# Reps and Sets for Strength and Mass!



## ant (Mar 31, 2011)

This is not really a question, more of just a debate / conversation starter.

Some say for Strength go for 5x5 then gradually lead to 3x5.

- Some may say this is only good for strength, and only minimal gains in mass.

4x6-8.

- Personally, this is the rep range I tend to do, keeps me getting stronger but also in the mass 'area' for reps wise.

So, what would you all say?

Could you make the same strength AND mass gains from 5x5(3x5) as you would 4x6-10?

Debate,,


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## eglwys (Aug 28, 2011)

I keep to 6-8 reps on compound movements, Isolation movements my rep range is 10-12


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## crazycal1 (Sep 21, 2005)

i think you should be able to do justice to all rep ranges, from singles to 20 reppers.

powerlifters do lots of low rep sets and singles and they dont tend be any smaller for it.


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## ant (Mar 31, 2011)

Yes Cal exactly, Jamie Lewis barely lifts anything over 3 reps and look at him.










But that's why I started this haha, to see what everyone thinks about it, or even from personal experience.


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## crazycal1 (Sep 21, 2005)

i think alot of people are looking for quick ways or maximal ways to grow so much they get bogged down with over thinking and forget to just add a bit of weight to the bar each week..

they plateau, they change rep/set format to hide the plateau, plateau again and change format again, never really getting anywhere.. start a protein thread lol..


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## ant (Mar 31, 2011)

My point on this thread was not "Whats the best rep range" Cal haha. If thats what you were getting at with the protein thread, as i know nearly every other day someone new asks what the best protein is. It was simply to find out what people thought about the different reps.

My thought is exactly like yours, I see so many people in the gym and many people ask me, don't you work out a muscle each day, like monday you will do chest. When i explain what i do, they don't have a clue, and there face screws up. haha. Like you say, the problem is with people over thinking things. Making everything so complicated, 3x5. 5x5. 4x6. They will all work, as long as you eat enough and rest enough. Again, like you mentioned, people do the same weights week after week. 3x10 on 100kg deadlift. Then 4x10. Instead of upping the weight and doing maybe 10, 8, 7, 4.


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## crazycal1 (Sep 21, 2005)

ive just scoffed 3 minced pies, its late, i`m on a sugar rush and babbling like allen on a handfull of tramadol lol... whoops haha


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## ant (Mar 31, 2011)

Haha, fair enough Cal.


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## allbro75 (Mar 15, 2007)

lol don't know what you mean


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## ant (Mar 31, 2011)

I guess, the main thing is, as long as you are lifting heavier weights each session, and eating like an animal. Whether you do 3 reps or 10 reps. You will grow nevertheless.


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## renshaw (Jun 5, 2012)

This is what i do mate...

"It is working for me"

I'll use example figures.

Say you do set 1 on squats @ 50kg x 10, set 2 80 x 10 and then finally you only can manage 4 at 100kg.

So at every new work out you up the weights i.e. 50 to 52 and 80 to 82 (this will improve your base strength level) then aim to do more reps at the max weight but keeping it the same. Once you hit 10 reps, increase the top weight, by enough kg's so you can only do 2 - 4 reps.

Obviously this system fails once you cannot lift the max weight for ten and the starting weight catch up with the max.

But for last 3 month this has been working on ALL exercisers I do


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## crazycal1 (Sep 21, 2005)

whats the point of doing 50kgx10 reps if you can do 80kg for 10? (is it a warm up?

by changing your weights 3x its harder to gauge progression dude..

maybe you can do 10x80kg, but what if for the 4x100kg it works out at 102.25kg to match the intensity exactly.

pyramiding is all well and good but you need to know precisely how much to adjust the weight by.

its surprising how many small plates you can add and still get a rep.. this is the fine line i bang on about and the need to be as close to it as poss..

this way you have 3 fine lines ie final reps that need to match or at least get harder each set.

i`m not saying what your doing is wrong, but its easy to get it wrong and just drop reps trying to add weight..

also by increasing top weight when you can hit 10 reps and dropping yourself down to 2-4 reps is too big a jump and it will impact your form unless youre experinced bud..

aint meaning to be patronising at all, its just something i see a lot off.. dotn want you falling into that trap..


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## scotty T (Oct 8, 2011)

I dont know what works best for me yet, im still working out what my body reacts best too.

As you say fleg everyone is diffrent, And Cal you are spot on with the overthinking statment, i think for me part of the reason for this is there is so much info out there and most of it diffrent from what you last read.

So im just finding out as i go for myself, Another qeustion! how long did it take most guy's to learn there own body??

As fo reps and sets there is a qoute that sticks in my mind that is "any amount of exercise beyond the least amount required to trigger groath is over training,and one set is obviously the least you can do"

Not saying that is rite! deffo not for all, but it sticks in my mind


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## crazycal1 (Sep 21, 2005)

i reckon im very in tune with my body these days and a million miles away from how i knew it before i read brawn and disregarded rest and overtraining.

however imo every year i should be able to know myself better..

imo it takes years of experience to truly train by instinct..


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## SX Dave (Jun 14, 2007)

I like your thinking Scotty about learning your body.

I'd say it's a couple of years once training and diet are in check, but it's a constant learning curve. It's not just learning your body it learning to listen to it.

This is the thing about bodybuilding weight training what ever you want to call it. There are no real wrongs or rights, only guidelines an these vary too. it's varies so much from person to person and it takes a long time to learn and see real changes. It's a constant evolution.

Best thing IMO is patients, an open mind, no ego, dedication.

Am I rambling, this train home seems to be taking forever and I need to go train legs lol.


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## crazycal1 (Sep 21, 2005)

it was a hellova come down after all those minced pies last nite lol


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## jakeyUK (Nov 28, 2011)

I'm personally a big fan of 5 x 5 training its what i use after only tanning 6 weeks i have seen great results from it. when i first started going gym i asked few guys how they train and a lot of them do 10 reps 4 sets and that did not feel comfortable to me.

So after doing a lot of research and reading loads of different training plans i have found 5x5 training and when i started training i struggled to lift 30kg i felt like a looser in the gym when all those guys were pushing 70-80-90-100 kg on the bench but now i went from 30kg to 60kg i know the gains if fist few weeks are massive but im happy with that is such a short period of time. as my dead lift rocketed form doing 60kg to 120kg and squats went form 80kg to 115kg so in my case it has worked for me. the only thing i would say it to keep on adding weight every time you train in order to keep on progressing.

That's just my view on the matter i don't have the knowledge like some of these guys on this forum but i just started learning.

jakeyUK


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## crazycal1 (Sep 21, 2005)

i have found that low rep sets are hard to do justice to bud. ie peeps tend to fail earlier than they would if they were doing 8-10.

same for 15 rep sets at first.

form is very hard to keep for 5`s too..

glad your getting good results from it, but i reckon you`d better and be able to train harder with a few more reps per set..


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## jakeyUK (Nov 28, 2011)

so would you say to do 5x7 or 5x8 ?

jakeyUK


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## crazycal1 (Sep 21, 2005)

3x8-10 is good


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