I have been training using the standard West Side Template for the past two years but I have stagnated for quite a while so I was thinking of changing things a bit. For the training of the accessory muscles (lats, shoulders, abs, backs) I have been using 8-12 reps to induce hypertrophy.
Now I am thinking of increasing the weight and reducing the reps to 4-6. But someone told me that using such high weight/low reps for the whole of my workout will be quite hard on my joints and I should use only low reps for the main and supplementary exercise (squats/deadlifts, bench press, glutes/hamstrings and triceps). Any advice ?
teotjunk
Well, heavy weight/low rep training is taxing on the nervous system, so you have to be careful with your training volume. You could use this rep range with only big compound exercises, and higher reps for isolation stuff. Personally, when I use this approach, I omit isolation exercises from my routine completely, and just focus on building strength with the big basics.
When you stagnate, that is a sign that you need to switch things up. So, yes try a different rep range and weight. Use that until you feel things aren’t progressing, then switch up again.
You don’t want to keep doing the same parameters for extended periods of time, but you should also avoid switching things up too often. What I mean is, use a scheme for a couple months, then change.