rep range. This would be a good strategy for building muscles naturally.
As a beginner or intermediate, do only about 70% of your exercises in the hypertrophy rep range and for rest, focus on strength and endurance.
SUMMARY: 6-12 reps is the ideal rep range for hypertrophy. To maximize muscle hypertrophy, do most of your workout in this rep range.
What Is Muscular Strength?
In simple words, muscular strength means how strong you are. For example, how much weight you can lift at the gym or how much weight you can carry.
Your muscular strength determines by the number and size of the fast-twitch muscle fibers in that particular muscle. Fast-twitch muscle fibers are also called type 2 muscle fibers.
To increase your muscular strength, you have to do more focus on training these muscle fibers.
Your fast-twitch muscle fibers or type 2 muscle fibers are responsible for generating power. These type 2 muscle fibers enable you to lift heavy weights, sprinting or short-distance running, powerlifting, etc.
SUMMARY: Muscular strength means how much weight you can lift or carry. Your fast-twitch or type 2 muscle fibers are responsible for this.
Rep Range To Increase Muscular Strength
In order to increase muscular strength, you have to train your fast-twitch muscle fibers. For that, it is required to lift heavy weights for low reps.
The optimal rep range to build muscular strength is 6-8 reps per set. Lifting heavyweights in this rep range is the best strategy to increase strength.
However, you can lift super heavyweights in a few sets for about 3-6 reps. This will help you in building strength in your muscles but do most of your sets in the rep range of 6-8.
While training for strength, you need to take longer rest periods. Due to the stress caused by heavyweights, your muscles need a longer time to recover. Hence, take the rest of about 2-3 minutes in-between the sets.
Make sure to do a proper warm-up before the workout and do some sets with light weights.
This will help you in preparing your muscles for the immense stress that you are going to put on them in your main sets. A good warm-up also reduces the chance of injuries.
SUMMARY: To increase your muscular strength lift heavy weights for low reps (less than 8). Do most of your sets in a rep range of 6-8 with a rest period of 2-3 minutes.
What Is Muscular Endurance?
Alike muscular strength and power, muscular endurance is also a component of muscular fitness. In simple words, it can be defined as the ability of your muscles to produce force over an extended period of time.
Muscular endurance means how many reps you can do of a particular exercise in a single set. For example, the number of pushups, squats or bicep curls with a light to moderate weight, etc. you can do continuously.
If you are an endurance athlete like a long-distance runner or a marathon runner, then you have to increase your muscular endurance.
Your slow-twitch muscle fibers are responsible for your muscular endurance. These are also called type 1 muscle fibers. To increase the endurance of your muscles, do more focus on training these muscle fibers.
SUMMARY: Muscular endurance means how many reps of an exercise you can do without rest. It depends on the slow-twitch or type-1 muscle fibers.
Rep Range For Muscular Endurance
To train for muscular endurance, you need to lift light weights for high reps. A higher number of reps are required to stimulate the slow-twitch muscle fibers.
In contrast to strength training, lift moderate-to-light weights to improve the endurance capability of your muscles. A rep range of 12-20 reps would be optimal for muscular endurance.
Some people believe that high reps should be done while fat loss. Well, it’s just a misconception. High rep training doesn’t help you in muscle toning or conditioning. It just trains your muscles for endurance.
Read the full article:
High Reps For Fat Loss, or Just A Myth?
As you are not lifting too heavyweights, shorter rest periods are sufficient to recover your muscles. Hence, take a rest of about 30-90 seconds in-between the sets.
SUMMARY: To stimulate slow-twitch muscle fibers, you need to lift lightweight for high reps. Hence, do most of your sets in a rep range of 12-20.
Summary
Hypertrophy
- Lift moderate to heavyweights.
- A rep range of 6-12 is ideal for hypertrophy.
- Do 70% of your sets in hypertrophy rep range.
- Take the rest of about 1-2 minutes in-between the sets.
Strength
- Lift heavy weights.
- Focus on fast-twitch or type-2 muscle fibers.
- Do most of your sets in a rep range of 6-8.
- Take longer rests, about 2-3 minutes.
Endurance
- Lift light to moderate weights.
- Focus on slow-twitch or type-1 muscle fibers.
- Train in a rep range of 12-20.
- A rest period of about 30-90 seconds is sufficient.
FAQs
Less than 6 reps with heavyweight are good for increasing muscular “strength”, usually done by powerlifters.
6-12 reps with moderate to heavyweight are the ideal rep range for “hypertrophy”, usually done by bodybuilders.
12-20 reps with lightweight help in increasing muscular “endurance”, usually done by endurance athletes like long-distance runners.
This training method is good for increasing muscular strength which further increases muscle hypertrophy which leads to muscle gain.
To maximize muscle hypertrophy, do 4-6 sets of every exercise with a rest period of 1-2 minutes in between the sets. Do most of your sets in a rep range of 6-12.
Well, high rep training affects your type-1 muscle fibers and train your muscles for endurance. This helps in building muscles up to some extent but to get maximum muscle-building benefits, lift heavy weights for a moderate rep range of 6-12 reps.
So this was the detailed information about the ideal rep range for hypertrophy, strength, and endurance. I hope you learned something from this article.
If you have any queries regarding fitness, feel free to ask in the comment section. Thank you for reading this far.
