In 2016 a study at McMaster University in Ontario, USA found that lifting relatively light weights (about 50% of your one-rep max) for about 20–25 reps is just as efficient at building both strength and muscle size as lifting heavier weights (up to 90% of one-rep max) for 8-12 reps.
Anything within 5-30 reps will build muscle if that's your goal. Just make sure you're pushing yourself near failure. It's just harder to do at higher reps because typically, you'll fatigue before your muscles do.
These are the three most common rep ranges and their most popular use: The low range (1-5 reps), typically employed to increase strength. The medium range (6-12 reps), also known as “the hypertrophy range”, usually recommended for muscle growth. The high range (15-20+ reps) for muscular endurance.
Some of the most effective muscle- and strength-building programs share a common trait—the total number of reps for the main exercises usually add up to around 25. Shoot for that number over the next four weeks and your gains will add up fast, too.
You can gain muscle with as little as 30% of your 1 rep Max as long as the reps are high enough, but it sounds like you're under that even. Anything over 30 reps is probably going to only build endurance, having enough weight to be in the 8-12 range is the sweet spot for muscle growth, 3-5 for strength and power.
Sets & Reps: Rules To Follow To Get Ripped
Ideally, you would train each muscle group with both lower and high rep training: Performing 2-5 sets of 5-10 reps per muscle group with heavier loads, per week, may be enough to help retain strength during the diet phase.
Studies that we have show that anything from 5 to 30 reps builds muscle at the same pace, as long as you go close to failure. The proximity to failure is the deciding factor, with about 4 to 6 last reps until task failure recruiting the highest motor unit with the highest ability for hypertrophy.
Resistance training for muscle gain
Resistance training promotes muscle growth. Examples of resistance training include the use of free weights, weight machines, your own body weight or resistance bands. Suggestions include: Train just two or three times per week to give your muscles time to recover.
The 6-12-25 is a training method that was originally popularized by Charles Poliquin. It's great for improving body composition, stimulating hypertrophy and developing strength endurance.
Getting Close to Failure - Having fewer 'reps in reserve' for 1-3 sets can lead to a greater muscle pump. This means pushing your muscles into the overtime region to complete the set. High Volume - You need to perform at least 10 reps of an exercise across multiple sets.
Vary reps depending on the workout
Sure, you might be able to do more than 15 push-ups, but Akande says that going too far combined with inadequate recovery can lead to microtraumas in the muscles, and even hormonal imbalances that can mess up your cortisol levels, impacting muscle growth and overall health.
Reps in the 1-5 range build super dense muscle and strength. Reps in the 6-12 range build equal amounts of muscular power, strength, and size.
Beyond these benefits, 20-rep breathing squats also work to increase muscular endurance, promote metabolic conditioning and provide a serious workout to the muscles involved in both breathing and bracing your core.
They sometimes think they can't train hard anymore, but if they just go lighter and do more reps, they can build muscle too.” Bottom line: “It's the effort you put in that matters most,” Hyson says. “Lifting heavier builds more strength, but lifting to failure with any weight can build bigger, more aesthetic muscles.”
This holds that regardless of whether you're trying to build muscle, strength, power, or endurance, performing three sets of 10 reps per exercise is a good place to start. The scheme mostly works, especially if you're just starting out with strength training—because everything works in the beginning.
Most people do respond well to it, assuming to they still train hard enough. That means 15 to 25 sets per muscle per week. To make sure recovery doesn't become an issue, you may want to increase volume that high for just 1-2 muscles at a time, while keeping others in the usual range.
Implementation of training with moderate number of repetitions (~6−12), multiple sets (3−6), moderate loads (60−80% 1RM), and short rest intervals (60 s) between sets elicits greater metabolic stress (in contrast with high-loads), which appears to be a potent stimulus for inducing muscle hypertrophy [57].
"Muscle pump" is really just fitness slang for a phenomenon called transient hypertrophy. Hypertrophy refers to the growth of a muscle, and transient means it's only temporary.
Downtime between workouts (whether you're lifting, doing cardio or training for a sport) is when our bodies have a chance to actually build muscle. Strenuous workouts cause muscle breakdown, while rest allows our bodies to build it back up.
In 2016 a study at McMaster University in Ontario, USA found that lifting relatively light weights (about 50% of your one-rep max) for about 20–25 reps is just as efficient at building both strength and muscle size as lifting heavier weights (up to 90% of one-rep max) for 8-12 reps.
A Moderate Rep Range is Often Best. Sets of anywhere from 4–40 reps will stimulate muscle growth quite well, but most research shows that doing 6–20 reps per set is the most efficient way to build muscle.
If your main fitness goal is to build more muscle mass (aka hypertrophy), you'll want to do moderate to high rep ranges with moderate weights, Adrian says. Stick to 8 to 12 repetitions per set with a load 60 percent to 80 percent of your 1RM.