How many reps should you do for strength or muscle?

Why 3 sets of 10 is not magic

The classic idea is the "repetition continuum": heavy and low reps for strength, moderate reps for size, light and high reps for endurance. A 2021 review of the research found the picture is looser than that. Heavy loads are still best for maximal strength, but muscle growth happens across a wide range of loads as long as the effort is high.

Strength: about 1–6 reps

If your goal is a bigger squat, bench or deadlift, most of your work on those lifts should be heavy, in roughly the 1–6 rep range. Rest long enough to lift the weight well again: 2–5 minutes on big lifts. In a study of trained lifters, resting 3 minutes between sets produced more strength and muscle than resting 1 minute.

Muscle growth: about 6–30 reps, close to failure

For size, the number on the plate matters less than how close you take the set to failure. Sets of 6, 12 or 25 can all build muscle if they end near your limit. Very high-rep sets are more painful and slower, so most people do the bulk of their hypertrophy work at around 6–15 reps and use higher reps for smaller muscles and isolation exercises.

Endurance: 15+ reps

To get better at doing many reps, train with lighter loads for 15 or more reps with shorter rests.

The part most people miss: reps in reserve (RIR)

RIR is how many good reps you had left when you stopped. Ending most sets with about 1–3 reps in reserve is a good default. Going all the way to failure on every set is not clearly better for muscle growth and costs a lot more fatigue. But stopping when you could have done 10 more is too easy: that set did very little.

How many sets a week?

About 10 hard sets per muscle group per week is a solid starting point for growth. A meta-analysis found that doing 10 or more weekly sets per muscle produced more growth than doing fewer. Start there, then add sets if you are recovering well and progress stalls.

Putting it together