The difference in rep ranges & what it means for you.
Ever wondered why your workout program has various rep ranges? We’ve taken a deep dive into levelling up our programming at SLAM recently.
We are one of those really fortunate gyms that has long commitments from our members, meaning that a lot of the people we train today will have been with us since day dot when I was just fresh out of PT school. Alongside our vets we also have a lot of new people joining us on the regular. This means that our programming must be both accessible for the wide range of incredible humans and their unique needs that we get to support every day and continually challenging for those who have been with us for 4+ years.
One of the things that I am super passionate about is providing education around exercise and that’s why the communication of our “why’s” to the SLAM community is something that is really important to me.
Recently I had an awesome conversation with one of our members about why we use variable rep ranges and what each rep range is designed to do and she suggested that I share it with you all in this Monday’s email, so here you are.
If you’ve ever wondered why your workout program has various rep ranges, would love to know how to design your own workout programs or are just super into geeking out on systems and formulas then read on!
Ok so a little bit of a breakdown of some of the jargon first
Reps / Repetitions
How many of each exercise you do. If you do 5 push-ups then you’ve done 5 reps)
Sets
How many times you do those complete reps (i.e if you do 5 push-ups 3 times then you’ve done 3 sets of 5 push-ups)
Now I am not a massive formula person, we are all wonderfully complex and unique human beings and so when we are programming at SLAM we take lots of other things into account including the general day to day experience of our clients BUT what I am about to share with you forms the basis of most programs and can be used as a guide to help get you toward your goal. It’s important to remember that lifting moderate to heavy load and increasing it over time has many, many benefits above what I’ll break down here and that each category itself will have crossover benefits.
For example, if you work in a 6-12 rep range it doesn’t mean that you won’t get stronger and if you work in the 1-5 range it doesn’t mean that you won’t build more power and bigger muscles.
There are many, many reasons to exercise but for the purposes of explaining rep ranges I’m going to focus on 3 things:
Endurance (12 + reps)
Build (6-12 reps)
Strength (1-5 reps)
Endurance: 12+
This is how much your muscles can endure. For us, at SLAM it’s something we focus on initially because it allows us to work higher rep ranges at lower weights which = more confidence, endurance and less injury risk.
When your muscles can endure more then you can start to work on overall strength which is the main goal of what we do at SLAM. You’ll see us work this rep range when we introduce new movements under light load (or bodyweight,) when we are working toward a new strength block and want you to get better at enduring a certain weight or time under tension or in our conditioning classes.
Because endurance means improving what your muscle fibres can endure, it needs a high rep range, generally, that’s 12 reps or more and because you are doing high repetitions it’s unlikely you’d be loading up the weight.
So if you are building your own program and you’d like to be able to endure more weight, run faster or even improve your cycling then focusing on this might help! And because the weights are lighter it’s less taxing on your central nervous system and so you might prefer this rep range under light load when you are feeling more fatigued.
Build: 6-12
In traditional programming, this middle rep range is known for hypertrophy (building big muscles) and whilst that may well be a person's goal (and you have every right for it to be) hypertrophy isn’t really something we focus on at SLAM. It’s a huge misconception that big muscles = strong muscles.
Muscles generally grow in size by working a moderate weight at a high(er) rep range or doing something over and over again, it doesn’t necessarily mean that because you have big muscles you’ll be able to lift really heavyweights.
What this rep range does give you (aside from bigger muscles) is that it can build on lots of things including your power. Something that then comes in really handy when you want to get stronger and this is why we love it.
You’ll see us use this rep range in our high volume blocks (hello 10 sets of 10 IYKYK!!) It’s a brilliant rep range for helping us surpass plateaus and build the strength, power and endurance needed to improve those big compound lifts. It’s also a really good rep range for beginners and improvers alike, which is why you’ll see it a lot in our Small Group Personal Training workouts.
Strength: 1-5
My personal favourite rep range. I’m a compound girl, I love my squats, deadlifts and bench and I love to lift heavy things so this rep range is my bestie. When you start to lift the heaviest things you’ve ever lifted then you aren’t going to be able to do it multiple times in a row - this rep range is how you build super strength and it’s one that is often overlooked.
We are so used to bootcamps and HIIT classes where things are done 20 + times that we almost dismiss how epic it is to lift something heavy off the floor, above your head or even throw it across the room just once!
In my years of coaching, I have often heard people say “ I only did it once though” as though that’s not good enough. My friend if you are lifting 100% of your 1 rep max then you should absolutely only be able to do it once and the day you can do it twice is the day you have a new 1RM which is a major win!
You don’t have to be numbers focused or chasing 1RM’s to enjoy this rep range. Ask any of our current SGPTers what it feels like to lift something that feels heavy to you and I'm positive the word badass will be in there!
One thing that is super important to note is that this rep range is under heavy load which is really taxing on your central nervous system, that means your recovery time is going to be longer and you will definitely need to take a longer rest. I always say you know that you are in the right weight range for a strength set when you NEED a 2-minute break.
So there you go - hopefully, now you understand the WHY behind the numbers we throw at you on a daily basis and if you aren’t a member of SLAM yet then hopefully this gives you a little bit of insight into how to make your own workout program based on some of the things you’d like to work on.
Remember that this isn’t an absolute science, studies have shown and backed a lot of it up but it all comes down to what YOU want out of your workout. I’d also always say that what matters most, above all else, is how it makes you feel. Some people (me) hate high rep ranges, does it mean I am going to avoid them? No, because I know that in order to attain some of my own goals they are necessary, buuuuttttt when I’m having a shit day and I want that badass feeling, you won’t find me doing 20 goblet squats - you’ll find me with a big ole barbell in my hands probably doing 3’s or 5’s, because that’s what works for me.
Don’t get too bogged down with the numbers and the formulas, take the lessons you like from this, use what helps and ditch the rest.
And if it’s all gobbledygook and you want to be part of an epic community, with coaches who’ll push you out of your comfort zone whilst holding you safe - then now is the BEST time to join our Small Group Personal Training Membership Because until 31st of Jan when you buy a 4-week trial we’ll give you 2 extra weeks for FREE and you’ll also get a 20% discount on your first two months membership if you decide to sign up!