The OxyBF & I were at the gym recently (we’ve been rather less than we ought, but we do get there), fighting boredom as we went through our usual 4 sets of 4-8 reps each for…every…dratted…exercise we do. I’ve been following that pattern based on what a trainer told me some years ago. He was much brighter than the average trainer - studying to be a physical therapist - but I still never asked him whether there was solid research showing that a certain number of sets/reps is better or worse for a particular goal. I’d love to just do one set for each exercise, since there are other things I’d rather be doing than set after set.
My general impression is that there’s a real lack of good research on weight-training techniques, perhaps because doing it right with a large enough, diverse enough sample size would be pretty expensive. Am I wrong? If so, are there good sources on the web, or books I should read? So much that’s available seems designed to push a particular product (which may be the book itself) that I don’t trust much of what I read on the subject.
ExRx.net is from whence I get my information. It references the American College of Sports Medicine Resistance Training Guidelines, stating that a single set of 8 to 12 reps can be enough for the amateur trainer, with additional sets offering only limited additional benefits. I like to stick to two sets, one at the high end of 8-12 and a second at the low end, just because. They have a few references to studies if you click on the “low volume training” link.
The lack of research is produced by the inordinate number of studies financed by people selling products.
The key to reps is to change. Usually every two weeks but always monthly. Your body will adapt to any style you use. Therefore it is imperative to change the amount, the weight or the style of reps at least every month, preferably every two weeks.
Ditto what Marxxx said. To quote Mike Matarazzo, “Everything works, but nothing works for long.”
The legendary trainer Vince Gironda said that an advanced bodybuilder can always get an honest workout from 8 sets of 8 reps, but he also advocated very short rest periods (30-60 seconds) between sets.
Terrific! Thanks, everyone. That Ex.Rx.net site is great - more information accidentally than any trainer has given me on purpose - embarrassing considering I’ve been at this for nine years.
sorry can someone please explain the physiology behind:
(Your) body will adapt to any style you use.
This makes no sense, do your muscles remember what exercises they performed last week? Do they get bored and refuse to ‘grow’? Sorry guys but it sounds like someone has been reading those muscle comics.
One set of 8-12 reps is a good beginner’s program, but as soon as you have more specific goals, you’ll need something different.
What really matters is the intensity (the total amount of weight you’re lifting), the volume (the total number of times you lift it), the tempo (how fast you lift/lower the weight, and where you pause), and the rest period between sets. Various set and rep schemes can make it easier to hit a certain goal, but two programs with the same total intensity, volume, tempo, and rest periods will produce pretty much the same results. 10 sets of 3 and 3 sets of 10 are both 30 reps total.
The entire point of training is to get your body to adapt to the demands put on it. After your body spends some time adapting, the demands are easily met, and no further adaptation is required. So if you want more results, you need to change your program up. Even small changes can force your body to adapt some more, but not as much as big changes will.
If you’re doing just one set of 8-12 reps, do you need to increase the weight you’ve been lifting?
For example, I’ve been doing 5 sets of 10 reps on the butterfly chest press, using 20 pounds of weight. If I were to ditch the 5 sets and just do one, do I need to increase to, say, 40 pounds?
The entire point of training is to get your body to adapt to the demands put on it. After your body spends some time adapting, the demands are easily met, and no further adaptation is required. So if you want more results, you need to change your program up. Even small changes can force your body to adapt some more, but not as much as big changes will.
(note to self, got to learn how to quote!)
I agree with the spirit of your statement, however the interpretation that I make is that the changes are entirely down to increasing the resistance (weight) to make maximum inroads into momentary muscular failure. IMHO muscle does not and can not ‘adapt’; it can either get bigger or smaller. Now obviously you can improve your neural adaptations that enhance nerve-muscle interaction, but again this is a function of practicing the same movement, not varying it.
The only reason that I can see for changing a (successful) workout plan is when you mentally get burnt out. We all get burnt out doing 20 rep squats or heavy deadlifts after a few months, but to suppose that your body somehow learns to adapt to a movement and fail to respond is still IMHO ludicrous.
In the lower right corner of every post, there’s a button marked “quote”. That’s how you do it.
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It’s true that a lack of training continuity is bad, but so is staying on the same training program for too long. And there are ways that your body can adapt beyond letting fibers grow bigger–you can grow new muscle fibers (the term for this is hyperplasia, IIRC, but a google search will only find diseases by the same name), muscle fibers can grow more mitochondria, intermediate fibers can convert to type I or type II, you can grow more capillaries, or your CNS can learn to recruit more fibers to do a movement.
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There’s a difference between changing exercises and changing programs. There has been research done in this area, but I’m having a tough time finding a cite. Be back later today.