{"id":2682,"date":"2015-02-13T11:04:35","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T18:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bornfitness.com\/?p=2682"},"modified":"2017-11-07T15:03:34","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T22:03:34","slug":"how-often-should-i-change-reps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bornfitness.com\/how-often-should-i-change-reps\/","title":{"rendered":"How Often Should I Change Reps?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever since muscle confusion became a popular term, there’s been a big debate about how often you need to adjust your workouts. For most people, the number of reps you perform are shockingly similar. In a survey of 100 people (equal gender split), 83 percent said they normally perform 8 to 10 reps per exercise. Coincidence? I think not.<\/p>\n

For men, that 8 to 10 rep range is usually associated with building more muscle. For women, the weight is viewed as not too heavy, but with enough volume to help get that “long and lean” look so many people want.<\/p>\n

But if you really want to see results, the key is making sure you hit a wide variety of rep ranges, and even change up your exercises too.<\/p>\n

The “best” answer is that the frequency that\u00a0you change reps ultimately depends on your goals and your performance. If your primary focus is becoming stronger, this will ultimately influence your workout approach. But that doesn’t mean you’ll only<\/em> do low reps all day and all the time. Assistance work (with moderate reps) and even speed work (with lower weight and higher reps) have both been shown to benefit increases in strength.<\/p>\n

What does it all mean? If you have a well designed program, you might not need to change up reps too often to\u00a0keep seeing results. But completely ignoring rep schemes might also be the reason why you’re constantly finding yourself on plateau island.<\/p>\n

In general, you want to change your reps every 4 to 6 weeks. However, there are many exceptions and your workout design will determine how frequently you need to make changes. <\/em><\/p>\n

There are many ways you can stagger this approach. Let’s say you’re trying to build muscle or just training for general fitness. One approach is very simple: just follow a particular rep range for 4 to 6 weeks (called a linear approach of periodization), and then shift to a new range.<\/p>\n

Let’s say you have three rep ranges: low, medium, and high. Your plan could look as follows:<\/p>\n