Reps, Sets, Weights. What are you doing?

What am I doing at the gym?

A lot of my clients as well as friends ask me how many reps of an exercise should they be doing, how much weight etc. etc ? Some people want to do 10 some say 15. But do you know why you are doing this? What the amount of weight and reps you’re doing and the effect it will have on your body. So I’m going to break it down in a simple way. So that you are getting the results you want.

I love the NASM OPT model which is the template that NASM Personal Trainers are shown on how to train our clients depending on their goals and where they are physically when they first come to us. So I’m going to show you a generalization of it.

If you are trying to gain more endurance you will want to do more reps. Anywhere between 12-25 reps for about 3 sets.

If your are just trying to maintain or get lean muscle mass you want to do between 8-12 reps for 1-5 sets.

Hypertrophy training is for GROWTH here you will do heavier weight than you would for general strength. When doing hyper trophy training you are trying to gain muscle mass, generally while losing body fat as well.

Maximal strength is going heavy! At about 75% of your 1RM (rep max). Basically you can’t do a lot of reps at this weight. You’re trying to see how strong you are so here is between 1-5 reps, 4-6 sets. If you can go for 10 reps. Add se weight.  Then there is Power! Which is your max strength kicked up a notch! You really shouldn’t be able to get past 1-3 reps, 4-6 sets.

So, this is a general breakdown of the different ranges of reps and sets. Depending on your goals, fit them in accordingly. What I do with my clients is cycle through the different categories, again depending on what their goals are and physical limitations. Very few of my clients get to the power stage. Not because they can’t but because it isn’t necessary for their goals. Always remember that everyone’s body is different so sometime you need to adapt a workout to suite your physical needs.

Anything in life worth having takes time, dedication, patience and a WILL for change!