How Many Reps And Sets Should I Do To Build Muscle?

If you’ve ever wondered how many reps and sets you need to do to gain muscle, keep reading. 

The simplest description of reps and sets is that they are one way to measure how much effort you put in on a particular exercise. Of course, there’s a lot more to it than that. The answer to “how many reps and sets should I do?” can vary a lot depending on your goals and training style.  

What is a rep? 

Simply put, “rep” means repetition. It defines one complete motion of an exercise. For example, lowering and lifting the bar in a barbell bench press is considered as one rep. Lowering your body and raising it back up in a pushup is considered one rep. 

What is a set? 

One set is several consecutive reps done without stopping. 

The number of sets and reps you do depends largely on your goal. Goals like increasing muscular endurance, muscular strength and achieving consistent muscular hypertrophy. 

If your goal is to improve muscular endurance you can’t train the same way someone who wants to improve muscular strength would train. 

The goal you have determines the sets, reps and rest time. 

How Many Reps Should I Do? 

Before you decide, ask yourself this, “What do I want to get out of this workout?” 

Look at rep ranges as tools to achieve particular goals. You’ll need a different rep range/ tool to achieve each of the following common goals: 

• Muscular Size 
• Muscular Endurance 
• Strength 

Here’s a rundown of how rep ranges relate to each of these 

1. Muscular Size

This is for people who want to build larger muscles. This is scientifically termed “sarcoplasmic hypertrophy”, and this mouthful of scientific jargon has a reason behind it. 

 Sarcoplasm is the non-contractile fluid found in your muscle. 30% of muscle size is made up of sarcoplasm so focusing on this type of training will help build muscle size. 

This type of training involves: 

• A rep range of 6 to 12 reps per set 
• 3-5 sets 
• A rest time between sets between 60 to 90 seconds 

2. Muscular Endurance

Endurance implies performance over an extended period. That would mean this type of training involves sets with really high reps of 12 to 20+ and short rest periods of about 30 seconds. It goes without saying that because of the high reps involved in this sort of training, you can’t lift heavy.  

So in summary to train for muscular endurance: 

• Sets of 12 to 20 or more reps 
• 30 seconds rest between sets 
• Lightweight 

3. Strength

This is the training type to quickly develop more strength and not necessarily to get bigger. 

This kind of training focuses on strengthening the myofibril, which is the contractile part of the muscle. That’s why it’s termed “myofibril hypertrophy” (yayyy… more science). 

For this training, your target rep range is 1-5 reps per set and using very heavy weights. You’ll be putting a lot of concentration and effort into just a few reps. 

This sort of lifting puts a lot of stress on your central nervous system. Because of that, it’s best to have long rest periods of about 2 to 5 minutes. 

Your central nervous system will also adapt and become stronger which will also be important for strength and power. This is exactly why powerlifters train like this. 

So in summary, for this type of training you should: 

• Keep reps between 1 and 5 reps per set 
• Use heavy weight 
• Have long rest periods 

So, here’s everything you need to know about reps and rep ranges in a nutshell 

• A rep range of 1-5 builds strength 
• Applying a rep range of 6-12 primarily builds muscle size 
• A rep range of 12 and above builds muscular endurance 

How Many Sets Should I Do? 

The simplest answer to this question is to do 3 to 5 sets of the exercise.  

To make everything easier and to reduce how much mental energy you need to put into this, decide to do 4 sets for all your exercises or at least the vast majority. 

Of course, there are many other recommendations. The American National Strength And Conditioning Association recommend the following set ranges for specific effects: 

• 2-6 sets of less than 6 reps to build muscular power 
• 3-6 sets of 6 to 12 reps to build muscular hypertrophy 
• 2-3 sets of 12 to 20+ reps for muscular endurance 

How Important Is Rep Range When I’m Trying To Build Muscle?

Your diet will count for more than 80% of your results. If you have a useless diet, you could workout for years with almost no result. 

This is best demonstrated among people who try to bulk up because they are on the skinnier side, and fail for years. 

So, polish your diet. 

Another point is that one of the biggest causes of slow results with trying to build muscle is simply that people scarcely train hard enough. If you trained hard enough you could almost get away with quite a few other blunders. 

So if you take diet and lack of challenging training into account, you’ll quickly see that reps and set counts are not something to be too concerned about. 

As long as you train hard and eat right, you will see significant increases in strength and muscle size. 

Applying This Information To Your Workouts 

We’ve run through the banks of information about reps and sets, so now let’s talk about how you can apply this information RIGHT NOW in the most helpful way possible. 

First off, to apply this info to your workout routine, first consider the type of workouts you’re doing. 

If your workout is comprised of bodyweight exercises, you’ll need to do a higher number of sets. It also means you’ll have to reach total muscular failure. 

So if you’re doing bodyweight exercises intending to create more muscle mass, you’ll need to push yourself to total muscular failure. 

Another thing to take into account is this study that shows that heavier weight for low reps created more muscle mass than a lower weight for more reps. 

So if your goal is size, consider dropping the reps count and upping the weight. 

If you’re aiming to primarily gain strength and not necessarily muscle mass, keep your reps between 1 and 5 and lift very heavy. 

If it’s muscle size you’re after, keep your weight light enough to lift 6 to 12 times but heavy enough that it’s still a challenge. 

Then the most important thing, progressive overload. This means over time, adding more weight or one more set or rep. 

STANDARD HYPERTROPHY TRAINING  

If you’re still at sea about what to do then I’ll simplify it for you, especially if you’ve never lifted a dumbbell in your life.  

The goal of most people who start lifting weights or going to the gym is to build muscle mass, and there is a very simple method to use that can greatly simplify your workouts. 

And here it is. 

Simply workout in the standard hypertrophy range. 

For the sake of simplicity, do 4 sets of 10 reps for each exercise. It’s that simple. 

It’s hard to go wrong with this approach but just to clarify: 

1. Make sure you’re diet is rock solid which means enough protein and calories. 
2. Be sure you are lifting heavy enough to challenge you, but not so heavy that you can only complete half your sets 
3. Make sure you apply progressive overload to make sure you keep getting bigger over time. 

Summary 

To summarise, chose your goal and apply the right reps and set ranges and you’ll steadily move towards your goal. It’s a guarantee.  

The number of reps and sets you do is hardly ever the reason you aren’t getting bigger or stronger. A poor diet or a lack of progressive overload are the usual culprits. 

If you’re a beginner, your worries about your rep and set counts are stealing away your time. If you don’t know what to do, stick with a challenging workout and keep your sets and reps in the hypertrophy range. Decide to do 4 sets of 10 reps for each exercise and you’ll go very far in a few weeks.