Activ8 Tip: Reps Versus Weights

By PCYC Ashmore Gym+Fitness Trainer, Jemmalee Laing

The age-old question in strength training is how many reps should I do?

Based on the majority of studies, lower weight and higher reps trains muscles to be more endurant, medium reps and medium weight trains muscles to be bigger and low rep ranges with heavy weight trains muscles to be stronger.

However, strength building essentially occurs over a spectrum. The number of reps and results kind of blend together. For example, even at a higher rep range, you are still going to be making your muscles stronger. A lot of genetic variability can affect this as well.

When starting out with strength training, pick a rep range within the area of your primary goal. The idea is not to just do 3 sets of 10 over and over. Slowly increasing in weight is key. If you can do that then mission accomplished, increase the weight next time.

Maybe you can do 10 reps, then 9 reps and then 8. Perfect. Keep going until you are at 3 sets of 10 again and increase the weight again! The rep range here would be 8-10 but don’t be afraid to work outside of the “ideal” rep range for your goal as it’s good to train your muscles at different rep schemes.