If you search for a workout program on Pinterest or most health and wellness websites, you’ll typically get an arbitrary number of reps between 8-12. Although this rep range can be great for beginners, there is no explanation as to why that is a good rep range for beginners. In this article I will help you answer not only why 8-12 is a good rep range, but how to choose the right number of reps for your specific fitness goals.

Let’s Talk About Action and Reaction

You may remember from high school science class that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. We also know that all actions have consequences, and that you get what you give. 

Exercise is one of the forms of stimuli that you can impose on your body’s systems. How you act will elicit a specific reaction from the body, and that certain reaction will eventually lead to a certain adaptation.

When it comes to choosing your rep ranges, you are tapping into this inevitable sequence of events, which is why it is so important to know how certain rep ranges will cause your body to react and the type of long-term adaptation you will gain from the rep ranges.

An Endurance Athlete looks Very Different from a Powerlifter

If you think about a marathon runner, you can imagine what their body looks like. They are very lean, with long, slim muscles. Their body is built for efficiency so they can run for hours. On the flip side, if you think of the world’s strongest men competition, where they lift a very heavy weight for 1 rep, you’ll see a very different body type. They are maxed out on muscle mass because they need as much muscle as possible to maximize their strength potential. 

This is what I always think of when I am thinking about my fitness goals. Do I want a leaner look and to be able to do something for an extended period of time, like running or swimming? Or, am I trying to max out my PRs and build a more toned figure? Choosing ther right number of reps will help me achieve both, and believe it or not, your body is capable of both.

There is more advanced science about fast and slow twitch muscle fibers that people believe pre-determines what training style you should do, but I am also a firm believer in the fact that human bodies have been adapting and evolving with stimuli in their environment for millenia. So nothing is out of reach.

1-6 Rep Range: Strength and Power

In a previous article on why rest is important I talked about how long you rest between exercises impact the results you will get from your workout. How many reps you do during your exercise is the second piece of this puzzle, which is why I am starting at the lowest amount.

Remember the strongest men competition I mentioned earlier? This is their training sweet spot. To only be doing 1-6 reps, you are only able to do 1-6 reps. If you can do more than 6, you aren’t lifting heavily enough.

The point of low reps is to give it everything you have got. Use up as much of our musculature as possible to lift the heavy weight and build muscular strength that is supported by a nervous system that knows how to activate all of your muscle fibers. 

The reason people who train at these rep range end up with more muscle mass, despite doing fewer reps, is because their body needs to develop more musculature in order to have more muscle fibers to activate, and therefore be able to lift heavier weight. 

It is also important to note that to support this style of training and the immense amout of muscle tissue breakdown, you’ll need to be eating a lot of protein to help with rebuilding the muscles. All other macros are important, but protein is really important here. 

7-12 Rep Range: Hypertrophy

This is the classic rep range that you will see in most articles. It isn’t so few reps that don’t feel like you’re doing anything, but it also isn’t too many reps that you either get bored or risk injuring yourself if you chose too of a heavy weight.

Hypertrophy simply means muscle growth. In fact it refers to the “bulking” of all organ tissue. Some of you may be familiar with the opposite – to atrophy – or lose mass. Going back to that same article on rest, in this the rep range associated with hypertrophy, we are trying to break down the muscle. Because in the body, what is broken down must be rebuilt. And not only does the body rebuild, but it rebuilds stronger so that it is better prepared for the next time it has to do this exercise.

This is why this rep range is so perfect for a generic workout program. The first workout may feel really tough, but the next time you go to workout, it will feel easier. You get much faster adaptation and gratification from these types of workouts.

As mentioned, these workouts are also great for “toning” the body. Toning comes from muscle tonus, which is a muscles resistance to stretching, and therefore it’s ability to stay in a semi-flexed position. 

Hypertrophy is great for this because it builds up the muscle, and as mentioned, keeps the muscles ready to work, which increases their tonus and maintains the flexed or slightly pumped look. 

So if you are looking for a body type similar to a mid-distance runner, and want that all-around muscular but not “too bulky” look, this is the rep range for you. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you must continue to push yourself. Either shorten your rest periods, change up the equipment, or change up the tempo to make sure your body is always being challenged within this rep range.

13 Reps or More: Endurance

I often find this rep range is reserved for crazy bootcamp classes or is altogether forgotten. This is such an important rep range for people who are looking to build endurance in their body. If you’re a waitress who holds a tray above her head for long periods of time, multiple times throughout your shift, you should consider endurance training. If you are a mail delivery person, it is important to incorporate this type of training so that you don’t get tired walking around all day at your job. 

Any situation in life where you are doing something repeatedly or for a long period of time can benefit from endurance training. And in order to train for endurance, you must have high reps and very minimal rest periods. 

I can remember when I was training for a half-marathon in the summer of 2016, I used an app to help me train. It had some workouts that were just run as far as you can without stopping, then it had run for a long period of time, with a short break, and then run and walk intervals for a long period of time. Each of these are great examples of how you can train for endurance.

If you want to switch that for something that isn’t traditionally linked to endurance like running, you can apply the same set and rep principles to a weighted exercise. So the run for as long as possible without stopping would be like setting a timer for X min (ideally long enough to complete 15+ reps) and repeating the exercise as many times as you can within that time range. Running for a long time and taking a short break is the standard workout model of doing 15 reps and then taking a 30s rest before doing another set of 15 reps. And the final example has you lifting the weight for 1 min, then resting for 1 minute, and repeating this for 10+ minutes.

In this style of training you are telling your body that it has to be ready to do this movement over and over again, while also continuing to keep you alive and do all of the other activities that fill your day. Your body responds to this by making the muscles efficient and lightweight, so that when you aren’t working out, it doesn’t have to give a lot of resources to maintain that muscle mass. It has just enough to get the workout done, but you also have enough energy for everything else in your life.

For this type of exercise is important to prioritize carbohydrates before your workouts. As mentioned, your body is going to keep the body lean, which means it won’t have the same type of overstock of energy and resources available to you when it comes time to workout. So be sure to have something higher in carbohydrates as you get deeper into this type of training so that your body has the energy it needs to sustain you. All other macros are important, but you definitely want to make sure you add an extra serving of fruits, veggies and potatoes to your pre-workout meal.

I hope this has helped to inform you and make you feel more confident about picking a rep range for your next workout that will help you achieve your specific fitness goals. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments.