The question about what rep range to train in is a subject that has lots of rumours and also a fair amount of scientific evidence surrounding it. Generally, the distinction is made between low, medium and high repetitions. In this article, I want to give a quick rundown of each of the rep ranges and their respective benefits and drawbacks.
Low Rep Range
This range is anything from 1 to 6 or 7 repetitions. If you are using an amount of weight for an exercise that you can only lift a handful of times, then this is clearly a high weight-load for your body. In this repetition range, the weights will feel heavy, even during the first rep of the first set.
Low repetitions with lots of weight are ideal for building strength. The emphasis here is on “strength” not “volume”, in other words, for pure body-building, a higher rep-range is the better choice.
Training with low repetitions takes less time than training in a higher rep range. 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 huge weight-loads you’ll be using, there’s a higher chance of injury. Obviously, you have to be especially careful when lugging 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). You won’t see the strength gains you get from doing lower reps with higher weights, but you’ll certainly look like, you’re growing stronger.
The benefits and drawbacks here are pretty obvious: If you’re after bigger muscles, this is the rep range to go for. If actual strength increase is more important to you, then this rep range is not ideal.
High Rep Range
This means anything above 12 repetitions. 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 an exercise lasts longer than that, you’re already entering “cardio” territory, from a biological perspective, at least.
This doesn’t mean that a higher rep range has no merits, of course. If you are using low weights and doing more repetitions, your body simply has to recruit different resources to keep you going.
One thing that needs to be addressed is a common misconception: High rep ranges do not build “lean muscles” rather than “bulky muscles”, as is often claimed. High rep ranges simply stimulate less muscle growth, but you can’t really influence the shape of your muscles with a particular way of exercising.
In conclusion, for most people, low to medium repetition ranges are ideal. 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.
