File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
/fit/
I've started weightlifting to get some strength, but I'm confused. What's up with the whole "Heavy weights, low reps, many sets" credo of training versus the "light weights, many reps, low sets" plan?
What're the pros and cons of each? How do you decide which one to use and the weights to use in them?
>> Anonymous
There is a difference. Heavy weights, low reps will make your muscles grow in size.

lighter weights and many reps is something for a drytrain plan. When you reached your prefered str (100kg bench press for instance, depends on length and body weight etc.) you want to lose fat and show your muscles and abbs. You will have to maintain your current shape and lose fat, which is covering your muscles.. You can achieve that by doing lots of cardio and lighter weights with many reps.

Skinny people want mass, but bulky people want to lose fat and want to show more muscles.
>> Anonymous
Hello Anon,

High weight, low reps => strength
Lower weight, more reps => power
Low weight, many reps => endurance

Get Starting Strength 2nd Edition by Rippetoe, well worth it if you're starting out, answers to all your questions are in there.
>> Anonymous
What is your difference between strength and power?
>> Anonymous
>>80367
Lets assume I'm a skinny-ish guy who wants to lose fat around the gut area, but get stronger while I'm at it. What then?
>> ESH !Oj4wGhYfsE
>>80431
Get new goals since you can't lose fat just around your waist. You've to lose it over your entire body.

Really, though, you've to build as much muscle as possible on a better diet. You'll lose fat all over and be stronger for it.
>> Anonymous
>>80384
I assume strength is brute force while power is how much force you can apply over a short time. so for example, heavy deadlifts need strength while snatches need power.
>> Anonymous
>>80435
You're right, and I should've said that better.
I need to lose some weight is what I meant to say, lose fat to be specific.
Your advice is to bulk up, then? Low reps x high weight and the like?
>> ESH !Oj4wGhYfsE
>>80439
Yep. Low reps, high weight, high sets. Classic OLY program, if you can manage it.
>> Anonymous
it's not just reps and sets, it's what exercise you do, how much you lift, how long of a rest do you need in between etc

read this http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459430
>> Anonymous
>>80455

Tu-Thurs-Sat are the days I work out on, others being rest/light cardio days.
I alternate on these days between these two routines:
A: 3x5 Squat, 3x5 Bench press, 1x5 Deadlift
B: 3x5 Squat, 3x5 Military Press, 3x5 Pendlay Rows

The lifts are just as heavy as I can handle without sacrificing form, I wait between 30 seconds and a minute between sets, and I try to increase the weight I'm lifting in each of the exercises by 2.5%
>> Anonymous
1-3 rep range: Pure strength, usefull for preparing your joints\tendons, works your central nervous system, teaches to be more efficient (can use your muscle more effectively, hence lift more) should always explode during the contractive part of exercise for the best muscle fibre recruitment.

3-5:Alot of strength, but will also produce a bit of hypertrophy, once again, explosively as possible.

5-8: The midpoint, will give you good strength gains, but will also produce a good amount of hypertrophy.

8-12: This is the "build some size" range for compound lifts, if you're interested in just getting bigger looking, this is what your bench, squat, shoulder press, deadlift, chins, dips etc should be in, rep range wise.

12-15: Isolation exercise (curls, extensions etc) hypertrophy range.

Obviously they all build some strength, but lower reps build strength to do 1 rep, with a fuckton of weight. Whereas higher reps build strength to grind through a large amount of weight.

Obviously there would be a large carryover between the two.

Also, all rep-ranges can produce size, if you do enough TOTAL reps, eg...

5x5 (25 reps)
10x3 (30 reps)
8x3 (24 reps)
2x10 (20 reps)
1x15 (14 reps)
3x8 (24 reps)

All of these kind of rep\set schemes will produce a good bit of size, obviously different amounts depending on the person. However, the difference is the lower rep guys will be using alot more weight very quickly.

Personally I'm a 3x8 for most exercises, and 5x5 for core lifts junky. (5x5 = bench, chins, squats and deads)