High vs low repetitions

A lot of people don’t really know what they are exactly doing when they are working out. One of the things that a lot of people do wrong is making the mistake on incorporating too many high repetitions in the workout. Of course, there are benefits for high repetitions, but the low rep range should not be cast aside. In this article we will look into the differences between high and low repetitions. After reading you will fully understand the way these things complement each other.

Advantages of high reps

The advantages of high reps are quite big. The first and foremost pro of using high repetitions is that you will always make sure that your muscles will receive full hypertrophy. This means that they will be fully broken down and rebuild, this will result in building muscle. The low rep ranges don’t offer these kind of hypertrophy levels. So, if you are looking for that full look, the big look, you should lay the focus on the high repetitions. Take for example the bicep curl, this movement can be done best in 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions. This is mainly the case for the isolation movements, for the big exercises it is best to stay in the low rep range.

The pros of low reps

On the other side of the spectrum we have the low rep ranges. This will range anywhere between the 3 and 8 reps. These kinds of numbers are superb for the big movements, you can think of the bench or the squat. For these movements the amount of weight you can lift plays a big role. With the low rep range, you will mainly focus on strength gain. Therefore, it is wise to incorporate these at the beginning of your workout to make sure that you have all the energy you need to fully complete these movements. Let’s make this into an example. For a regular squat routine your daily schedule would be something like 5 sets of 5 repetitions to maximize strength gain.

The cons of both

The cons of the low rep ranges have mainly to do with the high risk of injury. Because the form will be a lot less neat the risk of injury will increase. You can’t lift full weight in the strictest form, this just isn’t possible. The cons of the high rep ranges have mainly to do with the fact that you will not gain significantly in strength when you do these, since strength training is focused on the low reps. As you can see, both have advantages and disadvantages. The best would be to combine the two of them.

Combine them for optimal results

When you want the best of both worlds you can combine the two to make the best possible workout. Start your routine with the heavy movements, the exercises in the low rep range. When you finish these your energy levels will be a little bit depleted. When these are over you can focus on form for the high rep movements. These are mainly isolation movements, strength is not really at play here. These take a lot less energy, therefore you are able to finish the whole routine with easy.