One of the most overheard advice a natural lifter is given is to go heavy on compound exercises. But for myself and many others there is an inverse relation to poundage and form. I’m curious to know when others judge that their form has been compromised and they should reduce the weight used.
There can be no inverse relation – form is king. If you read the entire line of advice, it says to go as heavy as you can IN GOOD FORM. As for how to judge when form is breaking – until you have the kinestetic sense to know, use mirrors and lifting partners. If you have the form grooved properly, you’ll know.
To break form at any time during training is to lead anyone on the road to “bad habits”. And once you are firmly planted on that road, it can be difficult to break free. Therefore, never good to sacrifice form for poundage. Or to advise a newbie that it’s “okay” to forego form for heavy weights.
Based on an off-topic thread, I gathered that you are a fighter, so think of it in terms of throwing a punch, say a hook. If the form is bad, you sacrifice power, and increasethe risk of injury. So in the long term it is better to start proper technique, then gradually increase the speed and power. It is the same with lifting, if you use bad form, you will eventually hit the wall, and sacrifice strength, either because of injury or by not recruiting the proper mucsle groups.
I apologize. It was my mistake to use the word “form” when I actually meant “feel”, which is actually another way of describing “pump”. And since the “pump” can usually only be attained by moderate to high rep sets, it becomes a low rep vs high rep debate. And since that topic have been recently covered on this forum I withdraw my post =) Just goes to show what can happen if someone doent think something through and has too long a lunch break 
i dont under stand how someone can loose form when they are going heavey , even if u cant lift it and doing negatives , and if i cant lift a certaint weight breaking form wont make me lift it , its just risking injury
what do you mean that you don’t have a pump with low reps. maybe you are not using high enough intensity in those low reps. Do any exercise at 80-85 % intensity (ie. 1 rep max) for 5 clean form reps and tell me you don’t get pumped. that highly seems doubtful. laters pk
=) haha The confusion continues. As I said I do get a pump from moderate to high reps. I consider 5-8 reps per set moderate. 2-3 Low reps and high to be 10-12. The 1st 4th and 9th rep dont exist in my world
i guess if you are lifting really heavy for 3 or less reps then you don’t have enough time under tension to cause a muscle pump. it taxes the neural system more. laters pk
For me it is all about the form. the feel of the weight smoothly moving under my control. For more CNS stimulation just make the movement more complex.ie Do front squat into a push press, down into a olympic squat back into a press then down for a clean to go right back into front squat. That won’t take hardly any weight to make you shake like a leaf.
Assuming that you are not a powerlifter, try a slower tempo with a slightly lighter weight. I get tremendous DOMS using a 5X5 approach with a 411 tempo.