Repetition ranges or rep ranges are another topic heavily discussed in the fitness industry. Where discussions take place, disagreements are present and trust me… this topic has had its fair share of just that. Ask any athlete what the optimal rep range is to build muscle and I guarantee you that each person will give you a different answer depending on their sports background. For years it has been the ‘conventional wisdom’ that training hard primarily within the 1 to 5 rep range solely serves the purpose of building strength, but not size. 6 to 12 reps was believed to be the optimal rep range to build purely muscle without much strength. The last part of the rep range spectrum lectured that anything above 12 reps only contributed to improving your endurance without any other benefits, including hypertrophy. While the these old school beliefs do hold some truth in them in regards to primarily training in a medium rep range being optimal for hypertrophy training, it’s not all that black and white. New research has confirmed that the optimal muscle building rep range is way larger than we initially thought and there are multiple rep range zones that are effective to build muscle mass effectively. There are a couple of other factors however that should be taken into consideration when it comes to selecting the rep range where you’ll perform most of your training volume in.
The effective hypertrophy rep range
To determine which rep range we will select to perform most of our training volume in, we must first understand that building new muscle mass requires the muscles to receive a stimulus that they should be able to handle more work. They should be able to perform more work by lifting heavier loads over time. The best way to do this is to apply the concept of progressive overload, which means striving to duplicate your lifts with heavier weights or performing more repetitions with the same weight. Getting bigger means getting stronger, because a bigger muscle is able to generate more force than a smaller muscle. If you notice that weights that were once a challenge to you, are now a piece of cake, it might be a big indicator that you have gained muscle mass and have become neurologically more efficient at those lifts.
How does one provide that stimulus to make a muscle grow bigger? By performing a certain amount of training volume each week that is taken very close to failure. By training very close to failure, all muscle fibers involved are being activated, maximally challenged and stimulated for growth. Studies have shown that muscles receive an optimal growth response when a set is taken close to failure, provided you’re using a resistance of at least 30% of your one rep max. This means that even lifting light weights up to 30 reps are as effective for the purpose of building muscle as heavier loads are. Going too heavy on the other hand isn’t favorable for hypertrophy at all. Multiple studies have shown that training with extremely heavy loads only stimulated about 60-80% compared to sets taken close to failure within a moderate rep range. Heavy sets within the 1 to 3 rep range are extremely effective at improving neurological efficiency and getting very strong. However, they require a lifter to do more weekly sets to provide the same amount of hypertrophy as moderate or even high rep sets do when taken close to failure. This diminished muscle building effect seems to fade away starting from 4 to 5 reps. Knowing what we know now, we can say confidently that the true hypertrophy rep range is between 5 to 30 repetitions.
Exercise specific rep ranges
5 to 30 repetitions is the effective rep range to build muscle when sets are taken close to failure. Now before you start performing lateral raises for sets of 5 reps or deadlifts for sets of 30 reps, hold on just a minute. There are some practical things you need to take into consideration before breaking your elbows with a 5 rep max on skull crushers or start puking your guts out when performing a 30 rep max on squats. Both lower reps and higher reps have their advantages and disadvantages. Especially when it comes to exercise specificity. Performing extremely high rep sets on compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts, overhead presses and bench presses might sound like an easy breeze because you’re using lighter weights, but when you use a weight that will take you close to failure between 20-30 reps, I can guarantee you that you will truly experience what real life torture feels like. A lot of people who participated in these studies we’re getting nauseous and even vomited after performing such grueling high rep sets. They felt destroyed after their workout sessions and wouldn’t continue working out in this fashion if it wasn’t for the researchers pushing and motivating them. Not only will your muscles suffer from extreme lactic acid build up, the cardiovascular system will be heavily challenged as well when performing extremely high rep sets. Due to the excessive fatigue during the set, a lot of people experience their form breaking down and not being able to complete the set with proper technique. Whereas very heavy weights rely on a lot of central nervous system activation, central nervous system burnout is actually more common as a result of doing extreme high rep work on big compound exercises, compared to it being caused by performing a lot of low rep sets with an extremely heavy weight. Supplementary isolation exercises on the other hand lend themselves way better to high rep work because they aren’t that taxing on the entire body and nervous system. It’s way easier and more enjoyable to perform a set of 20 on triceps extensions than it is to perform a 20 rep max set of squats. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself and let me know how fresh you felt after that workout. That’s exactly where my next point comes down to. Different exercises lend themselves well to different rep ranges within our hypertrophy rep range.
Big compound lifts such as the squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press and weighted chin up allow the use of heavier weights since they involve a lot of muscle mass, multiple joints and force pretty much your whole body to work together. When performing sets with a very high number of repetitions, form might break down due to excessive fatigue and you’re actually more prone to injury compared to performing lower rep sets with a heavier weight. Besides that, the number one factor we need to respect in order to build muscle is to make sure we are making progress and getting stronger. I can guarantee you that it is way easier to progress in a low to medium rep range, than it is to progress in a high rep range. This is especially true with big compound movements. Progress is way more efficient, noticeable and enjoyable when performing your big compound movements in a moderate rep range where the load is heavy enough to make decent strength gains and to stimulate optimal muscle growth, yet not too heavy for bad technique or injuries to occur. Therefore I recommend that for your big compound movements, you perform the majority of your weekly training volume within the 5 to 10 rep range. The 5 to 10 rep range falls perfectly within the effective hypertrophy rep range, allows the lifter to maintain perfect technique, builds strength effectively, causes manageable fatigue and allows for efficient and consistent progress.
Smaller isolation exercises that cause way less fatigue and demand less of your central nervous system and cardiovascular system don’t do well when performed with an extremely heavy weight in a low rep range without proper execution taking a hit. Whereas big compound lifts don’t do well with extremely high reps, smaller accessory lifts such as bicep curls, lateral raises and triceps extensions don’t do well with extremely low reps. In this case we actually have to do the opposite. I would advise you to perform your accessory work in the 8 to 15 rep range for most exercises. For some exercises such as lateral raises and rear delt flys you might even go as high as 20.
Using the lower end of the hypertrophy rep range will require a heavier weight to reach failure. The problem with this in relation to isolation lifts is that the weight will generally be too heavy to execute the exercise with correct technique and you might injure yourself more easily. Your joints and tendons will also thank you for avoiding excessive stress by using a higher rep range on isolation lifts. As you gain strength on your big compound movements, you will gain strength on your isolation lifts as well since they are the primary tool of getting stronger for the whole body. The isolation lifts are there to provide some additional volume for smaller muscle groups that aren’t maximally stimulated from compound exercises alone. You will see that when you for example perform dumbbell bicep curls, that you will be able to properly contract the targeted muscle and complete the exercise with perfect technique. After a while, your reps will go up with a certain weight and you will reach the top of the chosen rep range. Once that happens, restart the process on the lower end of the rep range you’ve chosen yet with a heavier weight and try to complete a number of repetitions that hits the top of the rep range again.
It doesn’t matter how many reps you do on an exercise for optimal hypertrophy, as long as you stick between 5 and 30 and end your set within 2 reps short of failure. Certain types of movements just tend to do better at the lower end of the hypertrophy rep range from an efficiency point of view whereas others do well at the mid to higher end. Here’s a summary of commonly used exercises and their suitable rep range for optimal results:
5 to 10 reps | 6 to 15 reps | 8 to 20 reps |
Barbell bench press variations Barbell squat variations Deadlift variations | Dumbbell bench press variations Dumbbell OHP variations Row variations Upright rows Lunges Glute ham raises Hip thrust/glute bridge Leg presses | Lateral raises Facepulls Chest flys Rear delt flys Bicep curls Tricep extensions Calf raises Leg extensions Leg curls Hyperextensions |
Specific goals require specific rep ranges
When I talk about exercises being the most efficient in a certain rep range I’m purely talking from a hypertrophy perspective and making progress on your lifts in the most efficient way possible. It’s a method that will cause you to experience the fastest hypertrophy progress, make the most efficient use of your time and you will minimize the risk of injury. This doesn’t mean though, that you can never go out of the rep ranges I just suggested for a specific exercise. If you are training for something specific, for example a power lifting event or you simply want to get your one rep max strength up significantly, then you won’t have any other choice than to perform a certain amount of volume in the 1 – 3 rep range to become neurologically more efficient at lifting extremely heavy loads.
Another case where you might choose a different rep range for certain lifts than is recommended in the list above is for example if you have an injury of some sort which prevents you from using heavy loads at certain exercises. In this case, you might be able to perform the exercise within a higher rep range without any problems or pains. If so, by all means, go for it. Performing for example the overhead press in the 10 to 20 rep range will still allow you to make decent progress as long as you end your set close to failure and apply progressive overload.
My references are recommendations that have served my clients and myself extremely well. Lifting in certain rep ranges will give you the most bang for your buck at specific exercises. These recommendations aren’t carved in stone though, so if you feel the need for whatever reason to perform bench presses or squats up to 20 reps, by all means do them. The most important factor once again, is that you pick a weight which you can perform 5 – 30 reps with, that you are within 2 reps of failure when finishing that set and that over time, you become stronger. If you lift extremely heavy loads within the 1 – 3 rep range, you probably should to perform some additional sets to get the same growth response as someone who focuses on the 5 – 30 rep range.
Conclusion
The 5 to 30 rep range is the effective hypertrophy rep range. For practical reasons though, I recommend that you stick to the 5 to 20 rep range. As long as you finish a set within 2 reps of failure, the set will be productive as all muscle fibers have reached the upper limit fatigue threshold and therefore will be optimally stimulated for growth.
For big barbell lifts, perform most of your work between 5 – 10 reps. For compound accessory lifts I would advise you to stick between 6 – 15 reps. For smaller isolation exercises I find that the 8 – 20 rep range is optimal to maintain form, make efficient progress and to avoid injuries. Going too heavy on these will lead to bad execution, not targeting the intended muscle group and putting too much strain on joints and tendons.
Within the effective hypertrophy rep range a lifter should apply the concept of progressive overload to make optimal progress. This is done by performing sufficient weekly training volume, training each muscle group with a frequency of at least twice per week, taking sets close to failure within the effective hypertrophy range and dialing in your nutrition. Dialing in your nutrition means eating enough protein and being in a calorie surplus. If these factors are respected, you will notice that over time you will be able to put more weight on the bar and you will look more muscular. Getting bigger is getting stronger by applying progressive overload within the effective hypertrophy range.
Kevin Mahjoubi