What is hypertrophy? Hypertrophy is simply increasing the cross sectional size of muscle due to the stresses of weight training. This is beneficial to understand for newbies in the gym. A common question that is asked by anyone wanting to add resistance training to their program is: How many reps/sets should I do? Well that is going to highly depend on your goals. First, figure out what you want; do you want to increase power, strength, muscle mass, or endurance/muscle tone? For example, an endurance athlete may not want to do low reps/high weight, because it will cause extra muscle growth that can hinder speed. Similarly, someone wanting to increase muscle mass will not want to do high rep, low weight because it will not give them the results they want.
Warning: Before starting any resistance training program, be sure to seek instruction on proper form and technique. Start with low weight in order to master technique and build a base before adding more weight and lowering reps.
Without discussing the many different types, methods, and theories of work-out programs, the basics of reps and sets will look something like this:
Goal Reps Sets
Power 1-2 2-3
Strength 3-6 2-6
Hypertrophy (Muscle Mass) 6-12 3-6
Endurance (Muscle Tone) 15-20 2-3
The above chart is simply a tool to use as a starting point, and may not be applicable for all body types. Each person's body will adapt differently to exercise. After some experience you will be able to better tune your workouts to achieve your end goals. Working with a personal trainer is a great way to start because they can can show you proper technique, form, and help you calculate your 1 Rep Max (1RM) and/or your 3 Rep Max (3RM) numbers which can be beneficial to find out the amount of weight you should be starting off with. Again, depending on your goals, you'll normally be within your 60-80% 1RM.
If you have any additional questions or comments, please leave them below. Hope this helps and have a great week of training!
Here is a good question I received from a good friend of mine.
ReplyDeleteAlan asks:
The times I used to go the gym I kinda did a mix set of reps where I would start at a weight and do 12-15 reps, then add more weight and do 10, then tack on more weight and finish doing 6-8. Is that a style of weight training you recommend or should I stick to a single weight for all three reps?
My Response:
For your question, there certainly are benefits to changing up your routine every once in awhile due to the "training effect" that occurs of doing similar workouts over and over again. Basically what happens is the muscles begin to adapt to a repetitive exercise, becoming more efficient at the exercise; therefore causing you to plateau in your training. This typical occurs around 4-6 weeks into a workout program, which will require you to change up your routine in order to continue to see improvements. There are some weeks when I will stop lifting my normal 8-10 rep range, and drop the weight and increase the reps for various exercise as a type of "muscle confusion". That's one of the reasons I like adding Crossfit to my workout programs, everyday is a different workout, and they are very explosive types of exercises that normally lasts somewhere between 7-20 mins. Your not going to get HUGE doing Crossfit, unless you add some slower strength type workout's to it (normally I'll do Crossfit in the morning, and then a upper/lower workout later in the day). You will however get a great workout and really lean up, which can be very ideal for someone wanting to add strength and burn fat. You can check it out at www.crossfit.com for the WOD (Work Out of the Day) of the day. Hope this helps, if you have more questions, leave me a comment below!