Help! How Many Sets and Reps?

[erikag]

Hey guys,I'm still a bit confused as far as sets and reps because I've read that there are certain rep and sets you should do when your maintaining, bulking and cutting. Me personally I'm a 5'9 198lb female who is cutting. I'm asking more about sets and reps that are good for cutting at my stage, some say low reps high sets and some say low sets and high reps, I'm a little confused I just want to start off right. As far as the weight i'm lifting no one can tell me what I should be lifting that's a personal judgment call different strokes for different folks. Please all responses appreciated.

[hrdgain81]

A common misconception when cutting is that high rep ranges will allow you to "cut up". this simply isnt true. What you can achieve with high rep sets is an effect that is cardio like. Especially if you superset two or more movements. What you want to do is get your heart rate up, and keep it there, this is also reffered to as circuit training.

there are some pitfalls to this however, working in high rep ranges wont do much for you in terms of strength gains (if your even worried about that). And the chance that you will over do it when adding cardio is very great.

[Eric3237]

Totally agree with everything Hrdgain said.

To tell you the truth if you wanted to do circuit training I wouldn't add cardio at first (if at all). But if you want your weight work to be fat burning that is a good way to do it. It has the advantage also that even though you are going for a high heart rate the work is (or should be) of a fairly intense nature which will add to the fat burning effect after the workout. In other words it will ramp up you fat burning metabolism. Keep in mind that with circuits there is not need to do ultra high reps like 15 or whatever. You can do eight or eight to twelve. The point is to keep moving.

With that said strength training while cutting has a lot of advantages too. One thing is you can put your cardio in more safely. You can do lower reps lower volume whole body workouts and it still has a very good fat burning effect post exercise while improving your strength.

There are all sorts of things you can do when it comes to cutting and the truth is there is not one magical combination of sets and reps that everyone has to do.