Low weight/high reps vs. high weight/low reps

[davsil 0]

I'm sure this has come up before but I wanted to see what people find works best. When doing weight training is it better to use a lower weight and do more reps or better to use more weight and less reps?

[Erin Marie 0]

If the weight is not heavy enough I don't think it'll do much for building muscle. I pick ones that are slightly heavier than the ones that I think of as easy, and then I do repetitions until I feel the burning. Usually twenty. If my arm feels like it's going to fall off (lol not literally, just that nice warm limp feeling) I know I did enough... for that set. And then I switch arms or exercises. When the repetitions get easy, I increase the weight, not the number.

So, I guess to be brief, heavier weight, same repetitions.

[Jachut 487]

High weight low reps - and go really heavy, as heavy as you can possibly manage.

Better yet, do it circuit style, dont have breaks and sets in the same way that you do with regular lifting - and focus on whole body movements, dont waste your time standing round doing bicep curls. It will get your heart rate skyrocketing and torch calories.

[AirKuhl 1]

A good rule of thumb is to pick a weight where you can do 15 reps, but not 16. 15 reps is a good balance between pure weight training and cardio. If you want to build muscle more quickly, then change it to 10 or even 8 reps.

Make sure you practice good form. It's easier to do more reps or higher weight if you hoist the weights too quickly, use momentum, or some awkward movement, but that doesn't help and you could hurt yourself.

[soocalchic 1,087]

Depends on what you are trying to achieve

Low weight lots of reps will get you definition and high weight less reps will have you build muscle.

[scarecrow 4]

davsil - if you have loose skin then low rep / high weight is the way to go. You can tone areas with bodyfat around them, but toning areas with limp skin doesn't do much. Building the muscle to fit into your skin will not only make the best of what you have, but burn many more calories than small, toned muscles.

[Gerry Juarez 2]

Scarecrow- I saw your album online. I am fixing to go into surgery with a similar starting weight. How were you able to get so fit after your surgery? I've seen many folks lose weight , but I havent seen that many men who were able to put on the muscle like you did, any tips?

[scarecrow 4]

Thanks Gerry! And Congrats on the surgery, I hope everything went smooth with the surgery. I know how uncomfortable those first few weeks post-op can be! It gets better, you'll forget all about it even being there soon enough.

To answer your question I was completely millitant the first year and a half after the surgery. I kept a very strict exercise and nutrition schedule, I can message you the details. I still work out regularly nowadays and eat a certain way, but it doesn't take near the commitment to sustain as it did to originally get the weight off.

[jagoholmes 9]

It really depends where you are on your journey. If you are at goal weight then you should be really looking at using higher weights, but if you are still a long way off, it can sometimes be a problem in that with higher body fat levels comes a raised testosterone level, meaning you can build muscle much faster.

Now this isn't necessarily a problem because we want more muscle... more muscle the faster the metabolic rate.

But what can sometimes happen is the increase in muscle tissue, especially in men tends to make them look a little bigger.

Also you will never see any toning of muscles if they are covered in a layer of body fat. Its like displaying a priceless Ming vase covered in bubble wrap, you just won't see the benefits, so keep your training to larger muscle groups, moderate weights and circuit training style to get the best of both worlds, fat burning, muscle building and cardio.

Jago