Unfortunately, almost every newbie is doing it wrong and many intermediates still don’t get it quite right. If you’re not 100% certain that you’re lifting the precise poundage for optimal strength and muscle growth then the technique in this article will make a bigger difference in your results than almost anything else you do.

When it comes to how much weight you should lift to gain muscle, many people immediately think about the percentage of 1 repetition maximum (1 rep max). You may be familiar with the formulas or charts that show you the right percentage to use. They’re found all over the web and throughout the weight training literature.

Typically, you’re told that for maximal strength you need to lift 85% of more of your 1 rep max. For hypertrophy the common guideline is 70-85% of 1 rep max.

This requires that you test yourself for 1 repetition maximum or at least for a multi rep max and then use an interpretation chart to convert that into an estimated 1 rep max. From there you can calculate the load based on your goal.

This kind of 1 rep max testing is common in all the strength sports and in collegiate and professional athletics. But there is another way to determine the right load that doesn't require maxing out. Not only is it fast and easy, it may be more appropriate for "regular Joe's." Doing a 1 rep max test is also not 100% necessary, for two reasons:

The weight prescribed by 1RM formula is not always a 100% accurate load prescription and therefore should only be considered a guideline. Some of the confounders include differences in: muscle fiber type makeup, the nonlinear relationship between reps and loads, effects of machines versus free weights, smaller muscles versus larger muscles, lower body versus upper body and multiple sets versus single sets.

You can use this “hack” to quickly determine how much weight you should lift to gain muscle. It’s called the “rep-max target zone” method.

In my previous article on how many reps to gain muscle, I published a chart showing the repetition continuum, the corresponding neural and metabolic effects and the physique or performance goal associated with that rep range. I’ve reprinted it below.

With this info in mind, the rep max target zone method is simple.

First, you identify your goal aka “needs analysis.” If you don’t know your goal, you can’t even move to step two. Goals come first.

Second, you determine the rep range that corresponds with your chosen goal and training effect you want to achieve. For example, if you’re a physique athlete, competing in bodybuilding, your training goal is to gain muscle. The ideal rep range for that goal is usually in the 8-12 range (although using strength and hypertrophy ranges as we do in the Holy Grail training system is advantageous as my previous article explained).

The third step is to select your poundage so you cannot complete more than the top number in that range – in this case 12.

Let’s suppose you’re doing bench presses. After your warm up sets, you select your first work set weight and you go with 185 pounds. You pump out 12 reps, no problem and then you realize you still have it in you to hit a 13th and 14th rep. You stop at 14 and realize that you probably could have even done one more.

Instantly, you’ve just gotten the feedback you need to adjust the load for maximum muscle growth. Your 185 lbs was too light. So you slap a 10 on each side and make it 205. For your next set, you find it considerably harder. This time you barely squeeze out that 12th rep. You don’t think you could have done another. Bingo! That’s your 12 rep max.

If you’re pushing yourself, then in your next set or two, the fatigue that’s accumulating probably won’t allow you to hit 12 reps again. You might get 10-11 reps on the next set and 8-9 reps on the final set. That’s if you take a standard rest interval between sets. If you use shortened rest intervals, this diminishing reps with subsequent sets effect is even more pronounced.

This is normal too, by the way. If you got 3-4 sets of 12 straight across, that is fine, but do realize, it means you were holding back on the early sets. Nevertheless, if most or all of your sets fell in the 8-12 hypertrophy zone, that was the range you wanted.

You may go to failure on some of your sets especially as your training cycle progresses, but typically, if you’re properly using the rep max target zone method properly, you will come close to failure – probably within a rep or two. Remember, if you could have done a lot more than 12 reps, your weight selection was too light and you weren’t really in the hypertrophy range.

At this point, advanced lifters and bodybuilders may be saying “No sh*t Einstein!” Actually, I would hope so. This article series wasn’t intended for advanced athletes. If the load is too heavy or too light, it’s expected that an advanced trainee should be able to recognize it immediately and make a quick adjustment.

Proper load selection becomes instinctive eventually, but almost all beginners mess this up. Frankly, I think most intermediates do too.

What the newbies do all the time, is they’re told to perform 8-12 reps, they do 10 and say, “mission accomplished.” The goal is not to hit the rep target zone with just any poundage – the weight has to be selected so hitting the reps within that zone is a challenge. In other words, in an 8-10 rep target zone, I’m not asking you to do 10 reps, I’m asking you to do a 10 rep max. Maybe you get 11 or 12... with a gun to the head.

Invariably, the newbie does 10 and has 5 or heck, even 10 reps left in them, that’s how much they underestimate the load. That’s why they're not reaching their potential for muscle size gains.

Granted, the rank beginner is better off in the first few weeks to err on the lighter side and build up gradually, but as you progress, you should work on dialing in the poundage until it's just the right amount of stimulus. You might even want to tighten up the rep range to nail down a specific training effect. Here’s why:

If you use a rep range that is broad, such as 6-12 reps (which is commonly prescribed), that crosses multiple training effects in the neural-metabolic continuum. A 6 rep max is very different than a 12 rep max.

But even with a rep range of 8-12, if you look at the chart, you can see that 8 reps is leaning a little bit more toward the neural end and 12 is leaning more toward the metabolic/endurance end. You can really target the exact effect you want by narrowing down the rep range to a 3 rep span such as 4-6 reps or 6-8 reps or 8-10 reps and so on.

Why not just prescribe 5 sets of 5, or 3 sets of 8 or 3 sets of 10? You certainly can, and 5 X 5 is famous for its effectiveness. But if you use a specific rep prescription instead of a rep range target zone, you’d better be highly proficient at load selection.

Five sets of five for example, is shrouded in confusion because people don’t know if that means 5 sets of 5 straight across with the same weight, 5 sets of 5 with ascending load, 5 sets of 5 with the reps varying between 1 and 5 or what! (to confuse you even more, different strength coaches teach different methods and argue about which one is best).

I find that using the rep range target zone is the perfect way to tell if you’ve selected the right amount of weight, especially for the beginner and intermediate. I still like this rep target zone method myself and I've been training since 1983 (not a newbie, but I still find this method helpful)

One last tip on this: Keeping good records in the form of a training journal is instrumental in proper loading. Some wise Chinese dude once said, “The palest ink is better than the best memory.”

As you can imagine, based on all of the above, I usually prescribe my workout programs with rep ranges. You might occasionally see me recommend a 5 X 5 or an old classic like the 8 X 8, but usually, especially with non-advanced lifters, I recommend a rep range and training to within a rep or two of failure, and often all the way to failure.

If I want primarily strength with some myofibrillar hypertrophy as well, I prescribe 4-6 reps. If I’m after hypertrophy first with some strength, I’d prescribe 6-8 reps. For hypertrophy, I’d recommend 8-10 reps. If I want hypertrophy with a little bit of metabolic effect and pump, I’d prescribe 10-12 reps. If I want endurance or if I’m training body parts that seem to respond well to the metabolic rep range, I’d prescribe 10-15 reps or even 15-20 reps.

Selecting your weight by rep range target zone is a really simple short cut for picking the right load and this is exactly how it’s done in the Holy Grail Body transformation system training program – The New Bodybuilding (T.N.B.)

Tom Venuto, author of
Holy Grail Body Transformation System
(How to Gain Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time)
www.HolyGrailBodyTransformation.com <==== Click Here

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