How Many Reps Should You be Doing?

In this episode, Lindsay discusses her struggles with illness during the month of January and updates about the IVF process. She also introduces the 'one more rep' challenge in her BeStrong community. Lindsay explores the importance of understanding the point of failure in training and encourages her community to push to their limits. She addresses the concept of taking into consideration an individual's goals, preference and physiology. Lindsay also analyzes the benefits and drawbacks of high rep and low rep schemes, emphasizing that depending on a person's unique circumstances and goals, one may be more beneficial than the other.

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Chapters:
00:00 Welcome!
01:54 BeStrong Challenges
07:29 Talking Rep Ranges
09:53 What is low rep range vs high rep range?
11:47 Who should choose low reps?
20:25 Why would someone choose a higher rep scheme?
26:40 Advantages of higher rep schemes
28:31 The cons of higher rep schemes
30:17 Meso, micro, and macro cycles
33:27 People don't always know how to push themselves

Creators and Guests

Host

Lindsay

Wife and mother of three. I have a deep passion for learning and teaching. I also really love lifting weights and fitness.

What is LiftingLindsay's More Than Fitness?

Dive into the joy of fitness with Lindsay and other guests exploring how it goes well and beyond the gym floor, the number on the scale, the size of your waist or the calories you're counting.

Lindsay: Welcome to the
Lifting Lindsay Podcast.

Guys, what is it with this month?

Like, it's just, what are we,
the third week of January?

I'm gonna pull up my calendar right now.

This is the third week of January.

I have spent two weeks out
of this three just sick.

What is going on?

I mean, something is.

Is going on, like is
being passed around Utah.

My kids have been so sick.

We finally got over it.

We're thinking we're all through this.

And then two days ago I'm at
the gym and I just got so sick.

I'm in middle of my lift.

I honestly wondered like, did I
push myself really, really hard?

All of a sudden I'm kind
of feeling nauseous.

But also, if you guys
remember, we are doing IVF.

So I have started, my estrogen
estradiol shots and those can

make you feel a little nauseous.

You're not as hungry.

So I've kind of been going through this
like, well, I'm not, I wasn't feeling

nauseous, but I was, wasn't very hungry.

Maybe like once in a great while.

I felt like little twinges
of it, but not much.

So then, Monday I, we started
this new challenge in Be strong.

Be strong is my, my community.

Under be strong, you can get tons
of stuff like, recipes, nutrition

help, all of your training programs.

We do lives, we have
like exercise breakdowns.

People send in their form videos.

Like it's this really,
really fun community.

And then we also do challenges and, and I.

Maybe I should tell you
guys about this challenge.

Maybe I should challenge all of you all.

I mean, you guys won't get
the fun prizes and rewards.

We're doing this one rep more challenge.

It's all pretty much based off
of some studies also my personal

experience of people just don't
know how to gauge reps in reserve.

They don't know how to gauge really
how close they are to failure,

which is actually why one of the,
a lot of people will say, you

don't need to train to failure.

And and I do agree with that in general.

But in practice, if you never hit
failure, then you literally don't

know where failure is, right?

Because aren't we over time
supposed to be growing stronger?

And so if somebody's just, I can't
go to failure because that one

Instagram person told me never to
go to failure and that I didn't need

to, so I'm never gonna go to failure.

And so they never do.

Then they never know where it
is, and it's really hard to

gauge failure at that point.

It's actually one of the reasons why I
encourage at least the last set being

taken to failure, so that we can actually
keep a better gauge of where failure is,

and then a better understanding of, okay,
staying like 3, 2, 1, away from that.

It's like you're driving and you're
supposed to stay between the lines, but if

you don't know where the lines are, it's
really hard, right, to stay between them.

If you can't see 'em, then
you're literally just guessing.

So I was encouraging
my be strong community.

Okay.

Let's, let's push ourselves.

You think you know where
failure is on that last set?

I'm gonna challenge that.

I am, I'm gonna challenge you on that one.

For the next two weeks, the next,
the last two weeks of January, we're

gonna do the one more rep challenge.

On that last set after you, you
think you've hit failure, like

I want you to like imagine the,
the community or imagine me.

whoever, you have to imagine
standing over you, looking at

you being like, one more rep.

One more rep.

So far the stories that I've been
getting in just over the past three

days have been really, really fun.

And to be honest,

they don't surprise me.

People saying, I thought I hit failure.

'cause I was going by what I did last
week and where failure was last week.

And I thought, okay, I
can squeeze one more.

And then I just kept imagining this
is what one woman wrote yesterday,

I kept imagining you standing
over me saying, one more rep.

One more rep.

She goes, I did six more
reps before I hit failure.

I have been selling myself short.

That it is honestly very, very common,
even amongst trained individuals.

And I am, I do not exclude
myself from this group by any

stretch of the imagination.

And even within studies, it's interesting
because when you're listening to

breakdowns of studies, of training
studies, one of the questions, one

of the critical questions, rightfully
so, may even be, but were they

training in a lab with trainers over
them or lab assistants over them?

Because people generally work harder,
train harder when they have people over.

So I thought I was s sick because
I doing this challenge too.

On Monday, I was doing leg press and
I was just, well, I did like some

hip shift r dls and kept telling
myself, you know, one more rep.

I, I squeezed out another rep
on leg press, I squeezed out one

and a half and, and that's okay.

I mean, I was, I gave my community some
guidance on how to be smart with going

to failure to kind of some guidance
and ideas of what exercises to take

to failure versus other ones not to.

I thought I was just sick because
maybe I'm like, wow, maybe I

just pushed myself too far.

Then yesterday I was having a,
a business meeting and all of

a sudden it just hit me like.

I'm kind of frustrated, not because
it's the beginning of the year,

but because I actually break my
quote unquote years into 12 weeks.

So I have these 12 week plans
goals, and so I'm frustrated

'cause I'm like, dang it.

I been sick for two of them, so I'm
just really focusing on the low hanging

fruit of what I can do during this time.

Even though I don't feel very good
and I'm probably going to do this

episode and then go, go lay down.

And yesterday I had a few kids saying
they were really, really nauseous too.

I thought they just were
trying to get out of school.

Now I feel bad.

I thought they were just
trying to get out of school.

They had just come off of a holiday.

So today we are going to be
talking about, rep ranges.

This is a question that I get a lot
and rightfully so, right, because

we do have some studies saying it
doesn't matter the rep range, if the

goal is hypertrophy, I should say.

It doesn't matter the rep range, as
long as you are working near or to

failure, you are going to build muscle.

And that is, that is true.

So if that's the case, then
does it just not matter at all?

And I, I don't believe so.

I still think rep ranges in
which you choose matters.

And so let's dive into what,
what matters about them.

Right?

Um, 'cause a lot of times people
will send me questions like, what

are the most optimal Well, for what?

Right?

And all, there's a few things.

There's your goal.

There's your own preference.

I love bringing up preference because
oftentimes people think optimal has

nothing to do with that, and it just
has everything to do what some research

paper said, but, but research oftentimes
is in a controlled lab or environment,

and it's not conducive to real life.

So keep that in mind whenever
I use the term optimal.

Optimal is contextual.

So if you've been, you know, following
me for a while, you, you know, that

that's something that I, I preach.

Optimal is contextual.

Contextual to your goals, your preference,
and even your age, your physiology, right.

So we're gonna be talking about that
a little today because somebody who

is having some issues with hormones
for one reason or another, maybe peri

postmenopausal, what's optimal and
the rep ranges that they may choose

are going to be a little different.

So let's get into all of that now.

Let's first though, define
what is low rep range?

What's high rep?

Um, because otherwise these
are just very vague terms.

Like what does that even mean?

Does low rep mean, you
know, two, three reps?

Does high rep mean 30?

Right.

Sometimes people literally
are having these conversations

without even laying down

basic definitions or
even defining context.

Context is really,
really, really important.

And I try my hardest when I am,
um, speaking on the podcast or on

Instagram to lay down the context.

Low rep range, I'm just gonna define
anywhere between six to under 12.

Okay.

And high I'm gonna define
between 12 and like 12 plus.

So maybe 13 to 20.

And the reason why I am not gonna include
anything higher than that is because

20 plus rep range, like rep range would
require such low weights to do that, that

we're not creating a lot of tension and
it's just gonna be a suboptimal for body

recomp for strength and for hypertrophy.

The main things that
I often speak towards.

So that's not even in the range of
beneficial to tho to that space.

Okay.

You would need such lightweight
that there's gonna be very few

effective reps at that point.

Let's go over the pros and cons of low
reps who is going to choose low reps.

And we'll do the same
thing with higher reps.

So because lower reps are going
to require higher amount of weight

to hit failure within that rep or to near
failure within that rep scheme, right?

So you are more likely to get more muscle
fiber recruitment earlier on in your set.

Think about it this way, lower
reps and heavier loads, you're

getting higher recruitment from
earlier on reps within a set.

So it's actually much easier to accumulate
effective reps closer to failure,

which is why a ton of people choose.

This lower rep scheme because
you can do less, um, reps and

get way more bang for your buck.

Okay.

It's also much easier to gauge
reps in reserve and research has

actually shown that the lower

the reps and the higher the load,
it's much easier to actually gauge

where that's at versus, and, and
get closer to it, versus people who

choose lower weight and higher reps.

So we do have studies showing
that you are more likely to quit

before approaching adequate enough
failure if the reps are too high.

So there's another, I think,
pro reason somebody would pick

higher loads and lower reps.

The third one is huge for a lot of women,
and that is strength gains are going

to be better had in lower rep schemes.

It is much easier to increase
weight with lower reps than with

higher reps, so muscle building
muscle, it takes a lot of time.

Like, I'm not talking about easy gains.

I'm not talking about your first three
months in the gym and you just can do

the crappiest movements in the world.

Just walking into the gym and touching
weight, you're gonna, people are

going to put on muscle and, and
unfortunately, a lot of people get

used to how fast it comes at first,
and so then they don't realize that

they are going to kind of hit
this plateau and things will start

slowing down, and then they're
like, oh, like I am, I'm done.

I can't put I had a male client who
was a coach to come to me saying,

I think I just hit my genetic max.

And I worked with him for months and I was
like, you did not hit your genetic max.

You're falling victim to what
you blame your clients for doing.

It's slow goings for somebody who is
more trained, so you can't compare

a more trained individual and how
fast they put on, or I should say

how slow they put on muscle compared
to somebody who's newer in the gym.

It already takes, if your goal
is put on more muscle tissue,

it takes a really long time.

So while we're waiting, I always
try to encourage people, have

other goals and strength goals are
really fun to have in the meantime.

Going in and doing reps that are six
to 10 and feeling way stronger, being

able to push way more load than if
you chose like a 15 to 20 rep scheme.

It's fun.

I had this experience the other day.

I walked up to a leg press and the
gym was really, really packed because

it was the beginning of the year.

And so I really like to over
communicate, be very, very friendly and

really communicate well with people.

And I knew I was gonna be
waiting forever for a leg press,

'cause even if you're standing there on
the side, people don't mean to, but they

just don't know what you're waiting for.

And if, if a leg press frees up for one
second, somebody else might jump on it.

So I, and I also have this one leg
press that I really love, so I.

That's how you know you're a gym junkie
is when you have your favorite machines.

They have like four leg presses,
but you have your favorite, right?

I went over to the two men using
the machine, I said, I know it's so

busy and I asked them about how much
longer they had, and they're like,

we have about five more minutes.

I'm like, okay, I'm gonna wait.

No pressure.

I'm gonna stand far back so that I'm
not getting in your guys' space, but

I'm gonna be standing over there and
as soon as you're done, can you just

wave over to me to make sure that I
can get this machine and somebody else

doesn't kind of, you know, sneak in.

And they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so when they were
done, they wave over to me.

I walk over and they start unloading and
they had about 10 45 plates on there.

And I said, oh, no, no, you can leave it.

And they looked at me and
they're like, leave it.

You're gonna.

You are gonna start with this.

And I knew what they were thinking.

They were thinking what we're
ending with you're starting.

And I just kind of laughed.

I'm like, this is where I'll start.

And they're like, oh man.

And they just like, it was
so funny, this interaction.

But, but at the same time, do
you know how much I loved that?

Do you know how much I
love feeling strong.

And that's something that, you
know, I really want muscle growth,

but it's so slow right now.

And in the meantime I'm just, I'm
going to live off of going to the

gym and feeling my strongest self.

So if your goals include strength,
it's not just hypertrophy, but you

also want strength, then you're gonna
wanna choose the lower rep scheme

because you're gonna to get both.

You're gonna get both, and you're gonna
feel really strong, and it's gonna be

really fun while you wait for that slow
process of muscle gains, so that is one

reason why in my program, on my app,
I have a muscle and strength program

because we are going to be spending way
more time in those lower rep schemes.

I have another program in there called
the Fat Loss Program, and that's actually

going to be more towards metabolic
work and kind of including more, uh,

cardio suggestions and all of that.

And we may move into higher
rep schemes and not always be

sitting at lower rep schemes.

Okay.

So that's why there's a difference there.

Uh, mainly we want to rely on food
nutrition to drive that calorie deficit.

But, I do like giving other training
options of, you know, higher rep

schemes and metabolic work systemic
or incomplete rest method that

people, really, really enjoy where
they can still get muscle gains.

But maybe they're not leaning towards
caring about a lot of the strength

gains that some of these other
women are, are really interested in.

Now let's go into higher rep
schemes and kind of talk a little

bit about, um, some advantages or
disadvantages there, choosing that one.

You know, I did actually mention earlier
too, that depending on somebody's

physiology, so depending on, you know,
if they are experiencing some hormonal,

uh, issues that they are working
with a specialist on, maybe they're

approaching perimenopause and they're
not feeling their best selves, um,

they're experiencing some like estrogen
dominance or just other things like that.

That may change not always and forever,
but they may actually want to choose

more, uh, lower rep schemes as well.

And the reason why is because look,
every, every type of, workout, exercise

modality, is going to increase cortisol.

That's not a quote unquote bad thing.

Like I've literally heard
professionals say like, well,

you shouldn't work out because it
increases cortisol, but it actually

teaches like a response in recovery

though, so it, yes, it may spike for
a short period of time, cortisol,

but it is like almost this adaptation
that you're, it's not almost, it

is this adaptation that your body
learns to spike and recover quickly.

And in fact, we have some really
interesting studies showing just

that about, uh, weightlifting

that even in athletes, I, I believe they
were, uh, professional tennis, players

that including going from no weights to
including weights in, into their training,

it actually over the long run was able
to lower their overall cortisol levels.

But also just keep in mind how you
do weight training does matter.

So if, if they were doing more of
tension hypertrophy, then that's,

that, that could be one thing.

Even some systemic work with
hypertrophy has been shown to do that.

Now we are seeing in the literature that
there are much higher cortisol response

rates in the higher rep schemes.

And that may not matter to the
general population, but if somebody

is having some hormonal issues.

Then that could be just the thing
that tips the scales and keeps them

in kind of a, a poor position., And it
could be for a few reasons, they get

a much higher cortisol response rate,
but also higher rep ranges do require

longer recovery between workouts,
so you're not recovering as quickly.

The body's not able to
do that as, as well.

And so if you are experiencing, like
I said, for for one reason or another,

some hormonal issues and disturbances,
I would actually say we don't

wanna choose the higher rep ranges.

It's okay to get a, a little cortisol
response, but we don't wanna go

in and, and get a really high one

that then also requires way more recovery
because then are you fully recovered by

the next time you train, um, is your, um,
hormonal imbalance for whatever, like if

that, is that sex hormones, is it thyroid?

Like, where is, which one is that?

And because of it, this hormonal
issue, that can in and of itself

affect recovery rates as well.

So a few weeks ago, I actually did a story
about this on Instagram saying like if

you are having some hormonal issues that
you're trying to work through, if you're

noticing some big shifts during perio
post menopause and like you probably wanna

choose the lower rep scheme, you probably
want to choose my muscle and strength

program because it is going to tailor.

A little bit better towards that
population versus, um, some lower, uh,

rest period really high, um, rep scheme.

So that's just some
additional food for thought.

So we really win.

We are dealing with hormonal, whether
it's like thyroid or sex hormone issues.

We really do want to prioritize recovery
and a slight increase of cortisol due to

weightlifting is fine, but we don't want
excessive and we don't want prolonged.

So getting in doing a 60 minute training
program, that is going to be higher

rest in between sets, sets of like
three to four, but you're looking at,

you know, six to 10 reps, that is going
to be kind of a sweet spot for you

during this process of healing and,
and trying to, uh, stabilize things and

get them into healthy balances again.

That set aside, let's just talk about
some advantages of higher rep schemes.

You can actually get a temporary
cell swelling from higher rep

ranges that make you feel like
you have like bigger muscles.

And so that response, this, the likelihood
of getting, that gym pump is a lot

higher, and that could be the very thing
that gets, you keep going back for more.

That's not a bad thing.

That can be a really fun thing.

Now, higher reps, because it's lowering
the weight, could possibly be even easier

on the joints, and if you've had a an
injury, it may be better for that as well.

I say may because I still want
you to be cautious that if

you're really high rep scheme.

A lot of times continuously pushing
into that higher rep scheme can just

build a lot of fatigue, and so sometimes
that built fatigue can make it so

maybe you exceed your active range,
or can actually get you hurt too.

So be cautious about that too.

So yes, it can be easier on joints.

Yes, it can be a great option if you
have an injury, but we still need to be

cautious of the fact that a lot higher
rep ranges can still build this fatigue.

And when we are more fatigued, when we
are more tired, is when we typically

slip up and can actually get injured too.

So that's just food for thought.

The cons are some people actually
don't like the burn, right?

So higher rep schemes lead to that
sensation, that burning sensation.

Um, and some people don't like that.

Some people really love it.

So that just kind of depends.

Like I said, we have with higher
reps, it can lead to longer

recovery times in between workouts.

So let's say you really wanted to
build glutes and so you want to put

a little bit more volume in them.

Well, only so much volume of
work can be done in one day.

And so a lot of times people will spread
that out to, you know, three days a week.

That's often why with specialization
programs, we're doing, you know,

three days training on that muscle
so that we can evenly, and wisely

distribute the amount of volume, while
keeping intensity towards that volume

high, and so you'll spread that out.

Well, if you really want to train it
more often during the week, but you're

going with really, really high rep
schemes that require more recovery,

then that can, in and of itself end
up hurting you instead of helping you.

So that's some food for thought.

And, and like I mentioned before,
it's actually a lot harder to gauge

reps in reserve or RIR, meaning it's
a lot harder to gauge nearing failure

with more reps and lighter weight.

So there's just a full breakdown
for you of, yes, studies are

saying high reps, low reps.

It doesn't matter for hypertrophy as
long as you are getting close to failure,

but I still think that it, it matters
because it depends on the person's goals,

their preference, and their physiology.

Ultimately I do think a really good
training program for the year even.

We can have meso cycles, which are, what
you're doing for a certain amount of time.

Like let's say eight, 12 weeks,
you're doing the same microcycle.

That's what you're doing per week.

You're doing that on repeat and that
makes up a mesocycle, and then you

step back further from there and that's
gonna be kind of like your macro cycle.

That's what you're
doing for the full year.

And for the full year, I actually
think it's really wise for people to

kind of move between doing high and
low reps, which is why oftentimes I

will cycle through that a little bit
in my programs because I do want to

introduce different stimuli to clients,
and then sometimes people just respond

better to one versus another too.

So a lot of times kind of stepping away
from one stimulus and moving to another,

people can actually, uh, one stimulus can
potentiate further growth for the next.

So kind of cycling through higher and
lower rep schemes can actually be pretty

beneficial for a lot of people, and it
can kind of keep things interesting too

for a lot of people to continue going to
the gym and enjoying their time there.

That's basically my full breakdown
on choosing higher or lower.

I find for myself, I really enjoy
training between eight to 12 reps.

But towards some training programs I do
like including drop sets and, and that may

be pushing, you know, things further up
to, I do a drop set and that last set, so

that one lands me around like 15, 16 reps.

So even I will cycle through
these things, um, a little bit.

And I, I can.

Find it really fun and enjoyable to use
all the tools in my toolbox really to make

things fun, but also when wisely used,
they can help people continue to progress.

It's interesting because some people,
they don't know how to push themselves.

They don't know how to choose weight.

They don't know how to
really push themselves.

I shouldn't say they don't
know how to push themselves.

It's just mentally we hold ourselves back.

We think we're, we're pushing
ourselves more than we are.

And I find that with both food and
nutrition, right, people think that

they're following their nutrition
plan, but they're really not.

They're guessing on most things.

And studies have shown that we are
really poor at actually gauging how much.

Calories are coming in, we
usually assume like 20 to 50% less

than what's actually coming in.

And I say that there's no difference
between nutrition and training.

A lot of people go into training
and they think I'm pushing myself

hard, and then all of a sudden I'm
standing next to 'em and they can,

what was them hitting failure?

So they thought they're able
to get another six to 12 reps.

Like I've literally had that happen
and watched that happen where I'm

like, no, you still have like a bunch.

You don't, it's not
even like one more rep.

It's like, I think you
have like six, seven.

Like, why did we choose such low weight?

I remember training in person with a few
women and they weren't hitting failure

till like 22, 23 reps, even though they
thought they were choosing a weight

that would get them to failure at 12.

So we do have studies even showing we're
really poor at gauging things like that.

So that's why I do think it's really
important that, you know, every so

often, for me personally, I try to
take at least one set of, uh, my

exercise is to failure the last one.

You don't need to take every single set
that's gonna accumulate far too much

fatigue, require way too much recovery.

But just taking that last set to failure,
it will help you keep a really good

gauge of where failure is so you know
how much you should be pushing yourself.

But hopefully this really did
help you realize that one, if, if

your goal is muscle and strength,
choose the lower rep schemes.

If you are going through peri or post
menopause or you are working with a

specialist as far as, uh, there's some
hormonal issues, thyroid issues, whatever,

then choose the lower rep scheme, right?

If you just generally
enjoy that, choose that.

The other reasons why you would
choose the higher is because

maybe you enjoy the burn.

Maybe for you, uh, you need something
to be easier on your joints.

And these are conversations that I have
with people in my Be Strong community

when they message in and are like,
Hey, we're, I'm doing this exercise.

You have the rep scheme here.

What should I be doing?

And I love walking people through
this process of, you know.

Let's find what works for you.

This is, and then we kind of break down.

Maybe you shouldn't be
doing that exercise.

Maybe do this one and do it with this
rep scheme, because you are an individual

and you need to listen to your body.

But you need to learn and know how to
listen to your body then we can develop

kind of this plan that works best for you.

So hopefully this episode just gave
you some really good considerations

as you sit down and are looking at
a, a plan that's already planned out

for you, or that you're writing for
yourself, or even writing for clients.

This gives you a much better understanding
of what you're trying to accomplish,

what their goals are, and how we can
help them, or you hit your goals.

Thank you so much for joining me
today on the Lifting Lindsay Podcast.

I really hope that this
was helpful and beneficial.

If you have any questions, you
can always shoot me a DMM on

Instagram at Lifting Lindsay.

I would love to work with you too.

Join our community at Be
Strong, show up at the lives.

Write in your questions, you have
direct communication with me where I can

help you develop your nutrition plan.

You can send me pictures, show
what you have done, what you want

to do, what you wanna accomplish.

I'll help you get your plans lined
up and working towards what really

is going to be the big rocks and
drivers to help you hit your goals.

You guys have a wonderful week.