When it comes to general fitness gains like gaining a little more muscle, losing a little more fat and getting a little more strength, many fitness professionals would say: perform 8-12 repetitions except when it comes to the abs ( as the abs, for some reason magically deserve more reps than all the other muscles). In the years I have been in the fitness industry I’ve had to debate the ‘reps fallacy’ with my other colleagues and I want to argue my point yet again…
In order to optimize your results, you must understand this fact of physiology: your muscles don’t count reps! Muscles only know how much time they are under tension. Muscular tension beyond a certain threshold and maintained within a certain time frame causes the chemical reactions in the muscles that result in the body-changes that you want. Just like in the lab, the results of a chemical reaction that takes place for a short period are different from the results of a chemical reaction that take place for a long period of time.
Of course, repetition, the amount of sets and how heavy the weight is, are all important factors when it comes to exercise design and structuring a program for an athlete or a bodybuilder. When it comes to us regular exercise junkies though, we need to focus on two components more than just the amount of reps:
1. Time your muscle is under tension (while weight bearing)
2. The quality of each repetition (being in proper form and executing the exercise correctly)
So, if you want to change your perception about weight lifting remember that the typical muscle should be under tension for about 40-60 seconds or close to fatigue (that is for general fitness gains). Working backwards, we see that a 40-60 second set of 4-5 second reps comes to about 8-12 repetitions. This is where we get the traditional 8-12-rep set! Unfortunately, many people are more focused on the “8-12” than on the “4-5” and race to finish the set as quickly as possible. It is far more important and productive to perform high quality repetitions than to simply “make it through” the set.
Although some of us just want to get their workout done, it is immensely important that you engage in a string of productive repetitions, not just a certain “magic number” of repetitions. There is nothing special about the number 12!
In order to keep your metabolism high and to involve both your high-powered muscles and your long-endurance muscles you should perform your strength training sets within 40-60 seconds, in most cases. Of course, if you are predominately training to do a 100 m sprint there would be a more structured and specific exercise prescription, but let’s keep it simple so we can just see some results!
All I’m saying is: Don’t perform 12 reps for no reason. Estimate the time under tension that you need for that particular muscle, then divide by the time of your average rep (typically, 3-5 seconds).This will give you an individualized rep range based upon your physiology and chemistry as opposed to unfounded traditions.
For Personal training with Natalie call: 08123 89 09 99
