Training Basics: Repetition Ranges-

What is the best repetition range for your workouts? Cleaning up blinds? Nope.

This is a question that is often discussed and has many rumours surrounding it. the distinction is made between low, medium and high repetitions. Below, you’ll find a brief description of each of these rep ranges along with their strengths and weaknesses.

Low Repetitions

Low repetitions are anywhere between one and six. Training with low repetitions means using very heavy weights. These kinds of weights will feel very heavy to you, even during the very first repetition.

Low repetitions with lots of weight are ideal for building strength. Note that I wrote “strength” and not “muscle size”, though. If muscle size is what you’re after, then low repetitions aren’t the ideal choice.

Of course, doing fewer reps takes less time than doing more repetitions. This can be a positive or a negative aspect: On the one hand, it saves you time, but on the other hand, a shorter workout can mean overall less stress on your system and therefore a weaker growth impulse.

Another downside of a low repetition range is that with the kinds of massive weight-loads you’ll be using, there’s a higher chance of injury. Obviously, you have to be especially careful when hauling around these kinds of weights (especially when doing free-weights exercises).

Medium Rep Range

This rep range is between 8 and 12 repetitions. This is the bodybuilding repetition range, as 8-12 is ideal for stimulating hypertrophy (muscle growth). The gains in terms of increased strength are smaller than with lower repetitions and higher weights, but in terms of what your mirror tells you, this rep range gets you the best results.

Positive and negative aspects of this rep range are quite obvious: If your goal is to grow larger muslces, then 8-12 is your perfect repetition range. If functional strength and greater muscle-performance are more important to you, then lower repetitions are better suited.

High Repetition Range

Anything above 12 or 15 repetitions is in the high rep range Doing more than 12 reps of an exercise will usually take longer than 30 seconds and that’s about where the threshold lies for what can be called “strength training”. If your muscles are under continuous (or almost continual) stress for longer than that, then, biologically speaking, you’re already entering “cardio training” territory.

This is not to say that high repetitions are useless, though. It simply means that your body needs to recruit different resources to keep up high repetitions and this kind of training is not best suited for muscle growth.

One thing that needs to be addressed is a common misconception: It is often claimed that higher repetitions will build lean muscles while lower repetitions will build “bulky” muscles.. High rep ranges simply activate less muscle growth, but you can’t really influence the shape of your muscles with a particular way of exercising.

Bottom line: For the majority of people, medium repetitions are the best choice, since lower repetitions need more experience and safety safety measures due to the weights, and high reps stimulate less growth. In any case, mixing things up and changing rep ranges from time to time is probably one of the best things you can do for yourself.