Diet and Exercise Myth #16: High reps make you shredded

It’s something you’ve probably all heard at some stage.

A quick web search would turn up dozens of articles and gym programs telling you that high-rep, low-weight resistance training is the way to go if you want to get ‘toned muscles’ or ‘bring out your muscle definition’.

The first problem is that these are pretty vague terms in themselves (have you ever asked yourself what muscle tone really is, exactly, and why you would want it?).

Secondly, there is scant evidence that higher rep ranges will magically get you shredded.

The key to looking good and feeling great is to have a sufficiently low level of body fat, along with strong and functional muscles on your frame. And the quickest and easiest path to that is getting into a reasonable calorie deficit while progressively overloading your muscles on a well-programmed resistance training regimen.

Unless you have a specific medical reason not to, even as a beginner you should be aiming to perform heavy compound weightlifting in sets of 6-8 reps, using weights that are 75% or more of your one-rep maximum.

This style of training will burn about the same number of calories as a high-rep low-weight session would. However it leads to higher ongoing calorie burn in the hours and days afterwards, and it’s the quickest way to maximise muscle size and strength.

Big strong muscles, in turn, burn lots of calories 24x7 - even while you sleep.

Yay!