Weight Loss and Healthy Living

In the gym, a good rep doesn't necessarily refer to your reputation. A rep or repetition describes one full movement of the weight during a resistance training exercise. Other terms you may hear are sets, supersets, movements, rest, and tempo. All of this terminology is designed to help you better understand resistance training workouts. This article will describe these weight-lifting terms in greater detail.


A rep refers to a single resistance training movement. It is composed of two phases, known as the positive or concentric and the negative or eccentric. The positive phase occurs when your muscle is contracting. It is when your chest muscles contract to propel the barbell away from your body in a bench press or when your thigh muscles are contracting to drive your body up during a squat. The negative phase occurs when you are returning to the start point - i.e. lowering the bar back to your chest or returning to a squat position.

The rate at which you resist the weight is known as tempo. Tempo is typically written with three or four numbers, like this: 311 or this: 4242. The first number is the negative phase of the lift. The second is an optional pause, and the third is the positive phase of the lift. The optional fourth is again a pause between the position and negative phases. 311 for a bench press would mean "take three seconds to lower the bar (negative), pause for 1 second, and then push the bar back up fast (1 second)." 4242 for a squat would mean "take four seconds to lower into a squat position, pause for 2 seconds, then drive the bar up in a controlled fashion, taking 4 seconds to stand upright, then pause another 2 seconds before lowering again."

The combination of repetitions is known as a set. Most of the time you will perform multiple sets - typically a warm-up set, or a light weight designed to get your blood flowing, followed by several work sets at the actual target weight. Sometimes you may even perform a cool-down set with a lighter weight designed to allow your heart to slowly return to its resting heart rate. The tempo can help you estimate the duration of the workout. A 311 tempo, for example, is 5 seconds total. If you are doing 3 sets of 12 repetitions, you will spend 3 x 12 x 5 = 180 seconds or 3 minutes lifting. This may also involve 1 - 5 minutes of rest between sets, so the entire sequence could take up to 15 minutes to complete.

The term intensity refers to how heavy the weight is compared to your one-rep max. A one-rep max (1RM) is the maximum weight you can lift one time. For example, if you can lift a 90kg barbell one time for a bench press, your 1RM would be 90kg. A workout using 90kg would then be 100% intensity, while a workout using only 45kg would be 50% intensity.

The combination of intensity and repetitions typically indicates the type of workout. This assumes you are doing a controlled, rapid tempo. Slower tempos will force you to lift lighter weights for that repetition range and will change the dynamic of training.

Rep Range	Intensity	Tempo	Description
1 - 3	90% or higher	Slow	Strength - lower reps tax the central nervous system and are used for strength training and power-lifting
4 - 6	80% - 90%	Slow	Power - this repetition range is typically a compromise between strength and mass gain
7 - 8	75% - 85%	Moderate	Strength and Hypertrophy - the higher repetition range means more explosive tempo but also typically results in greater hypertrophy or muscle growth
8 - 12	70% - 80%	Moderate to Explosive	Hypertrophy - this is the classic bodybuilding range for adding muscle
13 - 15	65% - 75%	Moderate to Explosive	Hypertrophy and Local Endurance - for larger muscles such as the thighs, this is a hypertrophy range. For smaller muscles such as arms, it becomes more of local endurance/repetitive tasks
16 - 20	60% - 70%	Explosive	Stretch-shortening/Reflexive - explosive movements performed in this range work the stretch-shortening cycle or the spring-like properties of muscle, this is typically a ploymetric range
21+	50%+	Explosive	Endurance - this higher rep range is typically designed for local muscular endurance, although with certain tempos and training modes can develop strength and mass as well

Again, these ranges are guidelines. A slower or faster workout or change in intensity from the suggested ranges can change the dynamic of the training. For example, a slower tempo in the 16 - 20 rep range may be more of a hypertrophy (muscle gain) workout while a more explosive workout at the 20-rep range could be neural (strength) based rather than endurance.

The actual exercise you perform is referred to as the exercise or movement. You typically pick several movements per body part. In a back workout, this would mean a rowing movement (cable rows) and a vertical pulling movement (pull-ups or lat pull-downs). The collection of sets and reps performed for various movements would comprise the total workout.

The time you take between sets is your rest. Again, rest is typically dictated by the workout goal. Shorter rest periods of a few minutes are designed for hypertrophy and endurance workouts. Longer rest periods of 5 or more minutes are designed for neural or strength-based (power-lifting) workouts.

The total time it takes to complete a workout is the duration. How often you perform a workout is the frequency. If you perform a workout twice per week, that is your frequency. A workout may take a duration of 45 minutes to complete. The total reps performed during a workout is the volume. For example, a workout with 2 exercises each with 3 sets of 12 reps would be a volume of 2 x 3 x 12 = 72 reps total. Volume is important due to its relationship with intensity. Typically, as the intensity increases, the volume should decrease, although this, too, can be manipulated for training purposes.

The final terms refer to training over time. Typically you will train for different goals during different times of the year. For example, you might train for muscle mass for a month, then for strength, and finally for endurance. This changing of workouts over time is known as periodization. Each segment of training would then be a macrocycle. A macrocycle is simply a period of training that has a specific goal. You may have several macrocycles throughout the year, each with different frequencies, durations, volumes, and intensities.

These terms are important for understanding workouts. More importantly, understanding them can help you optimize your own workouts. You now have the vocabulary to manipulate several parameters of your training from duration, frequency, and tempo to rest and volume. Sometimes the right rest period combined with the right movements is all it takes to get a good rep in the gym.

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