By Jordon Macht, CSCS

The answer to this question is dependent on what a person wants to get out of their weight training program.  For this article let's make it a little easier and just break the training programs up into two different categories.  First, would be the people looking to increase their strength and size and the second group will be people who are looking to increase their muscular endurance and to increase their muscular definition.

First, let's examine a good weight training program that will increase muscular strength and increase muscle size.  In this type of program the intensity must be very high and the weights must also be very high.  Since the amount of weight will be high the number of repetitions will be low.  But, on the other hand the number of sets per exercise will be high and the number of exercises completed for each muscle group will be low.  So, an example of a good program would be five sets of five repetitions.  That means that you should choose a weight that causes failure at the fifth repetition for each set.  The amount of weight will decrease as you work through the five sets but, the key point is that you should not be able to complete a sixth repetition.  The intensity of this workout is very high and should not be tried by someone who is new to weightlifting.  Also, since the intensity is so high the amount of time between each set of repetitions will be high.  You should take at least two to four minutes rest between each set to ensure recovery of the muscles before you start the next set.  Since so many sets are completed for each exercise you only need to do two to three exercises per body part.  In other words two to three chest exercises, two to three back exercises, and so on.

The second type of program would be for someone who is looking for more muscular endurance and muscle definition.  This program will use lighter weights, more repetitions, less sets, and more exercises per body part.  So, a good program would start out with three sets of 8-12 repetitions.  Again the weight will change for each set but the key point is that failure should occur between repetitions 8 and 12.  The rest period for this program is shorter than the first program since recovery is not much of an issue.  So, a good rest period would be one to two minutes between sets.  Since only three sets are being completed for each exercise, three to four exercises should be completed for each body part.  These are just outlines for two different programs designed to achieve two totally different goals.  So, the answer to the old question of how many sets, repetitions, and exercises starts with the question: What are your weight training goals?