all about rep ranges for pull ups

rep ranges for pull ups

In this article, we will take a look at the theory and research surrounding different rep ranges for pull ups so you can better understand how different rep ranges influence your results and how to better organize your own training. The practical advice provided in this article will also help you better organize your pull up and chin up training for maximum results, depending on your goals!

“Old” Views on Rep Ranges

Almost every lifter has heard the old adage “higher reps to build muscle,” and “low reps to build strength.”

The traditional theory goes something like this:

Use 1-5 reps per set for Strength Development

Use 6-12 Reps for Muscle Development

Use 15+ Reps for Muscular Endurance

This recommendation has led many strength and power athletes to focus primarily on sets of 1-5 reps per set, many bodybuilders to focus on the 6-12 rep range, and those seeking muscular endurance to focus more on sets of 15+ reps per set.

Some Truth to the “Old” Views

The Law of Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands says that you adapt to the specific training that you do. So if you want to get a lot stronger at sets of 1-5 reps, you should probably do low rep sets.

If you want to develop muscular endurance, it would be beneficial to include at least some work in the 15+ rep range.

And if you want to develop the most muscular size, the majority of your training should be in the 6-12 rep range.

Powerlifters, bodybuilders, weightlifters and good ole’ regular Joes wanting to look good on the beach all know this.

Most powerlifters and weightlifters cannot display the bone-crushing strength and power in a competitive situation without training with very heavy weights and low reps per set–at least some of the time.

On the contrary, most guys and gals looking to develop a jaw-dropping physique can do so without too much heavy work, helping to keep their workout times a bit shorter and workouts less demanding on the connective tissue.

Henneman’s Size Principle 

Why is it that low reps produce greater improvements in strength and high reps produce greater improvements in muscle endurance, all other things being equal?

Because of the selective muscle fiber type recruitment at these different rep ranges.

You have several types of muscle fibers within your body. Type I, or slow twitch muscle fibers do not produce much force but are very fatigue resistant.

Type II, or fast twitch fibers produce lots of force but fatigue quickly. Type IIx fibers are responsible for very explosive movement.

In between the Type I and Type II fibers, you have several intermediate fiber types which can produce more force than the Type I Fibers but have more endurance than the Type II Fibers.

Henneman discovered that the body has a mechanism to limit fatigue accumulation during force production. During any movement (think jogging, squatting a heavy weight or doing a power clean), the body will recruit the slow twitch motor units first (preferentially).

The body will recruit as few motor units as possible to complete any given task to limit fatigue. With heavier and heavier loads, the body will recruit more and more Type II motor units because the Type I motor units cannot get the job done.

Think of it like handling a task at work. Unskilled employees (i.e. the Type 1 motor units) can handle easy tasks (walking) but at a certain level of difficulty, a more skilled employee (type II motor units) will have to handle a more difficult task (Heavy power clean).

This is why the use of very heavy loads is better for stimulating growth and strength of the Type II motor units–which leads to more growth and development of the Type II muscle fibers.

Researchers believe that both Type I and Type II fibers can grow bigger and stronger, but the Type II fibers are better stimulated and activated with very heavy or very explosive work. IT makes sense that to train the body to display maximum force or power output, you need to stimulate the Type II muscle fibers and motor units.

The Type II fibers can produce more force and create explosive movement, which is why strength and power athletes benefit from lifting very heavy weights and moving loads explosively.

But do you always need to lift heavy to stimulate the Type II motor units? And is there a time and a place for training the Type I motor units?

Do you Need to Lift Heavy to Stimulate the Type II Motor Units?

No.

However lifting heavy weights is probably still the easiest way to recruit your Type II Motor Units which will lead to strength gains and hypertrophy of the Type II fibers.

However, you don’t always need to lift heavy to recruit the Type II units or fibers.

Focusing on lifting explosively–even when using light weights–will let you recruit more Type II motor units. The Old adage “Lift light weight like it is heavy and heavy weight will feel light” is probably true. When you focus on your force output and moving explosively, you recruit more of the fibers that help to develop your top-end strength and power development.

Olympic Weightlifters and Sprinters, who perform a mixture of low load Plyometrics, Heavy Load Squats, Speed Squats and Olympic Weightlifting Exercises (all which rely heavily on the Type II fibers) have phenomenal power, strength and size of the leg muscles.

You can even recruit your Type II muscle fibers with low load training, if you take your sets to failure or close to failure.

For instance, let’s say you are using a moderate weight for a set of 10 on the Back Squat Exercise. The first 3-5 reps might be pretty moderate in difficulty, but once you get to rep 10, it is a really tough rep and you have to grind it out. Because of fatigue accumulation of your Type I motor units during the set, your body has to rely on the bigger and more powerful Type II fibers to power through the end of the set.

Do we Always NEED to Stimulate the Type II Motor Units?

No, you do not always need to stimulate the Type II motor units to build muscle or strength.

Your Type I muscle fibers still have significant potential to grow and get stronger.

Most bodybuilders and those interested in maximum muscular development should be concerned with growing their type I muscle fibers too. Powerlifters and Olympic Weightlifters usually have less muscular development than bodybuilders due to less hypertrophy of the Type I fibers.

Actually, Olympic Weightlifters and especially powerlifters might also benefit from training their Type I or slow twitch muscle fibers. These fibers can still produce a lot of force at just a fraction of a second slower speeds than the Type II muscle fibers.

While sprinting, ballistic type actions and the Olympic weight lifts must be performed explosively, watch any powerlifting meet and you will notice weights that move pretty darn slowly.

When lifting a very heavy load, like a max back squat or a max deadlift, lifts can last 7-10 seconds and will recruit and exhaust the Type II fibers and the Type I fibers. In short, all the fibers are working together to lift such a heavy load.

New Theories and Rep-Range Recommendations

In recent years, exercise scientists and coaches have begun to recommend different rep ranges for different muscles and different bodies, instead of prescribing different rep ranges based on training goals. Below, I discuss some of these different theories, as well as the drawbacks to using these theories in your own training.

Muscle Specific Hypertrophy

Some coaches and researchers believe that instead of choosing rep ranges based on your goal (strength, size or endurance) you should choose the rep range for the exercise based on the muscle group you are trying to target.

Some muscle groups contain mostly slow twitch fibers while others contain mostly fast twitch fibers.

For instance, your calves and rear delta are mostly composed of Type I endurance fibers, while your pecs are composed of mostly Type II fast twitch fibers, and your lats, for example, contain a near equal mix of both fast and slow twitch muscle fibers. Unless you are a genetic freak, most of your muscle groups will have about 50 percent fast twitch and 50 percent slow twitch fibers.

According to this philosophy, you should train your rear delta and calves with mostly high reps and your pecs with mostly low reps. Muscles with a near equal proportion of slow and fast twitch fibers should be trained with a variety of rep ranges.

Individual-Specific Hypertrophy

Still others believe that you should structure your training around your body’s own physiology. People with a large proportion of Type II muscle fibers should perform mostly low reps and should lift explosively for maximum growth.

People with a large proportion of Type I endurance fibers should perform mostly high repetition sets, the theory goes.

How do you test your muscle fiber composition without a muscle biopsy?

Proponents of this theory recommend taking about 80 percent of your 1 rep max out for a spin.

If you can get more than 8 reps, you are predominantly “slow twitch” in the muscles targeted. If you can get fewer than 8 reps per set, you are thought to have mostly fast twitch muscle fibers. And if you can get about 8 reps? You are thought to have about an equal proportion of fast and slow twitch muscle fibers.

Problems with Muscle-Specific Hypertrophy and Individual-Specific Hypertrophy

These training philosophies have a few flaws.

First of all, training your muscles in accordance with the estimated fiber type composition of the muscle in question may mean that you may exclude some rep ranges that may be beneficial for each muscle group. For instance, you might benefit from training your chest with higher reps and may find your rear delta start to pop a bit more with heavier barbell work (think about the rear delta of Olympic Weightlifters!), even though these rep schemes do not fall in line with the muscle-fiber-type-specific-hypertrophy recommendations.

Setting your rep schemes based on your individual fiber type composition might be really tricky and not so effective in the real world.

The 80 percent test is probably not all that accurate due to technique factors, training factors, fatigue factors, skill with the exercise in question, cardiovascular system factors, etc. etc.

Let us say, for instance, your cardiovascular system is terrible and you start sucking wind on rep 6 of the back squat. Are your muscles really the limiting factor?

Or lets say you have recently come off a training block hitting very heavy weights. Don’t you think you are going to be a bit better hitting lower reps than you would be hitting 80 percent of your max?

And how skilled are you with the exercise in question?

Are you applying an equal training effect to all the muscles involved or have you manipulated your technique to preferentially recruit certain muscle groups?

Everything you do and how you normally train will effect your Scores on the 80 percent test, making it not all that effective for assessing whether you are mostly fast twitch or mostly slow twitch in the fibers tested.

Again, you might be better off choosing your rep range based on your goal but also including phases with other rep ranges.

Lets Talk about Muscle-Fiber Type Conversion

And how you train will actually effect your muscle fiber composition too! You probably cannot change your Type I fibers into Type II fibers or vice versa, but you probably can convert some of your more intermediate fibers. And, if they do not convert, they will likely function more like the fiber type your training calls for.

For instance, let’s say you have mostly slow twitch fibers but you do a lot of heavy lifting and explosive training. Some of your intermediate fibers may convert to slightly more fast-twitch fibers, and your remaining fibers will act more like Type II fibers.

Or, as an opposite example, you have mostly fast twitch fibers but you do a lot of long distance running. Your intermediate fibers types may convert to help you display more endurance.

Your training style will effect your results on the 80 percent test, making it an even less reliable indicator of your true muscle fiber type composition and how you should train.

Maybe all this Focus on Motor Unit Recruitment is Over-the-Top

Since both the Type II fibers and the Type I fibers can grow bigger and stronger, and since both fiber types are involved when lifting very heavy weights, it might not benefit the lifter much to focus so much on rep ranges.

He or she would do better to focus on more important tenets for muscular strength and hypertrophy: progressive tension overload and progressive volume overload.

Progressive tension overload means increasing the tension over time in any given exercise or group of exercises. This can be done in any rep range.

For instance, you can go from squatting 205 for 3 x 3 to 225 for 3 x 3. That is progressive tension overload. You can also go from squatting 175 for 4 x 8 to 190 for 4 x 8. Even though you are using higher reps in one example, you are still using progressive tension overload to get bigger and stronger.

You probably don’t need to focus too much on one rep range to suit your goals. Phases of high, medium and low reps across the training week or throughout the mesocycle or macrocycle can help you stimulate all your muscle fibers, gain skill and prowess in different rep ranges and build excellent strength, size and muscular endurance. 

For instance, you can still build muscle lifting primarily heavy/low rep sets. You can still build strength working in slightly higher rep ranges. And you can even build muscle endurance working in any of the rep ranges! Think of the rep range scale as more a continuum and less a strict rule.

Even if you want to specialize on one specific goal, you would still probably be better off mixing in different rep ranges into your training program than working exclusively with any single rep range!

Doing so can actually backfire in the long run. Let me explain!

Let’s say your goal is solely to develop the most impressive physique you possibly can. You have heard that you should use 6-12 reps per set on every exercise to develop the most muscle mass.

At some point in your training career, you can no longer add weight to your compound exercises like squats, deadlifts and overhead press in the 6-12 rep range. You know that you have to add some sort of progressive tension overload to keep making progress, but you just can’t add weight to any of your sets.

So, you decide to improve your neural drive by handling some really heavy weights for sets of 2-5 reps per sets on some of your compound exercises. You do this for a training block of 8-12 weeks and end up really improving your neural drive,  strength and skill with heavy weights.

When you go back to using your “bread and butter” rep scheme of 6-12 reps per set, you find you can now lift way more weight than you could before and you find your quads, glutes, and lower back have all benefited from your approach.

Let’s take another example.

Say your primary training goal is to get strong as hell. You have heard that you should do high sets of low reps. For most of your training career, you have focused on rep schemes like 5 x 3 reps, 8 x 2 reps, 7 x 1 reps, etc.

But all of a sudden, your strength starts to stagnate. Couple that with the fact that your workouts are taking you hours, you are getting winded going up the stairs, and your whole body hurts and training has become a miserable affair.

At this point, you decide to hell with all this strength stuff because you just want to be jacked and tan anyway. You start doing a lot of accessory “bodybuilder” movements with 6-12 reps per set, maybe even working with 15 or more reps per set on some movements. The first month or so is tough as your lungs acclimate to the higher rep training, but after a few months, you notice some changes.

You’ve put on some muscle mass. You are getting more work done in less time. Your body and your joints are starting to feel better. Stairs are not such a problem anymore. Overall you just feel healthier and more balanced–and to top it off, your main lifts are going up again too.

Addressing lagging muscle groups with some work in traditional “bodybuilding” rep ranges has helped you put on muscle mass that helps you lift more weight, as well as stay more injury-proof over time. And giving your body a break from all the heavy pounding has helped you add a couple years to your iron lifestyle.

Be Specific, But Not Myopic

It is still a good idea to approach your primary training goal by using rep range specific training. Those who are interested in strength as their primarily goal should still lift heavy weights for the exercises they want to get strong at. And bodybuilders should still base most of their training around sets of 6-12 per set.

The problem comes with myopically selecting the target rep range as the only rep range to work in.

Different rep ranges can provide you with different benefits as well as keep you healthy, interested and engaged in your training!

Rep Ranges for Pull ups

So what rep ranges should you focus on for pull up training?

You should focus on different rep ranges to gain skill with the pull up with added weight and for higher rep sets. You can organize your training in multiple ways.

You could address your strength, size, and muscular endurance with the pull up/chin up exercise by addressing each fitness quality once per training week.

You can even follow a undulating rep scheme like the one below:

Monday: Heavy Training Session, 3 sets of 5 reps, with 85 % of 5 rep max weight

Wednesday: Light Training Session, 3 x 15 reps using band assistance as needed

Friday: Medium Training Session, 3 x 8 reps, with 85 % of 8 rep max weight

Another way to schedule your pull up/chin up training is block periodization. This training scheme is popular with powerlifters and strength athletes. This training style requires that you address each fitness scheme in phases. You start with general/preparatory blocks of training (4-12 weeks each), then progress to hypertrophy style blocks (another 4-12 weeks) before peaking with strength blocks (once again, 4-12 weeks). Each training block builds off of the previous block and allows you to use the fitness qualities you enhanced in the prior block of training.

The general preparatory block is designed to strengthen your overall fitness qualities, work capacity, and strengthen the connective tissue to set the stage for the more rigorous blocks to come.

The hypertrophy block is designed to help you add muscle mass to your frame.

And finally, the strength/peaking block allows you to hone your neural drive and skill with heavy weights, using the new muscle you added during the hypertrophy block to realize some sick strength gains!

A Sample Block-Periodization Plan for the Pull up/Chin up Looks something like this:

Block 1, General Preparatory: Weeks 1-8: Train pull ups twice per week with 12-15 reps per set. Include a large exercise selection of other exercises that target the entire body. Use self-limiting exercises and joint friendly variations. Cross train. Improve work capacity and aerobic system.

Block 2, Hypertrophy Block: Weeks 8-16: Train Pull ups twice per week with 6-12 reps per set. Start improving specific training volumes and work primarily in the 6-12 rep range for all exercises. Aim to add muscle mass to your frame.

Block 3, Strength/Realization/Peaking Block: Weeks 16-24: Over the next 8 weeks, gradually increase the intensity and reduce the volume you dedicate to the pull up exercise. Drop a rep per set and add weight each week, until you are ready to test out a 1-5 rep pull up max at the end of the cycle.

I touched on how to use non-linear and block periodization to improve your pull ups, but the reality is that you can use hundreds of other training methods using multiple rep ranges to improve your pull ups. So get working!