What is the best repetition range for your workouts? This is a question that is often discussed and has many rumours surrounding it. Generally, the distinction is made between low, medium and high repetitions. This article covers each of these three ranges and will help you determine which is the best suited one for your training.

Low Rep Range

Anything between one and about seven repetitions would be considered "low repetitions". Training in a low rep range means using a high weight-load. These kinds of weights will feel very heavy to you, even during the first repetition.

Low repetitions with lots of weight are ideal for building strength. The emphasis here is on "strength" not "volume", in other words, for pure body-building, a higher rep-range is the better choice.

Training with low repetitions will take less time than training in a higher rep range. This can be a positive or a negative aspect: While it saves time for your overall workout, this also means that your muscles are under stress for a shorter period of time. This, in turn, can mean less growth stimulation.

Another downside of a low repetition range is that with the kinds of big weight-loads you’ll be using, there’s a higher chance of injury. Especially with free-weight exercises and towards the end of a training session, when you're already worn out, you have to take care not to strain yourself when lugging around such heavy weights.

Medium Rep Range

This rep range is between 8 and 12 repetitions. This is every bodybuilder's favourite repetition range, since it's been shown frequently that doing 8-12 reps is best for hypertophy (increase in muscle size). The gains in terms of increased strength are smaller than with lower repetitions and higher weights, but in terms of what your mirror tells you, this rep range gets you the best results.

The benefits and drawbacks here are pretty obvious: If you’re after bigger muscles, this is the rep range to go for. If actual strength increase is more important to you, then this rep range is not ideal.

High Repetition Range

Anything above 12 or 15 repetitions is in the high rep range Performing more than around twelve repetitions of an exercise will generally take longer than half a minute. 30 seconds is about the outer threshold of what can be called strength training. If your muscles are under continuous (or almost continual) stress for longer than that, then, biologically speaking, you're already getting into "cardio training" territory.

This is not to say that high repetitions are useless, though. If you are using low weights and doing more repetitions, your body simply has to recruit different resources to keep you going.

One thing that needs to be addressed is a common misconception: High rep ranges do not build "lean muscles" rather than "bulky muscles", as is often claimed. High rep ranges simply promote less muscle growth, but you can’t really influence the shape of your muscles with a particular way of exercising.

Bottom line: For the majority of people, medium repetitions are the best choice, since lower repetitions need more experience and safety precautions due to the weights, and high reps stimulate less growth. Having said that, it's actually also a good idea to switch between different repetition ranges from time to time, as diversity in training is very good for your overall fitness.