Finding Suitable Rep Ranges For Exercises

Recently I made a post about my thoughts on the current trend of people chasing personal records on lifts that I don’t believe are specifically suited for that purpose.

More specifically, what I am trying to say is that I believe that some lifts are best utilized for lower rep ranges and others are best utilized for moderate or even higher rep ranges.

For example, I think that olympic lifts, front squats, and conventional deadlifts should generally be performed for lower reps.

By contrast, I think that lateral raises, straight-arm pulldowns, cable pull throughs, leg extensions, and face pulls are better suited to slightly higher rep ranges.

Then there are things like back squats which I feel can run the gamut from low to quite high rep ranges depending on how they are programmed.

Of course, these aren’t rules, but just places where I feel (based on experience) things are more suited to one thing than another. Sometimes I might even break these guidelines in my programming, but that would be the exception and not the norm.

The bottom line though is that, when it comes to training for physique development, you have to pick the best rep range for each exercise that allows YOU to put the most amount of focus on the target muscle rather than simply putting the most weight on the bar.

That rep range might be different on the same exercise from person to person, but the goal has to be tension, not numbers.