How many reps should you do to build muscular size and strength? Today we'll give you that answer and a few others as we help you on your quest to discover how to build muscle quickly and effectively with proven, science backed methods in the gym.
First of all don't worry. If you're a little lost on your training and what you should or shouldn't be doing, one thing is for certain. You are not alone. In fact, most people are in the exact same situation, they just don't do anything about it and spend years going through the motions without seeing any results. Today, you separate yourself from that crowd.
Most guys are attempting to do the same thing you are. They want to build a more muscular physique, one which both makes them proud and gets you attention.
The human body only changes when it is forced into it. If you are not doing that, not progressing in your workouts, your body won't change. Why? Because it doesn't have to! How many people do you see in your gym who have been doing the exact same thing for months and don't seem to be getting any results? Quite a few, I imagine, because this is a common issue which most people never address properly. Your body adapts to your workout. Even though you're working hard, your body knows it can handle it. Why? Because you probably did the same thing last week and it can remember. To get change you need to force change.
The first thing to do is to understand the different repetition ranges and what they do:
* Hypertrophy.
* The endurance zone.
The fact that you are reading this article, given it's title, tells us that you are here because you want to learn how to gain muscle and therefore you should be swinging for the hypertrophy zone. You should be aiming the majority of your sets at the 8-12 range.
If you were to continue pushing you reps, say, into the 15-20 zone, you would find yourself in the muscular endurance category. This would help you to tone up and really build up the stamina of whichever muscle you were training but it wouldn't work as effectively as the hypertrophy zone if your goal is pure size.
The next time you visit your local gym or fitness center take a quick look around. You will notice that not many people are training with a specific goal in mind, despite the fact that if you ask them what they want to achieve they will be able to tell you straight away.
So you now know that the rules with weights have nothing to do with the popular gym mythologies out there. You know the ones we're talking about, right? Things such as 'high reps are just for women'. High reps are for those looking to build muscular endurance, regardless of your sex.
Before we end today's class we also want to bring your attention to a second fact. This fact is the single most important aspect of your training, without it you won't get anywhere. We are talking, of course, about steady progression. Resistance training is something which your body is built to adapt to and, as we pointed out earlier, you will need to progressively challenge yourself more in order to keep forcing results from it.
The rep range we brought your attention to is a good way to do this. Many people ask us how much weight they should be using on a particular exercise and your rep range will determine this for you. For hypertrophy, find a weight which forces you to quit at around eight reps and then keep working with that weight until you get stronger. Once you can manage twelve reps at that level it's time to increase the resistance, forcing yourself back down to eight reps at a slightly heavier level and beginning the cycle again.
So now not only do you know how to build muscle but you also know how to push consistent gains from your body to avoid the plateau most people encounter and never break free from.
First of all don't worry. If you're a little lost on your training and what you should or shouldn't be doing, one thing is for certain. You are not alone. In fact, most people are in the exact same situation, they just don't do anything about it and spend years going through the motions without seeing any results. Today, you separate yourself from that crowd.
Most guys are attempting to do the same thing you are. They want to build a more muscular physique, one which both makes them proud and gets you attention.
The human body only changes when it is forced into it. If you are not doing that, not progressing in your workouts, your body won't change. Why? Because it doesn't have to! How many people do you see in your gym who have been doing the exact same thing for months and don't seem to be getting any results? Quite a few, I imagine, because this is a common issue which most people never address properly. Your body adapts to your workout. Even though you're working hard, your body knows it can handle it. Why? Because you probably did the same thing last week and it can remember. To get change you need to force change.
The first thing to do is to understand the different repetition ranges and what they do:
* Hypertrophy.
* The endurance zone.
The fact that you are reading this article, given it's title, tells us that you are here because you want to learn how to gain muscle and therefore you should be swinging for the hypertrophy zone. You should be aiming the majority of your sets at the 8-12 range.
If you were to continue pushing you reps, say, into the 15-20 zone, you would find yourself in the muscular endurance category. This would help you to tone up and really build up the stamina of whichever muscle you were training but it wouldn't work as effectively as the hypertrophy zone if your goal is pure size.
The next time you visit your local gym or fitness center take a quick look around. You will notice that not many people are training with a specific goal in mind, despite the fact that if you ask them what they want to achieve they will be able to tell you straight away.
So you now know that the rules with weights have nothing to do with the popular gym mythologies out there. You know the ones we're talking about, right? Things such as 'high reps are just for women'. High reps are for those looking to build muscular endurance, regardless of your sex.
Before we end today's class we also want to bring your attention to a second fact. This fact is the single most important aspect of your training, without it you won't get anywhere. We are talking, of course, about steady progression. Resistance training is something which your body is built to adapt to and, as we pointed out earlier, you will need to progressively challenge yourself more in order to keep forcing results from it.
The rep range we brought your attention to is a good way to do this. Many people ask us how much weight they should be using on a particular exercise and your rep range will determine this for you. For hypertrophy, find a weight which forces you to quit at around eight reps and then keep working with that weight until you get stronger. Once you can manage twelve reps at that level it's time to increase the resistance, forcing yourself back down to eight reps at a slightly heavier level and beginning the cycle again.
So now not only do you know how to build muscle but you also know how to push consistent gains from your body to avoid the plateau most people encounter and never break free from.
About the Author:
About the Creator: Russ Howe PTI is England's most subscribed Personal Trainer. Discover how to build muscle with our free video guide showing the five principles to a more muscular physique.
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