Weight training. What burns more calories? Low rep heavy or

I'm curious about this too.

High reps burn more calories. But calories burned during weight training typically isn't a primary concern.

It's pretty high on the list of importance to me.

There are better ways to create a calorie deficit. This is analogous to doing distance running for leg strength.

But whatever floats your boat.

Correct. If that was my only goal. But it's not.

what are your goals?

Operate at a lighter weight, be stronger, be faster, be leaner, retain as much muscle mass as possible.

So far, from my observations, I've on track to accomplishing this. The faster aspect is subjective but I seem to be faster

The muscle mass retention will be roughly determined at my next BF measurement (soon I hope)


Is there any rough calculation of how much more calories are burnt via high rep vs lower rep? I also triple set my lifts. 2 lifts and one plyometric per triple set.

Muscle mass is best retained at the lower rep ranges.

I honestly have no idea how to calculate calories burned, it's not something I've ever done. Assuming you are on a routine that isn't highly variable, I don't think it matters much. Just keep calories consistent, and lower them a bit if progress stalls.

The more reps you do, the more you raise your hear rate and the more calories you burn. Higher reps are better for hypertrophy (~8-12 reps). Lower reps are better for strength.

So, best overall range is 8-12.

However, if you go too much more than 15 reps then you are really cutting into growth potential.

Timing of reps matters too, take about 3 seconds down, a 1 second pause, then 2 seconds up. Each rep should be around 4-5 seconds.

4-5 seconds per rep? I'd be in the gym forever.

you should not be allowing gravity to take the weight down for you. do what he said, and you'll notice the work out being more effective.

Better results this way for sure.

You may end up using lighter weight than you did before to get into your rep range. The way I see a lot of guys doing reps in the gym (far too fast) they're basically only getting 1/2 reps worth of work in each of their reps. When you don't take enough time on bringing the bar down (on bench and curls for example) you are not putting the muscle under tension for half the lift.

Slower reps (if you are currently going too fast) will increase gains and strength.

i find intensity to be the determining factor of how hard I worked out. Usually lower weight at higher reps is higher intensity work because I take shorter breaks between sets, thus keeping the heart rate up for longer durations. I make my higher weight lower rep workouts more intense by taking only 60 sec breaks between sets. If you took 3-5 min rest between sets I would think you are burning fewer calories. Not sure of any specific studies on this so difference in calories burned may not be significant enough to matter.

Intensity is determined by the number of sets, weight,reps, rest between sets, reste between exercises, and pace of the reps.

If you increase weight, sets or reps, or decrease rest times and slow the pace, you are increasing intensity.


Generally speaking it's easier to increase intensity by slowing the pace of reps, increasing reps or decreasing rest than it is to increase weight, just because eventually form will suffer with increased weight.

The more reps you do, the more you raise your hear rate and the more calories you burn. Higher reps are better for hypertrophy (~8-12 reps). Lower reps are better for strength.

So, best overall range is 8-12.

However, if you go too much more than 15 reps then you are really cutting into growth potential.

Timing of reps matters too, take about 3 seconds down, a 1 second pause, then 2 seconds up. Each rep should be around 4-5 seconds.

4-5 seconds per rep? I'd be in the gym forever.

you should not be allowing gravity to take the weight down for you. do what he said, and you'll notice the work out being more effective.

Better results this way for sure.

You may end up using lighter weight than you did before to get into your rep range. The way I see a lot of guys doing reps in the gym (far too fast) they're basically only getting 1/2 reps worth of work in each of their reps. When you don't take enough time on bringing the bar down (on bench and curls for example) you are not putting the muscle under tension for half the lift.

Slower reps (if you are currently going too fast) will increase gains and strength.

Fast reps will increase strength as well. Explosive-strength..With explosive-strength you want an optimal bar speed in the yeilding portion of the lift and you want to switch quickly from stretching to active contraction, utilizing the elastic potential of the stretch for raising the power of the subsequent contraction. If you lower the bar to slowly you limit the amount of energy that can be stored..And if you pause between the yielding and overcoming phases you lose energy gained as heat..This will not result in a more powerful contraction and you will not be taking advantage of the stored energy from the pre-stretch.

To the OP,

I just started working out again after a long (3-4 year) hiatus. I am doing mostly weight training and planning on adding in a couple of hiit sessions as soon as I acclimate myself back in to the weight program. I try to thoroughly research any big life change I plan on making and getting fit again is no different. I would highly recommend the book by Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove called the New rules for lifting. Without trying to make it seem like I work for the authors, let me tell you what I got out of it. The new rules are actually the old rules revisited, they stress big compound movements and constantly changing your routine. They also have a program that can take you through a whole year of workouts but it is also easy to make your own routine out of the sections. I have only just started this program but I have read the whole book and it was entertaining and seemed technically sound. Good luck with your workouts!

Cheers,
Collin