Sets and Reps ?

If you just step into the gym world, you will be hearing a lot of gym regulars talking about sets and reps.

Basically reps meaning repetition - the amount of repetition you need to do a certain exercise.

And sets - the amount of time you will repeat the repetition you did for the exercise.

Example: When I am doing chin-ups, I will do about 8 chin-ups each time which is 8 repetition and I will repeat this 8 chin-ups for 3 times which is 3 sets. This means I am doing 3 sets of 8 repetition for my chin-up, or what I usually call it 3x8.



So now I know what sets and reps mean but how much do I need to do?

Well for a start it is good to know 2 very common and special formula 3x8 and 5x5.

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For muscle growth do 3 sets of 8 repetition for that particular exercise.
For strength and power do 5 sets of 5 repetition for that particular exercise.
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There are a lot of articles with in-depth explaination for them and a lot of argument regarding them which you can easy search by type 3x8 or 5x5 in your favorite search engine portal.

But what I can say is I have tried them personally and they work for me. It may not be the most efficient sets and reps as argue by various trainers and expert but it is a simple guild for new comers to use as.

=Recommendation=
For a beginner, I would always recommend doing 5x5 until you have enough strength to carry heavy weight for 3x8 exercises to increase mass.

=Advance=
If you think that doing 3x8 for a particular exercise doesn't improve your mass anymore, try to slot in a few 5x5 for 1 or 2 sessions and proceed back to 3x8 to see improvements. This is because your muscles will eventually learn to take in the 3x8 regime and will cease to grow, doing 1 or 2 sessions of 5x5 will 'shock' your muscles as it is always for your 3x8 and it will improve the growth. Give it a try.