Low Weight High Reps for Muscle Growth: What the Science Says. Conventional wisdom has it that low weight high rep training programs build endurance, but make little contribution to gains in strength or size. Heavy weights and low reps has long been the accepted “best way” to maximize muscle growth. Back in 2. 01. 0, Stuart Phillips, a kinesiology professor at Canada’s Mc. Master University, began to overturn much of that conventional wisdom. The Research. Phillips and his team found that muscle protein synthesis, a key driving force behind muscle growth, was higher with light weights and high reps (4 sets of 2. This time, he got a group of guys to train their legs on the leg extension machine three times a week for 1. Low weight high reps training stimulated just as much muscle growth as heavy weights and lower reps. What’s more, the average size of both the fast and slow twitch muscle fibers increased equally with heavy and light loads, meaning that both fiber types were recruited and stimulated during training. Untrained Beginners. Once again, this study attracted criticism, most notably because it used untrained beginners as subjects. Take someone who’s never exercised and get them to lift weights for a few months. They tend to grow no matter what they do. Are you going to see the same results in guys who have been training for a few years? To find out, Phillips recruited a group of 4. The men were assigned to one of two groups . The low weight high reps group did 2. The findings: After 1. As with the research in novices, the average size of both the fast and slow twitch muscle fibers increased to a similar extent in both groups. But, that doesn’t mean the two protocols delivered identical results. The average amount of muscle gained in the low weight high reps group was 2. Had the study lasted longer, or the number of subjects been larger, the difference in results between the two groups may have become large enough to cross the statistically significant threshold. Of course, these are the results from just a few studies. As I’ve explained here, drawing conclusions about anything from two or three studies is never a good idea. However, there’s plenty of other research out there showing multiple benefits of training with a low weight and high reps. Light slow- speed training (5. This Is The Best Workout For Weight Loss, According To Science Turn your gym routine into calorie-torching gold. By Macaela Mackenzie February 27, 2017. The only way to get perfect legs is to work them regularly. I do two leg workouts each week: one heavy workout early in the week and this plyometric leg workout a few. Rick Wallace is a theologian, published author, public speaker and entrepreneur. He has more than 20 years in the health and fitness industry. The results are comparable to those obtained with heavy normal- speed training (8. Both heavy (4 sets of 8- 1. Your muscles get bigger when these individual fibers become thicker, a process known as hypertrophy. Inside each fiber are rod- like structures called myofibrils, which run parallel to one another. Myofibrils are the part of the muscle that contribute to force production. There is also a fluid part of the muscle fiber, known as the sarcoplasm, in which the myofibrils are embedded. It’s filled with stuff – such as water, glycogen, and myoglobin – that doesn’t contribute directly to the production of muscle force. The term myofibrillar hypertrophy refers to an increase in the volume of the myofibrils, while sarcoplasmic hypertrophy describes the expansion of the sarcoplasm. The idea is that low weight high rep training leads mainly to so- called “non- functional” sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, creating “puffy” muscles that tend to deflate relatively quickly. Training with heavy weights and lower reps, on the other hand, is said to preferentially increase the rate of myofibrillar hypertrophy, leading to dense, strong, “functional” muscles. That’s the theory, anyway. Personally, I’m not convinced. In one of the few studies to compare the effect of high versus low repetitions on myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic protein synthesis, low weight high reps training did increase the rate of sarcoplasmic protein synthesis to a greater extent than heavier training . But it increased the rate of myofibrillar protein synthesis too. Interestingly enough, when it was measured 2. Granted, this study looked at short- term changes in protein synthesis after exercise, rather than long- term changes in muscle tissue after several months of training. We can’t assume that the former is a completely dependable way to predict the latter. But it does paint a big question mark next to the idea that a low weight high reps protocol will preferentially increase sarcoplasmic rather than myofibrillar hypertrophy. This doesn’t mean that training programs built on the sarcoplasmic versus myofibrillar hypertrophy concept don’t work. Just that the way in which they’re supposed to work is probably wrong. The sarcoplasm exists. It can grow. But there’s no convincing evidence to suggest that the muscle growth produced by training with lighter weights and higher repetitions comes predominantly from “non- functional” sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, while the myofibrillar component of the muscle remains the same size, or grows to a much lesser degree. What does all of this mean for you? It’s not that a low weight high reps training program is now the official “best way” to build muscle. The fact that it’s possible to build muscle using higher reps and lighter weights doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a good idea to do so. Remember, there were no discernible advantages to the low weight high rep protocols. They didn’t lead to superior gains in size or strength. Losing weight is not as simple as calories in vs. Carbs, insulin, and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) have an ENORMOUS IMPACT on weight loss and body fat. A FREE guide to workout routines. Learn exactly which weightlifting and bodybuilding programs, schedules and exercises will work best to build muscle and more. Super High Rep Training By Dr. Many people have difficulty obtaining a “pumped” muscle. Due to a lack of coordination and genetics, the muscle is. Fat-burning workouts 25 brutal workout finishers for rapid fat loss and muscle-building Burn away the last of your flab with these high-intensity burners. A free guide to my current weight training program. Learn all of the details of my workout routine including exercises, sets, reps and muscle groups. But each set took twice as long to complete. Training to failure in a higher rep range is also highly unpleasant and extremely painful – a lot harder than lower reps and heavier weights. Doing longer, more painful workouts simply to generate the same results doesn’t sound like a great idea to me. Plus, lower reps and heavier weights still win the day as far as gains in strength are concerned . Most studies out there show very similar gains in muscle size across a variety of rep ranges. That gives you a lot more choice about the type of training you do. For example, joint issues or injuries may mean that lifting heavy weights causes pain in your shoulders, elbows, knees or wrists. The solution is very simple. If going heavy on certain exercises causes you pain, just go light instead. You can make the switch from heavy weights and low reps to low weights and high reps without missing out on any gains. Maybe you just prefer using lighter weights on certain exercises, and heavier weights on others. Again, you can do so quite happily without worrying that you’re putting the brakes on muscle growth. In short, you can build muscle with low reps and heavy weights. You can also build muscle with high reps and lighter weights. For best results, I think it’s a good idea to do both. If you're fed up spending hours in the gym with nothing to show for it, then check out The Muscle Building Cheat Sheet. It's a . To download a copy, please click or tap here. Strength training is a type of physical exercise specializing in the use of resistance to induce muscular contraction which builds the strength, anaerobic endurance.
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