Best Rep Range

SugarFree · Jul 25, 2014

Interesting read

alterntego · Feb 10, 2015

all the rep ranges .
Weeks 1-3 upper body @ 20 reps / lower body @ 30 reps

weeks 4-6 @ 12-15 / upper @ 15-20 lower

weeks 7-9 @ 8-12 / upper @ 10-12 lower

then i start the whole thing all over again . Each wave getting bigger and stronger . 5 days a week . calves and abs twice a week and minimal cardio . Need to work on the cardio . just cuz I get winded from fucking .... cardio :headbang:

alterntego · Feb 10, 2015

I personally love the high reps and for most of my life its been heavy , heavy . not any more. 3 weeks at 30 rep lower body is to f'n die for on lower body . Everybodys work out at the gym I attend is my warm up . Bunch a talkative stand arounds .

massaholic said:
I agree. I have been cycling through rep ranges. 1st week 12-15, 2nd week 9-11, 3rd week 6-8 and 4th week 3-5. Then start over again. I have saw gains in strength and size.

I f***ing hate 12 to 15 rep ranges. That whole week sucks for me.

chapss · Feb 20, 2015

Good read, funny at the end it gets to something I've been saying for years now: The best rep range is all the rep ranges.

Drock225 · Feb 21, 2015

Good read

showstopper83 · Mar 3, 2015

coltsfan21790 said:
"But the research tells us that if muscle growth and optimal body composition is your goal, then THREE things are very important:

1. Muscle failure

2. Volume

3. Progressive overload."

All three of the essentials are staples of D.C. Training :headbang:

I started weight training in high school for football, and the reps/sets for strength always had a pretty direct correlation to increased muscle size.

It seems as though I can stay in 5x5 and bring myself to failure by last few reps of set 5 and will ALWAYS get a little stronger and more jacked so long as I'm not taking too much time off and taking in enough protein.

Pyramid down worked as well, after 10 rep warm up going in sets with reps of 8-6-5-5-4-2

Everyone's body is a little different, but my theory is if you're constantly doing weights that force your muscles to fail, your body with proper nutrition will rebuild and prepare itself to handle the last weight you failed on.

ShortStop · Mar 3, 2015

It really depends how I feel in the gym at the time how much I do.

showstopper83 · Mar 8, 2015

TopGun said:
It really depends how I feel in the gym at the time how much I do.

Listening to your own body has gotta be one of the most underrated aspects of training.

I just keep the same rep/sets until I stop making progress. The minute I can't do 1 more rep or a little bit more weight the last time I did those exercises (assuming I've been true to my protein intake), I switch it up.

Don't fix it 'til it's broke.

Kobe8jf1234 · Mar 21, 2015

Ya you have confuse the muscle to make it grow

Cortisol · Mar 23, 2015

Everyone should have 5 to 10 years of heavy basic power-bodybuilding. That will set the foundation for futre growth (tendon strength etc). I trained that way for 25 years.

For my last comp (20 years ago) I alternated heavy basic with 20 reps and that worked well for me.

After retiring from the stage, I went back to heavy basic. If I did it over again, I would go higher rep, as my joints have suffered.

After my shoulder surgery I went to a 10-14 rep range. I did not get smaller, my muscles got "fuller." A local IFBB pro I worked with (ran his gear program) does all 20 reps and he is 286 @ 10 b fat.

I do a lot of training now with no rest between sets. I use weights that I could get 20 reps with after a 90 second rest. With virtually no rest (just enough to re-wrap quickly) I only get 8 or so reps. For me, and I am sure 90% of the guys on this board, we can get 20 reps with weights that are still heavier than what most other guys at the gym are using. I was getting 25 reps of squats @ 275lbs before I had to stop squatting (can't get my arm back there anymore, see shoulder surgery above, lol).

I have not lost any size on this program, I just look fuller. It is also easier on the joints, and keeps me in great cardio shape for martial arts training.

To summarize: Heavy basic to build foundation, then higher reps as you become a veteran.

Cortisol · Mar 23, 2015

showstopper83 said:
Listening to your own body has gotta be one of the most underrated aspects of training.

I just keep the same rep/sets until I stop making progress. The minute I can't do 1 more rep or a little bit more weight the last time I did those exercises (assuming I've been true to my protein intake), I switch it up.

Don't fix it 'til it's broke.

Good point! So many say "you have to change every workout....."

Nonsense. Stick w/ the same movement for a while. Get an extra rep, and that is change. Get the same rep number, but increase the weight, again change. I give a particular lift at least 8 weeks before changing.

You really have to bust your ass for that extra rep, for that 10 lb increase, THAT is the secret. If you don't train that hard (IE like 90% of the people at the gym) then yes, I suppose you need more change.

When I go through peoples workout program, I have them show me how they perform each exercise. We go through all the technical details of the lift, and then they show me the lift.

This happened last week. Guy did a perfect set of incline dumbbell presses for 10 reps.

I sat down and asked him "why did you stop at 10 reps?" He said "that's what everyone told me to do." I said (trying not to laugh) "you had at least 5 more reps. If you want to do 10 reps, then you need to increase the weight by at least 20 lbs for each dumbbell."

trimed1973 · Mar 23, 2015

its not the amount of rep's or how much you lift, its the motivation behind the exercise you are doing. If you want to grow and tell your mind that your body will follow. I ALWAYS mix it up. One day I will go heavy fin a spotter and try and push out 8-10 quality reps. The next week go lighter and rep out 15-20 and still need that spotter because the last 4 are going to be a bitch. If its not burning its not working. When it starts to burn I always push out 5-6 more reps then your growing.

bigwood6975 · Apr 3, 2015

I prefer the pyramid method.

proterade · Apr 22, 2015

I like moderate weight to failure to stimulate growth..
Recently I started doing nothing less then 30 reps or failure.. It actually helped with strength an size. I've also never been the type to do anything less then 10 reps.

Jcmorales978 · Apr 22, 2015

I switch between 3-4 different rep schemes. time sets 1 min high intensity light but not to light so you come to failure followed by 30 seconds of rest. I do a pyramid method 50,40, to10... The. 10..20.. Back to 50 failure is inevitable if I'm doing it right. Then 18,15,12,10,8,5 increasing the weight. Less frequently now that my joints ache when I go to heavy I'll do a few warm up sets and just as hard as I can for no more than 5

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