How many bench press reps should i do

I was at about pounds a couple years ago and now I have cut down to and noticed I have gained some muscle while staying in a deficit. I still have quite a bit of fat holding in my midsection so I believe if I stay in a deficit it will go away over time. If you want to change the weight between sets, check out Reverse Pyramid Training , as explained in this article.

It normally makes more sense to start with the heaviest set, and to keep each set within a couple of reps of failure. So do a heavy set, maybe 6 reps, take some weight off, push hard again, maybe getting 8 reps, take more weight off, and push hard again, maybe getting 10 reps.

That way each set is challenging enough to stimulate muscle growth. I bet you can still eke out some extra muscle growth, though, gain some extra bench press strength.

Great article. Great article! I just want to add that some claim that taller lifters should stick with lower reps, because their bodies do more work because of the their length. I hear your logic. If every repetition means moving the weight a longer distance, then we get more stimulus out of every rep. And there may be some truth to that, especially on lifts with a flat strength curve. Thanks for the answer, man! Yeah, for sure. As taller guys, we have a dilemma—to stay with less muscle mass and be lighter or to gain some muscles but be heavier this is more for the bodyweight exercises.

The range of motion is indeed longer and harder for us, which is in some support of the logic for doing fewer reps. And according to some research, it should work better for the other tall guys, too, because taller people have more slow-twitch muscle fibres. And finally, when thinking about doing higher reps per set, the first tall people who come to my mind are you guys. I know you are tall and are doing quite well with higher reps.

The idea of the low rep range for taller guys and I think we should include the bigger guys—fat, with a wide frame and lots of muscles is to decrease the total travel path of the weights because it is believed that the weak link in the chain is the cardiovascular system. I personally tend to agree that some exercises like squats and deadlifts are leaving you out of breath, but this is should be true for the smaller individuals, too.

For a year or two, I was a strong believer in doing 3 sets of 6 reps, but now I am starting to change my mind. Also, the form is very questionable. And finally, if you train with heavy weight, you exhaust yourself faster compared with the lighter weights, not because you are so tired, but because the weight is so heavy.

With lighter weights, you can go closer to the sweet spot of the hypertrophy range. Congratulations on this site. It is amazing the amount of quality information you have been able to distill and share with us here. Thank you so much! One quick question that comes to mind is the speed at which we should contract and extend the muscles for optimal muscle growth. There is a lot of information out there pointing to different things such as 4 second extension with explosive contraction, or just do everything very slow, or keep a steady pace of about 2 seconds on each direction… Also, most to the ones that point out to very slow movements seem to be focused on very low reps and sets because of the exhaustion it can create.

Any thoughts? Long story short, a good default is to lift the weight explosively, trying to accelerate it up, and then to lower it back down under control. Depending on how challenging the weight is, that can take different amounts of time. Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email. So, is there a hypertrophy rep range? And if so, what is it? Table of Contents. Shane Duquette. Shane Duquette on June 11, at pm. Thanks, Sam! Eric on September 20, at pm. This shows that the lower reps stimulated more muscle growth, when considering volume.

Shane Duquette on September 20, at pm. Charles on September 29, at am. When doing 4 sets of 8 reps can you go up in weight on each set for muscle growth. Shane Duquette on September 29, at am. I hope that helps! Shane Duquette on October 2, at am. I hope that helps. Rob on October 12, at pm. Shane Duquette on October 12, at pm. So in your situation, that gives us: 1.

Elias Meza on November 6, at am. Shane Duquette on November 6, at am. Hey Elias, thank you! Elias Meza on November 7, at am. Thanks for all the info. Shane Duquette on November 8, at am. SnkyB on November 15, at am. Shane Duquette on November 15, at am. Dean Riyami on November 19, at pm. Shane Duquette on November 21, at am. Dustin Wronka on January 11, at pm. Shane Duquette on January 12, at am. Hey Dustin, A good place to start is 3 sets of 8 reps. Alfons on January 17, at pm. Shane Duquette on January 18, at am.

Jill on March 2, at pm. Shane Duquette on March 3, at am. Jill on March 3, at am. Evan on March 10, at am. So i tried the warm up sets and 1 working set to failure for my bench so it would like this Set 1: 95 pounds 12 reps Set 2: pounds reps Set 3: pounds reps Set 4: pounds reps Set 5: pounds Working Set : reps So as you can see when I increase the weight my reps are going lower and my form gets somewhat sloppy.

Shane Duquette on March 10, at am. Hey Even, my pleasure, man! Thanks again for the response! Shane Duquette on March 10, at pm. Tazbo on April 4, at am. Shane Duquette on April 5, at pm.

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Average for women. How to get stronger. Alternatives to bench press. The bottom line. Read this next. Weight training is the great leveler. It strips away all the unnecessary things and simply pits you against the bar. In doing so, it allows an answer to the question The bench press is easily the most popular weight training exercise. It is part of human nature to compare ourselves with others.

This tendency is especially strong in the gym. Comparing ourselves with others in the gym, however, is a fast track to frustration. How much you should be lifting is not a one size fits all statistic.

It needs to be individualized to your situation. When it comes to the bench press, there are three key variables that need to be accounted for in determining how much you should be lifting. These are:. In other words, how much weight they can lift with proper form one time. While one rep maximum testing is an important strength indicator, it is not the only one. The overall training volume is 16 total work sets per week, at varying intensities to maximize muscle growth.

Choose a weight you can perform all sets for the prescribed weights. If you cannot perform repetitions for all sets with the same weight, go lighter. Once you can perform at least 10 reps every set with the same weight, you can increase the weight on the barbell in the next week. In the pause, be sure to keep the shoulderblades squeezed together, feeling tension in the middle of the chest. Neutral Grip Dumbbell Bench Press 3 sets. Choose a weight that you can do total reps with on your first set.

Use the same weights for the next two sets, training to near failure. Rest seconds maximum between sets. Perform the movement with a controlled lowering phase of 2 seconds, and pause 1 second at the bottom in a deep chest stretch position. Fully extend the arms at the top and flex the chest, pausing briefly before continuing into the next repetition. Week 1 — Perform one heavy set of 10 reps, then perform 2 sets to failure with same of that weight leave 2 good reps in the tank on the first set.

Week 2 — Find one heavy set of 10 reps, then perform 2 sets to failure with same of that weight leave on good rep in the tank on the first set. Week 3 — Find an 8 rep max, then perform 2 sets to failure with same of that weight max out.

Week 4 — 3 sets of 5 reps with Week 2 weight. Dumbbell Chest Fly 3 sets.