Does it matter what method of strength building exercise one does

[Wesley_Clark]

Assume you want to do strength training on your pectoralis muscles. There are numerous exercises you can do

Bench presses with dumbbells
Bench presses with barbell
Push ups
Cable Crossovers
Flyes
At the same time there are different methods you can use for each exercise. You can do heavy weight with low reps, or you can do low weight with high reps. You can do a small number of reps and several sets, you can do a small number of sets with many reps, you can do one set to failure.

You can also do things like slow motion reps, cheating reps, assisted reps, reverse reps, isometrics by holding the weight in midflex (holding your body in a stationary position halfway through a pushup rep or bench press rep).

So my question is does it make a difference for strength or size? Is the biggest variable just doing ‘anything’ and the question of what exercise, or how many sets/reps or how you do them not really that important?

Does it vary with what you want to accomplish? Is it true if you want size over strength you should focus on several sets with low reps and heavy weights (with plenty of rest between sets) but if you want strength you should focus on low weights, low sets but high reps?

Which method is best for preserving the joints?

According to NASA isometric exercises do not work as well as other exercises. Strength is the same for various exercises, but contractile proteins whithered with isometric exercises. However I don’t know if that is just in a zero gravity type environment or if it applies to regular use too.

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/livingthings/10dec_muscles.html

To find out, Baldwin’s group gave laboratory rats a workout by activating the rodents’ leg muscles with painless electrical stimulation. They tested three types of exercise: muscle contraction, muscle lengthening, and isometric, where the muscle exerts a force while remaining the same length. (Just think of doing push-ups: muscle contraction occurs in the “up” part of a push-up, muscle lengthening during the “down” part, and isometric while holding a push-up midway.)

After the sessions, the scientists performed tests to see how the rats’ muscles responded. “What we found,” says Baldwin, “was that after 12 sessions, all three types of workout tended to provide about the same amount of muscle growth,” even the isometric exercises that involved no motion.

This was nothing new. Other scientists had come to the same conclusions before. But Baldwin’s group took their analysis a step further:

In addition to measuring overall muscle mass–how “buff” were the rats?–they also measured the amount of contractile proteins within the muscle cells. Contractile proteins are what actually cause a muscle to contract. They are what give a muscle its strength.

To their surprise, Baldwin’s team found that while isometric exercises did prevent leg muscles from withering, they did not stop a decline in the amount of contractile proteins in those muscles. The muscle was actually degrading on the molecular level.

[ultrafilter]

The short answer is yes. Different exercises target different heads of the pectoral muscles, different loading schemes activate different fibers and place different stresses on the central nervous system, and some exercises are much safer for your shoulders than others.

[HongKongFooey]

@Wesley_Clark

Does it vary with what you want to accomplish? Is it true if you want size over strength you should focus on several sets with low reps and heavy weights (with plenty of rest between sets) but if you want strength you should focus on low weights, low sets but high reps?

I’m sure you know it but this part is a bit backwards. Generally for strength you want low reps, heavy weight. For people training in strength sports such as weightlifting the form is so integral to safety in performing the lift that training with high reps doesn’t make sense. When you get fatigued you lose your form on complicated movements such as snatches or clean & jerks.

My opinion is that if you work hard with heavy compound lifts you get strong regardless of fancy routines and supplements. I don’t know anything about bodybuilding or getting specific muscles to grow though.

[Markxxx]

In general, you use heavy weights and low reps to build size and lighter weights and more reps to shape the muscle.

What really matters is variation. After a few weeks, and definately by a month, your body adapts and stops growing. So you need to change the amount of weight, the way you’re lifting the weight, or the amount of reps, to start the growth back.

Remember when you lift weights you’re not only strengthening your muscles but your joints and ligiments and tendons too. So you want to push but not too hard.

The key is variation of routine. Do what you want but always make sure you change up your workout routines.