I’m going to start this article by asking a hypothetical question: If you had to pick a single repetition range to train in for growth, what would it be? That is, imagine some very strange situation where you could only train within a certain repetition range which I’ll limit to a 3 rep spread (i.e. 9-12). What would you choose? Put differently, is there an optimal number of reps per set for muscle growth?
I used to ask this of friends of mine in the field and, almost with exception, the answer was pretty much the same. This was true regardless of whether or not they had arrived at that value from experimentation and experience or just looking at the research. So I’m going to look at a variety of different topics to show you how I got to the answer I’m going to provide.
What Stimulates Muscle Growth?
I asked a job supervisor that question once once; he was a smart-ass like me and told me “It needs lots of sunlight and water.” … Keep Reading