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How many sets and repetitions of each exercise should I do?
I'll begin by explaining what sets and repetitions are.
When you do an exercise, for instance the arm curl, each time you lift the weight up and bring it back down it's considered one repetition (abbreviated rep).
Now let's say you did 10 reps, took a 1 minute break, then did another 10 reps. You have just done 2 sets of 10 repetitions each. Simple, right?
What some people find confusing is that they think they should do a certain number of sets and reps.
The fact is there is no set number of sets and reps that you should be doing in your strength training workouts. The number will probably vary from time to time, based on your goals and abilities.
The one huge mistake a lot of people make is doing too many reps. Quite often at the gym, I'll see someone doing 20 or 30 reps of an exercise.
Now, like I said earlier, there is a place for that depending on your goals. Some sports require extensive muscular endurance, in which case it makes sense to do a lot of reps.
But your goal is most likely to lose weight, get stronger, and change your body for the better, so the best way to achieve that goal is to lift a weight that is heavy enough to fatigue your muscles in just 8 to 12 reps.
Remember, you will not bulk up!
Okay, so what do you do if you can lift a certain weight for 13, 14, or 15 reps and beyond? Simply increase the weight slightly and that should get you into the 8 to 12 rep range.
How many sets should you do? The same thing applies here as it does for the number of reps: nothing is set in stone.
I can certainly give you a recommendation though: 1 set is definitely not enough, and depending on how much time you have available to exercise, 4 or 5 sets are probably too time consuming.
If you're just starting out, I recommend 2 sets for each exercise. As with the number of days you're lifting weights, it's good to ease into it. Besides, starting out right away doing 3 sets will probably leave you feeling extremely sore for the first week or two.
And just like with the number of days to work out each week, a good goal to shoot for is to work your way up to 3 sets. This will ensure that you're working your muscles to fatigue, and that's when you will really begin to notice some positive changes!
And again, you'll discover as you get more and more into your exercise routine that you might want to challenge yourself by adding a 4th or 5th set on some exercises.
This ties in very nicely to our 3rd major question...
<< Part 6 Conclusion >>
About the author:
Kevin Valluzzi is the owner of A&B Fitness, an in-home personal training company
located in northern New Jersey. He holds a degree in Exercise Physiology and is
certified by the American College of Sports Medicine as a Health & Fitness
Instructor.
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