Are you guys careful and thoughtful about how much weight you're lifting? I've been having better results since I reduced the weight I lift, but being able to do a lot more reps with it. Have you ever done this or do you always try to have as much weight as you can handle?
I think that when you are lifting weight you should vary the weights ever so often. So its a good idea to lessen the weights and do more reps for a short period of time, then you go back to lifting heavy weight for a period of time. This is because muscles tend to adopt to the weight we are lifting and as such not grow at all.
Yep, I absolutely agree! It's far more important to be doing the exercise correctly at less weight and doing more reps than trying to stress putting up a lot of weight for only a couple reps. Unless your maxing, you should always be lifting a rep that you can do at least 2-3 sets of relatively comfortably. What lifting a more comfortable weight will also do is allow your body to recover more quickly and you'll be more likely to get on a better lifting routine. If you lift extremely heavy weights for you one day and don't go back to the gym for a week, you just wasted your time at the gym.
It all depends on your goals. Many beginners make the mistake of sticking to a certain number of reps and sets just because everybody's doing it. When it comes to strength training, I think the most important thing is to lift as heavy as you can without compromising proper form. I find it funny and annoying at the same time when I see guys lift so much weight that they do weird jerky movements just to finish their sets.
You have to add weight to gain more. You do not want to lose your momentum and strength. Adding more weights will help you improve more.
Absolutely you eventually need to add more weight, what I meant is that sometimes reducing the weight a bit and increasing the reps is more beneficial for you. But do add weight and not simply reps when you're ready to move up though...
Less weight and more reps will keep you lean and toned. More weight will give you the muscle growth more easily. Either way, what matters is your technique and form. If you don't have those right, then you're screwed no matter what you do. I change up the weight and reps from time to time. It just depends on what I'm going for that particular day. It's always smart to keep things varied.
I never just try to see how many weights I can handle, 1)weights are heavy and 2) weights can injury you for life. With that said,I needless to say that I am careful and thoughtful about how much weight I lift, I ensure that I don't over lift, if anything, I under lift! your body has to become accustom to a certain amount of weights before you can add more to your routine, that's the sensible thing to do. I've heard too many stories of people living with back injuries long after lifting twenty pounds more than they could manage- I'll pass on that.
I used to be a weight person, but when I tore the ligaments in my elbow after many attempts to lift the same weight (and thus ripping my ligaments again) I decided to try doing more reps with less reps and I haven't looked back since. I believe that lifting more weight is a masculine thing, you're in the gym with other guys and you don't want to be seen lifting puny amounts of weight - thankfully I have my own little gym in my shed so nobody can see what I'm lifting.
Depends on what are your goals, if you want to gain in strength then you should go for less-reps more-weights. If you want to put on some mass it's better to go for a serie of 8-10 reps, but be sure to choose a weight which won't allow you do more than 10 reps. If you want to go for losing fat, you should definitely try between 12 and 20 reps a serie and also do a lot of cardio and compound exercises.
I think that's absolutely the right way to go about it, it's best to under lift and do the exercise more times rather than the opposite. I've seen it happen first hand, people try to cram as much weight as the can manage into the bar and then they can only lift it a couple of time, it's no wonder they end up with back problems.
If you are not that strong and you've got plenty of time, then this would really work and perfectly suits you. But if you are already that strong and only have a meager available time, then you would want to go for the heavier weights, but with less reps, though this may be shorter when the time is involved, this is far harder physically and mentally. If you push it too hard, your mind might be traumatized that it wouldn't want your body to do it anymore. When this happens, you wouldn't be able to do anything because once the mind speaks, often it's final. So the key here is do what you enjoy, what you feel recreational. If that's less weight and more reps, then that's what you should do. Don't push yourself to your ideals. Befriend and enjoy what you can do, your ability and your capability. Eventually, you'd be strong and meet your ideal, but never just jump to it. Chase it instead.
I used to follow the popular internet advice of low reps, high weight. This is supposed to be the way to go for strength. I just wanted to get stronger and be overall more fit; I didn't care about muscle size. I did okay for a few months although I really struggled with form because of imbalances. One day I tore something in my shoulder and I pretty much stopped weightlifting after that. I still have pain and problems with that shoulder. I think people need to realize that certain types of exercise are not universally right for everybody, like heavy weightlifting. Especially things like squatting, bros everywhere preach that everyone needs to squat heavy, men and women alike. This can be dangerous if you do not have the perfect form down, have range of motion limitations, etc. and on top of that you are encouraged to increase weight every week. One wrong move and you can really mess up your back for years. No thanks, I'll do something safer, I don't care what the bros think. People should be encouraged to start slow with other exercises before they try olympic weightlifting. And lower weight, high reps is a much safer alternative which is right for most people. I have a joint condition and my doctor told me to only lift weights this way. But he said that weight lifting is healthy, as it stabilizes joints and strengthens bones. I agree. It's just better, in my opinion, to stay on the safe side, and you can still get in great shape.
Less weight, more rep rules are for those people who want to get stronger. If you are there to build muscles, you'll have to lift some heavy weights ad do less reps.
It really depends on what results you want. In most cases more reps/ low weight means better explosiveness of the muscles. High weight, low reps equals higher muscle stamina. But I think in most sports it's better to have higher explosiveness of the muscles, rather than endurance. If you want better definition of your muscles do more reps/low weight, if you want "mass" add more weights.
You can definitely see results in terms of strength and muscle mass increase with either program. I think results will show as long as you are always challenging yourself, and progressing in terms of difficulty in your lifts on a weekly basis. Personally, I find lifting heavy and lower reps to be more effective in building strength. Lower weight with high reps is very beneficial in perfecting your form, preventing injuries or not needing to exhaust your central nervous system too much. High weights may be dangerous in terms of injury risk if one is not using proper form. This may cause damage to joints, the most common being knee and shoulders.
I like the lighter weights myself because it builds more of a muscular endurance with me over time, and I am less likely to hurt myself than lifting the heavy weights. I would think lifting heavy weights would hurt you over a long period of time also-but I just want to keep some muscle tone and also I like to shoot for longevity, so I like really small weights that you can do aerobics with.
More reps seems to build more endurance over time, rather than strength, and also makes one leaner. I don't lift very heavy weights since I don't want to potentially damage my muscles/tendons/joints, so I use that strategy too. It is not the best for strength and/or mass gain however. I agree that the form and technique is what matters the most though.
I have done it in the past and always did it in a phased manner. Weightlifting is nothing about your capacity but is a well chalked out program which can leave serious after effects if not done in a proper way. Weightlifting has many positive effects but only if you increase the weight in a phased manner.
I think it depends on the weight you're lifting. If you're a wrestler then of course you need to lift a lot of weights that's more than you can handle to tone down your body. In general though, it's advisable to just lift what you can handle.
