How Many Reps Should I Be Doing?

8, 10, 12? How many reps should you be doing?

We hear a lot of talk in the gym about how many reps you should do for different goals so we thought we'd share what we found after some research. The most common opinion is that fewer reps are better for strength, mid range is better for hypertrophy, and high range for endurance.

The exact number of reps will vary person to person. And it's not just about the number of reps, how much weight you're lifting as a % of your one rep max, and making sure your form is good has a huge impact on your gains.

Don't forget to warm up properly, use this guide as the number of reps you can do with good form, and adjust the weight based on the number of reps. You're unlikely to be able to do 15 reps at 80% of your one rep max, but you might be able to do 4 or 5.

Here's a good estimate for you to work on.

1 to 5 Reps: Pure Strength

6 to 8 Reps: Strength & Size

9 to 12 Reps: Pure Size

13 to 15 Reps: Size & Endurance

15 or More Reps: Pure Endurance