What is the best rep range for strength?

By Coach Hunter Bennett

When it comes to building strength, the rep range you use plays a key role in maximising your gains. While all rep ranges can improve strength, the most effective range for maximal strength is typically between 1 to 6 reps per set.

However, understanding the nuances surrounding this is crucial for crafting an effective strength training program and ensuring progress.

Why 1-6 is the Best Rep Range for Strength?

Training in the 1-6 rep range is widely recognized as the best for maximizing strength.

Staying within this range ensures you are lifting heavy enough to place significant tension on your muscles and stimulate your nervous system.

Lifting heavy loads with lower reps leads to greater recruitment of motor units, which helps develop neuromuscular efficiency. This a key factor in strength development.

You are also lifting weights that cause the movement to slow down. This is important when it comes to developing the skill of lifting heavy.

Can Other Rep Ranges Build Strength?

It is important to note that strength can still be developed across a variety of rep ranges. Higher rep ranges (e.g., 8-12 or even 15-20) can also improve strength, especially for beginners – however, this is less effective on a set-by-set basis than heavier sets of 1-6 reps.

Moreover, as you get more advanced, these higher rep sets will become less effective at developing strength. The stronger you get, the more likely you will need to put more weight on the bar to increase strength further.

In short, if your primary goal is to lift the heaviest weight possible, sticking with 1-6 reps for your compound lifts is essential.

Load Is the Most Important Factor

The reason that lower rep ranges are better for strength is because they simply involve having more load on the bar.

For example, lifting 80% of your one-rep max for 5 reps is more effective for strength development than lifting 60% of your 1RM for 5 reps.

This increase in load places greater demand on the nervous system, improving your ability to produce force. And as you progress, it becomes necessary to push those numbers up to keep promoting strength gains.

Avoiding Failure for Strength Development

Do you need to train to failure to build strength?

When training, it’s tempting to push every set to failure.

Although training to failure can be beneficial for muscle growth, research has shown that staying 2-3 reps short of failure every set may be more effective for strength development, especially in big compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses.

Pushing to failure can create unnecessary fatigue, which can limit your ability to recover. It also impairs your force production capabilities for your next set (and often next exercise), which can lead to less effective training.

In short, performing three high quality sets 2-3 reps short of failure is better than performing one high quality set to failure, plus two poor quality sets afterwards.

Should I Only Perform 1-6 Reps on all my Exercises?

Just to be clear, this is not to say that you should only perform 1-6 reps on all your exercises. While this is the best rep range for strength, there are some additional factors you need to consider – with the primary one being muscle growth.

One of the biggest predictors of long-term strength development is simply having more muscle.

Because muscle is literally what your body uses to produce force, the more muscle you have on your frame, the more potential for strength development you have.

With this in mind, keeping most of your accessory exercises within the 6-15 rep range is probably a good option to maximise muscle growth of all your prime movers.

The Best Rep Range for Muscle Growth: Putting it All Together

If your goal is to get as strong as possible, you should perform most (if not all) of your primary compound exercises in the 1-6 rep range at the start of your session. This is the best rep range for strength.

After this your best bet is to train most of your accessory exercises in the 6-15 rep range to maximise muscle growth and enhance your long-term strength potential.

If you are not sure where to start, check out some of our programs or feel free to contact us for more information.