#Optimal rest time for hypertrophy full#

How fanatical people were about those rep ranges varied, sure, but those have been the accepted ranges for a long, long time. One standby, though, has been “rep ranges.”Īt least as far back as the ’50s (and probably before), people have been promoting the idea that low reps were ideal for strength development, moderate reps (somewhere between 6-8 reps on the low end, and 12 to 15 on the high end) were best for building muscle, and high reps were best for building strength endurance.

In that time, I’ve seen a lot of ideas, fads, and trends come and go. Introduction to the Hypertrophy Rep Range

#Optimal rest time for hypertrophy full#

Since different rep ranges go about triggering a growth response in slightly different ways, you’re probably better off training with a full spectrum of rep ranges instead of rigidly staying in a single rep range and intensity zone.This generally coincides with a moderate intensity and rep range for most exercises and most people. From a practical standpoint, you should probably do most of your training in the rep range that allows you to get in the most hard sets per training session and per week for each exercise you use and each muscle you train.When looking at the whole body of scientific literature, there’s simply not a very big difference in muscle growth when comparing different rep ranges.

More information about the individual studies, adjustments, and analyses can be found in the article The “Hypertrophy Rep Range” – Stats and Adjustments if you want to dig a little deeper into this topic.