Blog #4: What Your Repetition Count Says About You
*Not recommended for 1 Rep Max Testing
Training Objectives:
Repetitions, sets, rest periods, and exercise tempos are all related. This blog post will cover the basics when it comes to strength programming and overall periodization of your gym routine.
There are three overall training objectives when it comes to strength work: muscular endurance, hypertrophy, and maximum strength.
Muscular Endurance is simply the ability for a muscle to work for an extended period of time, utilizing primarily aerobic energy systems.
Hypertrophy describes an increase in muscle size and mass.
Maximum Strength refers to the greatest amount of weight that can be moved.
Muscular Power is the ability to produce maximal force production in high-velocity movements.
Training Variables for Each Training Objective:
Muscular endurance is best worked in 1-3 sets, 12-20 repetitions, 50-65% of 1 Rep Max, often a slow tempo, and rest intervals of less than 30 seconds.
Hypertrophy is best achieved with 3-5 sets, 6-12 repetitions, 65-85% of 1 Rep Max, often a moderate tempo, and rest intervals of 30-90 seconds.
Power and strength is optimally produced by 3-6 sets, 1-6 repetitions, often a rapid tempo, and rest intervals of 2-3 minutes.
Which Training Goal is Right For You?
Muscular endurance is the foundation and where most beginner lifters or athletes should start. The reason being is that you want to develop the connective tissues and metabolic fitness first before progressing to greater weights. While this style of training may not build the most lean mass or strength, it prepares the body for higher training intensities and reduces the likelihood of exercise-related injuries.
Hypertrophy is for people looking to increase lean muscle mass. This style training would be ideal for body builders or people training for mainly aesthetic reasons.
Maximal strength is ideal for people needing to be stronger with certain movements: power lifters or people looking to achieve weight goals.
Power training would be ideal for athletes, as it can greatly enhance agility and force production. If you play soccer, football, baseball, or even golf, power should have a place in your regimen.
Estimating 1 Rep Max:
1 Rep Max (1RPM) is the largest amount of weight you can move only one time, and it is the main bench mark to find the weight you should be lifting. It is best to re-test your 1RPM every 2-3 months. 1RPM can be found by thoroughly warming up and attempting to complete an exercise with the heaviest weight you can move. If you succeed, take a rest for 3 minutes and then keep increasing the weight until the heaviest weight is found. Make sure to always have proper form.
1 Rep Max can also be found through a sub-maximal test, where you would simply do an exercise until failure and multiply the weight by one of the corresponding repetition multiples below:
3 Reps - 1.1x
4 Reps - 1.13x
5 Reps - 1.16x
6 Reps - 1.2x
7 Reps - 1.23x
8 Reps - 1.27x
9 Reps - 1.32x
10 Reps - 1.36x
(Note: Figures adapted from Table 2.3 of “Strength Training for Triathletes” authored by Patrick Hagerman)
For example, if you can do 8 bicep curls with 25 pounds before reaching failure, then your estimated 1RPM is 25 x 1.27 = 31.75 pounds. If you were training for hypertrophy, you would be looking to lift about 20-25 pounds 6-12 times for 3-5 sets. 1RPM is great for those looking to be more scientific, but it may not be all that practical because tests have to be done with each exercise. Thus, it is best used for main exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, or pulldowns.
You can still adhere to a training goal without testing for 1RPM by remaining within a rep range and using a heavy enough weight to incur failure near the upper repetition limit.
Periodization:
Periodization can be used to focus on specific training objectives for a period of time. In each period, you would adhere to either an endurance, hypertrophy, strength, or power and strength training structure. This concept is truly interesting because you can model your training to fit your own unique needs.
Periods can be almost any length of time, but they are often done in 2-6 week increments (or roughly 8-15+ sessions), depending on how consistent and frequent your training is. A common progression I see is to first develop endurance, then hypertrophy, and then work on strength. The rationale behind this process is to first prepare the body and connective tissues, build muscle, and then make that new muscle even stronger. A simple example of this concept may be doing endurance-style training for 4 weeks, then a hypertrophy focused period for 4 weeks, and finally a strength phase of 4 weeks.
Athletes may opt to use this style of progression system during off-season before reaching a maintenance phase as they compete during the year. The possibilities are truly endless, so experiment and find out what works for you. Everyone is different, which is why it can really be invaluable to seek professional guidance from a trainer or exercise specialist. All in all, hopefully this blog post helps to demystify strength training.
To hopefully no longer doing random stuff in the gym,
Ethan Gendron
References
Hagerman, P. (2023). Strength Training for Triathletes.
