When you lift a weight, how many times should you lift it? Supposedly, there’s a correct “rep range” to use to build strength, and a different rep range to build muscle size, or endurance, or to “tone.” But how much of the oft-repeated wisdom is true? Not as much as you’d think.
What are reps and sets?
Typically a workout will call for several sets of each exercise, separated by a rest period of a minute or two, or by another exercise. Typical schemes include three sets of 10, four sets of eight to 12, or five sets of five. These are often written in the format [sets]x[reps], so 5 x 5 would be five sets of five reps each, and 3 x 10 would be three sets of 10.
There are many factors you might consider (or that an experienced trainer might include when writing your program) when deciding how many reps you should do, but often people try to stick with the “rep range” that they are told makes sense with their goals.
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If you’re a woman and want to “tone,” you may be told that eight to 12, or maybe 10 to 15, will give you definition while keeping your muscles from growing too much. (You may notice this overlaps with the range for muscle growth.)
The exact numbers will vary depending on who you ask, but no matter how you slice it, something isn’t adding up. If you do 10 reps, are you building muscle size, or are you keeping your muscles “toned”? It can’t be both—unless 10 can work for either goal, in which case the number of reps isn’t what determines the outcome. (Hmm…)
Strength and muscle size don’t (always) require different training
Beginners in the gym often spend a lot of effort figuring out the “optimal” routine to meet their goals. But as I’ve said before, optimal is optional. Getting the details right is not nearly as important as getting the big picture right.
You can read a deep dive on this idea here. The author, powerlifter, and coach Greg Nuckols does conclude that lower numbers of reps (like 1-5) have a bias toward strength, and higher reps (15+) have a bias toward muscular endurance.
He recommends training in a variety of rep ranges if you want bigger or more defined muscles, rather than using the same narrow range every time. That’s pretty much the consensus among good trainers, anyway: most effective training programs have a mix of high- and low-rep exercises. That’s because each rep range has its pros and cons when it comes to particular exercises and purposes, not just a person’s overall goals.
If you want to show off in front of your friends by benching more than them, or if you want to enter a weightlifting competition and place well, or if you want to achieve your first pullup, you want to work on strength.
To learn technique
Low reps also help you to focus and avoid fatigue. You might get tired or sloppy by the 10th rep of a set, but that’s less likely to happen in a set of three. Olympic weightlifters typically do their tricky competition lifts in sets of just one to three. Beginners who are learning a new exercise, like squats or barbell presses, may also want to work in this range. Do a few reps, take a break, then come back fresh.
When to use moderate reps (6-12)
This is a good middle ground that will build strength and size, and will give you plenty of practice moving weight around. Pretty much everybody can benefit from working in this rep range, at least some of the time.
For strength and muscle size
While low reps are best for learning an exercise that is complicated or that is brand new to you, beginners are often recommended to work in a medium rep range as soon as they’re comfortable with it—and that makes a lot of sense.
For “toning”
Toning isn’t a specific strength training goal, and that’s why it doesn’t have its own special rep range. Being “toned” is a look: it means you have some muscle definition while being relatively slim.
So what makes a “bulky” body different from a “toned” one? Partly nutrition (the more you eat, the bigger your muscles can get) and partly just how long you’ve been training and how hard you’ve worked. It takes a lot of time to build a lot of muscle.
Traditionally, this is described as the “muscular endurance” range, but that’s a misnomer. Higher reps aren’t great at building strength, and may not be your best option for building muscle size, so just about all they have left to offer is that they might help you do high numbers of reps.
Studies have found that you don’t need to stick to the 15+ rep range to build muscular endurance—the three-to-five and six-to-eight ranges may work even better than spending your training time on high reps.
For muscle size (and “toning”), if you only have light weights available
To do heavy or moderate reps, you need appropriate weights. So if you’re working with limited equipment, you may have no option but to make the best of what you’ve got.
If you’re able to do more than 30 reps, though, we’re starting to leave the realm of strength training and enter a territory that’s more like cardio. At that point, you should really look for harder exercises or find a way to get your hands on heavier dumbbells.
The bottom line: variety in rep ranges is good
So when you go to the gym, you’ll probably want to use low reps for a strength-focused exercise or two, moderate reps for most of your other work, and occasionally some higher-rep work for variety or to make do with lighter equipment.
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