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Comment by th0ma5 | Hacker News Reader

I was just reading that the optimum reps count was somewhere between 8 and 12. I was doing something that suggested 16 reps and that felt a little more like cardio or something, and I dug into it and it is a whole debate, but what I got out of it was that for what I was doing eight or so is about right.

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Just do whatever's difficult. Some days show up and do 10 sets of 3, some days show up and do 6 sets of 4. Total volume is the deciding factor (other than, of course, recovery).

Mike Isratel's work on Maximum Recoverable Volume is probably the best piece of work for deciding things like rep ranges.

Also depends on what you’re doing. I have a hell of a time doing more than 3 reps on an overhead press unless I’m lifting light.

There is no optimum number. There are optimum numbers for specific goals. List your goals, your hormonal and diet context, some genetic factors, and then people could propose optimal reps for you.

Unfortunately, a lot of exercise studies use untrained people. How that extends to even moderately trained people is usually pretty problematic. I'd say "forget it, just listen to people that have been doing it for a couple of decades" is probably better advice.

The primary mover of all set-and-rep ranges is going to be goals and hormonal context, so make sure that when taking advice from someone, know what they think those two things are.

I think 8-12 is optimum if you’re reaching failure by that point. If you can lift something more than 12 times you’re building endurance not muscle mass. Of course, it has to be said, all of this is not scientifically backed and is hotly debated between fitness experts (if you wanna start a fight between a room full of fitness experts ask how many reps is optimal.)

But in my experience lifting heavy for 8-12 reps one day and then lifting ~80% for reps (I go for 30) after a rest day has had good results.

It depends on what your goals are, lower reps with heavier weights will give you more strength. Higher reps with lighter weights will give you bigger muscles.

This isn't true. Lower rep ranges will better acclimate the CNS to higher bar-weight, but that's not really the same as "strength".

On the flipside, higher rep ranges don't give you bigger muscles - overall training volume (total weight moved per movement) is moreso the determining factor on "size"[0]. In general it's best to just do whatever you find difficult. Lots of "powerbuilders" use Undulating Periodization (sometimes Daily) to try and get the benefits of the CNS acclimation + the increased work capacity that higher rep ranges bring.

[0] https://www.strongerbyscience.com/hypertrophy-range-fact-fic...

[1] https://www.strongerbyscience.com/daily-undulating-periodiza...

The number of reps might not be as important as many claim, if you are not training for competition the number of reps are not that important for anything except maybe bench. [1] This course from coursera did have some good research based content [2] [1]https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysio... [2]https://www.coursera.org/learn/hacking-exercise-health

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