The best repetition scheme for muscle building is all three at a time. To achieve maximum muscle growth, you should aim for maximum growth in all three areas. With 3-5 repetitions, you will increase your strength considerably, which will be a great advantage when it comes to increasing your muscle mass. Several repetitions between 6 and 12 will give you the maximum growth of fast muscle fibres, while with 13 to 20 or more repetitions, you will increase the slow muscle fibres.
This knowledge about repetitions for muscle development seemed good to us at first, but then the next question came. How can I integrate the different repetition schemes in the same session? How can I plan my strength training? So, next round of questions to our experts.
What should the muscle-building training plan look like?
The answer is quick and easy: focus on the number of repetitions for now. It could go something like this: the first six weeks of your strength training plan, you could plan for training the growth of muscle fibres type 2a and 2b. This will require 6-12 repetitions. Then you can change your training plan for about 3-4 weeks to complete strength training, with 3-5 repetitions. You can then focus on slow muscle fibre training for another four weeks, doing 13 to 20 or more reps.
Muscle growth will be more visible in the weeks that you do 6 to 12 repetitions. This has to do with the majority of muscle bulk coming from fast muscle fibres. That is why its growth is more palpable. If you only keep this information, you can conclude that in that case, it is best to train those tissues with 6-12 exclusively. However, in that case, your potential would be significantly diminished, and you would not get the full benefit of your training.
Although the optimal number of repetitions for muscle development may be a debatable topic, the experience of our colleagues, books and reason tells us that the different repetition schemes have their virtues and that it would be a mistake to put aside some of those advantages. In general, it could be said that by training only in the 6 to 12 repetition range, you would be missing out on many benefits of other schemes.
Hypertrophy: conclusions
Hypertrophy or muscle hypertrophy supposes an increase in the volume of muscle fibres; that is, muscle mass is gained.
To encourage this process, the muscles must be subjected to performance above the usual during training. This is achieved, for example, by increasing the load, the number of repetitions and the speed of execution of the movements.
A well-structured training plan and constant performance enhancement are the foundation for muscle development. To achieve this, you can rely on our seven training principles.
There are three recommended strategies for athletes who wish to resort to hypertrophy: metabolic stress, mechanical stress, and muscle damage.
Muscle hypertrophy is a process that happens during the recovery phase. It is therefore essential to recover appropriately when we want to gain muscle.
Athletes can promote muscle hypertrophy. How? Eating a balanced diet rich in protein and carbohydrates and avoiding stress.Begin training with muscle exercises
It is vital that the training is carried out intensively, being recommended to start with a mild warm-up, which can be through aerobic exercises or through the rapid repetition of a bodybuilding exercise that will be part of the day’s training.
After the bodybuilding training, it is recommended that an aerobic training be carried out, which will help increase metabolism and caloric expenditure, also favouring hypertrophy.
- Change the routine every 4 to 5 weeks
It is essential that training alternate every 4 or 5 weeks to avoid muscle adaptation, interfering with the hypertrophy process. In addition, it is vital that after five weeks, the instructor evaluates the performance of the person and the progress he made and indicates the performance of other exercises and new training strategies.
