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When building muscle, once you can do more than about 12 reps on a core lift, it's time to increase the resistance by about 5-10 percent. The weight you choose along your strength curve should correspond to the number of reps you want to achieve, which matches your training goals.
Reps in the 1-5 range build super dense muscle and strength. Reps in the 6-12 range build equal amounts of muscular power, strength, and size. Reps in the 12+ range primarily build muscular endurance and size and also cardiovascular health.
According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), the best reps and sets for strength are doing either 2 to 6 sets of 6 or fewer reps (with 2 to 5 minutes of rest in between) or doing 1 to 3 sets of 8 or fewer reps (with roughly 90 seconds to 2 minutes of rest in between).
Almost any number of reps work fine for building muscle, but for practical purposes, sticking with a range between 6–12 reps most of the time is ideal. As a beginner, you only need do 1–3 sets per exercise, 2–3 times per week.
Train with a weight where you can do about 5–40 reps per set for the greatest muscle-building effect. A good rule of thumb is to strive for about 8–15 reps per set.
If you want to learn what research says is the optimal number of sets and reps to build muscle as quickly as possible, then you need to read this article. One of the most common areas of confusion among lifters is figuring out exactly how many sets one should do in a workout.
The rule of thumb for reps is to do 4-5 reps to get stronger, 8-12 reps to build muscle, and 15-20 reps for endurance. The more-detailed answer is that reaching your fitness goal will depend on a variety of factors, including training frequency, nutrition, fitness level, and the amount of weight used.