WellTip: Reps Do Not (always) Matter
“WHAT!” I hear all of you already, but stay with me here. This morning I met with my regular 7am client, Vic, and I caught myself spewing my regular esoteric speech. “Numbers are a construct!” as he holds on to a pull up bar finishing, what he thought would be 8 but actually 10, pull ups cursing me slowly. However, I do think it’s worth writing a bit in long form.
Your body doesn’t respond to reps, but responds to stimulation.
Put simply, you can do 12 half assed push ups and still say you did 12* push ups. Simultaneously, you could execute 12 slow tempo push ups and have only done 12 push ups. Follow me?
Let’s get a bit more into the nitty gritty.
Stimulation through mechanical tension is what you’re looking for. Research states that lifting a lighter load to failure can garner the similar muscle gains to lifting heavier loads to failure.
By now, you should know I tend to lean toward a hybrid stance in life. I rather not be a “master” at anything physically as it tends to lead to a depreciation in other arenas. In short, I like to be light in weight, fast in movement, and strong in power.
“The scientific evidence on rep ranges tells us that there's no magical rep range for maximizing muscle size. You can use both heavy, low-rep (1-5) sets along with medium-load, high-rep (15-20+) sets if you'd like.” written by author and trainer, Nick Tumminello.
However it is also stated that many people, myself included, do not like to use heavy weights to build muscle, so the prescribed 6-12 rep range gains mass popularity.
HOWEVER!!
ITS NOT THE REPS, BUT THE QUALITY OF THE REPS WE ARE LOOKING FOR!
I guarantee at this very moment (when I’m writing and when your reading) there is someone at a big box gym thrusting hips forward and extending their back to accomplish a heavy curl or shoulder press. Don’t sacrifice your form for reps, its totally counter productive.
It’s an easy mistake, especially when perpetual “lift big to be big” mentality is wafting in the airwaves. You want to maximize muscle, but that doesn’t mean you need to become a weightlifter, you’re a weight lifter (there’s a difference).
Key Points: Aim for quality, not quantity & progressively overload weight over time, there’s no rush. You’ll thank me later.