Rep Ranges Based on Training Goals
Oct 08, 2023
Intentional effort drives intentional results.
Your time training should be part of a long-term effort to achieve notable progress in something. Increasing strength, power, muscle endurance, and building muscle are all common goals sought after by gym-goers, but not all of these can be achieved by performing the same workout. A strength workout will look very different than a muscle endurance workout. The repetitions (“reps”), or rep range, you perform per set of an exercise is one of the ways a workout is manipulated to target a specific goal.
Below is an explanation of rep ranges along with definitions of the physical attributes they target.
STRENGTH: 1 to 5 reps per set
Strength is the body’s ability to exert force. This should be a component of every officer’s training regimen. Pure strength is needed for both use of force encounters and in life-saving scenarios. Being able to push, pull, lift, and carry a tremendous amount of weight could be the difference between successfully handling a situation, and not.
To train strength, that is the ability to lift the most weight possible, you have to lift heavy weight. If you’re lifting heavy weight, that will automatically put you into lower rep ranges. If training for pure strength you should stay in the 1 to 5 repetition range. This doesn’t mean you can take a light weight and perform three reps then expect strength gains. That particular set would do almost nothing with the exception of burn a couple extra calories. Your weight selection needs to get you at or near failure within 5 reps and the rest should be long so you can again exert near peak force on subsequent sets.
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POWER: 1 to 3 reps per set
Power is the rate of force development. It involves the maximal exertion of force, against a sub-maximal load. This means moving the weight fast. The implications for the tactical athlete include the ability to rapidly create separation or explosively move a resisting suspect into a safer position.
To train power, while the weight will be sub-max, the repetitions need to remain low so that maximum force is generated during each rep. Very quick and explosive movements most often trained in the 1 to 3 rep range.
HYPERTROPHY: 8 to 12 reps per set
Hypertrophy, in this context, refers to building muscle. More specifically, muscle hypertrophy refers to the enlargement of a muscle from the increase in size of its cells. If you want to fill out your uniform and increase your strength potential, then hypertrophy should be a component of your training plan. Furthermore, having a muscular physique elevates officer presence, potentially decreasing the chances of a more violent encounter. An officer that looks strong will appear more formidable than an officer who does not and that is worth something.
There are three mechanisms by which hypertrophy occurs: mechanical tension, muscle damage, and/or metabolic stress. These are best obtained by training to or near failure in the 8 to 12 rep range.
MUSCLE ENDURANCE: 15+ reps per set
Muscle endurance is the body’s ability to exert sub-maximal force repeatedly over time. For a law enforcement officer, this is essential for any prolonged physical encounter, both violent and non-violent. Consider a prolonged use of force encounter, applying chest compressions for a long duration, long distance victim carries, etc.
Muscle endurance requires the effective and efficient transportation and utilization of fuel within the target muscle. To improve your ability to perform sub-maximal effort over a prolonged period of time, you have to do just that. This will generally put you into the 15 or more rep range. For muscle endurance training, the rest periods are typically kept short to further push the fuel delivery and utilization systems of the body.
GUIDELINES, NOT RULES
These rep ranges are guidelines, not rules. Pure strength can be obtained from repetition ranges above 5. Hypertrophy gains can be achieved with reps less than 8 and more than 12. Muscle endurance can be developed with less than 15 repetitions. Your body doesn’t count the reps. However, it is within these repetition ranges you are most likely to receive the appropriate stimulus for the listed goals and the further away from these guidelines you go the further away from achieving the listed goal you may become.
CONCLUSION
When following EFT programming, you’ll see these repetition ranges at work. Depending on the program you follow, you may see emphasis lean more towards a particular attribute over others. Almost across the board, training to or near failure, whether the prescribed repetitions are 5 or 50, will lead to the intended results.
