I have noticed in my training that I am more of an explosive lifter but suck at doing high reps. On most of my lifts I can only get around 5 reps or so at 80% of my 1RM. Yesterday I was doing front squats at 83% of my 1RM and could do 4 reps with the 4th rep feeling very difficult.
For lower body compound lifts (which are my main focus) I am mainly concerned about my 1RM, 2RM and 3RM so this doesn’t bother me much. I was wondering if I should train differently anyway based on this characteristic. Would you train a more explosive lifter differently from a lifter who can perform more reps but isn’t as explosive? If so, how? Would it be beneficial for my maximal strength to spend time becoming better at performing higher rep sets?
I would have described myself the exact way a few months ago. Prior to that for probably 3 years 99% of my sets were 3 reps or lower. Then I did the first 3 weeks of 915 and after 15 sets of ~5 reps per workout I started seeing some serious changes. Now I do 5x5 on the main lift and up to 12 reps on the assistance exercises, I quite much enjoy it in fact. For me the increased volume absolutely skyrocketed my pressing strength. I think 3 rep sets still work best for me for squats/deadlifts strength but the growth from the higher volume is very nice as well.
Long story short, maybe try doing what you think you suck at for a month or two.