Questions about sets and reps.

[MrMRU]

Hi! For about a month now I have been doing some of the exercises I learned in the Army. Namely jumping jacks, deep knee squats, and push ups. Using only my body weight (of which the scale says is UP from 155 to 165) I am able to do 50 to 60 jumping jacks, 20 squats, and 30 push ups now. With my weights I am doing some bicep curls, occasional bench press, and the squats mentioned before. Also, I am NOT spending the better part of an hour doing multiple sets. I started out just doing ONE set of everything. As of about a week ago I have been doing TWO sets. I posed a couple questions when I registered to this site and introduced myself. I would like to ask them again. ONE: Am I wasting my time doing only one or even the two sets that I am doing? And, TWO: Is it true that doing considerably more than 6 to 8 reps of these exercises will not build muscle?

 

[Jrahien]

Doing a little more than 6-8 will still build muscle, but getting up in the 20+ range certainly won't. By that point, you're training your muscular endurance. You're not overloading the muscle enough to break down the muscle fibers and stimulate significant growth.