Perfect Personal Training Says That When It Comes To Strength Training, Reps Don't Matter Much

Jan. 14, 2011 - PRLog -- We get this question a lot from our strength training clients:  How many reps (repetitions) should I be doing when I work out?

While the long-standing belief has always been that lower reps (usually 4-7) are more for "building big muscles" and that a higher repetition scheme (often 12 or more) is better for "endurance training", we've often suspected that the real issue was whether or not we were appropriately fatiguing the muscles.  So, by this example, we suspected that if a personal training client achieved no more than 5 reps of a heavy resistance on any particular exercise, it would be comparable to reducing the load and training to the point of fatigue with that load, even if the total repetitions achieved were much higher than 5.

New research supports our theory from the American College of Sports Medicine:  Westcott, Wayne L. Ph.D. American College of Sports Medicine's Certified News, July-September, 2010. Vol. 20, Issue 3. pp. 10-11.

Several studies have since been done by Chestnut and Docherty, Bemben, Wilborn, and still others and have found that low repetition exercisers and moderate repetition exercisers have similar increases in strength and cross-sectional area. These studies were performed on various groups including young untrained males (Chestnut and Docherty), sedentary women between 41 and 60 years old (Bemben), and trained males with a mean age of 21 (Behm et al).

What most of these studies found was that setting appropriate weight to where the subject reach fatigue was important regardless if the repetitions were between 4-20 in order to increase strength and hypertrophy. These studies support ACSM's position as well as Perfect Personal Training's belief.

So, in truth, one shouldn't spend much time concerning himself or herself with an actual repetition target number, but rather the idea that he or she should train the muscle to the point where it is no longer able to successfully contract throughout a full range of motion.

It is important to note that this is not suggested for arthritic joints or throughout any pain.  Please reach Perfect Personal Training for more details or to schedule an in-home visit to gain a more personalized perspective.

# # #

Perfect Personal Training is America's most educated in-home fitness training group. Our exercise professionals are also welness coaches and weight management experts with a high focus on nutrition and clinical exercise science.