From the moment most of us first step into the gym, the question of how many repetitions and how intensely should we train is a conundrum that haunts us throughout our session. Will too many repetitions overtrain our muscles and stunt our growth? And how does the goal of building muscle or strength relate to the way we train?
Luckily, a new scientific report seems to provide the answer. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University say: New Key ResearchTo determine the best model for both strength and hypertrophy outcomes, we collected data from 55 previous studies and compiled the conclusions. The results suggest that if your goal is to build strength, working closer to your limit doesn’t appear to offer any significant benefits. However, for building muscle mass, working closer to your limit tends to enhance muscle growth.
“If you’re aiming for muscle growth, training closer to your limit may be more effective. In other words, the relationship between training closer to your limit and muscle growth remains the same regardless of how much training you do, such as by changing the number of sets or repetitions,” said senior author Michael C. Zourdos, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Exercise Science and Health Promotion in FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. Science Daily “When it comes to strength, it doesn’t seem to matter how hard you push yourself to your limits.”
The best way to build muscle
So how do you put this into practice? The study authors recommend training 0-5 repetitions before failure for optimal muscle growth, but remember to train within your limits to avoid injury. When it comes to strength training, experts recommend stopping 3-5 repetitions before failure.
“When we guess how many repetitions we can do, this perception influences the weight we choose. If we guess wrong, we may use a lighter weight than necessary, which could limit strength gains. On the other hand, our meta-analysis shows that training closer to the limit also leads to muscle growth,” said first author Zac P. Robinson, PhD, a doctoral candidate in FAU’s Department of Exercise Science and Health Promotion. “Thus, for the average individual, training closer to the limit may be the best option, as it appears to improve the accuracy of effort perception and increase muscle size.”
