Im just now getting into my own workout schedule/routines after about a year and a half out of being in high school football.
The friend im working out with gave me a routine where im doing high weight with low reps and low sets. (Chest press x8 for one set at high weight for example) Something about that doesnt feel right. Shouldnt I be doing more sets if im going to be cutting my rep count?
I just am feeling really weak compared to the stregnth levels I was at in football and would lile to get back to that point.
I think we’ll probably need a little more context to be helpful. Low volume training definitely has a documented history of success.
1 Like
I would say that 8 reps is usually considered moderately high. Low reps is usually anywhere from 1-4. Are you more concerned with building muscle size or strength?
1 Like
Id like to focus on building strength
what kind of context can do you want?
Like the whole day and week, what you were doing before, your strength then vs now, and how long you’ve been doing this new thing.
1 Like
Something about your strength training during football worked.
I am a proponent of 8 reps on upper body exercises. There was a time where it was believed that about 25 reps on each exercise was considered the sweet point. (And 3 or 4 exercises per body part.)
Example:
- For strength: 5 sets of 5 reps
- For hypertrophy: 3 sets of 8 reps
I never exceeded 10 reps on upper body exercises, so I have no suggestions of success doing “high” reps.
To do 3 exercises per body part you will need to be training in some kind of split routine to avoid extremely high volume training.
2 Likes
Ive only been doing this for about 3 weeks now. Before i was doing what i beleive were powerlifting workouts. We mostly did squat on leg day and bench on upper day. we threw some lunges and front squats in on leg day too and ohp and 21s on upper day. we had a card where based on our max we would do 5 sets with the designated weight. And if you finished that program you would do the next program on the next day. for example if my max on bench was 225 there would be a program for 225 that would be 5 sets of 5 starting at 160 going up 10 lbs every set. if i completed that i would mobe on to the 230 max program.
Do both. Look into linear periodization if you want to get stronger.
High Rep vs Low Rep is a flawed perspective when it comes to training in my opinion. It should be High Rep and Low Rep
1 Like