Hypertrophy Rep Range
Is there a best hypertrophy rep range, or rep range for muscle growth?
Truthfully, you can grow muscle using any rep range at all, from 1-30+ reps per set. While 8-12 reps has been quoted as the best range to build muscle, the truth is that you can build muscle with fewer or more reps per set. Let’s discuss why this is true below.
What are the Types of Hypertrophy?
There are two types of muscle hypertrophy, or muscle growth.
The first type of muscle growth is called myofibrillar hypertrophy or myofibril muscle growth. This type of muscle growth increases the density of myofibrils within the muscle.
Really heavy training with low reps causes the greatest increase in myofibril density within muscle fibers.
The second type of muscle growth is called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.
This type of muscle growth increases fluid within the cytoplasm of the muscle cell and causes the muscle cells to expand.
Lighter weight training with higher reps per set causes more of this type of muscle growth.
To get the maximum amount of muscle growth, you need both heavy training and light training to create the most muscle growth.
Therefore, setting up your program to include some heavy, some light, and some medium weight work can help you build the most muscle.
Mechanisms of Muscle Growth
To cause maximal muscle growth with your training program, you need some combination of heavy, light and medium rep/load training.
Your goal is to increase tension on a muscle by lifting heavier weights, but also metabolic stress with higher rep training. Both types of training cause cellular signaling mechanisms that tell your body to build new muscle.
If you only train with heavy singles, you maximize tension overload but do not provide much metabolic stress. However, if you train with really high rep training, you may get a lot of metabolic stress but not much tension overload.
That is why it is necessary to find a balance with some heavy and some light training to build muscle.
Working with 5-15 reps per set on most exercises will provide a good balance between tension on the muscles and metabolic stress.
Some exercises just lend themselves to higher rep training, while other exercises are better suited to pushing heavier loads.
Total Volume for Hypertrophy
For most large muscle groups, you can maximize muscle growth by performing about 35-70 hard repetitions per muscle group per session. Small muscles like calves only require between 15-35 reps per set
Aim to train each muscle group between 2-3 times per week.
You can create a training program that addresses both heavier and lighter work within a single session, helping to maximize hypertrophy.
For example, you could do 5 sets of 3 reps of the back squat with heavy loads, followed by 3 sets of 15 reps on the walking lunge with lighter loads. Overall, you have completed about 60 hard reps for the quads. Some of the workout included heavier weight for low reps, while the other part included light weight for more reps.
What Does the Research Say?
The research on this topic also seems to support the conclusion that you can gain similar amounts of muscle whether you train with higher or lower reps.
This study included 49 resistance trained men with a minimum of one year weight training experience. The men were broken up into one group that did 3 sets of 8-12 reps to failure and another group that did 3 sets of 20-25 reps to failure. Each group experienced nearly identical gains in fat-free mass over the 12 week study period. Interestingly, both groups also had similar gains in fast and slow twitch muscle cross sectional area.
This meta analysis by Schoenfield et. al demonstrates that muscle growth (but not strength) gains are nearly identical with volume equated programs. The study participants used programs with loads at 40, 60 and 80 percent of 1 rep max.
Rep Range for Hypertrophy
In reality, as long as you train hard, you can probably gain similar amounts of muscle whether you primarily use high or low rep training. In the long term, it might be best to include a variety of rep ranges in your program.
For most people, training in the 6-12 rep range should comprise about 50-75 percent of your training. At this rep range, you get a good combination of muscular tension and metabolic stress.
This rep range is just extremely practical for muscle growth.
But, about 25 percent of your training can be heavier or lighter than that.
Including some sets of 1-6 will help you build more strength. That way, you can use heavier weights when you go back to 6-12 reps per set, helping you build more muscle.
Including some training above 15 reps can also help you improve muscle endurance and lactate clearing. Then when you go back to 5-15 reps per set, you can get more quality work done without getting so fatigued.
Practically speaking, any rep range can be suitable for muscle growth as long as you push yourself over time.
What do you think? Let me know in the comment section below.
