How many reps do I do?

In the world of weights and muscles, there is a great debate as to how many reps per set you should perform in order to achieve the best results, depending on what you are aiming for.

Now for me, I just want to gain size and strength in every muscle in my body. Some people want to gain definition and some to lose weight, but how many reps should you be doing?

As you trawl through the thousands of different sites offering an answer to this question you'll notice they all tell you different. Some say to build size, you should hit 12-15 reps, others 10, and others even say 4-6 reps.

I do not believe that there is a set number of reps to achieve this.

After training in multiple rep ranges for the last two years, I've found that as long as you are pushing the muscle to the point of overload, whether it be from the number of reps, or the weight, the muscle will have to grow and adapt to the strain. As long as you do this every time you train, you will see change.

I always try to hit 6-8 reps just due to personal preference. Below this rep range shows increased risk of injury and this could stop you training all together. Above this tends to take a long time to train and I like to keep my workouts between 45-60 minutes.

As for losing weight and gaining definition, I believe that diet and cardiovascular training are where you should be looking. Obviously along side lifting weights.

You cannot target fat loss to one specific body part. This is often confused and is why you see people who are craving abdominal muscles doing hundred's of sit ups and crunches and seeing minimal results. They are training the muscle, but that isn't the problem.

You are training your abs yes, but they are covered by a layer of fat that needs to disappear before those abs will appear.

If you want definition and striations in the muscles, you need to lose fat, and regular cardio and a clean diet is the path to achieving this.