Typically, a lot of people fall into believing that "strength" is 5 reps and lower, and "hypertrophy" must be 8-12 reps. That's a bit too simplistic. Strength of course will have a range of anywhere from 1-5 reps because you're trying to build neural efficiency by driving the heavy weight up fast. Bearing that in mind, you can ALSO gain a significant amount of hypertrophy from 3-5 reps as well depending on how many sets you're doing. I used to love 10 sets x 3 reps with a good 70 seconds between sets. Here's an example of what I'm referring to:
Example:
275 lbs for 5 x 5 = 6,875 work output
200 lbs for 3 x 10 = 6,000 work output
Here's a very good thread showing how strength and mass are INDEED correlated:
Hypertrophy and Strength - Not so Different
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high rep ranges such as 10-15 lead to muscle size and tone
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High reps do not shape and tone your muscles. That's a myth, and a popular one at that. I'll try to find the literature later..
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Originally Posted by Matt Reynolds
A. Use of Neural Efficiency (as well as some Myofibral Hypertrophy) occurs in rep ranges of 1-3. (Neural Efficiency increases the percentage of motor units that can be activated at any given time. There is little to no effect on size but increases strength will be great. Little to no protein turnover occurs in this rep range as load is too high and mechanical work is too low.)
B. Mostly Myofibral and Sarcomere Hypertrophy and very little Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy occur with rep ranges of 3-5. (Sarcomere hypertrophy increases contractile proteins in muscle thereby increasing strength directly and also size. Book knowledge suggests that growth here will be mostly myofibral/ sarcomere hypertrophy and will be accompanied with strength gains in other rep ranges and improvements in neural efficiency. Therefore this is perhaps the best rep range for increasing strength. Better balance of load / work done for hypertrophy so no surprises there.)
C. Myofibral, Sarcomere, and Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy (lots of growth as well strength gain within this rep range with little transfer to 1rm) occur with rep ranges of 5-10. (Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy does not directly increase strength but can affect it by increasing tendon angle at the attachment - but of course it increases size.)
D. Some Sarcoplasmic with little Myofibral and Sarcomere Hypertrophy occur in rep ranges of 10-15. (More fatigue and a greater extent of waste products are associated with this rep range. Possible increase in capillary density.)
E. Capillary density increases with little Sarcoplasmic growth with rep ranges above 15. (Muscle endurace begins to become a factor (but who needs that?). Also, waste products are intense – lactic acid buildup to the point of making some individuals sick.
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^^ That's the popular descriptions which I'm sure you're referring to. However, as I've said above, depending on your set/rep scheme, you can still get a significant amount of hypertrophy with lowered reps and increased intensity. Examples such as 5 sets x 5 reps, 8-10 sets x 3 reps, ect all come to mind.
I grew my BIGGEST (262 lbs) from the rep range of 3-8 reps. In my experience, I would NOT worry about trying to apply 10-15 reps for everything thinking it'll induce hypertrophy more than a lower range of reps. The way I view it, certain muscles repond to different rep ranges better than others:
IME ->
Chest- 3-8 reps
Legs- 5-20 reps
Back Width- 10-12 reps
Back Thickness- 5-8 reps
Biceps- 10-20 reps
Triceps- 5-10
So for the absolute best results, you should do both rep ranges. There's two ways to do this:
1) Undulating Periodization (look up DFHT in DFT sticky) which uses many different rep ranges in a single workout.
Example:
- Flat Bench: 3 sets x 3-5 reps [heavy as you can handle]
- Incline DB: 2 sets x 10-12 reps
- Barbell Rows: 4 sets x 6 reps
ect....
2) Devote two mesocycles: One for high reps, one for low reps. A basic linnear periodization model. Something such as 4-6 weeks higher eschelon hypertrophy reps (3x10, 2x15, ect) followed by 4-6 weeks devoted for strength (5x5, 3x3, 1x5, ect) . Remember too that your 'strength' mesocycle will yield fantastic muscle gains.