What's the BEST way to gain mass? It's not what you think ...
A friend recently asked me the best rep range to use for mass.
While it was tempting to say “higher reps” … or … “more volume” … it’s never as simple as we’d like it to be.
There is no golden answer…but if there was…
Nothing works for everybody all of the time!
There, I said it. Many things work, and work very well, but there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Bodybuilding mags will have you believing that the only way to get big is to lift 6 days a week, do a complex split, and do at least 50 reps a bodypart. Meanwhile, a hulking powerlifter puts you and your friend on a barbell and overhead presses you for 8 sets of singles (1 rep). And then you have those bastards like Daniel Craig on tv, taunting you with their Hollywood trainer routines.
Who is wrong and who is right?
All of them!
The truth of the matter is that, for most people, VOLUME is what makes you grow. Volume stimulates the muscle, overloads it, fatigues it; gets it to GROW. (This is of course provided there is enough “load”!)
Let’s simplify this even more …
The Rule of 25
Now, I’m smart enough to know that “volume” is too vague an instruction to give someone who wants to gain some muscle mass. So I came up with the rule of 25. Simply put, your sets multiplied by your reps should equal 25 reps (approximately) and you will grow.
Think about it:
- Will 1 set of 20 rep squats make you grow? This was the hallmark of a bodybuilder back in the Golden Age of lifting.
- Will 2 sets of 12 rep rows make you grow? The high reps demands hypertrophy, your lats, your traps, your grip, your biceps get fatigued. You will get your “pump”, your “burn”
- Will 3 sets of 8 rep bench make you grow? This is probably one of the most standard rep ranges used, a general instruction for packing some meat on beginners.
- Will 5 sets of 5 rep squats make you grow? This is the baby of Bill Starr and Mark Rippetoe, and a standard of sports weight training, from the 70’s onward (including the basis of my 3-5 program). This, plain and simple, works.
- Will 8 sets of 3 rep deadlifts make you grow? Sure, you won’t get a pump, but goddamn, you will feel this and it will burn. Check most powerlifters routines and you’ll see high set, low rep, high weight exercises. While you’re at it, measure the powerlifter’s arms against your own. You catch my drift?
There are always exceptions to the rule. 20 rep squats are pretty well known as a mass builder, but rep ranges over that seem to have diminishing returns. On the other hand, 25 sets of 1 rep will burn out and bore anyone!
So use a little common sense … mmm k?
Troubleshooting The Rule of 25 …
The most important thing is to scale the weight to the reps …
The higher the reps, the lower the weight, and vice versa. And just because the weight is LOW, does not make it easy. It takes a real man to get through a set of 20 rep squats with 70-80% of their 1RM, or to do 7-9 sets of 1-2 reps with 90-95% of your 1RM max.
You can plug most of these into your training, but again, use a little common sense. The smaller the movement, the more frequently you can do it. Don’t do 20 rep squats three times a week! Don’t do 8 sets of triples every other day!
You have a brain–combine your brain with the rule of 25, and get ready to grow 
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
If I were to focus on volume, I’d say 25-36 reps are a good target. But a better strategy is progressive overload in the long term.
Good stuff man.
To anyone reading this, you also have to know what you wanna get out of your training first. Powerlifting, Oly lifting, bodybuilding, etc… Each has its own ways of achieving their specific goals. But they overlap quite a bit as well. My advice to anyone wanting mass is that, figure out what kind of mass you want and then go from there.
Interesting article thanks. It’s got me thinking that I should be mixing up my sets and reps a bit, sometimes it’s too easy to stick to the same old routine!
So, does the Rule of 25 apply to each body part, or to each exercise? If I reach 25 on bench press, then am I done with that body part, or do I go for 25 on Flys, Cable Rows, etc?
haha, try it and see.
But seriously, no, if you read most of my stuff, you'll see I don't waste time with flys, cable rows, etc — a push a pull a leg movement every workout day.
So yeah, just 25 reps total for bench (horizontal push), then 25 for a horizontal pull (inverted rows, or bent over rows, etc) and 25 reps for a leg (squat or deadlift). Done.