Building muscle is all about making sure you get all the details right so that when you put them all together you create a synergy that adds the most muscle mass in the shortest amount of time. This article will focus on the ideal number of repetitions to get the biggest and fastest muscle gains.
Lower repetitions for stronger and more defined muscles
Lifting with fewer repetitions, below 5, will force your muscles to increase in strength. The actual muscle fibers will increase in size, creating a more defined and dense muscle mass.
It is said that the stronger you are, the more muscle you will have. This is true, but it means you’ll have more muscle fibers, not necessarily the biggest muscles. The increase in strength will create an increase in muscle size no matter what. However, if you want a bigger and faster increase in muscle size and aren’t as concerned with strength, you should do higher reps.
Higher reps for bigger, bulkier muscles
Lifting with more repetitions, 8 or more, will create more pumps and increase the amount of fluid within the muscle cells. This will create bigger muscles that may not look as dense, but the gains will be big and fast.
Lifting with higher reps will give you that pump and force blood into the muscles. Lift 8-12 reps for best results, once you can lift 12 reps easily increase the weight.
optimal gains
For the best gains in size and density, choose to perform both types of reps, high and low. This will increase your strength and muscle mass, while also increasing size.
You can do low reps for a few weeks and then do high reps a few weeks later. You can also perform both types in the same workout. A great way to do this is to increase the weight with each set, while decreasing the number of repetitions. This will increase the perceived intensity in your muscles and allow high and low repetitions to be used.
The best way is to combine heavy weights with low reps and then high volume, through the use of many sets. This can be done by selecting a few compound exercises that allow the use of heavy weights, and then repeating the exercises for several sets. This could be 5 sets each, 8 sets, or even 10 depending on how many exercises you’re doing in that workout.