All rep ranges have their benefits.
[quote]JayPierce wrote:
I’m not so sure. I know a lot of PL guys who are packing a lot more mass than some of the guys I know that BB. I mean, strength is strength no matter if we’re talking about 3 reps or 8. A lot of the difference I’ve noticed between BB and PL development seems to be due to exercise choice rather than rep range. I myself gained a good bit of mass in the lower pecs and glutes from chasing strength.
There is a lot to be said for lowering the weight and focusing on flexing a muscle to move the weight, though, rather than just moving sheer mass.
Regardless, like BulknCut posted, sometimes it’s good to force a strength adaptation to bust a rut.
I think both have their place in bodybuilding.[/quote]
Mmm ya. I have always sort of wondered about stuff like that. You know, bodybuilders going through a period of powerlifting and powerlifters going through a period of “bodybuilding” or something close at least. The idea being that the powerlifter would have more muscle to make strong afterwards and the bodybuilder would have more strength with which to build muscle!
I haven’t ever put that into practice though, I’ve only ever powerlifted. The main reason I still think in terms of 8-12 as building the most muscle is because I’ll actually see a bunch of dudes in the gym who have bigger muscles than me, but they can’t lift as much, because my weight and rep ranges have built more strength but not as much mass.
Interesting point about exercises though. I mean, there’s no denying that the muscle builders do way more curls and things like lateral raises and leg curls and extensions and flys than I do. Could be that has a greater impact on size than the rep ranges.