If you’re a beginner to working out there may be some confusion between sets and reps. You may be interested in performing a workout and misread the instructions on what to do. Should I be doing 10 sets of 3 reps or 3 sets of 10 reps? Or, you can be talking to someone about a gym related topic and misuse one word for the other and lose all credibility. Well, as a person who speaks fluent Gym, I can tell you exactly what they mean!
When I first got started with weight lifting I was definitely in the same boat, I would inappropriately use one over the other, but here is a perspective that will hopefully make things click!
Reps
A rep is one instance of performing the movement. Reps are multiple consecutive instances of performing the movement. Now if someone says do 5 reps of an exercise that means you perform the movement 5 times consecutively. Ex. Squat for 5 reps: Un-rack the weight, descend into the squat, rise to starting position, descend into squat, rise to starting position, etc. for a total of 5 times or reps.
Sets
A set is a collection of reps. When you see a workout plan that says to do 5 sets of 5 reps that means you’ll be performing the 5 reps as mentioned above, rest for a set amount of time (between 30 seconds to 2 minutes), perform those 5 reps again, rest, etc. for a total of 5 times or sets.
In the Workout Generator found on our home page, you'll see the exercises broken down as sets x reps, ex: 3x6, 5x5, 3x10, 3x12, etc.
So now that you know the difference, go grab yourself a free workout from our workout generator and know exactly what you’re doing. With that, you’ve just added a point to your experience level and are about to evolve to novice gym goer. Cheers!
A set is a collection of reps.
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