How many reps can vary depending on what your goals are? If you are looking to build strength then a 5×5 program will be best. Also, if you are a beginner or looking to get results as quickly as possible then compound exercises are best.
As far as rep range, progressive overload should be the main goal. However, you shouldn’t focus on high rep training with compound exercises as this will quickly cause overtraining.
The rep range for compound exercises should start anywhere from 1 rep max to 9 reps or that causes the most overload on your muscles. As far as sets go you should focus on 3-5 for the best growth.
Is there an optimal number of rep ranges for compound exercises?
Compound exercises are the best for building muscle and improving things like functional daily movements. Unfortunately, there isn’t a magic number that anyone has to do for compound exercises.
Here are some optimal training tips
- You generally don’t want to train to failure especially with compound exercises because of the stress it puts on the body and recovery time
- It’s best to rest 2-3 minutes in between sets
- Compound exercises should be done with 1-9 reps per set
- Always work towards some type of Progressive Overload each workout
We need to focus on progressive overload. What is this progressive overload that I’m always speaking of? Progressive overload is gradually putting the body under more stress each workout and increasing strength.
If you are going to the gm and always lifting 3×10 and always use the same weight your body will have no reason to change. This is a big mistake that I made for many years.
You should be either adding a set each week, increasing weight, or even adding more reps.
What are compound exercises?
- Bench press
- Squat
- Barbell shoulder press
- Dead Lift
- Barbell rows
- Dips
- Pull-ups
These exercises are by far the best and should be the foundation for every workout. These exercises are also part of your daily movements. You are always squatting, pressing, or pulling throughout the day.
I wish I would’ve focused more on these types of exercises with all of the years I’ve been working out. A lot of time was spent on flashy advertising in fitness magazines selling supplements and workout programs that barely moved the needle.
For building muscle and strength I’ve found that for myself 6-8 rep range is the sweet spot for me, there are also multiple studies to back this up for building muscle and strength.
What are some more benefits of Compound Exercises?
compound exercises are great when it comes to being short on time to spend in the gym. I’ve always been a gym rat, even at times when I wasn’t in the best of shape. Since becoming a new dad I’m always looking how to best spend my time and that also factors in my time to workout.
Compound exercises are great because they target more than one muscle group at a time. This means less time spent in the gym.
- Burn more calories
- Improve functional movement patterns
- Improve strength
- Build more muscle
- Improved flexibility
How many times a week should I be doing compound exercises?
The minimum effective volume for training to see at least maintenance and even some gains for beginners it 2x’s per week. To see the best results for building muscle you should train at least 3x’s per week.
You always want to take a break in between workouts when it comes to weight lifting. Cardio is a different story as you can do it the following day. There is a factor more important than frequency when it comes to working out.
Volume Training
volume training goes back to how many sets and reps you are doing in a workout. With this theory being that you may be able to go to the gym even less if you are training high volume while you are working out.
Although this idea sounds nice it would be ramping up too much at the beginning of a workout program and cause you to overtrain to quickly.
This may be something you could implement as an advance weight lifter or later ina program when your body is able to adapt to that much stress. I’m talking about natural weight lifters. Volume training is also an important factor when it comes to Hypertrophy.
What is Muscle Hypertrophy?
It is a fancy scientific term for wait for it….. muscle growth. This can be accomplished with the right type of workouts, obviously. The golden rule of thumb is 3-5 sets of 8-10 reps and you will see more muscle.
There is some a lot of truth to that statement but it’s missing some key variables to the equation. Those variables being load, volume, and frequency to see hypertrophy.
There are also two types of hypertrophy. One being myofibrillar, which means the growth part of a muscle contraction. The second, being sarcoplasmic which is an increase in the amount of muscle glycogen stored.
The type of focus will all depend on what your goals are. Myofibrillar will help more with speed and strength. Sarcoplasmic will help your body train for endurance type events.
How often do I need to lift for muscle Hypertrophy?
That all depends on what your goals are? As mentioned before it’s best two lift at least 3 times a week with moderately heavy weight anywhere from 60-70% of your one-rep max.
Never sacrifice form for lifting heavier weight! You want to always have a good form with a controlled speed. You can always add more reps or sets versus weight if you need too. You can see results from 2 days a week but 3 days is best for building muscle.
Should I do high rep training
It is a common thought that high rep training is best to do if you want to lose weight or tone up. I used to do this type of training for years, I did see some results but not close to moderate rep range.
Doing high rep training is good for getting a pump or for muscles that can be best worked in isolation movements. No way should you be doing high rep training with compound exercises.
Generally, you want to leave 2-3 reps in the tank when lifting. This will help you stay fresh when you come back to training. It’s hard to build muscle with lifting light weights at a lower weight.
You hear this a lot from women that they don’t want to lift heavy weights because they don’t want to get too muscular. This simply isn’t true, guys wished it was just that easy to get muscular.
Lifting with a heavier weight range will help build lean muscle which will increase your metabolism and will burn more fat.
What are the benefits of building muscle anyways?
Building muscle is not just a vanity thing, it can also be anti-aging. Each year as we age and get older we start to lose a small amount of muscle mass. This is known as sarcopenia, loss of muscle mass.
People who are not very active have lost as much as 3%-5% of their total muscle mass after the age of 30 each decade. This is important because of the loss of muscle mass affects your mobility and strength.
Weight lifting helps build your muscle fibers. One of the best ways to think of this is your muscles being like a rope and they become stronger the more you lift weights. These are called myofibers, they connect together to help make them stronger.
- Improving functional pattern movements that you use throughout the day
- Help burn calories more efficient by building more muscle
- May also help with improved sleep patterns
- Helps build stronger bones and muscle to improve posture and prevent back pain
- improving stability by improving your mobility
Final Thoughts
There is no magical rep range to do with compound exercises or any exercise for that matter. We have some anecdotal evidence that it’s best to aim for 6-8 reps for building muscle and strength. We also know that progressive overload is a big driver in building muscle.
Stressing our bodies to grow by some type of overload each workout is the best thing we can do. Nutrition is at least 70% of the equation so you should also be focusing on eating enough protein. Our muscles also grow outside of the gym so recovery and rest are crucial.