How many reps for maximum toning and results?

Secret…I DON’T LIKE THIS CHART!

Why?

Because it makes you think you can’t get stronger with 20 reps or more muscle at 30 reps. These are the optimal numbers from the research but this research is usually done on college students mostly male.

I used to take this chart as gospel until I actually taught group exercise. I used to teach a resistance class that was pre-choreographed. That means all the moves were determined ahead of time. There was a song that all you did was squat. So for like 4-5 minutes you were doing always more than 50 reps. According to the chart I should not gain much strength but I should get endurance. I competed with a fellow instructor to see who could use the most weight. It got heavy! About 150 pounds! I was curious if my overall strength had gone up. This is usually tested with one rep of as heavy as you can lift. I lifted 300 pounds!! Prior bests of 1 maximum lift were about 225. My total strength increased at 50 reps!?!?!?

Here is what you REALLY need to know.

When you lift weights the repetition number is not as important as the effort level. If you do 3 reps, 10 reps, or 25 reps you can gain power, strength, muscle, and endurance IF you reach your maximum level. Because I kept trying to do heavier even though it felt hard, I kept improving. On the above rep chart as with most you will see online there is a silent “RM” at the end of each rep number. That “RM” means repetition maximum. It means now matter how many you do that you did the most you possibly could do (good form of course). This means if you did 10 repetitions, you tried to do an 11th and it didn’t work. 10 was the most you could do.

What I do with personal training and boot camp clients:

Higher rep numbers usually – 10-20 reps typically. This is to allow strength to be built without having to lift as heavy of a weight and put too much strain on the joints. It also creates a great fat burning effect. This also allows for “practice” in an exercise without the critical danger of doing one rep wrong with too heavy a weight.

Fun bonus thought –
Less than 10 reps the failure at the end happens suddenly without much ability to push through to get a couple more reps. At rep numbers greater than 15 you will notice you can push out more if you really focus. It does have more of that “burn” feeling as you do it as well.  (this is going to spike metabolism and activate fat burning hormones!!)