I hear many people explain the different weightlifting reps and how one weightlifting rep scheme is better for 1 goal while another is better for another goal.
For example, lower weightlifting reps are better for strength, while higher reps are better for endurance, and somewhere in between is better for muscle hypertrophy (muscle building). But is there a “magic” number that is good for people who want to build muscle and lose weight at the same time?
I know this is a big problem that people have. They want to lose weight but are afraid of losing muscle if they do. Or they want to gain muscle but are afraid of getting too fat in the meantime.
Well, today I’m going to give you that magical number of weightlifting reps that will help you gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Just understand that if you’re building muscle and losing fat at the same time, the weight scale isn’t going to change much, so start measuring your progress with pictures or even get yourself a tape measure to measure yourself and/or body gauges to measure your fat.
Anyway, the magic number is 8!
Studies have shown that when you perform 8 repetitions of an exercise, you get the ideal combination between the activation of muscle fibers (which will later cause more muscle growth) and the amount of fat molecules that are burned.
Now, I don’t think you should do every exercise and every workout around number 8, but if your goal is to gain muscle as you lose fat, you may want to stay close to that range. It’s not going to make much of a difference if you perform a different number of weightlifting reps, but it all counts, right?
Just understand that nutrition makes up about 800% of your weight loss results, so if you’re not eating right and don’t know when and what to eat, you’ll have a hard time losing weight. No matter how many reps you’re doing or with what exercise, you need to have a great nutrition plan first.