Determining Your Ideal Rep Range
Kind Regards,
Alex
My Answer: I got to tell you, when I saw your UK email, I thought you were one of those lottery scam/spams. You Brits having been sending a lot of those lately, enough to give the Nigerians a run for their money.
Anyway Alex, yes, it's perfectly fine to troubleshoot with incline presses. After all, you're looking to bring up weak points in either your physique or strength. The incline press is a common weak point among beginning strength enthusiasts, especially when you compare the poundages of people's incline press to that of the flat bench press. Physique-wise, most bodybuilders have problems filling out the upper pectorals, so the incline press would come in handy.
With regards to whether 5x5 is appropriate for the incline press, it depends on your goal. If you are looking for strength in that lift, then 5x5 is the way to go. If you are looking to fill out more in your upper pecs, then you may want to go with higher reps.
To determine what's your ideal rep range for hypertrophy, do this before you even start the Shotgun Training:
- Do a brief warmup on the incline press and rest 3 minutes.
- Determine your 1 rep max and perform it. Make sure you have a spotter with you. If you miscalculate your 1RM on the first set or two (or however many sets it takes), then make sure you rest 4-5 minutes between these sets.
- Once you determine your 1RM, rest for 10 minutes. During those 10 minutes, calculate and remove 20% of your 1RM weight.
- When your 10 minutes are up, perform as many reps as you can in good form. Make sure you lower each rep under a 4 second count (how quickly you lift the weight doesn't matter). Again, make sure you have a spotter to assist at the end of the set.
- Take note of the number of reps you've performed. If it's 7 reps, then you have an equal amount of fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers in the upper chest. If it's lower than 7, then you have a higher amount of fast twitch fibers. If it's higher than 7, then you have a higher amount of slow twitch fibers. The further away you are from 7, the higher the percentage of that particular type of muscle fiber.
- Finally, multiply 15% to the number of reps you've performed. Subtract this amount from the number of reps you've performed. This is the lower end of your ideal rep range. Then add the 15% to the number of reps you've performed. This is the higher end of the ideal rep range for your upper chest. So for example, if you performed 7 reps with 80%RM, then 6-8 reps would be the ideal rep range for the chest. Perform this rep range when you do your incline presses on troubleshooting days.
Comments
Actually, I finished conducting 2 weeks of training at 80% not too long ago and I know I am able to do between 6 and 8 reps usually (8 on first sets, and 6 on the last ones obviously). However, now I understand more about the fiber part through your explanation. It's good!
So I think I should go for this then (aiming at 8). On the other hand, concerning the number of sets, should I keep it at 5 or lower at 4?
On a more general note, I was planning to do most of the troubleshooting exercise on a 5x5 basis, but as it seems it would be more strengh oriented. Hmm, I actually want volume so I should, overall, reduce the number of set and increase the reps right (knowing that I manage to do between 6 and 8 reps with my 80% on most exercices)?
Once again, thanks for the advices and by the way I'm not english but French hehe (you spoke to one of my mates on fb yesterday I think :p)
yeah if you do 6-8 reps, then reduce the sets to four. In my experience, four is a good set total at any rep range, high or low.
If you don't mind I'll keep in touch to give you feedback on my sensations and progressions.
Thanks for your time again.
Bye.
1. I was planning to add some crunches and swiss ball exercises on for core abdominal/lower back and neck muscles. Would that put me into overtraining?
2. I am switching the sitted cable row with a similar exrcise with weights (not enough weight on the cable row engine at my gym), knowing that I train one arm after another, I can decrease the total rest time by approximately the time needed for me to perform a set with 1 arm right?
That's it =). I am looking forward to start on monday !
Thanks coach.
Bye
I'll add a couple of sets for the abs on trouble shooting days then. Front abs on one day and side ones on the other one.
And the swiss ball core exercises during the weekend.
Thanks again, it's one thing to write a book and all, but after sale services (been here), that's just truly great ! :-p