Low Reps; Heavy Weights

JNick77

Westside For Skinny *kitten* III - This is pretty awesome and simple. Do this with a calorie surplus and you'll get to where you want to be.

jaymek92

asked my boyfriend, a former competitive bodybuilder on this.
he says that he uses heavy weights with lower reps to bulk. 4-6 reps at the most. he also does a lot of sets per muscle group. 15-20 for his arms and 20-25 for everything else, split among 4 or 5 different exercises.
like today, he did 23 sets for biceps (hammer curls, bicep curls, preacher curls, and spider curls) and 16 for triceps (because he also did chest, so they were fatigued already).

op, you don't really need to bother with specifically working your abs. working with free weights will engage your core to keep you stable, and a good diet will show them off, if that's what you're after.

LovesGG

Here's what works for ME:
I do 5-7 reps with pretty heavy weights. My sets depend on failure; I aim for failure by the 4th set.

I found this e-book about gaining mass and it has a whole bunch of diet and exercise stuff. I can e-mail it to you if you want.

kchabby76

You will gain muscle EITHER way. I've seen both, those who lift heavy less reps, less often and those who lift lighter, more reps more often. If you are looking to gain "strength" then lifting heavy is the way to go. You can find lots of info to back this up simply by research. It really doesn't matter.

tigersword

surely even by doing say 3 sets of 5 reps & having your diet in surplus your bound to pack on muscle?

You will increase strength and some muscle with that routine, but you need a lot more volume to "pack on muscle".

How much volume are we talking about?

So you saying in essence that...

surplus diet + low reps and 90% strength for weights = gaining in strength + some muscle + fat gain

and

surplus diet + moderate reps say 8 reps + 70-80% strength for weights = muscle + fat gain?

Strength = density, not size. When you use low reps and high weights, you increase strength due to tendon and ligament adaptation, central nervous system training, and increased muscle fiber density (myofibrillar hypertrophy.) You get stronger, but you don't look bigger. More moderate weight, and higher reps causes muscle tissue to swell with sarcoplasmic fluid (sarcoplasmic hypertrophy.) In this case, you look bigger, but you aren't actually stronger.

StartingAnewDay

bump

ninerbuff

You will gain muscle EITHER way. I've seen both, those who lift heavy less reps, less often and those who lift lighter, more reps more often. If you are looking to gain "strength" then lifting heavy is the way to go. You can find lots of info to back this up simply by research. It really doesn't matter.

You don't build muscle on light weights with more reps more often. You're building muscle endurance on this regimen. Muscle needs OVERLOAD in order for hypertrophy to happen.
So yes it does matter.


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

JNick77

Did I walk into a "should I eat my exercise calories" thread again... oh wait... nope. LOL. Seriously people, go do some real reading on MASS gain. Your muscles can still get stronger while on a deficit and to get stronger they must grow but we're not talking REAL hypertrophy. The best way to look at this is, bodybuilders go through a bulk cycle to add muscle and when they go into a cut (calorie deficit) cycle they LOSE muscle mass not gain.

Spamee

bump

kirkemorgan

What's all this muscle building about? Would I get too bulky?

JNick77

What's all this muscle building about? Would I get too bulky?

Meh, just do Pilates to make your muscles longer instead of bulkier. lmao

kchabby76

You CAN build muscle with low weights, more reps. Muscle needs to be fatigued, NOT overloaded. You do reps until muscle fatigue sets in sets in with low weights... maybe you need to have a refresher course in your certification?

kchabby76

You will gain muscle EITHER way. I've seen both, those who lift heavy less reps, less often and those who lift lighter, more reps more often. If you are looking to gain "strength" then lifting heavy is the way to go. You can find lots of info to back this up simply by research. It really doesn't matter.

You don't build muscle on light weights with more reps more often. You're building muscle endurance on this regimen. Muscle needs OVERLOAD in order for hypertrophy to happen.
So yes it does matter.


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

You CAN build muscle with low weights, more reps. Muscle needs to be fatigued, NOT overloaded. You do reps until muscle fatigue sets in sets in with low weights... maybe you need to have a refresher course in your certification?

ninerbuff

You CAN build muscle with low weights, more reps. Muscle needs to be fatigued, NOT overloaded. You do reps until muscle fatigue sets in sets in with low weights... maybe you need to have a refresher course in your certification?

Nope. Professionally doing it for over 29 years now and having research from Journals of Medicine, Sport Conditioning, Endocrinology and Metabolism, etc. to back what I've stated should be enough.
Anecdotals aren't evidence.

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

JNick77

You CAN build muscle with low weights, more reps. Muscle needs to be fatigued, NOT overloaded. You do reps until muscle fatigue sets in sets in with low weights... maybe you need to have a refresher course in your certification?

Confusing bulk with strength gains? Cuz they're not the same thing. Bodybuilders don't go through the rigor of bulking and adding fat and muscle to go through a cut phase and lose all of the fat gain and a small percentage of the muscle gain because they'd rather do it that way.

thefuzz1290

You CAN build muscle with low weights, more reps. Muscle needs to be fatigued, NOT overloaded. You do reps until muscle fatigue sets in sets in with low weights... maybe you need to have a refresher course in your certification?

Nope. Professionally doing it for over 29 years now and having research from Journals of Medicine, Sport Conditioning, Endocrinology and Metabolism, etc. to back what I've stated should be enough.
Anecdotals aren't evidence.

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

What do the kiddies these days say? PWNED!

tyroneadams

bump!

JNick77

bump!

No don't bump, this is getting stupid. Dammit, I bumped it. LOL

ncates00

It may be a good idea to mix it up on some days. Perhaps you could do your 5x5 routine for raw strength, and mix in some 10 or 12x4 for some endurance. In either case, go to failure. Just a thought!

JNick77

It may be a good idea to mix it up on some days. Perhaps you could do your 5x5 routine for raw strength, and mix in some 10 or 12x4 for some endurance. In either case, go to failure. Just a thought!

The Westside method is similar to that. Two days are dedicated to Max Effort and two days are dedicated to Dynamic Effort. I just started the Westside Skinny *kitten* 3 method by John DeFranco, I may start a thread about it.