Somehow, it’s more than 8.

Bodybuilders and online fitness gurus are always touting that mass-building 3 sets of 8-12 reps workout, or even the 5X5 (5 sets of 5 reps) for that heavy-load day. They praise a higher range of 5 sets of 12-15 reps for those high-volume days. Several of the bodybuilding plans on BodyBuilding.com have participants adhering to these guidelines. If you watch any fitness trainer in the gym, their clients are doing the same.

I am in the gym at least five days per week, and I am hitting these same rep ranges. Three (or four (or five (I seriously can’t remember))) months of this have produced incredibly satisfying results: increased strength, endurance, and muscle mass. Every day, shoulders are looking more like boulders.

Obviously, there is an incredibly simple explanation as to why we are all worshiping these set and rep ranges like fangirls worshiping Justin Bieber.

They freaking work.

That being said, I’m bored. And when I get bored, I quit doing things. The gym is not something I want to give up just because I got bored. I mean, it’s not college! It’s the gym, and the gym is important!

To spice things up and present a new challenge to myself, I have picked up some lighter weights and started aiming for an 18-20 rep range for 3 sets. For months, my body had been slowly adapting to picking up heavy weights, cranking out 12 reps, and then slamming them on the floor.  The environment is the same, but new rules have been put in place; my body hates me right now.

Those extra reps are pure pain, sweat, tears, and grunts. But I haven’t shit myself yet, which I’d say is a good thing. Or maybe not. Apparently, some lifters do this on a pretty regular basis.