Building Muscle Using Effective Reps
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​You have 24 hours in a day. Somedays it feels like you blink and it’s gone. You plan to workout after the kids go to bed but by the time they get down it’s sometimes after 10:00PM.
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It doesn’t matter what your goals are, we all want more results in less time. And the best results will include resistance training - whether you are 18 years old or 80, whether you have been active your whole life or a lifelong couch potato - resistance training is for you. The vast majority of what we blame on aging is often just a loss of strength and mobility. It’s more deconditioning than aging, but I’ll save that for another day.
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The big picture is we all need to be doing some form of resistance training. And we want to maximize the effectiveness of each and every rep. To do that, we need to know a few things.
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​What are effective reps?​
While this is a bit oversimplified, effective reps can be thought of as the last 5 reps before mechanical failure would occur. For example, if you are doing a bicep curl, you reach a point where you are physically unable to complete another rep without either swinging the weight or cheating your form. Let’s say that this happens at rep 15. If the last 5 reps before failure are considered “effective reps” in this case that would be reps 11-15. Reps 1-10 played very little role in building muscle or strength. Their primary intention was to fatigue the muscle enough for the effective reps to take place.

Here is a great infographic from Chris Beardsley to explain this theory. What this shows is that if the last 5 reps of each set are the effective sets, then training with heavy weight for less than 5 reps limits the number of effective reps you can do. For example, if you can only lift the bar 3 times because the weight is too heavy, you are capped at only 3 effective reps for that exercise.
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On the other hand, if you are training at 15 reps before failure (15 rep max), then only 5 out of your 15 reps are effective (which could be deemed a less efficient way to train from a time perspective).
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But let’s be clear: this is an oversimplified theory/explanation of how muscle growth actually occurs. The truth is not this cut and dry - because there is plenty of evidence that you can get stronger despite never training within 5 reps of failure. It’s just less efficient. For example, if you were able to do 20 consecutive pushups today, and for the next 8 weeks you did 10 pushups 5 times per day, I would bet a lot of money that you could do more than 20 consecutive pushups in 8 weeks. But you’d get even better results doing 3 sets of pushups to failure every other day.
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The closer you get to failure, the fewer the reps in reserve (RIR). True failure means 0 RIR. Stopping when you could complete another 2 reps means 2 RIR. The early reps (8+ RIR) are still somewhat useless. As you get closer to within 5 RIR or less, there is a significant move up in muscle growth and each rep closer to failure yields an additional growth response
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To put it into a visual, I made this chart. The takeaway is that it’s not that important where the benefits start. But if the goal is muscle growth we want to train with at least 5 reps and as close to failure as we safely can (0 Reps in Reserve) as that is where you get the most bang for your buck.

How do we train using effective reps?​
Let’s put these two charts together. Training with weights too heavy (<5 reps) will not allow us to perform enough repetitions to maximize the number of effective reps. Training too light (15+ reps) and still getting to failure allows us to get all of the effective reps in, but we possibly waste some time doing unnecessary repetitions.

Not training to failure and leaving many reps in the tank is the most important area you could correct if you are trying to maximize your time investment. Because in the time it takes you to complete a couple more reps (5-10 seconds) you are getting an extra 10-20% of the result you are after. That makes those last couple repetitions about the best return on time investment you will find in the fitness space.
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Yeah they are hard. But you are earning your time back. Because driving to failure on even 1 set consistently over time of each exercise can get you 80% of the benefits. The closer you train to failure, the fewer sets you need to get the same number of effective reps in. The mechanical tension on the muscle fibers during those effective reps drives muscle growth.
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​My bias for rep ranges:​
​The rep range is less important than the proximity to failure. 0 reps in reserve is 0 reps in reserve, whether it’s done at 20 reps or 6 reps. There are tradeoffs to each. With heavier weight there is a bit more risk involved as you are physically moving heavier weights. The positive is that it won’t require as many repetitions for you to achieve failure and therefore the actual workout time shortens.
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But practice makes perfect. The more times you perform a specific exercise, the more efficient you will become. If you are a novice or new to a specific lift and you try to workout in the 6-8 rep range, you are physically limiting the number of repetitions that you do each week.

Who gets better, the kid who shoots 50 free throws per week or the kid who shoots 15? If you want to become more efficient in each movement, you’d benefit from working in the higher rep range for a while. Because doing 15 reps for 2 sets, 3 days per week compared to 6 reps for 2 sets, 3 days per week means 90 reps weekly compared to only 36. You will master the movement faster at lighter loads with higher repetitions and be safer in the process.
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On the other hand, if you’ve been training awhile, you can actually save time by including some heavier sets in the 6-8 rep range rather than cranking out 15+ reps every set.
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​Conclusion:
​- Nearly all the benefits of strength training come from the last 5 repetitions before failure (<5 reps in reserve)
- Training within 2 reps of failure or less (<2 RIR) helps maximize muscle growth in the most time efficient manner
- It’s not practical to take every set to failure. Doing a barbell back squat to true failure risks serious injury
- There are advantages to training heavier (6-8 reps) and other advantages to training lighter (12-20 reps)
- The rep range you train in is less important than your proximity to failure on each set
- A combination of heavier and lighter sets can help optimize both efficiency and technique mastery
- Your personal preferences, injury history and equipment access will guide your plan

Talk to you Friday,
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Brett Boettcher
​Brother2Brother​
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P.S. If you have the discipline to show up for work everyday, then you have all the discipline you need to be successful with your health. If it hasn't worked for you, it's likely because you have been trying to follow a cookie cutter plan using unsustainable tactics.
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