Guest Blog from Annalise at TrueFitness: How Many Reps for ME?

Over the next few weeks there will be a new guest blogger at YSC! The trainers at TrueFitness in San Diego, CA  will be sharing a rugby focused training post each week on Wednesdays. We would like to formally welcome Annalise to YSC!

People are always asking me about getting “big” or how to get “tone”.  Most people find it hard to believe when I answer them that changing your body is a simple plan based around the number of repetitions performed.  Now having said that, your diet is an integral part of your change and we will discuss that aspect more in upcoming blogs.  Today however, we are going to focus on the training aspect of body composition changes and more specifically how the appropriate number of repetitions will help you achieve YOUR goal.  If you remember back to our last blog where we discussed the Principles of Overload and Specificity, well let’s assume that you have mastered those principles when it comes to creating an exercise program.  If you’re still not sure about Overload and Specificity, then I suggest you go back to our previous blog on this website and review.  But, for now we are discussing how repetitions, (from here on out referred to as reps) affect your desire goal of body composition changes.  Reps are the single most important thing which will determine how your body will react to the exercise program.  By react I mean repair, grow and change.  This change will fall into several categories based on the number of reps performed per set, (a set being a specific number of reps at a time).

• 1-5     reps-   Power
• 6-10   reps-   Strength
• 8-12   reps-   Hypertrophy a.k.a.  Muscle Growth
• 12-15 reps-   Tone
• 15+    reps-    Endurance

Exercises performed within the above stated rep ranges will cause changes appropriate to that rep range. You must pick an appropriate weight that will cause fatigue (overload) at a rep range within your goal range.  If your goal is to be more toned then you would do reps between 12-15.  For an increase in muscle size you would train between 8-12 reps.  As long as you are working hard (fatiguing the muscle each set) the change your body will undergo is fixed to the number of reps you are performing.  This aspect is tied directly into the Principle of Specificity.  The change is directly related to the type of stimuli (exercise) performed and more specifically to the number of reps.  When you are doing an exercise, choosing the right number of reps will lead the body to repair in the manner in which it was stimulated.  Regardless of the; exercise chosen, number of sets, or rest period, the body will repair in direct response to the number of reps.  It might sound simple but body composition changes come down to the variable of how many reps you are doing.  If you want to get more powerful then you do between 1-5 reps per set and if you are looking to improve your muscular endurance than 15 or more reps is the best for you.  It is that simple and easy.  Simply figure out your goal and then choose the number of reps that will help you achieve your goals. Good luck achieving your goals.

Stay tuned for future blogs about how we incorporate proper nutrition into our desire for body composition changes but for now just focus on the number of reps and choose the amount that represents your goal.

Next week we will discuss choosing exercises to improve your sports performance so be sure to check us out next Wednesday.

For those of you in the San Diego area don’t miss out on your chance to train with TrueFitness. For those of you across the country, we provide online programming and offer telephone conferencing to answer all your questions.

Please feel free to call or email Annalise Evans of TrueFitness with any questions: (760) 809 1848 annalise@truefitness.biz and join her fan page on Facebook: TrueFitness Annalise Evans.