Sets and reps

[hollyblueivy]

Can anyone give guidance on what number of sets and reps I should be doing on weights?

I remember years and years ago being told 3x12 and just always stick with that. But wondering if that's still right?

I'm a qualified trainer and I do 4 sets of 6 reps. 6-8 reps is the best for hypertrophy.

I was doing 3 sets until another trainer I was getting some ideas from told me to do 4. But it does make a workout long-winded.

It depends what your goals are. Mine are programmed for me by my coach and range from 1x1 to 3x15-20 and everything in between. I've also had 4x4, 5x5. Common ones I see on the programmes for people with more general goals at my gym are 3x8-10, 3x10-12.

We go up depending on weight

Eg starting at 30kg squat, when you can do 4 sets of 12 we go up in weight and down in reps
So we might do 4 sets of 8 at 40kg then 10 then 12
Then 4 sets of 8 at 50kg. Etc etc

Can you be more specific - Which lifts?

And as @RayKray asks, what are you training for? Strength? Hypertrophy? These things determine how many sets and reps, and how heavy you go, and what rest breaks you take.

I don't really know what I'm training for - I want to get strong so I can lift heavier weights and I'd like to have some muscle definition too if possible.

Machines I've been using are

Seated Row
Lat pull down
Abductor
Leg press
Chest press
The one that does the front of your thighs / not sure what it's called

Is that classed as full body? Am I missing anything obvious?

Any tips on sets reps for these ?

Thanks I don't want to be wasting my time if I can be tweaking what I'm doing and more likely to get results

I would mix it up

So endurance for a few weeks - one or two sets of 20

All round sone weeks a - 12*3

Building in other weeks - harder weights and 5*5

I would also mix up the speed - sone static, sone dynamic moves - So wall squat for a few mins and then squat jumps ( don't need weights )
Plank for a few mins and then mountain climbers

Or just slow for one round count to 4 to lower in squat and 4 up and fast for another

@hollyblueivy so sounds like your goal is both strength and hypertrophy. You've got a push, a pull and legs in there which are the main movements. They'll help with getting stronger. You've not got any of the accessory type movements to target specific muscles. If you want defined muscles in your arms for example you could add in hammer curls (biceps), tricep extensions/skull crushers (triceps), lateral raises (delts). A shoulder press as well as a chest press. They're all dumbbells or cable machine things so it depends if you want to add that in. And I'd suggest pretty standard 8-12 (or 8-10 or 10-12). Once you can do 12, up the weight and go back to 8, last reps should be hard.

I got this book when I started and it helped me understand the principles www.amazon.co.uk/New-Rules-Lifting-Women-Goddess/dp/1583333398?nodl=1&dplnkId=e7a2390a-1b57-4e4b-8242-7bc2a87ed2dc

None of those is full body @hollyblueivy . (and the machine for your legs is a leg extension - depending on how you use it, it hits hamstrings or quads).

And there's an argument that in the building muscle initial stage, machines are not the best way as you don't really have to learn technique and form to actually manage the weights.

So I'd recommend that you learn about the three main compound lifts: deadlift, back squat (and front squat possibly) and benchpress. For me, benching is less useful than DLs and squats.

My favourite is the deadlift - it really trains your whole body & teaches you to be confident with very heavy weights.

So if I'm training say, 3 times a week, I do one session which focuses on the deadlift as my major lift, then accessory exercises (what you're doing are known as "accessories"); I'd do one session focusing on squats, then one session with whatever I feel like - maybe benching, but maybe more DLs as they're my favourite. But I've learnt not to repeat a compound lift the day after - a rest day between sessions is essential, and if I DL on MOnday, I won't do it again till Thursday or Friday.

The other thing is that you should train to failure, and don't be afraid of going heavy. You should feel like you can only just do the final 2 reps of a set of say 8 lat pull downs. And that you then need your 2 minutes rest break.

This is all really great advice thank you - it's a bit overwhelming so I will read through again later and maybe write down a programme to follow

Yeh I'd really get a book or an online programme or a PT to help as asking online will be overwhelming.

Thing is with this stuff there's different schools of thought on everything. Even just 'should you train to failure' - some approaches say yes (I used to) others say absolutely not (I now don't). You will get conflicting advice so it is overwhelming. And sometimes it doesn't matter unless you're training for something specific.

I agree with the advice here. You also want to be training with progressive overload - so making sure you do a little bit more than you did the previous week, either by reps, weight or time under tension (Ie slow the rep down).

there is no point in writing your own plan, lots out there available - but I’d start with a PT to show you the mechanics of the big compound lifts. Like the PP, I do squats & deadlifts as the big lift a few days apart then the rest is accessory work

It’s addictive :)

https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/the-correct-number-of-reps-per-set-in-the-gym/

Explanations here.

I do calisthenics classes and we usually do 3/4 sets and up to 5 reps of the hardest/biggest moves, and up to 10 of the "easier" or accessory moves towards the end of the class. On my own, I might occasionally go up to 15 reps as a finisher on moves that isolate specific muscles.

I agree that a lot of the advice is overwhelming and contradictory and also that from what I have seen, much of the evidence - such as it is - is from men. I train mostly with men, and their progress and strengths are different - their progress at power moves is much faster than mine and we are more similar in terms of holds/endurance progress (no surprises there - but I am not going to waste my time focussing too much on power)

So I also follow my nose and mix things up in a way that is enjoyable and sustainable for me.