The Importance of Doing an Extra Rep

Bri Repetto

You’re hitting the gym, working out, and doing everything you are supposed to do. Exercises are planned out and you perform them to the best of your ability every time you enter the gym. However, you aren’t making progress like you did in the beginning and now you’re stuck trying to discover new ways to hit your goals. What should you do? Some simple advice I can offer, try adding an extra rep in your workouts.

What is a rep? A rep or repetition is how many times you complete a specific movement in your exercise. For example, if you do ten bicep curls in each set, try going for eleven. But why does this matter?

This matters because when you work out there is a process called hypertrophy in your muscle cells. This is when the fibers break down and then get built back stronger. This strengthening leads to muscle gain. Therefore, the more you can break down your muscle fibers, the more muscle you can build back.

Going back to how you stopped seeing progress in your workouts is because your muscles get used to the same type of movements and weight that you have been doing. It needs to be pushed past these limits to facilitate more breakage and to increase muscle mass. Doing an extra rep allows your body to get this push.

Additionally, doing extra reps leads to overload training. This is when you progressively add more weight, increase the frequency, and add more reps to your exercise. It is important to implement overload training into your workout because it further adds a challenge to your exercise where you are continuously breaking down those muscle fibers so that they can heal back stronger. 

A study called “Effects of strength training with eccentric overload on muscle adaptation in male athletes,” looked into strength training targeting quadriceps of male athletes. They tested the athletes in two ways, one way was six weeks of their normal training and another was six weeks of overload training. In the end they discovered that the six weeks of overload training led to increased gene expression which produced faster muscle movements in the athletes. The important takeaway of this research is that the more the athletes overloaded their training and pushed their bodies, the more their muscles responded to increase in strength and mobility. 

When to Do an Extra Rep

When you are working out and are thinking about how to progress and implement extra reps into your sets, there are a few things to consider.

1. Are you in any pain? If you are starting to feel strain, tightness, or pain coming from your routine, you should slow down, potentially talk to a doctor, and alter your movement type. It is important to prevent injury and not push through the pain because that will lead to a negative progression as you will become hindered in your workout. 
2. Do you have the energy and focus? If you’re becoming fatigued and not focusing on your movement, you can perform it in the wrong way. This leads to an uncoordinated movement that doesn’t target the intended muscle requiring other ones to perform work that may not be ready to. You can pull a muscle which then leads to further injury. 
3. Do you have the strength? Sometimes you exhausted your muscles in your sets and you can’t muster the strength to do another. That is totally fine and you shouldn’t push yourself further. A recommendation I can make is to lower your weight in your next set and then try pushing for more reps. 
4. Not every exercise needs an extra rep. Understandably everyone wants to push themselves in the gym. However, continuously pushing and pushing yourself can lead to strain. Do what you can and if you’re feeling strong and energized, then do a little more. It is always better to be cautious than to be hurt. 

How to Get the Most Out of Each Rep

Make sure that you don’t speed through your routine. Not everything needs to be done quickly. Try lifting and lowering your weight at a slower pace to increase the intensity on your muscle fibers, this increases hypertrophy. 

Furthermore, make sure to implement rest days between workout routines. For example, if you focus on your back and biceps one day, do hamstrings and calves the next. This rest day allows for the muscle to have time to build back and reduces soreness when you go to focus on those muscle groups next. Thus, allowing you to perform to the best of your ability in each workout session.