Manipulating rep count… Part II
Athletes need to pay attention to the nature of contractions.
Generally speaking, reps in the 1 – 5 range deliver maximal strength gains with minimal gains in body weight. The 8 – 15 rep range is excellent for producing hypertrophy, while a rep count of 6 – 7 builds both muscle mass and strength fairly well.
Athletes with many years of training experience should definitely use high intensities (85% and above) in the 1 – 5 rep range when developing relative and absolute maximal strength. Maximal loads should be combined with the 6 – 12 rep range, where the intensity used falls in the moderate range (70-84%). We use intensities of 70% and lower to train strength endurance.
In other words, the longer an athlete’s or trainee’s training history, the wider the range of reps that should be combined in workouts. Systematically alternating rep ranges helps prevent stagnation and, by constantly surprising the body, contributes to our main goal (whether that is strength or muscle mass). For example, trainees who mainly pursue hypertrophy should also use reps in the 1 – 5 range from time to time.
Don’t overdo short sets.
Sports scientist Robert Roman has studied the training of competitive weightlifters quite extensively. Based on his observations, he has concluded that the most successful lifters mostly use a range of 3 – 4 repetitions per set. Canadian weightlifting coach Pierre Roy reached a similar conclusion, believing that the average rep count for lifters should be 3 repetitions per set.
What is worth remembering from this is that a lifter in pursuit of maximal strength should not, and must not, train for a long period with only sets of one or two reps; otherwise progress stalls. This applies even more to athletes whose goal is muscle hypertrophy.
Each muscle group or lift responds to a given rep range in its own way.
Over my career I have had the chance to analyze the training logs of hundreds of my clients. These observations have clearly confirmed that many exercises and individual muscle groups have their own optimal rep range for developing strength and/or hypertrophy.
For example, when training for hypertrophy, the triceps responds better with growth to shorter sets than the biceps does. This is because the triceps is somewhat more fast-twitch dominant than the biceps. The same goes for the biceps femoris, which responds better to shorter sets than the quadriceps. Likewise, the soleus needs longer sets to grow than the gastrocnemius.
Muscle group function and/or the specifics of the exercise (lift) dictate the rep count to use (naturally) with the goal in mind.
You have surely heard the saying: “Form (structure) dictates function.” My experience also allows me to say that some muscles respond better to one rep count, others to another. For example, if you train the biceps femoris regularly with sets of 12 reps and set hypertrophy as the goal, then in many cases it may be hard to reach that goal with sets of such length. On the other hand, we know that doing even sets of 50 for the front of the thigh results in solid muscle hypertrophy. The latter is largely down to the fact that the biceps femoris is used more in forceful and explosive actions, whereas the muscles at the front of the thigh (quadriceps) take part in maintaining posture (long-lasting, low-intensity activity).
For continued progress, you should vary the rep count for upper-body muscles more often than for the lower body.
Several studies support these conclusions. For example, when designing a press program, varying reps is considerably more important than in a squat or deadlift program.
Long sets and high rep counts increase the density of the capillary network within the muscle.
Studies confirm that sets longer than 20 repetitions effectively increase the capillary network of the muscles and its density. Muscles with a denser capillary network are able to hypertrophy significantly better when traditional muscle-growth-stimulating rep–set schemes are applied later. A study conducted in 1973 showed that a single strength training session with long sets doubled the number of mitochondria in muscle cells. I believe this is also the reason why, for example, cyclists and speed skaters have such powerful quadriceps – due to the specifics of their sport, the duration of tension in their legs is very long. This long tension duration triggers a densification of the capillary network and extensive hypertrophy of muscle fibers with a lower excitation threshold.
From personal experience, I can say that the quadriceps, lats and shoulder muscles respond somewhat better than other muscles to long tension duration, that is, to long sets.
The same rep count can produce a different effect in different exercises, even for the same body part.
If we compare, for example, the squat and the leg press, the squat is considerably more effective than the leg press for raising leg strength and overall body strength levels. At the same time, there are experimental results suggesting that the leg press may, in turn, be more effective than the squat for developing quadriceps hypertrophy. At least one study has produced results showing that the leg press stimulated growth hormone release more effectively than the squat. The rep count was the same for both exercises.
My own experience also confirms this result. The leg press is the number one leg exercise for many speed skaters, and I have personally trained speed skaters whose legs have come close to Tom Platz’s legs. I am certainly not rushing to recommend the leg press instead of the squat when hypertrophy is the goal. But there is certainly food for thought here, and when you are in pursuit of thigh muscle hypertrophy, it is not always worth underestimating the leg press.
“Manipulating Reps for Gains in Size and Strength” Charles Poliquin
Author: Janar Rückenberg (translation)
Source:Turg.Fitness.ee
Come and work out! ArtGym
