Optimal Rep Range For Fat Loss

One mistake that many people make when starting up their fat loss workouts is thinking that they should bump the rep ranges up quite a few notches, as they think this is what will get them burning calories faster and speed up the weight loss process.

So, rather than doing the typical 6-8 rep range they were using, they're now using 10-15 reps.

Due to the fact the rep range is higher, this also means that they are now lifting a lighter weight, as this is a natural process that occurs when rep ranges are increased.

This, however, is a big mistake.

Muscle Maintenance

The first thing you need to keep in mind here is that one of the biggest goals when on a fat loss diet is going to be to maintain your lean muscle mass.

This is because it is that lean muscle mass that will cause you to burn the highest number of calories while you're just sitting there on the couch watching TV (also why males tend to be able to eat so much more than females without gaining weight).

When it comes to muscle maintenance, study after study has shown that keeping the weight constant is critical.

Calorie Burning Effect

Next up, we have the calorie burning effect of a higher rep range.

In all thruthfullness, while you will be increasing the total time under tension when using a higher rep range (the total amount of time your body is actually lifting the weight), the corresponding calorie burn will be minimal.

In fact, when lifting a heavier weight there is a much higher chance that the workout will be more intense, hence it will likely burn more calories anyway.

So high reps as a calorie burner? Not quite accurate.

The Solution

The solution to this problem then is to not increase the amount of reps you're lifting with but instead, keep the weight the same, but potentially decrease the total number of sets you perform if you find you are fatiguing too fast.

This is what will be most optimal at retaining your lean muscle mass while promoting the fasest weight loss possible.

After that, the next thing you really need to look at doing is getting on a good fat loss diet.