Best Rep Range For Fat Loss

Rep Ranges for Fat Loss

Summers coming and this is the time of year is when my inbox is full of people asking me what the best rep ranges for fat loss are.

The reason this is something that people just don’t fully understand is that it’s not simply black and white, however, that doesn’t stop people from saying “high reps are for muscle toning and low reps are for strength and muscle gain”, what the hell is muscle toning anyway?? You can’t just train a muscle to look toned, muscles will hypertrophy (get bigger) or atrophy (get smaller), you can’t train a muscle to look toned, the “toned” look comes from having a lower % body fat that reveals the muscle definition, aka shredded!

Let me start by breaking down some rep ranges for you:

Rep Ranges

High Reps (15+):

• Burn more calories

• Increase muscular endurance

• Improve aerobic capacity

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Medium Reps (6-12):

• Muscle building (sarcoplasmic hypertrophy)

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Low Reps (1-6):

• Strength (myofibrillar hypertrophy)

• Increase neuromuscular drive

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Okay, so if my goal is fat loss then it makes sense for me to perform a higher amount of reps to burn more calories, correct? Well not really!

If you want to lose fat, you should be trying to develop a decent amount of muscle tissue (in the gym), the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolic rate. 6-12 reps are gold when it comes to hypertrophy (muscle development). You can very effectively hit all three mechanisms of hypertrophy (three mechanisms of developing muscle):

- Mechanical tension (high resistance)

- Metabolic stress (pump/cell swelling) 

- Muscle damage (stretch)

Okay, so if my goal is fat loss then it makes sense for me to perform between 6-12 reps, correct? Well not really!

Possibly the biggest factor when it comes to muscle building is mechanical tension, putting enough resistance through your muscles to force them to develop. You will need to use heavyweight, therefore you’ll need to perform fewer reps (4-6 reps) to optimise this mechanism.

Okay, so if my goal is fat loss then it makes sense for me to perform between 1-6 reps and life heavier, correct? Well not really!

You’ll need to have plenty of rest between sets when lifting very heavy, so you won’t be burning a high amount of calories.

I can hear the shouts....”Andy……I’m confused…..How many reps will help me to lose fat??’

Well, you need an element of all three. You can include each element in each of your gym sessions or a more effective plan would be to incorporate this through phases/cycles. 

Rep Range Example: 

- Month one mainly higher reps with the odd strength session

- Month two mostly medium reps with the odd bit of strength work

- Month three should be strength-focused, I don’t mean spending the full session training between 1-6 reps, instead start the session with heavy compound exercises like squats or deadlifts (after your warm-up of course), then increase the reps through the session. Once you come to the end of this phase you should have increased strength, that would be the goal of this phase.

Here is an example of how you could structure these sessions:

Month one full-body example session:

A1 - Leg press - 12 reps x 3

B1 - Cable row - 12 reps x 3

C1 - 45 degree hip extension - 12 reps x 3

D1 - Seated shoulder press - 15 reps x 3

E1 - Lateral raises - 15 reps x 3

Month two full-body example session:

A1 - Front squat - 10 reps x 3

B1 - Bent over row - 10 reps x 3

C1 - Lying leg curls - 10 reps x 3

D1 - Military press - 10 reps x 3

E1- Horizontal cable pull - 12 reps x 3

F1 - Dead bugs - 15 (each side) x 3

Month three full-body example session:

A1 - Barbell back squat - 6 reps x 5

B1 - Cable pull down - 8 reps x 4

C1 - RDL’s - 8 reps x 4

D1 - Barbell bench press - 10 reps x 4

E1 - Cable tricep push down 12 reps x 3

F1 - Rowing machine 200m x 5

You can see by these examples that we are not pushing to the extremes, we are not focusing on doing 20 plus reps and we're not doing a 1 rep max set, instead, we're keeping within a set range dependant on our phase objective, this is between 6-15 reps. 

Now, a big thing you need to consider when putting your training plan together is how likely you are to stick with that plan, if you do the same session every single day then this will be completely soul-destroying. You need to consistently mix it up (month by month) allow every workout to take you one step closer to where you want to be.

Now, in order to maximise your potential, you'll need to support your training with a nutrition plan, calorie intake and macros breakdown specific to your goals.

If you wish to take your training and nutrition to the next level you can request a free consultation where I can advise you on the best training methods specific to your goals, along with some advanced dietary strategies, you just need to fill in the form below...

Healthy Snacks

Top 10 Quick Healthy Snacks!

You have found this blog because you're looking for some quick and simple snack ideas that are complementary to your health, fitness and body composition goals!

As a rule of thumb, you're looking for something high in protein, high in nutrients, and low in calories (if your goals are fat loss), or simply a bit of both.

These might not all be perfect, but they are quick, simple, taste damn good, and they sure do keep you out of the biscuit tin.

1 - Protein Shakes 

2 - Rice Cake with Peanut Butter

3 - Greek Yoghurt (you can even add a scoop of protein)

4 - Raw Veg

5- Boiled Eggs

6 - Fruit

7 - Protein Bars

8 - Nuts and Seeds 

9 - Chicken Strips

10 - Harley's no added sugar Jelly

If you want to completely change your body composition and health, then you will need to be following a training and nutrition plan that will complement your goals, these snacks will simply assist you in that process.

Losing fat

Why am I struggling to lose fat?

Now, this post is not for everyone, this post is for those of you who feel like you have tried everything and have never fully understood why it's not working. 

 

You no longer need to keep stressing over this, as it will, without doubt, be one of these three issues:

1- Poor or no Nutrition Plan (eating/drinking too much)

2- Poor or no Training Plan (training with no structure and training like a fairy)

3- Medical Condition 

 

Once you have ruled out number three with a trip to the GP, you can be quite sure that it’s number 1 or 2, or likely a mixture of the two. This might feel like some harsh truths, but the amount of people who have started working me with the illusion that they have tried everything is simply unbelievable.

I know far too many people who are struggling and getting frustrated that they’re not losing fat but have no idea how many calories they’re consuming each day, this is like complaining that the recipe you followed tastes like crap, yet you didn’t actually follow the instructions. 

Let’s step into the shoes of someone who has “tried everything”, they don’t drink much, they train 4 times per week and hardly eat at all.

This is usually what this person week looks like:

- They don’t eat much…yet each evening they have a dessert containing upwards of 500 calories. 

- They train four times per week…yet they don’t follow a plan, so they don’t train at all, they workout 4 times a week, trust me there is a difference.

- They don’t drink much…yet this weekend they did get drunk because it was their best friends birthday, actually the weekend before they celebrated a christening…..you can see where I’m going with this.

Let’s say your evening treat adds up to 300 calories, you have that 5 days a week, it ends up being 1,500 calories, now let’s factor in the 4 Jaeger Bombs on the weekend (632 calories)….. I love Jaeger Bombs…and then the 4 pints (720 calories). Oh, let’s not forget the Big Mac meal you had as a “1 off treat” (1,120 calories). Maybe this is an exaggeration….maybe not, but you can see how easily a week can escalate, due to these little extras we have added an extra 3,972 calories to our week!

A big issue I find is that people who eat like this think it’s normal, they think that they have just been dealt a slow metabolism hand. “All my friends are stick thin and they eat the same as me”, how do you know the eating habits off all your friends? Yes, they might go out every weekend the same as you, but they are a lot more active in the week as they don’t have an office job, or they only have an evening treat on a Friday, yet you have one every day. People will see a snapshot of someone’s life and think it’s their normality. 

Let’s take me for example, I eat out most days on the weekend, and I’ll likely treat myself to the odd Costa panini and maybe the odd chocolate in the week. However, I train 4 times a week…. I mean properly train, I drink a ton of water, I’m very active through the days, most months I don’t drink any alcohol, my regular meals and my calorie intake are inline with my goals.

So, this is not me saying that you should completely eliminate all these treats because as you can see, I don’t! What I am saying is that you need to be a bit more self-aware of what you’re doing through the week and how that will affect your body composition. You need to take control of your body and mindset and not let anything hold you back from what you’re aiming to achieve!

The Perfect Bicep Curl

The Perfect Bicep Curl

Stand up straight with a dumbbell in each hand.
Curl the weight by contracting your biceps, continue to raise the dumbbells until your biceps are fully contracted and the dumbbells are at shoulder level. Hold the contracted position for a brief pause as you squeeze your biceps.
Lower the dumbbells back to the starting position.

The Dumbbell Lateral Raise

The Dumbbell Lateral Raise

Stand with the dumbbells by your side or to your front with your shoulders pinned back. Without any swinging, lift the dumbbells to your side with a slight bend at the elbow, continue to go up until your arms are parallel to the floor and then pause for a second. Lower the dumbbells back down slowly whilst maintaining constant tension.