Low Reps; Heavy Weights

Zichu

Hey, I have just started weight training today. I have a routine I am going to follow for each day, but they recommend doing like 12 reps and 4 sets. I've read that in order to increase muscle mass and strength you need to do low reps with heavier weights.

I'm always reading about doing 5x5 so I have been trying and some of the workouts I am doing just don't seem like the weights are heavy enough. I only have a set of dumbbells at the moment, I will get a barbell which will allow me to put more weights on.

The weights I am currently using come with a total of 18kg, considering I don't do a lot of strength training I thought this would be enough. Some workouts I can use the full amount of weight, but others I can barely lift it like during the Dumbbell Flys. So I take off the smallest weight on each Dumbbell, but then it seems like it's too light and doing 5 reps is too easy lol.


Just wondering if 5 reps and 5 sets are really the way to go or should I be looking at getting a few more weight plates and finding the correct weight to lift. I took off 2 0.5kg weight plates off both dumbbells and it felt like it was average, didn't feel like were to hard or to easy to lift. I don't have a bench yet either, I don't have enough money for one till later this month sadly... Maybe if I were to get a bench the workouts would seem a bit more difficult than they am now because at the moment I am unable to fully stretch my arms out and do the full workout.

Zichu

BUMP

Amburglar

I typically go for a higher weight and stick to 6-10 reps unless I'm doing a burnout session. They I'll consistently work up in weight with every set and down in reps. I workout with my husband and we pretty much follow the same regimen. My max bench has gone from 65lb to 115lb and max squat has gone from 45lb (yes, just the bar, lol) to 135lb, so it definitely works If your main goal is to "get big" then high weight low reps is the way to go, and keep the protein flowing.

UponThisRock

If it feels to light then yes, you should be lifting heavier.

ravihira1892

I my self have done quite a bit of research and i shall be doing the StrongLifts 5x5 workout myself purely for increase in lean muscle mass & strength! When your doing high reps your targeting different fibres compared to low reps!

AddA2UDE

If it feels to light then yes, you should be lifting heavier.

I dunno Rock, I'm looking at your picture and it doesn't look like you know what you are talking about. LOL!

adamb83

Yeah, sounds like you probably need heavier weights if you're trying to bulk up.

I do lighter weights and higher reps, for lean muscle building.

ninerbuff

5x5 is a great strength program, but if you looking to add some mass, you're better off doing 8-12 reps for muscle hyertrophy.



A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

DanStone

Invest in some more weights, do 6-8reps with the heaviest weight possible you can complete a full repetitions ( the last two you should struggle), do four sets of this. Then drop down to the next weight maybe 2.5kg-5kg less and do as many repetitions as you can for the 5set. Hope this helps

Azdak

*

BIGJIMMYU

Invest in some more weights, do 6-8reps with the heaviest weight possible you can complete a full repetitions ( the last two you should struggle), do four sets of this. Then drop down to the next weight maybe 2.5kg-5kg less and do as many repetitions as you can for the 5set. Hope this helps

This is how I lift. Doing 10-12 reps is fine if you want to build endurance instead of bulk strength. Think of strength as lifting the heaviest suitcase you can. Endurance think a 1/2 as heavy suitcase carried around the room.
Also, I may add to make sure you have enough protein. Generally for strength building it should be between .50-.75 x body weight.(those who know better on this please correct me if I am wrong and thanks). All I know is that I did 10-15 reps all the time with lighter weights I stalled. Since adding protein, eating more calories and lifting heavy with lower reps, I have soared. Bulking up nicely now.

lakersfan4life

5x5 is a great strength program, but if you looking to add some mass, you're better off doing 8-12 reps for muscle hyertrophy.



A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

this. i've been doing the 5x5 for a while now. Havent really gained much mass. But my strenghth has increased quite a bit.

chiera88

bump

JNick77

Hey, I have just started weight training today. I have a routine I am going to follow for each day, but they recommend doing like 12 reps and 4 sets. I've read that in order to increase muscle mass and strength you need to do low reps with heavier weights.

I'm always reading about doing 5x5 so I have been trying and some of the workouts I am doing just don't seem like the weights are heavy enough. I only have a set of dumbbells at the moment, I will get a barbell which will allow me to put more weights on.

The weights I am currently using come with a total of 18kg, considering I don't do a lot of strength training I thought this would be enough. Some workouts I can use the full amount of weight, but others I can barely lift it like during the Dumbbell Flys. So I take off the smallest weight on each Dumbbell, but then it seems like it's too light and doing 5 reps is too easy lol.


Just wondering if 5 reps and 5 sets are really the way to go or should I be looking at getting a few more weight plates and finding the correct weight to lift. I took off 2 0.5kg weight plates off both dumbbells and it felt like it was average, didn't feel like were to hard or to easy to lift. I don't have a bench yet either, I don't have enough money for one till later this month sadly... Maybe if I were to get a bench the workouts would seem a bit more difficult than they am now because at the moment I am unable to fully stretch my arms out and do the full workout.

Really, you need a mix of both. The 5x5 isn't a bad program, or download 5/3/1 from jimwendler.com, or go read Westside for Skinny *kitten* 1 or 3. Westside 4SB's is basically geared towards athletes and isn't really the full-on Westside with chains and stuff, it's a simple template to follow.

With 5/3/1 and WS4SB's you'll notice that you have the maximal strength movement days but you'll also be doing hypertrophy work, good mix.

ravihira1892

5x5 is a great strength program, but if you looking to add some mass, you're better off doing 8-12 reps for muscle hyertrophy.



A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

this. i've been doing the 5x5 for a while now. Havent really gained much mass. But my strenghth has increased quite a bit.

Surely if you've gained strength, you have increase your muscle mass in order to lift more?!

JNick77

One thing that nobody really hit on is diet. Yup, get protein but you also need excessive calories to do mass right. Check out Massive Eating by Dr. John Berardi; I believe he has a calorie calculator too.

JNick77

5x5 is a great strength program, but if you looking to add some mass, you're better off doing 8-12 reps for muscle hyertrophy.



A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

this. i've been doing the 5x5 for a while now. Havent really gained much mass. But my strenghth has increased quite a bit.

Surely if you've gained strength, you have increase your muscle mass in order to lift more?!

Hypertrophy gains from strength gains isn't really the same as raw mass gains of like a bodybuilder.

dane11235813

Yeah, sounds like you probably need heavier weights if you're trying to bulk up.

I do lighter weights and higher reps, for lean muscle building.

FAIL!!!

poedunk65

Low reps with high weights builds bulk, high reps with low weights build physique.

AABru

Have coached a high school power lifting team...
My advice is to start with endurance lifting of 12-14 reps at about 60-75% of your maximum lift (you are going to need bigger weights). Do 4 weeks of this. Then switch to a pyramid to build strength. (pyramid is starting at 10 then 8 then 6 then 4 then 2 reps--and if you are truly adventurous back out again). The pyramid should be 55%, 65%, 75%, 85% and 95% respectively. Once I month I had the kids do two lifts to exhaustion (bench and squat). With these lifts the girls would use the bar for bench and 135 for squats and the boys would use 50% of their max.( If you attempt this, make sure you have a spotter! This literally means lifting that weight until you can not move it again. AND make sure you give yourself 2 days recovery) You shouldn't be lifting any body part more than twice a week to allow for growth and repair. You can pyramid for 4 weeks and then go back to endurance for a week...keep rotating. I started with endurance so that the kids were using lower weight working on form, and because many of them wanted to lift by themselves...training in endurance lifting first allows you to complete more reps with better form at a higher weight. Good luck!

tgzerozone

Might find this helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_overload

I change it up though. 3x15 for 3 weeks, 4x10 for 3 weeks, 5x5 for 3 weeks etc.

JNick77

Yeah, sounds like you probably need heavier weights if you're trying to bulk up.

I do lighter weights and higher reps, for lean muscle building.

FAIL!!!

JNick77

Have coached a high school power lifting team...
My advice is to start with endurance lifting of 12-14 reps at about 60-75% of your maximum lift (you are going to need bigger weights). Do 4 weeks of this. Then switch to a pyramid to build strength. (pyramid is starting at 10 then 8 then 6 then 4 then 2 reps--and if you are truly adventurous back out again). The pyramid should be 55%, 65%, 75%, 85% and 95% respectively. Once I month I had the kids do two lifts to exhaustion (bench and squat). With these lifts the girls would use the bar for bench and 135 for squats and the boys would use 50% of their max.( If you attempt this, make sure you have a spotter! This literally means lifting that weight until you can not move it again. AND make sure you give yourself 2 days recovery) You shouldn't be lifting any body part more than twice a week to allow for growth and repair. You can pyramid for 4 weeks and then go back to endurance for a week...keep rotating. I started with endurance so that the kids were using lower weight working on form, and because many of them wanted to lift by themselves...training in endurance lifting first allows you to complete more reps with better form at a higher weight. Good luck!

Agree and disagree.

1. You can lift the same body part twice a week (Max Effort vs. Dynamic Effort) but it should be a different type of training or done infrequently just to try and spark some growth / fight through a plateau.
2. Yes, learn good form. Form breaks down as the weight gets heavier.

tgzerozone

I think this is probably one of the better explanations that you might benefit from:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081110193425AASa5ud

ninerbuff

Surely if you've gained strength, you have increase your muscle mass in order to lift more?!

If that were entirely true then people on deficit should have much more muscle mass. Strength gain on deficit is more about nervous system activation and synergistic muscle involvement.


A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

ninerbuff

Low reps with high weights builds bulk, high reps with low weights build physique.

Myth. This is an old adage that's been circulating for decades now.


A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

ninerbuff

Have coached a high school power lifting team...
My advice is to start with endurance lifting of 12-14 reps at about 60-75% of your maximum lift (you are going to need bigger weights). Do 4 weeks of this. Then switch to a pyramid to build strength. (pyramid is starting at 10 then 8 then 6 then 4 then 2 reps--and if you are truly adventurous back out again). The pyramid should be 55%, 65%, 75%, 85% and 95% respectively. Once I month I had the kids do two lifts to exhaustion (bench and squat). With these lifts the girls would use the bar for bench and 135 for squats and the boys would use 50% of their max.( If you attempt this, make sure you have a spotter! This literally means lifting that weight until you can not move it again. AND make sure you give yourself 2 days recovery) You shouldn't be lifting any body part more than twice a week to allow for growth and repair. You can pyramid for 4 weeks and then go back to endurance for a week...keep rotating. I started with endurance so that the kids were using lower weight working on form, and because many of them wanted to lift by themselves...training in endurance lifting first allows you to complete more reps with better form at a higher weight. Good luck!

Agree and disagree.

1. You can lift the same body part twice a week (Max Effort vs. Dynamic Effort) but it should be a different type of training or done infrequently just to try and spark some growth / fight through a plateau.
2. Yes, learn good form. Form breaks down as the weight gets heavier.

Agree here. I put on the majority of my muscle from training each body part 2 times a week in the beginning, however my training was a heavy day (4x6 reps) and next session was moderate (3x8-12)


A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Chuckempire

5x5 is a great strength program, but if you looking to add some mass, you're better off doing 8-12 reps for muscle hyertrophy.



A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I agree. Your body isnt used to the 9th, 10th and so on reps. Train to failure and you will build muscle quicker. Also your diet has to be in check.

Zichu

I did work on Chest and Back yesterday for about 50 minutes. This morning, I was aching when I stretched my arms. Aches on my chest and the top of my back which is where I was targeting, so I feel pretty happy that I did it yesterday even though it felt slightly easy on some workouts.

The only workout I had problems with was the Dumbbell Fly, my left arm is just so weak compared to my right and I want to build them both up equally. I had trouble lifting the same weight on my left arm compared to my right during this workout.

I will be sticking to 5x5 for now and try my hardest with heavier weights, I do hope I get closer to being stronger and having a bigger muscle mass.


I would say my diet is pretty decent, I did have a deficit of 250kcal, but I scrapped that last week I think after hearing some good advice. So I am currently maintaining my calorie goal, and eating back my exercise calories, including the strength training calories I have burnt. Yesterday, I managed to get all my protein which is 150g and a bit more, my carbs were pretty low yesterday. I could easily do the same.


Also, I am working on Abs today. I don't really know if there are any Ab workouts that use Dumbbells, but I found a workout that includes Floor Crunches, Horizontal Leg Raises and Plank.

I wouldn't mind some ideas from people who have been working on abs and it's been working for them. Obviously, this has to be done at home with little to no equipment.

ravihira1892

BUMP

Also what are your actual goals? Gain lean muscle mass? bulk? tone? etc

JamesBurkes

Surely if you've gained strength, you have increase your muscle mass in order to lift more?!

Unfortunately, no. A lot of initial strength gains can just come from getting used to the movement and working out how to do it better.

Then additional strength gains can come from adaptations in the tendons and ligaments.

All good news if you want to increase your bench press but just because you've doubled your bench doesn't mean you've now got double the pecs!

Personally, I find I get better gains in size if I stick to around 8 reps or so. Unfortunately, I'm my own worst enemy and even though I always use good form I tend to use weights that make me fail at 5 or so. I've found this is good for getting stronger and it does add meat. But when I consciously restrain myself and go a little lighter for 8 or so, I tend to blow up like a balloon. 12 would be too light for me, I think, although I never do 12 apart from in warm-up sets....