What Is The Best Rep Range For Mass And Strength?

What's the best rep range for building muscle?  What's the best rep range for increasing strength? What if we told you there's one range that can optimize both?

In the real world, you should be using a range of reps, including both heavier and lighter loads. But what if you could only use one rep range for the rest of your life?

We actually think there's a very good answer, and it goes beyond just opinion, but is based on physiological adaptations. We're going to examine what we think is the single best rep range that satisfies everything; the sweet spot of training for strength and mass.

What Is The Best Rep Range For Muscle And Strength??

Defining a "best" rep range can be tricky, as you must balance different training variables to meet the needs of most populations.

In addition, everyone has their own opinions based on their training preferences.

However, we think the answer is pretty clear when we look at what the research says about training adaptations.

With that said, we strongly believe that the best rep range is 6-8 Reps.

The Sweet Spot: Why Is The 6-8 Rep Range The Best For Training?

Before we answer, let's quickly address some nuance in how we chose this number. We are considering;

• This is the only rep range you will use for the rest of your life
• You want to build both muscle and strength (and if you don't want to, you should)
• A rep range that satisfies the largest pool of people

With that in mind, it's important to understand why this is even an issue; why not use any rep range?

Many people don't realize that the relationship between strength and muscle mass is actually different physiological adaptations and are optimized with different training variables (Currier et al., 2023)

This means you won't necessarily build both in the long term unless you use a rep range that satisfies both.

How Do You Build Muscle Mass?

Muscle growth is when your actual muscle increases in size. It refers to physical adaptations in muscle tissue that build larger muscles.

Best Training Variables For Muscle Hypertrophy

• Use a wide range of loads, but moderate loads are ideal (70-80% 1RM / 8-12 reps).
• Growth is triggered by mechanical tension and metabolic damage
• Increasing volume with tension is the primary driver of growth.
• Can occur with isolations, accessory, or compound movements.

It's important to understand that you can build muscle mass using a very large range of reps.  Research has shown that as long as you bring sets to failure, you can build muscle with loads as light as 30%1RM all the way up to near-maximal loads (Schoenfeld et al., 2021).

You have a lot of options.

How Do You Build Muscle Strength?

Muscle Strength refers to how much force a muscle is able to produce. This requires you to improve your neurological system, which is how your brain communicates with your muscles.

You are training your existing muscles to "talk" better together, becoming more efficient at generating force.

Best Training Variables For Muscle Strength

• A wide range of loads can work when you first start training.
• After beginner phase, using >80%1RM becomes more important; >85%1RM is ideal
• Must use compound exercises
• Strength increase occurs through placing heavier loads on the muscle over time.

It's important to understand that, unlike building muscle, you don't have as wide a range for building strength. While beginners can increase their maximal strength with lighter loads (60% 1RM), heavier loads are required as they become more experienced.

This means that strength training is the limiting factor. This is why you can't use any range you want and optimize both. 

Evidence For The 6-8 Rep Range

As we mentioned, this isn't just our opinion; we can back it up with research.

We have spoken extensively about the need to use heavier loads for strength, even for those who just want to build muscle. Therefore, we'll just point to two large review loads for strength and hypertrophy.

1. Schoenfeld et al. (2021) found that while there is no clear endpoint to what loads can elicit strength, there does seem to be a need for heavier loads as you get stronger.

This is in contrast to hypertrophy, where research is more detailed: you can build mass with a wide range.

2. A large meta-analysis from Lopez et al. (2021) reviewed research on the effects that different loads have on strength and recovery. They wanted to see if and where thresholds existed to maximize training.

They essentially made the same observations;

• As long as intensity is used, muscle growth can occur with a wide range of loads.
• The appropriate load for strength shrinks as you get stronger.

In fact, their conclusion actually directly backs our promotion of the 6-8 rep range.

Summarizing The Studies

When picking the best rep range, we tried to identify where the thresholds lay.

It is pretty clear that any load can be used for muscle mass. While some may claim this is also true for strength, we think the evidence clearly suggests the need for heavier loads, especially as you progress.

More importantly, we know the opposite definitely isn't true; using lighter loads IS NOT best for strength.

Therefore, we land on the 6-8 rep range;

• It is heavy enough for decent strength gains (80-85% 1RM)
• It's still a moderate load to build sufficient volume.
• While heavier, you can still perform isolations and smaller accessory work.
• Even though it's "heavy-moderate", it's still relatively light and safe to work with.

Best Reps And Load For Mass And Strength FAQ

FAQ 1: Can you build muscle with low reps/high load, or are they only for strength?

Yes, low reps can build muscle as they create high mechanical tension, the primary driver of muscle growth. However, this range produces less total training volume than moderate reps, making it better suited for strength development than maximizing muscle size.

FAQ 2: Is it better to use one rep range or multiple ranges in a training program?

Definitely multiple rep ranges. Combining low reps (3–6) for strength, moderate reps (6–12) for hypertrophy, and occasional higher reps (12–20) for endurance and metabolic stress leads to more complete muscle development.

FAQ 3: Are "rep ranges" real?

Yes, but not in the same way we once believed. Rather than being strict ranges, it's more of a continuum. In terms of muscle hypertrophy, moderate loads and reps are still ideal, but due to convenience and effectiveness rather than physiology. At the same time, building strength requires greater loads as you progress. We have a few articles that go over the nuance in more depth:

• Re-Evaluating The Rep Ranges
• 5 Reasons The Rep Range Matters

Final Say On Training For Mass And Strength 

Luckily for us, we don't have to stick to a single rep range. Ideally, you're using a broad range that dips into both strength territories (>80% 1RM) and hypertrophy (<75% 1RM).

However, we have noticed that both sides can become too comfortable in their spot and encourage both to expand their range. If you're wondering how heavy or how light to go, that 80%1RM lays right in the sweet spot to give you great returns on both.

That's why all of our programs use this range. We ensure our hypertrophy athletes include minimal amounts of strength, while our strength athletes get cardio in with volume work for mass. Check them out if you think your programming is missing something!

• Power Building - For the lifter that wants to get strong while also putting on mass!
• Pure Strength - For lifters who care about one thing: getting strong!
• Volume Hypertrophy - For lifters who thrive off the muscle pump! (We're releasing a new HIT version soon!)
• Beginners - An awesome option for new lifters wanting to build a solid foundation!
• Personal Programs - For lifters who want to optimize their training!

References

1. Currier, B. S., Mcleod, J. C., Banfield, L., Beyene, J., Welton, N. J., D'Souza, A. C., Keogh, J. A. J., Lin, L., Coletta, G., Yang, A., Colenso-Semple, L., Lau, K. J., Verboom, A., & Phillips, S. M. (2023). Resistance training prescription for muscle strength and hypertrophy in healthy adults: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis. British journal of sports medicine, 57(18), 1211–1220. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2023-106807
2. Lopez, P., Radaelli, R., Taaffe, D. R., Newton, R. U., Galvão, D. A., Trajano, G. S., Teodoro, J. L., Kraemer, W. J., Häkkinen, K., & Pinto, R. S. (2021). Resistance Training Load Effects on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gain: Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 53(6), 1206–1216. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000002585
3. Schoenfeld, B. J., Grgic, J., Van Every, D. W., & Plotkin, D. L. (2021). Loading recommendations for muscle strength, hypertrophy, and local endurance: A re-examination of the repetition continuum. Sports, 9(2), 32. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports9020032
4. Schoenfeld, B. J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. W. (2016). Effects of resistance training frequency on measures of muscle hypertrophy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine, 46, 1689–1697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0543-8