Hey everyone , ive noticed that there are alot of different opinions as to how many reps to fail between for muscle mass
Is failing between 4-6 reps good for muscle mass or more for strength?
thanks
I’m by no means an expert, but I think overall volume is what you need to focus on for mass. So you can do 4-6 reps you’ll just need to do more sets.
Ask a hundred people, get a hundred answers.
Since I train for powerlifting, I tend to train in the low range. Rarely getting above 8 reps on assistance work, usually 3 on my main lifts when not maxing for a P.R.
Louie Simmons wrote: You can build muscle without getting very strong. Get very strong and you WILL put on muscle.
Seems to work for me.
A good idea isn’t so much to think about just the number of reps, but the total set rep volume. B/c everyone has different fiber-types, you need high and low reps. If you’re going to do 4-6 reps, you should be doing about 8-10 sets on that exercise. If you want to do 10-12 reps, stick to 2-5 sets. It’s probably a good idea for you to listen to Chad Waterbury’s Double Tap interview on the T-Nation radio. He goes further into this issue. For hypertrophy, I prefer, over the course of the week, 80-100 reps per major muscle group. For example, today for chest I did 5x10 with incline DB presses, on thursday I plan to do 10x3 on dips. Right there you got 80 reps for the week. I’d also check out Waterbury’s ABBH program.
Hey collegiate, who’s the juice bag in your avatar?
I think you alternate periods with sets of 2-6 power style for tendons/nerves with periods of 6-12 stricter/ a little slower for muscle. If your muscle gets ahead of your strength, you won’t be able to train heavy enough to grow. Or possibly you combine them in the same workout.
I know for example that benching 225 as my heaviest set I only get 13-14, but if I do it right after a heavy triple with say 315 I get 17-20 at 225 right now. Not saying that’s anything.
Also, If your strong AND explosive, I think slower, higher reps will build more mass. If your bigger but relatively weaker, heavier sets are more important.
Funny, thats exactly opposite of what some earlier writers said (that if you have more fast fibers you should train fast, and if you have more endurance fibers you should train higher reps) I think that’s backward thinking.
[quote]Wideguy wrote:
Hey collegiate, who’s the juice bag in your avatar?[/quote]
Hey man! That’s Mark Dugdale, leave the guy alone! He just placed 8th at the Ironman last saturday.
Now I could have told you that was me, like most of the 150 lb. guys on most BB websites, but I didn’t. I’m not too far a cry from lookin’ like that either. Me and him are both 5’6", I compete at 176, he competes at 196. 20 lbs. of muscle and I’m there, dawg.