While many types of exercise offer health benefits, the only way to reliably boost muscle growth is to use your muscles against moderate to intense resistance. Furthermore, muscle growth is specific to the muscles being used.
- Decide your target number of repetitions
The repetition continuum is a useful concept when designing training programs for muscle development. Stimulating muscle growth requires performing weight training exercises with a weight that only allows you to perform 1 to 20 repetitions.
In general, the repetition continuum states that weights you can only lift for a few repetitions tend to build more strength, weights you can lift for 6 to 12 repetitions tend to build more muscle, and weights you can lift for 12 to 20 repetitions tend to increase muscular endurance.
Rep-continuous range
The number of repetitions you can perform with a given weight determines the benefit you will see.
1–5 reps: Develops more strength
6–12 reps: develops more muscle growth
12-20 repetitions: develops more muscular endurance
Understand that these ranges will overlap, meaning that sets of 3 reps with the respective weight will cause some muscle growth, sets of 8 reps will develop some strength, and sets of 20 reps will also build muscle. Furthermore, recent research suggests that different individuals may respond better to lower or higher rep ranges when it comes to building muscle.
