Varying Rep Ranges During a Workout?

Asked by: Laura Long

The point of rep ranges in general is to stimulate the muscle fibers and central nervous system in different ways. Lower rep ranges (1-6) will provide better central nervous system adaptations while higher rep ranges (12-20) will help with sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (aka fuller bigger muscles).

Should you vary your rep ranges?

You Never Change Your Rep Ranges
The muscles know what to expect, and they just adapt to the program. It’s important to work different rep ranges to force muscles to keep adapting.

Can you mix rep ranges?

If you hit more than one body part per workout, you can also stress each with different rep ranges. For example, if you work chest before triceps, do all low reps for chest and nothing but high reps for triceps, then flip that script on your next chest/tri’s day.

Should you train all rep ranges?

Training Variety is Essential to Continued Progress
The real take-home message from these studies is that you should never stick with one rep range for too long. Regardless of how heavy or how light you go, you will be able to increase muscle growth as long as you train to failure.

Should you mix high and low reps?

It is widely known that using high repetitions (15+) increases your muscular endurance, using low repetitions (1-5) increases your power and strength, and by using moderate repetitions (8-12) and higher training volume (total work done) you are training to achieve muscular growth or hypertrophy.

How often should I switch rep ranges?

every 4 to 6 weeks

In general, you want to change your reps every 4 to 6 weeks. However, there are many exceptions and your workout design will determine how frequently you need to make changes. There are many ways you can stagger this approach.

Is 20 reps too much for hypertrophy?

And sets of 20+ reps are more painful, making it difficult to push ourselves hard enough to stimulate growth. That’s why 6–20 reps is often dubbed the “hypertrophy rep range.” According to experts like Greg Nuckols, MA, sets of 4–40 reps are ideal for gaining muscle mass.

Is 15 reps too much for hypertrophy?

The “hypertrophy range” of roughly 6-15 reps per set may produce slightly better results per unit of time invested than low rep and high rep work.

Do shoulders respond better to higher reps?

Delts generally respond better to high reps, though the front portion can respond well to lower reps. This is why delt-dominant bench pressers tend to have large front delts. But when training to get that rounded-shoulders look, higher reps of isolation work is best. This program will build yours.

Is 20 reps too much?

Anything greater than 20 reps in a set is probably far too many. Performing this many reps in a set will have diminishing returns. If you can easily do more than 20 reps, then the weight you are using is probably too light or too easy to elicit any significant growth.

What is the best rep range for fat loss?

In general:

• For fat loss: One to 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps using enough weight that you can only complete the desired reps.
• To gain muscle: Three or more sets of 6 to 8 reps to fatigue. …
• For health and endurance: One to 3 sets of 12 to 16 reps using enough weight that you can only complete the desired reps.

Is 1 set to failure enough?

Increasing the number of sets taken to failure from one set to two, three or four provides no more benefit than doing just one set to failure. In fact, taking more than one set to failure may actually blunt strength gains. Take-home message: for strength, do no more than one set to failure per exercise.

Do legs respond better to higher reps?

Use Higher Reps
The rule of thumb for gaining size is to use a rep range of 8-12. With legs, however, I always found – and research backs me up – that higher reps produce the biggest gains. I experienced great results with squats, lunges, leg presses and leg extensions when doing sets of 15-20 reps.

Do biceps respond to heavy weight?

Use moderate loads, higher reps, and more cumulative metabolic stress. Some lifters get carried away trying to train the arms with pure strength. But the arms really don’t respond that well to heavy loading.

Do biceps respond better to high reps?

Howell is a fan of relatively light weight and high volume (reps in the 12 to 15 range) for biceps training, as the volume will tax both slow- and fast-twitch muscle fibers over time. Incorporating a large variety of biceps exercises performed with high sets and high reps will also help you build bigger arm muscles.