Is there a 'formula' to help determine the appropriate rep range to use from the 5-30 range for a specific exercise?

[grace_chaser]

@harley Failure in perfect form on high rep squats means you're probably missing out a lot of stimulus. I'm not saying you should lift with shitty form, but for most people form on squats or deadlifts will start to breakdown before 3RIR. You're better off doing high rep leg press where form isn't an issue, but even for that it starts becoming cardio instead of bodybuilding for most people.

There's no secret to gaining muscle fast, other than hopping on the secret sauce. 20 reps or 10 reps or 5 reps, there is no magic number and if there was everyone would be raving about it instead of telling you it's not that good.

 

[harley]

@grace_chaser Perfect is an exaggeration, I should have said "good" form.

 

[doks]

@harley If a high rep set of squats or deadlifts tires the lifter out and doesn’t allow the target musculature to be the limiting factor, then high reps aren’t gonna be great for that specific lift for that specific individual.

 

[harley]

@doks Agree, however I never noticed fatigue be a limiting factor in high rep squats or deads, always thought my muscles failed first (no I don't go to real failure in these exercises) but I will try to observe it more closely next time I do my 15 reps of RDL or whatever.

 

[doks]

@harley That’s totally fine if high rep compounds work for you. I was just saying that it may not work for everyone depending on many factors

 

[jdez]

@harley idk from personal experience repping out squats and deadlifts 15-30 reps is just not ideal because by that point I am more limited by cardio than I am by the muscle so I don't think its worth from a stimulus to fatigue ratio.

Its not bad for hypertrophy but its not ideal/optimal

 

[hannahcrash]

@jdez I think you have to try by yourself, stimulus to fatigue ratio is something debatable, Mike israetel popularized a lot and suddenly became a fitness boogeyman, if you are a natural lifter having fear of fatigue probably dosn't gonna help

 

[harley]

@jdez Maybe, I generally do 1 set of 10-20, but everyone is different, I saw a recent video in which it said the best hypertrophy range is individual! Some people grow better with higher reps and some with lower.

 

[laura02375]

@harley No. High rep squats and deadlifts will fatigue your cardiopulmonary system before the muscles. Unless you’re a track star.

 

[harley]

@laura02375 I think 1 set of 10-20 without failure should be ok.

 

[conner74]

@jdez As long as the intensity is high it doesn’t matter if you do 1 rep, 5 or 30

 

[533th3r]

@conner74 Well, I don't think one rep all out is going to build a lot of muscle. There is a minimum.

 

[conner74]

@533th3r Explain to me why Mr.Muscle says he wants a minimum number of reps higher than 1 in order to grow?

 

[marsoc81]

@conner74 5-30 is the consensus in the literature right now... does this mean that it is a strict line and 4 or 31 reps won't build any muscle? no of course not! But it is a good idea that most (!) of your sets are somewhere in this rep range. Because for hypertrophy your muscle has to be exposed to tension for enough time, so sets of one or two reps won't be as effective, and it is also to be noted that after a certain amount of reps it's maybe more your cardio that is failing and doing endless reps therefore isn't the best idea neither.
Also time efficiency...

 

[conner74]

@marsoc81 Thanks for the clarification. Something has to be said for intensity though. If I’m busting my balls to the point my asshole is falling out while benching a big number for 1-3 reps, even with a little assistance, forced negatives etc. there must be recruitment of a large number of muscle fibres to stimulate growth. Also if I’m getting stronger each workout after an adequate period of rest, there must be growth. Thoughts?

 

[marsoc81]

@conner74 Sure, I couldn't agree with you more! Of course that's gonna be stimulating growth too, especially if your asshole is falling out! :'D

But some thoughts that come to my mind are: is it the most efficient way for muscle growth?

you see there are some powerlifters, or olympic weightlifters that don't have much mass but still move considerable weights. It's because in very low rep-ranges it is very dependant on your Central Nervous Systems abilities to recruit muscles...
I mean if you do 1-3 reps, how high is the tension on the main muscle or to which extent is it more your whole body that just struggles? imagine a 1RM attempt...
Is it intense in the way, that you nearly feel your muscle tearing and you contract so hard against the resistance or is it hard in the way that coordinatively you fail?
Also, how long are those 3 reps that you describe, if they are forced negatives? that might mean quite some time under huge tension, which actually might make it even more stimulative compared to some higher-rep set but with bouncing or momentum...

You see it's not black and white, and no one has a definitive answer. If someone says they know the absolute truth they are always wrong.

And yet there are some general things that simply work. You want to have tension on your muscle and bring it to or close to it's limit. it's propably intelligent to do some amount of reps and a few sets for efficiancy, to target a muscle, to be able to focus, whatever... how much will be highly individual...
All training systems that do these basic things work. That might be super high reps and to absolute failure, that might be low reps with high intensity. high-volume, low-volume, whatever... you'll see that each time those approaches just prioritize one variable over the other..

 

[heartfire]

@conner74 1 rep would not be as good or 5 or 30 but yes, intensity is king

 

[conner74]

@heartfire So if I did 100 reps that would be better? I’ll just do 1000 then even better..

 

[heartfire]

@conner74 Where did I say anything even close to that

 

[conner74]

@heartfire You implied more was better with “1 rep would not be as good as 5 or 30”

Therefore, what if I do 1000, will I build more muscle than if I did 1 with maximum intensity?