High rep workouts

[slickdadd]

Last workout I, for the hell of it, gave high reps a try. I've recently just been doing standard 6-10 rep sets. I went from 12-15 reps the other day, and really had a great workout from it. It hasn't been that hard in a while. What are going to be the benefits of lowering the weight and doing high reps as opposed to doing the max weight for the reps I was doing before. I wasn't getting very sore lately from the previous repetitions. Will my muscles actually grow with high reps? Granted im trying to bulk on about 10 pounds right now.

 

[slickdadd]

anyone?

 

[supersizeme]

not that soreness is an indicator of growth...but did you get any more sore than you normally do doing the higher reps?

i don't know what to tell you about whether or not you are going to grow off that rep range. if nothing else, your body isn't expecting it and might stimulate some growth. try it for another workout and then go back to your regular routine and see if you got any stronger. if you didn't, consider yourself a huge failure and just quit lifting altogether. take up knitting.

 

[slickdadd]

yeah i was way more sore then usual. if anything i'm going to use it as just a little curveball in the workouts to jump start it. mission accomplished there.

 

[supersizeme]

coolness.

 

[Citruscide]

Yes. They will grow.

I posted this in an earlier post about understanding muscle fibers.

Doing heavy, lower rep weight will work the class 2 b & c muscle fibers... these are the strongest and the biggest... so that is why they get worked often. However, doing this weight totally neglects class 2a and 1 muscle fibers.

Doing high rep lower weight exercises will hit the neglected muscle groups... and will cause you muscles to grow, especially if you've only done low rep/high weight in the past.

the best formula, to maximize overall muscle efficiency is to do 1 month heavy/low and one month high/light. This way, the muscles will have a chance to adjust and grow to the new form of exerciseing.

Simply splitting a high rep workout on day and then later in the week doing a low rep workout will not yeild the same results, as it will not give the muscles an adequate enough time to adjust to the new workout technique.

C-ditty

 

[Legion Kreinak]

Well, Citruscide, what do you say about Needsize's variation of the 5x5 routine? It incorporates the use of 5x5, and two accessory workouts to finish up the bodypart using a 2x8 scheme. Just curious what you have to say about this. It was meant to target both types of fibers.

 

[BodybuildingUniverse]

I like a good mix of high and low rep routines. Gotta mix it up. I even throw in a 30-rep leg day here and there..keeping the challenges varied..

 

[Legion Kreinak]

Oh, I know that it's good to vary. I'm just wondering if it's okay to do a mix on the same day, or is it better (and why) to do it monthly (as Citrus suggests)?

 

[Lord_Suston]

you can do it in one workout Legion, The basic is the amount of time it takes to stimulate these muscles. white fibers are useful for about 30 sec aftre that the (fog) or pink fibers are the most useful, so you can stimulate all if you mix up the amount of reps for sets, but to really satimulate the white fibers you need heavy weight, the best way I have found is to train heavy on the compounds and the do burnout sets after my main work sets are performed....

 

[Legion Kreinak]

Yah, burnout sets as in...? Like, I think I know what you mean. I do, let's say on my chest/calves day:

5x5 Flat Bench
2x8 Inclined Bench
2x8 Inclined Flies
5x15 Standing Heel Raise

9 sets for chest, heavy weights used in the beginning, then lower weight, higher reps afterwards.

 

[goahead]

variation is the key,

the fact that you did lower reps workout in the past is only good because it allowed you to "caught the high rep fibres by surprise"
meaning you hit them hard and there is a big need for them to adept, once they adept it will be much harder to get them to growthspurt,

Other important things remarked were:

- " alternating every workout / week , doesnt have the element of surprise that a prolonged period of previous low rep training has"

- " low rep fibres have more growth potential"

Following this logic, we could a regime that cycles low high rep training, but where the lower rep periodes are slightly longer:

Try for example 4 weeks low-medium reps follod by 2 weeks high reps

Get back to the low reps for another 4 weeks, but use another routine / exercises / order etc to shock the muscles again

 

[erickthegreat11]

Legion Kreinak: I want you to try this, see how it goes for you.

I try to tell people my method of training all the time. Start at the fist rep range of these 3 and loop around to the first each time you feel stale:

1.) 9-11 reps for 3 sets (done to failure on each set) 2-3 minutes between sets

2.) 6 reps 3 sets with 3-5 minutes rest between sets

3.) 2 reps for 6 sets 5 minutes rest between sets minimum

The 2 rep scheme is used only for compounds (squats, deads, bench). Only one compound per muscle group (upper body, legs, back) for the 2 rep scheme.

The 6x3 is used for all movements.

The 9-11x3 is used for all movements.