Mar 11
30
This is a training blog post by Grant Lofthouse
Time and time again I get asked what’s the best rep range for fat loss without cardio? And time and time again I repeat the
same answer…
But before I go on I want to stipulate that I’m talking about fat loss, not weight loss. There’s a difference.
For average joes, the best rep range for fat loss is 5-8. And even less for raw beginners, more like 3-6.
Don’t get me wrong, high rep training has its place in a fat loss workout. But it should not be predominate. And that’s where people make the biggest mistake when trying to lose fat without cardio.
The reason why we are lead to believe that high rep training workouts work, is due to the fact that people have been brainwashed into thinking that unless you’re about to vomit and pass out on the floor, the program isn’t effective. Never judge the effectiveness of a program based on your heart rate.
Read that last point again…
The problem with dominate high rep training fat loss workouts is that because people are so weak, the weight is just too damn light to do anything.
When you train with weights in the 10-20 rep range, you train anywhere from 60-70% of your one rep max. On the other hand if you train in the 6-8 rep range you are now training at 77-82%.
And since most people’s one rep max is no where near where is should be, they are using an even lighter weight. For example, I have some clients who cannot even shoulder press 20 kilos, when they should be at least 40 kilos.
To put this in a real world situation. I’m going to use Andrew Read’s formula… If I have 2 females both performing a shoulder press and are at the same strength levels, and female A performs 3 sets of 10 with a 10 kg dumbbell, and female B performs 5 sets of 6 with a 17.5 kg dumbbell.
They both perform the same amount of total reps – 30. But female B trains at a much greater intensity due to moving more volume.
Do you think training at 70% instead of 82 % is going to burn more calories, increase lean muscle and boost your metabolism?
I don’t think so.
Why not just train at 100% with one rep maxes all the?
Training at 100% all the time will only lead to central nervous system (CNS) burn out, injury and overtraining. We wouldn’t want that.
Also, as I said at the beginning of the article. Raw beginners who are extremely weak should train with sets of 3-5 reps, simply because they must get stronger first. And if I gave them a higher rep range, the weight would have to decrease and therefore the intensity would drop.
So when should you complete high rep training?
Both a size 2, who looks better? the one with mucle or without?
If you are on a high protein, low calorie, carb diet the truth is you should keep high rep training minimal.
See the problem for reasonably lean people, who are looking to drop a couple pounds, is that they are more likely to burn muscle than fat when performing high rep training in a caloric deficit.
To summarize my previous point…
Caloric deficit + high rep training = muscle loss = bad news!
So will the scales go down? Yep, but will that be fat? Probably not.
But if I told you to never perform high rep training ever again, I would be contradicting my longevity series.
So the only way you can perform high rep training and not lose muscle is by bumping up your carbs on your high rep training days (as shown in my Ripped Without Cardio workout).
But like I said at the start of this article, unless you’re moving a decent amount of weight, then there is really no point, and in fact dangerous because beginners who are weak don’t have the stabilizer strength to perform high rep training.
So when a beginner squats, their lower back and abs will burn out before their legs and crumble under the weight. This is obviously not good and also dangerous.
For those of you that do have decent strength levels should include some high rep training here and there. Just make sure it’s not the majority of your workout.
I would consider high rep training anything above 10 for most people. Place you higher rep stuff closer to the middle or end of the workout. Not at the start. Reason being is because if you start your workout with high reps, you will be too fatigued to train for strength later on in the workout. A good rule of thumb that I use when designing a training program is…
- Explosive with reps of 1-5 are always placed first.
- Strength with reps of 1-6 would come next.
- Medium reps with 6-10 is placed after.
- And higher reps of 10-20 would be placed here.
To conclude, beginners should perform 3-6 reps until strength levels are respectable. Only until then they can introduce some higher rep training.
Intermediate to advance who have decent strength levels need to keep the majority of the workout around 5-8, and every now and then perform some high rep training to embrace longevity. Just make sure that you load up on some carbs on higher rep days to avoid muscle atrophy.
Leave the ‘heart rate stuff’ to your finishers and leave the strength training to get stronger and build muscle.
Please let me know if you ‘like’ the article.
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- 4 Exercise Swaps To A Flatter Stomach Without Cardio
- Ripped Without Cardio Workout
