rep ranges?

[Hulkbulk8]

I use to use the range from 5-8 reps with as heavy as I could go. I have been reading a lot lately that the time under tension is the key and 40-60 seconds per set is best for muscle mass.

I really could care less how much I lift, all I care about is pure size and how I look.
Was reading where johnny Jackson was talking about he trains in the 15-20 rep range and said this is the strongest he has ever been.

15-20 reps would put me in that 40-60 seconds of time under tension.

Anybody train like this for mass?

 

[bigjc]

 

[nalojeff]

Yes I do. I made my best gains on higher reps. Way better pumps and a whole lot better on my aging joints.

 

[cardealer]

I go up until I can do 12 reps then add so 8 is max and work my way back up.

 

[80aum]

I'm using different ranges for a 1-2 weeks then change it about they all work and it keeps things fresh

 

[Bad Fox]

I use to use the range from 5-8 reps with as heavy as I could go. I have been reading a lot lately that the time under tension is the key and 40-60 seconds per set is best for muscle mass.

I really could care less how much I lift, all I care about is pure size and how I look.
Was reading where johnny Jackson was talking about he trains in the 15-20 rep range and said this is the strongest he has ever been.

15-20 reps would put me in that 40-60 seconds of time under tension.

Anybody train like this for mass?

Blasting the body with heavy weight continuously will stall your gains and eventually cause regression. Its a fact. A simple fact. And one that's not even debated. I say it over and over.......... and over again that people don't take the time to learn their body's recovery time and results from certain percentage weights.

People seem to read that low reps are the thing and follow like lemmings or vice versa. One thing that is a constant in anyone that lifts weights looking for size...... Is that there is a combination of many percentages of weights that can be used at any given time in order to get optimal results... applying the periodization of these in the correct sequence and timing is the key.

It takes knowing your own body. It does tell you when its had enough high % weights. Aches pains and slowed or backwards progress occurs. At that point its time to do a 180 and spur stimulation through lighter weights and higher reps combined with a little more recovery time.

The body is a wonderful machine. But still just a machine. You cannot run any machine full throttle all the time and expect it to last.

 

[Hulkbulk8]

Blasting the body with heavy weight continuously will stall your gains and eventually cause regression. Its a fact. A simple fact. And one that's not even debated. I say it over and over.......... and over again that people don't take the time to learn their body's recovery time and results from certain percentage weights.

People seem to read that low reps are the thing and follow like lemmings or vice versa. One thing that is a constant in anyone that lifts weights looking for size...... Is that there is a combination of many percentages of weights that can be used at any given time in order to get optimal results... applying the periodization of these in the correct sequence and timing is the key.

It takes knowing your own body. It does tell you when its had enough high % weights. Aches pains and slowed or backwards progress occurs. At that point its time to do a 180 and spur stimulation through lighter weights and higher reps combined with a little more recovery time.

The body is a wonderful machine. But still just a machine. You cannot run any machine full throttle all the time and expect it to last.

I was planing on doing reps of 20, 15, 15, 12 for 3 weeks out of the month and one week of low strength work of 5x5.

Would this be good? Enough time to recover from the heavy week?
Thanks
Bad fox

 

[Bad Fox]

I was planing on doing reps of 20, 15, 15, 12 for 3 weeks out of the month and one week of low strength work of 5x5.

Would this be good? Enough time to recover from the heavy week?
Thanks
Bad fox

What is actually more beneficial is feel. You know what I mean too. When you start your warm up sets you know if you feel ON or not. When the warm up weights feel heavy and you feel a little more pain than usual....... Its time to back it down. Having the feeling that you are pumped up about no matter what...... Im gonna kick these weights ass today..... is not good. I guarantee that mentally you can outlift what your body needs or wants.

It takes someone who is willing to throttle back to enjoy continuos progress. Nobody wants to do it. Where is the pride in throwing less weight on and doing less sets?

When you feel ON push yourself through a work out that will take you to failure. What I mean is this. You cannot and will not progress by training harder than your body will allow. Ask any Pro if he does the same volume and % on days that he feels the pains and strength is down. HELL NO! You will be beating the shit out of your machine!!!!!!!!

Its the only one you got. And the one you wanna make bigger and better. You do have to play by its rules to a large degree.

Now as far as reps........ It depends on what weight %s you use. Im a firm believer in going to failure......... At least at some point with whatever muscle group I work. Personally, I do a somewhat exhaustive warm up. Not a high energy expenditure.... but enough to make sure Im fuully primed and ready to go balls to the wall without getting hurt because of being cold or tight.

For body building I do 3 sets of real work. The first set is balls to the wall(after warm up) Lets say inclines.

Today after warm up.... I hit 245 for 16 reps on incline first set. Rest 3-5 mins 225 for 15..... then 205 for 16. Then im done. That is quite a load to recover from in that movement. Wont train chest again till mon. For flats..... same scenario. Everyone needs to find what works for them.... then run with it, Quit relying on magazines and what people tell you.

Recovery and full exhaustion when primed is what you need to be getting at.

 

[jm425]

I usually keep my rep ranges moderate to high now since I am older and my joints are not as healthy as they used to be when I was younger. 8-25 reps is the norm for me. I will throw in the occasional week when I go lower but it's very rare. My joints thank me for it and I notice more hypertrophy from higher rep ranges although it does take me longer to build up strength.

 

[kubes]

I usually keep my rep ranges moderate to high now since I am older and my joints are not as healthy as they used to be when I was younger. 8-25 reps is the norm for me. I will throw in the occasional week when I go lower but it's very rare. My joints thank me for it and I notice more hypertrophy from higher rep ranges although it does take me longer to build up strength.

I couldn't agree more about higher reps to keep our joints safe. At our age no reason to risk injury. My first couple sets are usually in the 12-20 range and I never go heavier than an 8 rep range anymore.

 

[Hulkbulk8]

What is actually more beneficial is feel. You know what I mean too. When you start your warm up sets you know if you feel ON or not. When the warm up weights feel heavy and you feel a little more pain than usual....... Its time to back it down. Having the feeling that you are pumped up about no matter what...... Im gonna kick these weights ass today..... is not good. I guarantee that mentally you can outlift what your body needs or wants.

It takes someone who is willing to throttle back to enjoy continuos progress. Nobody wants to do it. Where is the pride in throwing less weight on and doing less sets?

When you feel ON push yourself through a work out that will take you to failure. What I mean is this. You cannot and will not progress by training harder than your body will allow. Ask any Pro if he does the same volume and % on days that he feels the pains and strength is down. HELL NO! You will be beating the shit out of your machine!!!!!!!!

Its the only one you got. And the one you wanna make bigger and better. You do have to play by its rules to a large degree.

Now as far as reps........ It depends on what weight %s you use. Im a firm believer in going to failure......... At least at some point with whatever muscle group I work. Personally, I do a somewhat exhaustive warm up. Not a high energy expenditure.... but enough to make sure Im fuully primed and ready to go balls to the wall without getting hurt because of being cold or tight.

For body building I do 3 sets of real work. The first set is balls to the wall(after warm up) Lets say inclines.

Today after warm up.... I hit 245 for 16 reps on incline first set. Rest 3-5 mins 225 for 15..... then 205 for 16. Then im done. That is quite a load to recover from in that movement. Wont train chest again till mon. For flats..... same scenario. Everyone needs to find what works for them.... then run with it, Quit relying on magazines and what people tell you.

Recovery and full exhaustion when primed is what you need to be getting at.

I like your thinking and philosophy. I have a hard time starting with my heaviest load first. I will usually work up to it for 12-15 reps.I keep adding weight till I get to where I can't get 15 reps. I feel so much better lifting this way. I am so much more sore and really feel the muscle working. Thanks again bad fox for your help!

 

[Flex2019]

I train using Mountaindog training, and every workout utilizes a variety of rep ranges, anywhere from 5-50 reps per set. Don't be afraid to switch up the rep range from movement to movement. For instance, when training delts, often we will hit 4 sets of 30 reps on a reverse pec-deck, followed by 4 sets of 8 reps on db side laterals.

 

[tkav1980]

If you look at really well designed routines youll notice that most have some type of deload phase to allow for recovery. DC has cruises built in, dorian took a week off every 6 weeks for recovery...etc. So Im a HIT type of guy, balls to the wall beat the log book lift heavy as possible all the time. That is, until I feel like i need a break. Ill take a couple of extra days off, or do an upper lower split where all im doing is high rep stuff to get a bit of a pump etc. But theres a deload any way you look at it. My current line of thinking for muilding mass is this...

Think human fork lift. I never like to go below 8 reps. This is because I feel that if I can get 8 before I fail its light enough that I feel safe and probably wont get injured. I do my heaviest set first in the 8-12 range then for each subsequent set drop the weight, stop counting reps and just lift until failure. In my mind the first heaviest set was the work set and the rest are overload. Also keep in mind im only doing 3-5 sets per bodypart. so the volume lowers greatly to compensate for intensity. If you increase strength in a given rep range over time you ewill grow but you need to allow time to recover from that stressful workload.

 

[JuiceBoxHero]

If you look at really well designed routines youll notice that most have some type of deload phase to allow for recovery. DC has cruises built in, dorian took a week off every 6 weeks for recovery...etc. So Im a HIT type of guy, balls to the wall beat the log book lift heavy as possible all the time. That is, until I feel like i need a break. Ill take a couple of extra days off, or do an upper lower split where all im doing is high rep stuff to get a bit of a pump etc. But theres a deload any way you look at it. My current line of thinking for muilding mass is this...

Think human fork lift. I never like to go below 8 reps. This is because I feel that if I can get 8 before I fail its light enough that I feel safe and probably wont get injured. I do my heaviest set first in the 8-12 range then for each subsequent set drop the weight, stop counting reps and just lift until failure. In my mind the first heaviest set was the work set and the rest are overload. Also keep in mind im only doing 3-5 sets per bodypart. so the volume lowers greatly to compensate for intensity. If you increase strength in a given rep range over time you ewill grow but you need to allow time to recover from that stressful workload.

FAILURE is where I like to be rep range. No matter the weight. Failure=Growth

 

[jm425]

FAILURE is where I like to be rep range. No matter the weight. Failure=Growth

Wrong. You can train just short of failure and grow. Weight progression and time under tension are the 2 most important factors to growth.

 

[tkav1980]

Wrong. You can train just short of failure and grow. Weight progression and time under tension are the 2 most important factors to growth.

I think that depends on volume and a matter from fastest way from point a to point b. IMO training to failure or even forced reps for lower volume is a quicker way to get there. As long as there is progression in strength. get in, hit it hard, gat out and recover. if you only have 1-3 sets to stimulate the muscle to grow I believe you get the most out of that by training to failure or beyond using certain intensity techniques like rest pause, forced reps, and even a drop set.

 

[Hulkbulk8]

Wrong. You can train just short of failure and grow. Weight progression and time under tension are the 2 most important factors to growth.

i thought it was TUT and Intensity, with these Weight progression will happen over time but weight is just a number.

 

[OceanoDepths]

Wrong. You can train just short of failure and grow. Weight progression and time under tension are the 2 most important factors to growth.

I HIGHLY doubt he meant failure is the end all be all.. It's moreso just the mentality.. I bust my ass every workout and push till failure because IMO it's kind of like a "mental reassurance" that I'm giving it my all and will make huge gains.. Has worked for me for years.. I do listen to my body though and deload when necessary (ie drop weight, higher reps, etc.)

 

[jm425]

I think that depends on volume and a matter from fastest way from point a to point b. IMO training to failure or even forced reps for lower volume is a quicker way to get there. As long as there is progression in strength. get in, hit it hard, gat out and recover. if you only have 1-3 sets to stimulate the muscle to grow I believe you get the most out of that by training to failure or beyond using certain intensity techniques like rest pause, forced reps, and even a drop set.

You're right it depends on volume. High volume guys like me almost never go to true failure and it works as long as there is weight progression. Then you have Dorian's way of training which is truly failure with way less volume. I should have been more clear. I meant that training until failure is not the only way to grow.

 

[tri-terror]

I believe that heavy weight is important. Heavy being relative of course to the individual. I train at least one heavy set per muscle 5-7 reps, and then back down the weights to get more reps and TUT each consecutive set.

You absolutely cannot train like that all the time though so listen to your body and take breaks and deloads when you need them. IMHO if you never go below 12 reps you are short changing yourself.