I had an hour long conversation with Pavel Tsatsouline on Sunday and per usual his probing questions churned up some things that I had forgotten. One thing that he asked was, "Over the years, was there a single repetition range that you preferred?" What was 'normal' for me? Put another way, what single rep range did I use most often in my weight training and why? Without hesitation I said 5-rep sets. I kind of surprised myself with the quickness of my reply but upon reflection thought it might be worth sharing the whys and wherefores.

As a teen, I wanted usable athletic strength