The way you train and work, plus the level of seriousness you put in the gym, compose a very important aspect in the bodybuilding and fitness field. Looking a little bit deeper into the training part, you will find that the number of reps represents the first step that you must carefully plan before you begin training. A beginner or even a experienced bodybuilder would probably ask himself or others: how many reps to build muscle do I need? And they have many reasons to do this, because the number of repetitions you do for each serie, influence not only your body shape but also your level of strength.
Now you have to choose your number of reps depending on what you want to obtain from them. Some people want to build muscle, others want to have fiber and be well defined, others want to gain in strength, others want to be really fast and train for speed etc. In this post I will give some advices to you all, depending on your needs.
If you are looking to build muscle, the numbers of reps must be between 6-12 and with fewer negative reps (do all of the reps alone). If you are at the beginning, this is the best way to start your training period. Begin with the appropriate weights for such series, then increase them gradually. After a while, when your body stops reacting to this number of reps, switch to 3-6 reps to gain more strength. When you are training for strength, the number of reps must be done with the maximum of weights that you can pull or lift. And the reps must be very intense as well.
The people who want to obtain a well defined body must do somewhere between 15-20 reps, and they must be made with a high intensity and fast. Also the diet they follow, is very important for those who want to obtain that “fiber looking body”. Normally, the define period follows the gain mass period. Your body must have mass first to begin the definition stage.
The thing is that all of these informations works for some people and for a specific type of organism, there are others using different methods. I recommand the No Nonsense Muscle Building program for more informations and a well structured training program containing good informations on the bodybuilding domain, including how many reps to build muscle.