How Many Repetitions Are Enough?

Clients often ask me how many times they should be doing an exercise to build strength. Often they are coming from a more-is-better place - the gym - and they are confused.

I don’t always feel comfortable answering that question, either. How many repetitions of an exercise are fine may well depend on what the point of the exercise is – strength? size? flexibility? What about function? If the muscle is a core muscle, does that change the formula as opposed to those muscles we like to see flexing in the mirror?

And what do I, as a massage therapist, really know about exercise? Do I need a course in physical exercise to answer that question? What if I say something different or conflicting from what the trainer says?

I would like to know how other massage therapists handle this question.

Of course, in the meantime, I’ll give you an idea of how I handle that question. I touch people all day, and I get a feel for muscle health in terms of its aerobic state, lymph circulation, and flexibility. Over the years I have learned to trust my hands when they tell me something. I know that granular, adhesed muscles won’t stretch or exercise very well.

After some massages and stretching, they may be ready to perform. The nervous system, truly, is in charge. If the parasympathetic system is not engaged, change is not about to take place.

If that sounds like a massage therapist’s answer to another massage therapist, it is. And it’s way too complicated for clients. I usually go simple and easy.

I tell clients like to do three slow, pain-free repetitions. Three isn’t many, but I say three because everyone ignores the slow, pain-free parts. If those reps go okay, then I’ll do something else and then do another set of three. Three reps, three sets.

That is a lot less than the standard gym advice of three sets of fifteen, done in succession. It’s so way off from what most people are told that it does get their attention.

For me the bottom line is that muscles need to be relaxed and pain-free to exercise in a healthy way. If something is too tight or hurts to move, the body will protect it by substituting another muscle or group, or the muscle will be injured. Repetitions that feel good generally are going to help. Wobbly, strained, borderline-painful repetitions are going to make problems worse.

Sometimes the biggest change I can get from people is to stop instead of pushing through a pain. Shoving through pain only works if you are in the NFL. They have a good pension plan.