So I know I have already touched onto the subject of rep ranges before in a previous post and video but this time I'm taking it in a different direction. Rather than looking at different aims like building strength vs muscle or losing fat and gaining power, I am going to look at the recommended differences in rep ranges for the upper body and lower body muscles.
Upper Body: 8-12 reps
If you want to build muscle and add shape and size to the upper body muscles, such as biceps, back, chest etc, you should be aiming for around 8-12 reps. This is supported not only by sports science research but is also touched upon in both Bob Paris' book 'Beyond Built' and 'Arnold Schwarzenegger's modern encyclopaedia of modern body building.'
according to this research the best rep range to work to is 8-12 reps for all upper body exercises. Mr Bob Paris says to pick a weight you can perform with god technique but that makes you work hard. Aim for 8-10 reps and then push on to 12 reps. Once you can do the 12 reps for all of the sets for that exercise then it is time to up the weight and push on from there.
However research does point out that if you combine this rep range with a few sessions of heavier lifts aiming for 6 reps say you will develop even better muscular size and thickness. This is because although the 8-12 rep range drives more growth, the power training encourages tighter bonding of the muscle fibres making the muscle look thicker and more 3D when posing. Arnold recommends doing the 8-12 range in most training sessions with 1 day a week focusing on a certain body parts heavier lift, e.g a heavy single dumbbell row for back or a heavy bench press for chest.
Lower Body: 10-15 reps
There is some debate over if the best range is 10-15 or 12-15 reps for lower body, and some who even say as much as 20 reps, but I will stick to 15 for now.
as the lower body muscles are naturally used more often than the ones in our upper bodies, and generally support and carry more weight than your upper body they have a greater muscular endurance and so grow best under a higher rep range. This is again supported by sports science research and 'Arnold Schwarzenegger's modern encyclopaedia of modern body building.'
However this is a more general description. For the Quads, glutes and hamstrings this rep range of 10-15 works well for most people, providing enough stress and pressure on the legs to work them hard and force the muscles to grow and recover. But when we look at the calves it is a much stranger story. Some peoples calves respond to reps of 15+ and others respond better to heavier training with maybe only 8-10 reps of perfect form. What it really comes down to is finding which works for you and unfortunately with calves genetics can play a big role.
Again just like the upper body Arnold and many sports science research papers suggest that using heavier training days with either a Squat or dead lift will work wonders for thickening and hardening the muscle in the legs. Aiming for 6-8 reps and going extra heavy, still making sure you use good form and a good depth with the squats you can really bring up your legs. But make sure to use the higher reps for the majority of your training.
Core:
This muscle group is so diverse that there is no set rep range. For me personally I prefer higher reps when isolation the muscle for example doing 30+ reps of crunches super setted with maybe 30 reps of russian twists or leg raises. I also like to use ab circuits when training the abdominal muscles. Check them out by searching down he side of the page for them or search ab circuit in the search bar above.
When it comes tot he lower back it is harder to say. When we do a plank for instance it is only one rep and is better the longer you hold it. But with things like deadlifts, or back extensions the rep range varys, for deadlifts most people stick to 6-10 reps but with the extensions I have gone to 20+ reps before and tried to use a slow, controlled and almost perfect form, getting a good squeeze and stretch with each rep.
