Transcription
So how many reps should you be doing as a natural bodybuilder trying to build as much muscle as possible? Is it high reps? Is it low reps? Is it in between? And in this video, I'm going to talk about what my experience has been as someone who's gone from 125 lbs to being able to realize my goal as a successful natural bodybuilder, and who's been successfully training and still looks like this for over 30 years, training with high-intensity workouts at last 10, 15, max 20 minutes, just three times a week. I'm doing my best, and in this video, I'm going to share with you what I have learned over the past three decades in terms of how many reps really build muscle. And again, most importantly, it's not just my experience, but the experience of the hundreds of people who have trained over the years as well. So stay tuned. Let's talk a little more about that.
So in this video, we're talking about how many reps do you really need to build muscle as a natural athlete? But before I go any further, like, thank everyone for tuning in, especially those who be a one-stop place for anyone's inquiring naturally without drugs or supplements. Thank you so much for the support, and do be sure to like, subscribe, and hit that bell so you're the first to get new content as it comes out.
So I've been training up for 36 years. I've been training plans for the past 30-plus years, and over that period of time, there are a lot of patterns I was able to see in terms of how many reps really matter in terms of building muscle. And I'm not going to keep you in suspense. The answer is that you should be doing as many different rep schemes as possible, as long as you make sure that you never go under six reps. Your last rep is either extremely difficult or at the point of momentary muscular failure, and you couldn't do another rep even if your life depended on it.
I'll say it again. If you do high reps, it's fine. If you do low reps, it's fine. Do moderate reps, it's fine. They, they can all work to build muscle, but only if you don't do them all the time. Muscles have no idea whether they did five reps, 10 reps, 18 reps, 17 reps. But our muscles don't really necessarily understand the idea of repetition. It's something that we use as a guideline in order to create some sort of parameters that can be universally repeated in terms of our workouts. But understand this: muscles grow and get bigger and stronger as a result of unaccustomed stimulation that causes some degree of overload.
So if I'm doing bicep growth and I do six reps one day with the heaviest weight I can use, and I haven't done that in quite a while, there is a very strong chance that my muscles are going to start the adaptation response to get bigger and stronger by increasing the amount of contractile proteins as a response to that overloaded experience from those six reps. Now, the problem is, it's all about your body getting accustomed to what you're doing. So if in the following week I kept on using the same weight and doing the same number of repetitions, at some point there is no need for adaptation.
However, if the next week I use lighter weights and let's say I did 20 reps, but I did 20 really difficult reps, even though the weight is lighter, it would be a significant overload if the weight was heavy enough that your last couple reps brought you at or very close to momentary muscular failure. And if the week afterwards you went something even completely insane, there are 100 repetitions, which I've actually done. I've actually done 100 rep training. You would completely put your muscles in a place where they're going to be overloaded. But like I said, you can't do that all the time.
If every single time you trained with a weight that wasn't that heavy for 100 repetitions, your muscles wouldn't get that much bigger. But if you cycled your training in a way where you're consistently changing the rep schemes and consistently changing the weight, but always going to a place where you're either close to or at momentary muscular failure, you are going to create the conditions required to stimulate the adaptation response to make your muscles bigger and stronger. And like I said, over the years, what's been crucial for me for my success is the fact that every single time I train, my workout is always different. The difference in terms of exercises are always different, and the repetitions I do are always different as well.
So sometimes I'm training really heavy focus. It's absolute, but never going less than six reps at any point in time. Because if you go under six reps, all you have to do is look at powerlifters, those who focus only on strength training, whereas their repetitions tend to be single reps or three, sometimes no more than five repetitions, and it's glaringly obvious that even though they're lifting heavier weight, that they do not have the same degree of muscular development as a bodybuilder who does high repetition.
The other problem, but I've seen time and time again, and this is very important, is that people who tend to do under six repetitions tend to also have a much higher risk of injury. Remember, remember, one of the things about natural bodybuilding is that you're in this for the long haul, and you have to think in terms of training in a way that's going to be sustainable throughout the course of my entire career. I have never done a single one-rep max lift. Never. Never did it because my focus is on building muscle. I couldn't care less how much I lift. Whenever I talk about the weights that I lift, it always works. I lift for no less than six reps because anything under six reps, number one, you're not really feeling it, and it's about feel. You have to get your muscles to a place where they're almost begging for mercy. You have to be completely merciless with your training and with the amount of almost punishment that you have to put your body through.
And keeping your reps too low means that number one, you're not going to be in a place where you really go to full-out momentary muscular failure in terms of your full capacity. And the other thing, very, very important, you significantly increase, like I said, the risk of injury. I have a lot of friends who are really great at powerlifting, and they accept unapologetically the idea that what they are doing could cause injury. The same way a race car driver understands that when he's driving to that race, he could be in a really bad accident. Someone who is doing single one-rep max lifts for powerlifting purposes understands the risk involved and is willing to take those risks and also training way to minimize his risk as much as possible. And bearing in mind for a powerlifter, the idea is to lift as much weight as possible in as efficient a manner as possible. Whereas for high-intensity training for building muscle purposes, the idea is to make the exercise as difficult as possible. It's the exact opposite.
However, because so many people love posting on Instagram, YouTube, and other social media channels just how if we can lift without one rep, it might look impressive. But trust me, as the years go on, those people who do that kind of training are going to have a much higher likelihood of getting hurt. And as a natural athlete, getting hurt means you can't train as hard and as consistently, and that takes you out of the game. And it's very important to understand when you're training, you're training for you. If your goal is building muscle, then that's all that matters. You have to be in a place where you're focused on your training and realizing your goals, not trying to impress anyone.
Over the years, as well, there's so many people come to me and say that I'm not getting bigger, but you know, look how much I can bench press, look how much I can deadlift, look how much I can squat. That again may look impressive, but if your goal is trying to look a natural bodybuilder, you need to focus on your training intensity and your training variety, not about the weights.
I used to break down for my naturally intense H the training normally. My high reps will be somewhere around 20 reps. I did mention that I have done 100 rep training before, but again, everything I do is very, very infrequent, and the number of times I've done that type of really excessively high repetition is probably like once every two or three years. And again, every workout really is radically different, and that's been one of the keystones, I believe, of my success and those who I've trained over the years as well. So 20 repetitions is pretty much as high as I'll normally go. And what I'll do is that I'll stack my weight in a way that if I'm going to do something that ties 20 reps, it's going to be a really hard and difficult 20 reps. Usually, however, I will stay more times at my last set somewhere between six to eight reps. That seems to be the sweet spot in terms of really stimulating overall muscle mass while also increasing strength.
Very often, when I'm training my training partner, Enrico, will comment on the fact that I didn't do six reps, I did seven reps. I didn't do 10 reps, I did 11 reps. I didn't do 12 reps, I did 13 reps. Okay, I thought I couldn't count. Kevin never gets this reps right because at the end of the day, like I said in the beginning, reps don't really matter. What matters is the time on tension, how long is it that your muscles are experiencing this high degree of intensity? In fact, most of the time training clients, I will not count reps. What I'll do is that I'll count for time because I know exactly how long it takes to get six reps or more, and that's really all that matters. And if I get to a place where I hit momentary muscular failure or get really close to it at seven reps or nine reps, well, then that's where it is.
And to what if a child in the child, try and keep things as simple as possible because to whom much is given, much is expected. And I've been really blessed to be one of those people who have been able to realize my dream as a natural bodybuilder. And I remember when I was a kid, that there really wasn't anybody else who was a natural athlete out there giving information. All the people were talking about training and everything else were those who using drugs, and most of what they were saying wasn't relevant to me. And so I'm trying to be that voice here for you. So hopefully, what I've learned over the years is something you can take, put into your training, and help you along your path. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you have any questions or comments, do be sure to leave them below, and as always, next here.