High reps, light weight myth...

Rae6503
Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
edited November 9 in Fitness and Exercise
I need a good scientific site (not just a blog) explaining why this is a myth.


Truthfully I'm very disappointed in my New Rules Book for not having references.

And yes, I am asking you to do my homework for me.
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Replies

  • MrDude_1
    MrDude_1 Posts: 2,510 Member
    well you could try your local library.
    there you will find plenty of people that do it..... they take a light weight (book) and put it on a shelf.. hundreds of times a day..

    either they're friggin ripped, this theory has a flaw..... or maybe it only counts if its a 2lb piece of iron and not a 2lb paper block...
  • snaptate
    snaptate Posts: 22 Member
    Depends on what your trying to achieve...everything has a place and it's not a myth...what are your goals...to maintain, build or lose fat?
  • MrDude_1
    MrDude_1 Posts: 2,510 Member
    Depends on what your trying to achieve...everything has a place and it's not a myth...what are your goals...to maintain, build or lose fat?

    theres never a reason to lift light weights... other then ignorance.
  • tomusiakl
    tomusiakl Posts: 225 Member
    Could you elaborate more snaptate. I would love to hear how these all differ. Thanks
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    Depends on what your trying to achieve...everything has a place and it's not a myth...what are your goals...to maintain, build or lose fat?

    theres never a reason to lift light weights... other then ignorance.

    Really?
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    Here's a link to the PubMed search of 'muscle hypertrophy resistance exercise'. Have at it!

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=muscle hypertrophy resistance training
  • Amburglar
    Amburglar Posts: 32
    I can't tell you a source, but I can tell you that, from person experience, I get much better results from constantly challenging myself with heavier weight vs. light lifting/high reps.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,519 Member
    Lyle McDonald's 8 part series "Categories of Weight Training"

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/categories-of-weight-training-part-1.html
  • addisondisease
    addisondisease Posts: 664 Member
    well you could try your local library.
    there you will find plenty of people that do it..... they take a light weight (book) and put it on a shelf.. hundreds of times a day..

    either they're friggin ripped, this theory has a flaw..... or maybe it only counts if its a 2lb piece of iron and not a 2lb paper block...

    Have you ever seen a librarians lats? they look like freaking bats they are so huge! Your example is flawed :wink:
  • missikay1970
    missikay1970 Posts: 588 Member
    Depends on what your trying to achieve...everything has a place and it's not a myth...what are your goals...to maintain, build or lose fat?

    theres never a reason to lift light weights... other then ignorance.

    that should be "other THAN ignorance." funny :laugh:
  • bahacca
    bahacca Posts: 878 Member
    I was going to say do a search at pubmed.com LOADS of links to scientific studies of all sorts.
  • Matt_Wild
    Matt_Wild Posts: 2,673 Member
    Its all about metabolic stress. Generally studies show effort between 30-60% of your 1RM will gain the best muscle. The closer to 60%, the better. Above 60% the gains fall away in terms of weight lifted v effort expended.

    Nothing wrong with doing heavy high rep work tho. My quads were built with a mix of heavy squats/leg presses for 8-12 reps and leg press high rep sets of up to 70 reps, usually maxing at 50 reps. You have fast and slow twitch fibres, you want to stress both types.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member

    theres never a reason to lift light weights... other then ignorance.

    nonsense
  • Nopedotjpeg
    Nopedotjpeg Posts: 1,805 Member
    Depends on what your trying to achieve...everything has a place and it's not a myth...what are your goals...to maintain, build or lose fat?

    theres never a reason to lift light weights... other then ignorance.

    endurance athletes. /fin
  • MrDude_1
    MrDude_1 Posts: 2,510 Member
    lol. I have been in the south too long...

    The point remains valid.
  • kennethmgreen
    kennethmgreen Posts: 1,759 Member
    Depends on what your trying to achieve...everything has a place and it's not a myth...what are your goals...to maintain, build or lose fat?

    theres never a reason to lift light weights... other then ignorance.
    What about putting books up at the library?
  • daphnemoon
    daphnemoon Posts: 216 Member
    Well I've had pretty cool results in body pump lifting (relatively) light weights with (very) high reps.

    My body has completely transformed and is shaping up nicely.

    Interestingly, I've been in pump classes on numerous occasions where "regular" weight lifters (i.e. those used to lifting heavy with less reps) come in all cocky and think they know everything there is to know about lifting. Yet time and time again, they a) don't last five minutes in the class, even with significantly lighter weights than they usually use, b) have terrible form, and c) never come back.

    Whatever works......
  • sarah_ep
    sarah_ep Posts: 580 Member
    I didn't think it was a myth but rather heavy weights were for building muscle and light weights were for muscle endurance.

    I need to look into this.
  • addisondisease
    addisondisease Posts: 664 Member
    Interestingly, I've been in pump classes on numerous occasions where "regular" weight lifters (i.e. those used to lifting heavy with less reps) come in all cocky and think they know everything there is to know about lifting. Yet time and time again, they a) don't last five minutes in the class, even with significantly lighter weights than they usually use, b) have terrible form, and c) never come back.

    Whatever works......

    This is usually because they train for strength, not for endurance. It would be the same if you came to me while i am squatting 300+ pounds and you wouldn't even be able to stand up 150 pounds.
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
    Interestingly, I've been in pump classes on numerous occasions where "regular" weight lifters (i.e. those used to lifting heavy with less reps) come in all cocky and think they know everything there is to know about lifting. Yet time and time again, they a) don't last five minutes in the class, even with significantly lighter weights than they usually use, b) have terrible form, and c) never come back.

    Whatever works......

    This is usually because they train for strength, not for endurance. It would be the same if you came to me while i am squatting 300+ pounds and you wouldn't even be able to stand up 150 pounds.
    I do heavy strenght training and will do a body pump in the mix about once every 2 weeks. It work a different muscle fiber. It is nice to mix things up but what has the biggest impact on what i look like is strenght training.... Not body pump. And for you information, i burn the same amount of calories from 60 minutes of body pump as i do when lifting for 45 minutes. No need to be smug abput doing body pump. I can dp body pump but someone that does only that can´t lift as heavy as i do.
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
    I think what you're both trying to say is that people who train for strength only don't have endurance and people who train for endurance don't have strength.
    Training for both is best. If you're on NROL you're training for strength so once you've completed that maybe you should focus on getting your endurance up. That's what I'm going to do.
  • jmalaschak
    jmalaschak Posts: 8 Member
    When I was in my best shape, I would work on both. I started with low weight, high rep sets and worked up to high weight, low rep sets in the same workout. Ideally, you should work out both unless you have a specific goal in mind about what you want to do. I didn't want the strength without the endurance.
  • Nopedotjpeg
    Nopedotjpeg Posts: 1,805 Member
    Have you found anything? I'm looking at pubmed myself, and have yet to find anything. I did however find an ACE video saying that what matters most is that the muscle is fatigued within a short period of time (90 seconds was the time given).
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    Depends on what your trying to achieve...everything has a place and it's not a myth...what are your goals...to maintain, build or lose fat?

    theres never a reason to lift light weights... other then ignorance.

    Dude! Put $50 in the *kitten* jar!!!!

    a_560x0.jpg
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    Lyle McDonald's 8 part series "Categories of Weight Training"

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/categories-of-weight-training-part-1.html

    I think this has what I need (it's for a bullcrap communications class that is only one credit and I don't really care if I get a C).
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    Oh and I think I'm in love with Lyle McDonald.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    Check out Stronglifts 5x5 too while you are in the zone.
  • Aperture_Science
    Aperture_Science Posts: 840 Member
    I do heavy strenght training and will do a body pump in the mix about once every 2 weeks. It work a different muscle fiber. It is nice to mix things up but what has the biggest impact on what i look like is strenght training.... Not body pump.

    Great stuff, I think mixing things up is a great strategy for fitness (rather than as a competitor in a specific event where this tactic may be detrimental). But:
    And for you information, i burn the same amount of calories from 60 minutes of body pump as i do when lifting for 45 minutes.

    How do you quantify the cals expended for strength sessions? HRM?
  • MrDude_1
    MrDude_1 Posts: 2,510 Member
    How do you quantify the cals expended for strength sessions? HRM?

    you cant easily do so.
    if you think about it, most of your calories are consumed with your basic metabolic processing, not movement. Lifting weights essentially tears the muscle, forcing your body to rebuild it. rebuilding it uses protein consumed (that would have been used for energy) plus it requires a decent amount of energy.. its that extra energy that seems to be "burned from lifting weights".

    so, now the question is, how much did you tear? that depends on how hard you worked it. How much muscle mass you have. The current state of your body, etc...
    its so hard to quantify outside of a lab, and the range it could be is so large that you cant define a rule-of-thumb to quantify it.

    thats the reason weight lifting has no calorie amounts on MFP and anything you read elsewhere may not be accurate for you.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    How do you quantify the cals expended for strength sessions? HRM?

    you cant easily do so.
    if you think about it, most of your calories are consumed with your basic metabolic processing, not movement. Lifting weights essentially tears the muscle, forcing your body to rebuild it. rebuilding it uses protein consumed (that would have been used for energy) plus it requires a decent amount of energy.. its that extra energy that seems to be "burned from lifting weights".

    so, now the question is, how much did you tear? that depends on how hard you worked it. How much muscle mass you have. The current state of your body, etc...
    its so hard to quantify outside of a lab, and the range it could be is so large that you cant define a rule-of-thumb to quantify it.

    thats the reason weight lifting has no calorie amounts on MFP and anything you read elsewhere may not be accurate for you.


    From HRM work in the past its about 100 cals per 20-30 mins, for me, but its hard to figure because of so many different lifts.
    I stopped logging weightlifting a long time ago because of this.
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