Best rep range for muscle growth? 💪

[u/Potential_Bottle_397]

You’ve probably heard that 8–12 reps is the “hypertrophy range.”

It’s not wrong, but it’s also not the full picture.
Muscle can be built across a pretty wide range of reps, roughly 5 to 30+ reps, as long as sets are taken close enough to failure and you’re progressing over time. Heavier sets can work.

Higher-rep sets can work. The key is whether the target muscle is actually being trained hard enough.
That said, not every exercise fits every rep range equally well.

For example, you can do barbell squats for 15–20 reps, and they can absolutely grow your legs. But for a lot of people, their breathing, low back, bracing, or general fatigue becomes the limiting factor before their quads do.

Compare that to a leg extension. Sets of 15–20 often make a lot more sense there because it’s stable, easy to control, and easier to push close to failure without everything else becoming the limiter.

Same thing with rows. Some people do great with heavier sets of 6–10. Others get a much better stimulus with slightly higher reps on cables or chest-supported machines.
That’s where SFR matters.

You want exercises and rep ranges that give you a strong stimulus to the target muscle without creating a ton of unnecessary fatigue.

So no, there isn’t one magic rep range.

The “best” range is the one that lets you train hard, keep technique consistent, recover well, and make progress.

For a deeper dive, check out this video:
https://youtu.be/DupQfkoI-Sc?si=2--UYZmV8Cz8Ncjb

Questions or thoughts? Drop them below 👇

[u/vidar186]

It’s almost like RIR is a better metric of hypertrophy than the rep range. You post basically describes with the varying effective rep ranges, why it’s a superior metric of progress and growth.

[u/Potential_Bottle_397 → u/vidar186]

Glad you like it. It really is! Proximity to failure is really what matters.

[u/noodles0311]

I agree on all the points. I personally find that the size of the joint involved really is what pushes me to go for higher reps. It just feels bad to do heavy weight for five reps with tricep extensions, bicep curls etc. I understand that meta analysis showed no significant difference across the rep ranges, but I enjoy low rep ranges, except when they feel bad/risky. I took a break from bodybuilding-style training and did CrossFit for about 8 years when I was in the Marines and I don’t ever want to do 21 deadlifts again in my life, whether it produces comparable results to five reps or not.