The Fundamentals Series - Rotating Rep Ranges
How To Use Rotating Rep Ranges To Maximize Muscle Growth & Strength
Think back to the first time you hit the weight room. You walked into this brand new world composed of iron, muscle, and sweat. You saw muscular people lifting heavy weights, heard the sounds of strain and hard physical work, and saw others who represented exactly what you wanted to become. Now let me ask you this; on that very first day, do you remember how many reps per exercise you did?
Raise your hand if it was 10. This is the classic go-to starter rep range. If this was you, you’re one of millions who did the same thing during their very first training day.
I can’t tell you why 10 reps is the most popular rep range. I’m sure some big-name magazine kicked it off back in the day. Or, maybe Arnold said it was the way to do it in the 80s. Exactly why it’s the rep range king of the hill doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you include it in your training, BUT, that it isn’t the only rep range you should include in your training. And that ‘BUT’ is hugely important!
The Light Bulb Moment
Have you ever had a moment in your life where something just clicked? You either did something that felt so right or you realized something that seemed so obvious in hindsight, but yet, so valuable in the moment. That satisfying moment of discovery is 'the click.'
These moments can be related to minor or major aspects of life. When you have a click moment, you better be taking notes and putting your realization to use in the future!
You'll often hear people refer to these click moments as ‘light bulb’ moments too. On TV, you'll see an imaginary light bulb floating over a cartoon character's head and when something clicks for them, the bulb lights up.
One of the biggest 'light bulb' moments of my training career happened when I realized that in order to make the most constant, reliable, and fun strength and size gains possible, I needed to start varying the number of reps per set I performed during my workouts.
This is a very important training concept, and if you don't realize how important it is, then you probably haven't experienced how much this concept can rocket your progress forward.
An example of a rep range rotation is:
Week 1: 20 rep sets
Week 2: 10 rep sets
Week 3: 5 rep sets
Week 4: Repeat Week 1
As you can see, the example above rotates through high rep, medium rep, and low rep work. Each of these rep ranges provides specific growth and strength benefits. If you aren’t putting your body through all of these paces, you’re not experiencing each of their special benefits.
Note: I'm not saying to switch up your exercises each week. I'm only talking about changing up the reps.
Any valuable program is going to require performing the same exercises for multiple weeks. This is how you actually make progress in exercises. You use them repeatedly and give yourself time to improve with them. Sticking to a set of quality exercises for a prolonged period of time is a hugely important concept, and I’ll probably get into it in a later article, but today we’re talking about rep ranges.
The Benefits of Rotating Rep Ranges
Any valuable program will also have multiple workouts focused on multiple goals and aspects of training (strength, size, conditioning, speed, etc), which can only be accomplished if rotating rep ranges are present.
This is where rotating rep ranges steps up to the plate and hits a 500-foot bomb every time. Rotating rep ranges delivers a grand slam of benefits. I’ve listed my favorites in the table below, but these aren’t the only benefits of rotating rep ranges. The list truly does go on.
Which Rep Ranges Should You Use?
Rep ranges can vary from one to infinity, so knowing which rep ranges to rotate through isn’t obvious. The question ‘which rep ranges should I use?’ is common. Let’s get into the answer.
I prefer to keep things simple and work with rotations which always include high, medium, and low range work. This will provide you with all of the benefits I mentioned above, and more.
You can choose to define the exact rep range of each of those levels with your own numbers, and there is definitely going to be some differing opinions on this, but I prefer to stick to the following guidelines:
If your preferences differ, that’s OK. I’m not going to nitpick this stuff and my goal is really just to see you rotating reps, period. What I will say, is that for years and years I’ve seen those who follow my guidelines absolutely crush it in the muscle growth and strength gain departments. Take that information and do with it what you wish.
Which Rotation Works Best?
Now that I’ve covered benefits and rep range guidelines, it’s time to talk about the actual rotations you can use to tailor your training program to your main training priority.
This is an important section of this article because you can’t actually put rotating rep ranges to use without a plan of action.
Below, I’m going to outline four different possible rotation schedules and who should use each one.
The Strength-Focused Rotation
This rotation places the largest amount of focus on maximal strength gains. Maximal strength, being how much a trainee can lift for one rep, is best increased through low rep training. Generally, if you want to be good at something, you should do it often. This rotation makes sure low rep training is done most often.
With this rotation, expect to improve at short-burst high-intensity work. Working sets will be shorter in duration, simply because fewer reps are being performed.
This rotation is excellent for athletes looking to be strong and powerful in short-burst intervals or anyone looking to work on maximal and near-maximal strength levels.
This strength-focused rotation will have you working with the 4 to 6 rep range twice as often as the others.
Week 1: 3 sets x 4 to 6 reps
Week 2: 3 sets x 4 to 6 reps
Week 3: 3 sets x 8 to 12 reps
Week 4: 3 sets x 15 to 20 reps
Week 5: Repeat Week 1
Laid out in sequence, we have Low, Low, Medium, High, Low, Low, Medium, High, etc.
The Growth-Focused Rotation
This rotation places the highest priority on muscle hypertrophy (growth). While all rep ranges produce growth to varying degrees, it’s widely accepted that challenging sets in the medium rep range do wonders for building new muscle.
The person who will enjoy this rotation the most is the person who wants size over everything.
They’re happy with being stronger than their average peer and obtaining a fair amount of muscular endurance, but neither of those traits are their highest priority. They want size!
This growth-focused rotation will have you working with the 8 to 12 rep range twice as often as the others.
Week 1: 3 sets x 8 to 12 reps
Week 2: 3 sets x 8 to 12 reps
Week 3: 3 sets x 4 to 6 reps
Week 4: 3 sets x 15 to 20 reps
Week 5: Repeat Week 1
Laid out in sequence, we have Medium, Medium, Low, High, Medium, Medium, Low, High, etc.
The Endurance/Pump-Focused Rotation
This rotation places the highest priority on muscular endurance and pump training. High rep training has some serious benefits, so this rotation is certainly valuable.
This rotation is excellent for those who love getting into the gym, feeling the pump, feeling the burn, and don’t want to stress their joints as often with the weight loads needed for medium and low rep training.
While this rotation may have you lifting the lightest weights most often, it’s certainly no joke in terms of intensity. High rep sets with properly challenging weights are some of the most grueling out there.
This endurance/pump-focused rotation will have you working with the 15 to 20 rep range twice as often as the others.
Week 1: 3 sets x 15 to 20 reps
Week 2: 3 sets x 15 to 20 reps
Week 3: 3 sets x 8 to 12 reps
Week 4: 3 sets x 4 to 6 reps
Week 5: Repeat Week 1
Laid out in sequence, we have High, High, Medium, Low, High, High, Medium, Low, etc.
The Universal Rotation
This rotation places equal focus on all three rep ranges. It is for those who thrive on weekly variety, are OK with equal prioritization of maximal strength, muscle growth, and endurance/pump training, and want an effective and mentally engaging all-around quality weight training approach. You really can’t go wrong with this bad boy.
To be honest, this is the most frequently used rotation among those who work with me. Everyone enjoys it, it covers all the general bases, and improves people in a balanced manner.
This popular rotation will have you working all three rep ranges at equal frequencies.
Week 1: 15 to 20 reps
Week 2: 8 to 12 reps
Week 3: 4 to 6 reps
Week 4: Repeat Week 1
Laid out in sequence, we have High, Medium, Low, High, Medium, Low, etc.
These rep range rotation examples can be put to use by virtually anyone who lifts weights. Almost every weightlifter falls into a category covered by the rotations above.
Choose the rotation that suits you best and start using it at the beginning of your next training cycle.
Specific Directions for Trainees Using GST
You may or may not know about the main program I’ve built, used, and evolved over the past 13 years. It’s called Growth Stimulus Training(GST) and if you’re on the program, this section is meant for you. If not, please skip forward to my final thoughts.
GST Supplement Exercise Rep Range Rotation
Each GST weight day is composed of one or two core lifts and a handful of supplement lifts. The core lifts are the main focus of each day, while the supplement lifts are designed to enhance core lift performance, target specific muscle groups with additional work, add volume to the day’s overall total, and cover any other training gaps that need filling.
The core lifts run on a weekly periodization schedule, basing each week’s poundage off of the user’s estimated one rep max.
For this reason, the topic of rep range rotation does not apply to the core lifts. It only applies to the supplement lifts.
Below, I’m going to map out the four rotations I detailed above, but with specificity to GST supplement exercise programming.
The Strength-Focused Rotation
Macrocycle 1
Microcycle 1: 3 to 4 sets x 5 reps
Microcycle 2: 3 to 4 sets x 5 reps
Microcycle 3: 3 sets x 10 reps
Microcycle 4: 2 to 3 sets x 20 reps
Begin Macrocycle 2 and repeat Microcycles 1-4, aiming to progressively overload exercises when possible.
The Growth-Focused Rotation
Macrocycle 1
Microcycle 1: 3 sets x 10 reps
Microcycle 2: 3 sets x 10 reps
Microcycle 3: 3 to 4 sets x 5 reps
Microcycle 4: 2 to 3 sets x 20 reps
Begin Macrocycle 2 and repeat Microcycles 1-4, aiming to progressively overload exercises when possible.
The Endurance/Pump-Focused Rotation
Macrocycle 1
Microcycle 1: 2 to 3 sets x 20 reps
Microcycle 2: 2 to 3 sets x 20 reps
Microcycle 3: 3 sets x 10 reps
Microcycle 4: 3 to 4 sets x 5 reps
Begin Macrocycle 2 and repeat Microcycles 1-4, aiming to progressively overload exercises when possible.
The Universal Rotation
Macrocycle 1
Microcycle 1: 2 to 3 sets x 20 reps
Microcycle 2: 3 sets x 10 reps
Microcycle 3: 3 to 4 sets x 5 reps
Microcycle 4: 2 to 3 sets x 20 reps
Macrocycle 2
Microcycle 1: 3 sets x 10 reps
Microcycle 2: 3 to 4 sets x 5 reps
Microcycle 3: 2 to 3 sets x 20 reps
Microcycle 4: 3 sets x 10 reps
Begin Macrocycle 3 and continue with the high, medium, low rotation, aiming to progressively overload exercises when possible. As you can see, this rotation runs on a three week cycle, where the previous rotations run on a four week cycle. Don’t get confused, just continue rotating through high, medium, and low rep ranges consistently, as shown in the example.
Final Thoughts
I can’t stress the importance of rotating rep ranges enough. It really is a key component to maximal results in the weight room and it’s sad to see people missing out on the value of this concept.
Sure, someone will inevitably claim that if someone wants to focus in on a specific goal, they should use the rep range for that goal and nothing else. While this makes sense at first glance and seems logical, it’s not the most effective way to do it.
When using just one rep range, over and over and over, the body is missing out on the hugely important benefits of other rep ranges. You see, these different rep ranges actually improve each others’ performance. You could say they spot each other.
Check out this example. Applying low rep stimulus to the body will increase strength, getting the user more and more comfortable handling large amounts of weight. This only makes them more capable handling increased loads during their medium and high rep work.
Here’s another example of what I’m talking about. Subjecting the body to high rep stimulus builds pain tolerance and endurance, ensuring the user can power through tough medium rep sets. Where they may have needed to stop a medium set early in the past, now they have the endurance and pain tolerance to finish it strong. They’re experienced in sets with much higher rep counts and if they never worked with higher reps, that just wouldn’t be the case.
The way these different rep ranges harmonize with each other is beautiful.
If you’re currently in the habit of playing one rep range on repeat, stop it. Make the move to rotating rep ranges and watch your mental engagement in your program improve, along with your physical size, strength, and endurance.
While you’re planning your upcoming rotation, leave a comment and tell me which rotation speaks to you.
Of course, lemme hit you with a dad joke before I go. Why was it so windy in the stadium? It was full of fans.