Rep ranges

[oldtimer1]

Successful bodybuilders have used both high rep and moderate reps. What are your thoughts about rep range?  Pearl was adamant reps should be in the 6 to 8 rep range with a few exceptions. Priest said something similar 6 to 10.  Then you got the high rep school of thought like Padilla who used sets of 12 reps. Eddie Giuliani said high reps are the way to go in an article he wrote for Ironman back in the day. Yes, I realize they were all steroid users. When doing high reps I feel it really kills the amount of weight used but you sure get that burn and pump. 

[Primemuscle]

Successful bodybuilders have used both high rep and moderate reps. What are your thoughts about rep range?  Pearl was adamant reps should be in the 6 to 8 rep range with a few exceptions. Priest said something similar 6 to 10.  Then you got the high rep school of thought like Padilla who used sets of 12 reps. Eddie Giuliani said high reps are the way to go in an article he wrote for Ironman back in the day. Yes, I realize they were all steroid users. When doing high reps I feel it really kills the amount of weight used but you sure get that burn and pump. 

I am no expert about this, but it seems to me the best thing to do is vary the reps, sometimes doing low volume and other times high volume. I've done as few as 4 reps on the leg press and as many as 25 reps when warming up my quads. The pump I get from 25 reps using light weight on the leg press feels amazing. The range of motion is crazy good.

One time I saw this young fellow at the gym with quads like Tom Platz doing sets of 25 reps on the leg press. When he'd jump out between sets, he could barely walk. He'd walk it out and get right back on for another set.

Robert Förstemann, cyclist has amazing quads. -Must be the combination of cycling and heavy leg work.





Förstemann says: “The squat programme differs during the season. In preparation for the season I’m training a lot of repetitions, so typically 60-90 per workout with 50-70 per cent of my maximum weight. As the season progresses, and the closer I get to the peak of the season, the repetition numbers decrease and the loads increase to the maximum [which for Förstemann is 280KG] doing 1to 3 repetitions for 4 to 6 sets.”

You don’t get the nickname quadzilla for nothing, but with thighs that have a circumference of 74cm (over 29"), German track sprinter Robert Förstemann is certainly worthy of his title, and it’s a title that the 29-year-old former sprint world champion is immensely proud of.

[oldtimer1]

Cycling is interesting from a bodybuilding perspective. Distance bike athletes tend to have ripped skinny muscular thighs.  The bike sprinters have tree trunk thighs. Interesting that Mr. America and Mr. Universe Kalman Szkalak left bodybuilding behind to compete at a high level in age group bike distance races. Another bodybuilder who's a big bike rider was Joe Means who won best thighs in the AAU Mr. America contest that Kalman won. The two pictures I put up shows a bike sprinters and bike endurance racers legs.  

[Humble Narcissist]

When I was 12-35 I used all different ranges at different times.  When I was 28-30 it was 1-5 reps and for one full year of that singles only!  I got the idea from Brooks Kubik and his Dinosaur Training book.  I got really strong and my joints ached constantly.  I ended up with a shoulder so wrecked I couldn't lift my left arm over my head for 3 years.  After age 35 it was 12-20 reps with occasional dips into the 5-11 range.  I feel very fortunate that I didn't get permanent damage from that stupid dinosaur training.

Now Brooks Kubik recommends Olympic Weightlifting for trainers over 50!

[robcguns]

For the last few years I’ve been liking high reps much more.Warm up sets can be 50-100 and working sets usually 15-30.Pump feels great,joints feel better.Also still heavy weight just pushing much harder.

[Primemuscle]

For the last few years I’ve been liking high reps much more.Warm up sets can be 50-100 and working sets usually 15-30.Pump feels great,joints feel better.Also still heavy weight just pushing much harder.

100 reps of any exercise would put me to sleep...permanently! 

[deadz]

Anywhere between 6-12 reps per set for me.

[Montague]

Poliquin had written about this topic several times.

He mentioned that, to optimize hypertrophy, one needs to cater their rep schematics to their muscle fiber-type.
Type I - slow twitch, sometimes called “endurance” fibers, generally respond better to higher repetitions.
Type II - fast twitch fibers generally respond better to lower-end reps.

Most anatomy charts I’ve seen suggest that the majority of people have a fairly even balance of Types I & II fiber composition. However, some trainers are dominant in one particular fiber.


The most definitive way to determine your own fiber makeup is to have a muscle biopsy.

The less-definitive, though much more practical (and longer) way, is to experiment for several months using strictly high-rep work, followed by several months of strictly low-rep work, followed by several months of either moderate-rep or combination rep work that would target both fiber types - and see which method gives you the best results. 

[Powerlift66]

Ive always liked 5-8 reps, heavyish weights, where last rep is a bit of a struggle, not not a life-threatening rep where you would get hurt/pinned.
At end of each bodypart trained, I like to do a high rep exercise to finish, maybe get a pump/blood flow.

People like Vince Taylor blew up on light weight, high-reps.
I think there is something to knowing your body, what works, what you like to do (you put more effort in when the exercise is fun).