Homehigh intensity trainingBest Rep Range For Muscle Growth: Natural Bodybuilding Tips!

Best Rep Range For Muscle Growth: Natural Bodybuilding Tips!

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So, how many reps should you be doing as a natural bodybuilder trying to build as much muscle as possible?

how many reps are needed to build muscle as a natural athlete

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 pounds to being able to realize my goal as a successful, natural bodybuilder, and who has been successfully training and still looks like this for over 30 years.

Kevin Richardson starting at 125lbs to now as a natural bodybuilding champion

Training with high intensity workouts that last 10, 15, max 20 minutes just three times a week while 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.

Natural Bodybuilder Kevin Richardson now 50 years old trains with Naturally Intense High Intensity workouts

And again, most importantly, it’s not just my experience, but the experience of the hundreds of people who I’ve 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 I’d like to thank everyone for tuning in, especially those that should be a one-stop place for anyone training 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 first in line to get new content as it comes out.

Optimal Rep Range for Building Muscle with High Intensity Training

So, I’ve been training now for 36 years. I’ve been training clients 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.

A collage of Naturally Intense founder Kevin Richardson's clients over 33 years of training

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.

Naturally Intense founder Kevin Richardson executing dumbbell side laterals

Make sure 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.

Text stating you really have to go all out and train at an extremely high intensity

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 can all work to build muscle, but only if you don’t do them all the time.

Lack of variety in training means little to no overload and therefore no muscle growth or change

The Relationships Between Repetitions and Muscle Growth

Muscles have no idea whether you did 5 reps, 10 reps, 18 reps, 17 reps, but our muscles don’t really necessarily understand the idea of repetitions.

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.

Muscle growth is a form of stress adaptation to unaccustomed stimulus like weight overload that cause protein synthesis and therefore muscle growth

So, if I’m doing bicep curls, 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 protein as a response to that overloaded experience from those six reps.

Now, the problem is it’s all about your muscles getting accustomed to what you’re doing.

So, if in the following weeks 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 used 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 of reps brought you at or very close to momentary muscular failure.

You can use lighter weight as long as it's still heavy enough to cause overload and failure in the last couple of reps

And if the week afterwards you went something even completely insane and did 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.

Natural Bodybuilder Kevin Richardson training stating that you can stimulate muscle growth with lighter weights as long as the intensity of the set is high enough

But as I said, you can’t do that all the time.

If every single time you train 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.

How Varying Reps Stimulates Muscle Growth

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.

Every high intensity workout must be different as your body responds to unaccustomed stimuli

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.

The Importance of Never Doing Low Reps to Build Muscle

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 weights that they do not have the same degree of muscular development as a bodybuilder who does higher repetitions.

A man bench pressing heavy weight to show how drug free powerlifters lift heavy but do not have a bodybuilder's muscular development

The other problem that 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, 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.

Natural Bodybuilder Kevin Richardson in a back double biceps

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’s always what I can 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.

Natural Bodybuilder Kevin Richardson in a front double bicep pose with text that he's never done or trained one rep maxes in his bodybuilding career

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.

Competitive powerlifters accept that heavy lifting comes with a degree of risk versus finding a more sustainable path

The same way a race car driver understands that when he’s driving in 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 train in a way to minimize those risks as much as possible.

And bear 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 they can lift for that 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.

The only person you are up against when training is yourself so only focus on your goals and progress

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.

Building muscle naturally takes time so it's important to avoid injury in order to realize your max potential

Over the years as well there’s so many people who come to me and say that I’m not getting bigger, but 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 like a natural bodybuilder you need to focus on your training intensity and your training variety, not about the weights.

It's not just about lifting heavy weights but using variety and intensity

All right, so to break it down for my naturally intense kinds of 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 have trained over the years as well.

So, 20 repetitions is pretty much as high as I’ll normally go.

Natural Bodybuilder Kevin Richardson often does as high as 20 reps for muscle growth= at times even higher

And what I’ll do is that I’ll stack my weights in a way that if I’m going to do something as high as 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 Erika 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. But Kevin never gets his reps right.”

Naturally Intense Personal Trainer Erika Citrin confirming Kevin never gets his reps right when training

‘Cause at the end of the day, like I said at the beginning, reps don’t really matter.

What matters is the time under tension.

How long is it that your muscles are experiencing this high degree of intensity?

Reps don't matter as much as time under tension

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.

Kevin seldom counts reps when training clients

And so, one of the things I try to do with this channel is try and keep things as simple as possible because to whom much is given, much is expected.

And I’ve been really blessed to have been one of those people who’ve 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.

Train as hard as you can and get as many reps as you need to which will stimulate growth

All the people who were talking about training and everything else were those who were 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 and 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, Excelsior!

Click for a free copy!

CLICK FOR A FREE COPY OF KEVIN’S WEIGHT LOSS EBOOK!Featured everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to CBS News, Kevin Richardson’s Naturally Intense High Intensity Training have helped hundreds lose weight and transform their bodies with his 10 Minute Workouts. One of the top natural bodybuilders of his time, Kevin is also the international fitness consultant for UNICEF and one of the top personal trainers in New York City.

Kevin Richardson
Kevin Richardsonhttps://www.naturallyintense.net
Featured everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to CBS News, celebrity Personal Trainer NYC and with over 2.6 million readers of his blog, Kevin Richardson is the creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training, one of the top lifetime drug free bodybuilders of his time, the first International Fitness & Nutrition Consultant for UNICEF, 2020 and 8 Time Winner of the Best of Manhattan Awards for Personal Training and a world recognized authority on high intensity training. Kevin has helped thousands, from celebrities to CEO's over the past 30 years achieve their fitness goals with his 10 minute high-intensity workouts done just three times a week in conjunction with his holistic nutrition approach. You can learn more about about his diet and training services at www.naturallyintense.net
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