Lifting Heavy - Your definition?

bump

Strength standards to see where you stack up.

http://www.crossfit.com/cf-journal/WLSTANDARDS.pdf

Awesome thread... bumping

Bumping

1-5 reps for Strength and power
6-8 reps for some strength and some hypertrophy
8-13 reps for hypertrophy
13+ reps for endurance

For all those rep ranges, you should really be struggling to complete the last couple reps of a set- for example if you're doing a 5 rep set it should feel like
Rep 1: I can do this
Rep 2: Ok, it's pretty heavy, but doable
Rep 3: This is getting heavy
Rep 4: Ermagherd, this is heavy *kitten*! I don't know if I can do 1 more!
Rep 5: *kitten*! Grrrrrruummmpphh.......heavy breathing......more heavy breathing..........I'm a BADA$$.

If it doesn't feel like that, it's not heavy.

^^this, its a great explanation.

Can anyone explain what 'muscular endurance' looks like?

I've heard that smaller reps make for comparatively more neuromuscular demands, greater strength, and smaller, denser muscle, and that 8-12 reps makes for larger, plumper-looking muscles. What aesthetic effect does the 15-20 rep range have?

Lets put it this way, type II muscle all works the same way, you stress it, and it grows during rest and caloric excess. The reason 8-12 reps is the 'size' range is by and large because you have a lot more muscle fibre count of that type compared to strength types. but make no mistake, training 5 reps will grow your muscle size too,. training 8-12 will make you stronger. hypertrophy is hypertrophy, regardless of your rep range. Take a strongman, lose some fat and he won't look out of place at any BB comp, even though he doesn't train for BB. Take any BBer, toss him at a powerlifting comp, and he won't look out of place, even though he doesn't train for powerlifting. The 2 training methods are very closely linked. Actually so closely linked thats it's basically widely accepted that for anyone outside of elite BBers, the best way too build size is to train over all rep ranges. 5/3/1, WSFSB and PHAT being prime examples of good intermediate templates doing this. The days of 1 bodypart a day per week split is long dead except by noobs.

that said, as for what adaptations training in the 15+ rep range has, it depends. There will be some stress to the fibres causing them to fray, thus during rest hypertrophy will occur. But it will be limited as this type of training is NOT designed to fray muscle fibre near as much as to train it to be efficient. So aside from a basic amount, it really won't build any muscle. Same principle to a degree why cardio doesn't build massive legs, it's technically 15+ rep legwork.

Can anyone explain what 'muscular endurance' looks like?

I've heard that smaller reps make for comparatively more neuromuscular demands, greater strength, and smaller, denser muscle, and that 8-12 reps makes for larger, plumper-looking muscles. What aesthetic effect does the 15-20 rep range have?

Lets put it this way, type II muscle all works the same way, you stress it, and it grows during rest and caloric excess. The reason 8-12 reps is the 'size' range is by and large because you have a lot more muscle fibre count of that type compared to strength types. but make no mistake, training 5 reps will grow your muscle size too,. training 8-12 will make you stronger. hypertrophy is hypertrophy, regardless of your rep range. Take a strongman, lose some fat and he won't look out of place at any BB comp, even though he doesn't train for BB. Take any BBer, toss him at a powerlifting comp, and he won't look out of place, even though he doesn't train for powerlifting. The 2 training methods are very closely linked. Actually so closely linked thats it's basically widely accepted that for anyone outside of elite BBers, the best way too build size is to train over all rep ranges. 5/3/1, WSFSB and PHAT being prime examples of good intermediate templates doing this. The days of 1 bodypart a day per week split is long dead except by noobs.

that said, as for what adaptations training in the 15+ rep range has, it depends. There will be some stress to the fibres causing them to fray, thus during rest hypertrophy will occur. But it will be limited as this type of training is NOT designed to fray muscle fibre near as much as to train it to be efficient. So aside from a basic amount, it really won't build any muscle. Same principle to a degree why cardio doesn't build massive legs, it's technically 15+ rep legwork.

Thank you!!!

You are getting stronger everyday my sweet friend! :flowerforyou:

I don't go to a gym - I workout at home. I have a Total Gym but haven't used it lately. I have handweights up to 50 pounds. I can't do squats because I have had 4 knee surgeries and they cause me a lot of problems.

I started straight leg "dead lifts" with hand weights at 5 pounds and was so sore the next day I couldn't walk. However, I did 12 reps no problem. So despite my aching legs, I upped the weight to 10 pounds and had a hard time doing 8.

It is good to read this because I always thought I was a super wimp cuz I couldn't "lift heavy" but in fact, I am lifting heavy for me, I am just not that strong... yet.

1-5 reps for Strength and power
6-8 reps for some strength and some hypertrophy
8-13 reps for hypertrophy
13+ reps for endurance

For all those rep ranges, you should really be struggling to complete the last couple reps of a set- for example if you're doing a 5 rep set it should feel like
Rep 1: I can do this
Rep 2: Ok, it's pretty heavy, but doable
Rep 3: This is getting heavy
Rep 4: Ermagherd, this is heavy *kitten*! I don't know if I can do 1 more!
Rep 5: *kitten*! Grrrrrruummmpphh.......heavy breathing......more heavy breathing..........I'm a BADA$$.

If it doesn't feel like that, it's not heavy.

Sounds about right to me

Only read the OP.

A) The most amount of weight you can handle in the 3-5 rep range.

I don't exactly include shoulder raises in "lifting heavy"