High reps? Low Reps for muscle gains?

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AldrinYeo
AldrinYeo Posts: 26 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
hey everyone! So I lost a lot of weight the past 6-7 months, I look a lot better but I realised that I got weaker after i startered lifting, so I'm trying to bulk up now but I want to know what's the 'Best' way to gain muscles, should I lift heavy with 3-6 reps or lighter with 10-15 reps? I lifted last week and I felt sore the next day which was great but after that 2-3 days. I continue to lift and I had no soreness at all after my workouts. Well except my legs days. And I was lifting light with 10-15 reps every set which was 5-7 sets. Any advice? Thank you so much in advance guys.
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Replies

  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    edited July 2015
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    They'll do both.

    OP, you're a beginner. You're going to have newbie gains, exploit that. I recommend a 5x5 program for most beginners, as it'll set a foundation and probably shove you into the intermediate range after a few months.
    • New Rules of Lifting For Women
    • Strong Curves
    • ICF 5x5
    • Stronglifts 5x5

    All of these programs focus on major compound lifts (squat, deadlift, overhead press, bench press); with newbie gains, you're going to experience a pretty big strength boom. ICF 5x5 has accessory work which has hypertrophy rep ranges.

    You shouldn't be worrying about high reps vs low reps for now OP.
  • biziebun
    biziebun Posts: 24 Member
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    5x5???
    ICF??
  • AldrinYeo
    AldrinYeo Posts: 26 Member
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    Did a lot of research on those programs, going to give the Stronglift a shot =) thanks for the reply
  • Barrysheene7
    Barrysheene7 Posts: 3 Member
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    You may also like to try pyramids!! That is doing the heaviest weight you can for 8 reps then dropping the weight and immediately doing another 8 reps drop the weight and another 8 reps. The weight you use should be where you can only just manage to do 8 reps and you should be struggling to do the last 2. If you can't manage 8 reps either reduce the weight OR go for 6 reps as above. Aim to do 3 sets, the most repetitions you are looking to do is 24 so that may be 8 reps x 3 or 6 x 4 or 4 x 6 which is a killer AND remember no rest in between reps. Ideally explosive lifts with slow and controlled movement to the start so that you are keeping that muscle under tension all of the time. The thing to remember in anything you do is what might work for someone may not work for you as we are all different you need to find something which works for you and after 6-8 weeks change your routine so that your body does not get used to doing the same thing.
  • XavierNusum
    XavierNusum Posts: 720 Member
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    Lift-Run-Bang (lift-run-bang.com)
    Wendler 5/3/1
    Stronglifts 5x5
  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
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    Barrysheene7 wrote: »
    You may also like to try pyramids!! That is doing the heaviest weight you can for 8 reps then dropping the weight and immediately doing another 8 reps drop the weight and another 8 reps. The weight you use should be where you can only just manage to do 8 reps and you should be struggling to do the last 2. If you can't manage 8 reps either reduce the weight OR go for 6 reps as above. Aim to do 3 sets, the most repetitions you are looking to do is 24 so that may be 8 reps x 3 or 6 x 4 or 4 x 6 which is a killer AND remember no rest in between reps. Ideally explosive lifts with slow and controlled movement to the start so that you are keeping that muscle under tension all of the time. The thing to remember in anything you do is what might work for someone may not work for you as we are all different you need to find something which works for you and after 6-8 weeks change your routine so that your body does not get used to doing the same thing.

    Not necessary for a beginner, as they will respond to anything. No need to complicate it with advanced principles.

    Stick with a program as long as you can, do not switch until you have exhausted your linear gains.
  • joeboland
    joeboland Posts: 205 Member
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    Stronglifts, ICF, Wendler will all give you good results (newbie gains).
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Calorie surplus
    Hypertrophy routine of your choosing (6-10 reps with weight which is challenging but can be lifted with good form but also has work within the lower rep ranges for big compound lifts)
    Rest
    Time
    Disregard soreness as an indicator of effectiveness and concentrate on progressing with your lifts

    *Edited for completeness

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