Are 3 reps or 5 reps better for strength?
My reply to that question is, it depends. Some people get stronger with 3 reps and some need 5 reps to get stronger. I actually did an experiment with this myself. After reading coach summers ” Building the gymnastic body” I took a good tidbit away from it. Muscles adapt/grow/heal much faster than tendons and ligaments. Therefore, it’s more likely that you may get hurt if you just keep increasing the weight you lift all the time. Instead, use the same weight for 6-8 weeks.
I began doing this with Clean & Presses along with Deadlifts. I would workout doing 5 sets of 5 reps on the clean and press. Then I would do 1 set of 5 reps for the deadlift. I stayed at the same weight for 8 weeks and only do this workout once a week. What I notice is on the 8th week, the weight feels so much lighter, and I am able to add another 2-4 pounds to the bar. This may be too slow for some people, but I find that I am making steady gains in weight, and an increase of 24 lbs. in a year while minimizing injury, is good enough for me.
Now, I wanted to see if I would make those same gains and feel the same way if I did only 3 reps instead of 5. To my surprise the answer was yes. On the 8th week, the weight began to feel lighter and I was able to add 4 more pounds without a problem. How about that? I actually did less work, finished my workout a bit sooner, felt more refreshed, and I still made the same strength gains. I realized that I only had to do so much work to create strength and then the rest is kind of wasted energy.
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