How Many Reps Does It Take to Build Muscle?

Building muscle not only makes you stronger but also it makes you more physically able to do everyday tasks that involve strength. For example, opening a jar of tomato sauce can become a lot easier after lifting weights. However, building muscle is not just about lifting things up and putting them down. There is a great deal of effort and thought involved to get to those huge muscles.

Building muscle can be a rewarding process if you have the right determination and goals in mind. If you just start lifting without a plan, the goal of gaining muscle just becomes more challenging. The key to maximizing muscle growth is lifting until you feel fatigue and not failure. Lifting until fatigue means you lift the maximum number of reps you can do while maintaining proper form. Lifting weights until failure is when you cannot physically perform a rep anymore, thus ending your set in an incomplete rep. You do not want to lift until failure because it can result in an injury. You want to find that sweet spot of lifting to fatigue but also being able to complete your last rep safely.

The number of reps you do has a big impact on how you want to build muscle. Depending on your goals, lifting weights can help you build muscle, get stronger, or build endurance. Building muscle is great in general because it can lower your risk of chronic disease and build bone strength. To build muscle, you want to practice a range of 8 to 15 reps per set when you lift weights. Getting stronger focuses more on pure strength, so you are going to want to lift heavier but have fewer reps. A range of 1 to 6 reps should do because more than that will have you lift to failure and can lead to injury. Lifting to build endurance is a goal you would want if you were really into recreational activities or sports. You are going to want to hit that 15 plus range of reps with lighter weights if you want endurance.

Lifting weights is more complicated than some of us would have believed. Having goals and determination can really help you overcome the challenge of lifting weights and it can prevent injury. All you need is to find that right amount of repetition to maximize muscle growth.

To find out more about the number of reps to build muscle, click here.

Article written by William Graves.