Fitness Friday - High Reps v. Low Reps

Whitney this post is for you! If you spend anytime in the gym at all you'll hear that women should do lots of reps and low weights so they get nice and defined and not bulky while men should do lower reps and higher weights in order to gain mass. Unfortunately, this may not be entirely true. Because the two different methods use different muscle fibers you actually need to do both if you are to truly see gains in strength, tone and definition.

First of all lets define low reps, anywhere from 6-8 repitions per set. High reps would be 10-15 repititions per set. Doing more reps at a lower weight is going to work the slow twitch muscle fibers which help with endurance. These are the fibers that will be primarily used after the 12th rep or so.

Heavier weights and lower reps are going to work your fast twitch muscle fibers which give you power in quick bursts. Sprinters usually have an excess of high twitch muscle fibers. Usually, these muscle fibers are recruited during the first 6 reps.

The trick is to fatigue your muscles whether that takes 6 or 15 reps it doesn't much matter.

How do you know how much weight to use? Well, find out your "one rep max". That is the amount of weight you can lift correctly one time. Then use 70-85% of that weight and do 6-8 reps. So for example, your one rep max for bench press is 100lbs. You would use 70 - 85 lbs and do 6-8 repititions for at least 3 sets. It should be VERY difficult to lift the weight on your last set. Write your program and stick to it for a few weeks then change it up. Refigure your one rep max because you've probably increased your strength and use 60-75% of your one rep max and do 12-15 reps. Using this method will keep your muscles working efficiently. That's when you'll see the biggest benefit both in strength gain and tone of the muscle.

Or if that's too detailed and you just want to get in the gym, workout, and get done then just think like a guy. You know the ones that try to lift a lot of weight to impress everyone around them. Because the fact is that if you are using dinky weights to do any exercise and you're not fatiguing your muscles you are going to see very little results. And girls, don't worry about getting big. Our testosterone levels aren't high enough to bulk us up without really working at it. So pick up the heaviest set of weights that you can do maintaining correct form for that particular exercise and go for it. Don't be shy!

I love weight training. I don't have time to write myself a program or calculate it all out so I usually just pick a nice size weight and lift. That's just what works best for me. Most important, is to just have fun and do what works best for you.