How Many Reps For Bodybuilding

[DTT]

ok you guys, i need your advise.

last year i got rid of my home fitness machine and got into a gym. as a true blue rookie, i had alot of relearning to do.

i know there are a number of different kinds of exercises for a particular muscle group. -in other words, there is no such thing as a universal workout program. what workout routine works for you, may not work for me.-

i went through some months experimenting on which exercises my muscles responded to and have been using them for the past few weeks.

but, if i am aiming for muscle mass, how many reps should be performed ? i have been seeing reps like: 8-10, or 10-15 ? which one is it ??

is it also good to go heavy during each training day or should you go heavy one day, then lighter on others?

[wildman536]

All year i do 4-8 reps per set,,,, just change the diet accordingly (bulking or cutting) Make sure you get the most out of every rep though...

[TrishB]

Lower reps with higher weight....6-8 reps at 2-3 sets. Work each muscle group no more than once every 5-7 days,

[freaker]

I actually disagree with the people who say you should always stick to a certain rep range when aiming for mass. Lower rep ranges will activate the fast-twitch and intermediate muscle fibers more so, and those muscle fibers are the ones that generally increase in size, but there are limiting factors to muscle growth(such as mitochondrial density) that will eventually cause stagnation when always staying in lower rep ranges. Anyway, I too used to stick to lower rep ranges and I got good results, but I got much better results when I changed my rep range to this particular pattern. Week 1: 18-30 reps, week 2: 13-17 reps, week 3: 8-12 reps, week 4: 3-7 reps, then right back to week 1 and repeat the cycle a few times before taking a total week off from weight training. Following a 3-7 rep week up with an 18-30 rep week also seems to help immensely with recovery, and by the time you get back to the 3-7 rep range, you're always stronger, more so in my opinion than if you went heavy the whole time. People don't seem to realize that training slow-twitch muscle fibers will help you with muscle size and strength when combined properly with training that targets the fast-twitch fibers. They mistakenly think that training the slow-twitch fibers is a waste of time and will take away from the results they could be getting in their fast-twitch fiber development. Now, as you said, different people are different, but any advanced trainer or bodybuilder who I know who has tried this particular rep range progression has gotten much better results than they were before from using the traditional progressive overload method.

[Gracious]

When I train for strength (not mass as in such but strength so that I can gain mass later) I do Heavy sets with a good spotter, 4-6 reps.

After a cycle of that for about 4 -5 weeks depending on what my body tells me, I go into bodybuilding. With the strength I gained doing the strength training, I should now be stronger for my bodybuilding, which is where I gain my mass. When bodybuilding my rep range is 8-12 reps depending.

This seems to work for me!!

[CerealKiller]

Originally posted by freaker
I actually disagree with the people who say you should always stick to a certain rep range when aiming for mass. Lower rep ranges will activate the fast-twitch and intermediate muscle fibers more so, and those muscle fibers are the ones that generally increase in size, but there are limiting factors to muscle growth(such as mitochondrial density) that will eventually cause stagnation when always staying in lower rep ranges. Anyway, I too used to stick to lower rep ranges and I got good results, but I got much better results when I changed my rep range to this particular pattern. Week 1: 18-30 reps, week 2: 13-17 reps, week 3: 8-12 reps, week 4: 3-7 reps, then right back to week 1 and repeat the cycle a few times before taking a total week off from weight training. Following a 3-7 rep week up with an 18-30 rep week also seems to help immensely with recovery, and by the time you get back to the 3-7 rep range, you're always stronger, more so in my opinion than if you went heavy the whole time. People don't seem to realize that training slow-twitch muscle fibers will help you with muscle size and strength when combined properly with training that targets the fast-twitch fibers. They mistakenly think that training the slow-twitch fibers is a waste of time and will take away from the results they could be getting in their fast-twitch fiber development. Now, as you said, different people are different, but any advanced trainer or bodybuilder who I know who has tried this particular rep range progression has gotten much better results than they were before from using the traditional progressive overload method.

Interesting. I'm going to give that a try.

[MsFit]

I'm inbetween the 2 different ideas posted above. I keep my sets and reps low for about 6-8 weeks then take it up a notch and bump up the reps and add a set for a week or two, then go back the heavy weights and low reps. It always pushes me through the sticking points.
MsFit