Repetition Guidelines

In any resistance based training routine there are many factors which need to be considered when designing your own specific program. The first most important step is recognising / deciding what outcome / progression you would like to achieve from the implementation of a set program.

Are you looking to improve your strength to perform better in a particular sport or athletic event?

Are you hoping to increase the amount of lean tissue your body is comprised of (hypertrophy); helping you to lose weight?

Do you want to work on your muscular endurance before attempting to complete for a longer duration event?

Only when you know what you want to achieve can you begin to set your repetition ranges and design an effect routine… So ask yourself what do you want to improve?

 Repetition ranges have been studied closely for a long time and we now have a good understanding of how an individual’s performance will be affected following different periodised exercise programs. This has led to average reps, sets, weight as % 1RM (Repetition Max), recovery time and contraction velocity (speed of contraction) guidelines being established.

Goal	Strength	Power	Hypertrophy	Local Muscular Endurance
Repetition Range (reps)	1-5	1-5	6-12	15+
Sets	2-6	2-6	3-6	2-3
Weight (%1RM)	85	60	67-85	<67
Recovery Time (seconds)	180	120	60-90	30-45
Contraction Velocity (concentric seconds/eccentric seconds)	2 - 2	1 - 2	2 to 5 - 2 to 5	1 to 2 – 1 to 2

* All recommendations should be viewed in context of individual´s target goals, physical capacity, and training status (beginner/intermediate/advanced).

From experience I can also say not everybody will fall directly into these categories so use the ranges as guidelines and find what works best for you. You will also get “crossing-over” and when training directly for strength you will inevitably experience changes in hypertrophy and muscular endurance performance as well so don’t worry if you are aiming to improve in more than one area.

For more help or advice in program design or to find out what area (strength/power/hypertrophy/local-muscular-endurance) you should be working in to improve your performance/ goal progress please contact a member of the gym team or email djb@tonbridge-school.org .