5 ms·

Not that I utterly disagree with what you write, but there is almost nothing you wrote mentioned in the article. Yes, almost any exercise is better than none.

Not that I utterly disagree with what you write, but there is almost nothing you wrote mentioned in the article. Yes, almost any exercise is better than none. The earlier in life the better. Good core is super important in, well, anything including sitting on the chair. Hiit I consider very good based on effects on me, but would like to see some long-term results and its definitely only for people already doing some regular training. But where do you get the low rep info? This is good for only very specific exercise goals, mainly bodybuilding. Not something most people should strive for. Arnold type body looks great on photos, but is utterly impractical for normal life, super hard to reach and maintain. Low rep means you are close to your limits, which is area where injuries happen a lot, and wear on all parts of the body happens much more (muscles love it, but joints and connective tissue disagrees, and spine has a say in the topic too). Wear is something you are not aware of till its too late and all kinds of pain start to manifest. Lighter weights, more reps(15-20), shorter stops between them (30-60s), and you not only gain much better results in stamina (what good is it to be able to lift 100kg 3x times and you're done, when you need to move apartment for example or do multi-hour hike/anything else). Muscles grow like crazy too, if you have weights just right. Its much easier to keep good form of exercise when you are not at your limit.

elhudy 8y ago
>Lighter weights, more reps(15-20) I was with you until you got here. A typical high-rep range for compound work should be between 8-12. 12-15 for auxiliary work. Most lifters would consider a rep range of between 3-5 to be low-rep. >and you not only gain much better results in stamina (what good is it to be able to lift 100kg 3x times and you're done, when you need to move apartment for example or do multi-hour hike/anything else Heavy lifting actually trains both fast-twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers, as it takes your entire muscle to lift heavy. The reverse can not be said for higher-repetition lifting. I've never trained in the mentioned rep range and anecdotally am able to do multi-hour hikes/anything else just fine. I find that the running/biking crowd loves to perpetuate this myth and generally does so with use of the phrase "meat-head".
- saiya-jin 8y ago
  Since we do anecdotes here, a friend who is purely heavy lifter (squats, deadlifts, benchpresses etc), exactly in those low reps range, and pretty good at it. He is utterly useless in 2h+ hikes with 1000m+ elevation gains. Glad you don't disagree that its more injury-prone to lift heavy. Of course its all good if one has perfect form, but technically its impossible to keep it 100% of the time. Again anecdotally I had various smaller tendon/ligament issues when lifting at my max, every few months I had to stop for a week or two to heal. Since switching to what I described, I can do exactly the same, but no injury at all for 4 years. But all bodies are unique, I found what works for me and my goals long term, if different approach works for you, stick to it.
  - elhudy 8y ago
    >Since we do anecdotes here, a friend who is purely heavy lifter (squats, deadlifts, benchpresses etc), exactly in those low reps range, and pretty good at it. He is utterly useless in 2h+ hikes with 1000m+ elevation gains. The difference is that I made a statement which is scientifically accepted as true, followed by an anecdote to support it: "Heavy lifting actually trains both fast-twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers, as it takes your entire muscle to lift heavy. The reverse can not be said for higher-repetition lifting." There's a reason why NFL running backs can run an entire game and still squat 600 lbs; basketball players are also some of the most active athletes but still put up huge lifting numbers. Reps in the 12-20 range do not increase muscular endurance any more than the 6-8 rep range. [1] [1]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18787090 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18787090
    - nradov 8y ago
      I generally agree, but in a regulation NFL game the running backs are typically only running for about 5 minutes total.
    - gamblor956 8y ago
      The study you linked does not support your claims. Also, professional athletes do both high rep and low rep weight training. The high rep build the strength but the low rep build the endurance to use the strength.
YinglingLight 8y ago
>Arnold type body looks great on photos, but is utterly impractical for normal life No one gets "buff" on accident. No one gets to the size where they have trouble fitting through a door on accident (and without drugs). >Low rep means you are close to your limits, which is area where injuries happen a lot High reps = more movement, and just like a hard disk drive, more movement means more chances for failure. The injury that sent me to the chiropractor was a warm-up ~125lb Deadlift that I did with impromper form. Weight does not correlate with Injury risk. >what good is it to be able to lift 100kg 3x times and you're done, when you need to move apartment for example The "joints and connective tissue" (tendons aka grip) you mentioned prior is exactly what gets trained on heavy reps, and takes a LONG time to develop.
- saiya-jin 8y ago
  > High reps = more movement, and just like a hard disk drive, more movement means more chances for failure. The injury that sent me to the chiropractor was a warm-up ~125lb Deadlift that I did with impromper form. Weight does not correlate with Injury risk. You don't see any logical fallacy in your statement? If more movement = simply more risk, then ultra-trail runners would be all in wheelchairs in 5 years. What you load on yourself on top of your weight makes huge difference. Give those ultras 10kg backpack and they will be having all kinds of knee/ankle issues in very short time. Doing deadlift warmup with cca 55kg seems ridiculously high, I am not surprised you eventually had an injury. Really buffed up guys in my gym start with cca 30 kg only after proper warmup of whole body via some other way (I do it same way, usually on elliptic trainer for 5 mins). Joints and tendons get trained with whatever you do, bodyweight can still do the trick if done properly. You are right it takes horrible amount of time, also healing injury can take months easily. I prefer sport climbing for those, flexibility required is substantial, and overall the sport is awesome on every single level, especially on the rock outdoors. Whatever works for you long term, stick to it. You should know your body better than anyone else. I know amount of load made a big difference in injury risk for me, going lighter but still almost till muscle failure I have lost 0 of the power, and gained tons of endurance. But that's just me.
  - nradov 8y ago
buckhx 8y ago
Low reps (<=5) maximize strength, you're not going to get Arnold muscles if your goal is strength. Bodybuilding emphasizes size > strength and is more in the medium reps range (8-10). Higher reps basically turn into cardio and joint stability work.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
  I really like this chart for references on rep range: https://i.imgur.com/UrF1U.png https://i.imgur.com/UrF1U.png
vidarh 8y ago
Low reps is more frequently used for powerlifting than bodybuilding. Body builders tends to use medium to high reps. (And Arnolds body type is not possible without steroids, in any case)
slothtrop 8y ago
You have it backwards. Bodybuilding is mainly high-rep, often with isolating exercises for muscle hypertrophy. Obviously concessions are made to improve strength for size, but strength training is where you really see the focus on low-reps.
rebuilder 8y ago
You can just as easily get too close to your limits with high-rep work. In fact, if I've ever been injured doing something, it's been wear and tear from high-repetition strength endurance exercise. IMO neither is inherently mote dangerous than the other, you have to know your limits whatever the repetion range you work in.

elhudy 8y ago

>Lighter weights, more reps(15-20) I was with you until you got here. A typical high-rep range for compound work should be between 8-12. 12-15 for auxiliary work. Most lifters would consider a rep range of between 3-5 to be low-rep. >and you not only gain much better results in stamina (what good is it to be able to lift 100kg 3x times and you're done, when you need to move apartment for example or do multi-hour hike/anything else Heavy lifting actually trains both fast-twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers, as it takes your entire muscle to lift heavy. The reverse can not be said for higher-repetition lifting. I've never trained in the mentioned rep range and anecdotally am able to do multi-hour hikes/anything else just fine. I find that the running/biking crowd loves to perpetuate this myth and generally does so with use of the phrase "meat-head".

saiya-jin 8y ago
Since we do anecdotes here, a friend who is purely heavy lifter (squats, deadlifts, benchpresses etc), exactly in those low reps range, and pretty good at it. He is utterly useless in 2h+ hikes with 1000m+ elevation gains. Glad you don't disagree that its more injury-prone to lift heavy. Of course its all good if one has perfect form, but technically its impossible to keep it 100% of the time. Again anecdotally I had various smaller tendon/ligament issues when lifting at my max, every few months I had to stop for a week or two to heal. Since switching to what I described, I can do exactly the same, but no injury at all for 4 years. But all bodies are unique, I found what works for me and my goals long term, if different approach works for you, stick to it.
- elhudy 8y ago
  >Since we do anecdotes here, a friend who is purely heavy lifter (squats, deadlifts, benchpresses etc), exactly in those low reps range, and pretty good at it. He is utterly useless in 2h+ hikes with 1000m+ elevation gains. The difference is that I made a statement which is scientifically accepted as true, followed by an anecdote to support it: "Heavy lifting actually trains both fast-twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers, as it takes your entire muscle to lift heavy. The reverse can not be said for higher-repetition lifting." There's a reason why NFL running backs can run an entire game and still squat 600 lbs; basketball players are also some of the most active athletes but still put up huge lifting numbers. Reps in the 12-20 range do not increase muscular endurance any more than the 6-8 rep range. [1] [1]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18787090 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18787090
  - nradov 8y ago
    I generally agree, but in a regulation NFL game the running backs are typically only running for about 5 minutes total.
  - gamblor956 8y ago
    The study you linked does not support your claims. Also, professional athletes do both high rep and low rep weight training. The high rep build the strength but the low rep build the endurance to use the strength.

YinglingLight 8y ago

>Arnold type body looks great on photos, but is utterly impractical for normal life No one gets "buff" on accident. No one gets to the size where they have trouble fitting through a door on accident (and without drugs). >Low rep means you are close to your limits, which is area where injuries happen a lot High reps = more movement, and just like a hard disk drive, more movement means more chances for failure. The injury that sent me to the chiropractor was a warm-up ~125lb Deadlift that I did with impromper form. Weight does not correlate with Injury risk. >what good is it to be able to lift 100kg 3x times and you're done, when you need to move apartment for example The "joints and connective tissue" (tendons aka grip) you mentioned prior is exactly what gets trained on heavy reps, and takes a LONG time to develop.

saiya-jin 8y ago
> High reps = more movement, and just like a hard disk drive, more movement means more chances for failure. The injury that sent me to the chiropractor was a warm-up ~125lb Deadlift that I did with impromper form. Weight does not correlate with Injury risk. You don't see any logical fallacy in your statement? If more movement = simply more risk, then ultra-trail runners would be all in wheelchairs in 5 years. What you load on yourself on top of your weight makes huge difference. Give those ultras 10kg backpack and they will be having all kinds of knee/ankle issues in very short time. Doing deadlift warmup with cca 55kg seems ridiculously high, I am not surprised you eventually had an injury. Really buffed up guys in my gym start with cca 30 kg only after proper warmup of whole body via some other way (I do it same way, usually on elliptic trainer for 5 mins). Joints and tendons get trained with whatever you do, bodyweight can still do the trick if done properly. You are right it takes horrible amount of time, also healing injury can take months easily. I prefer sport climbing for those, flexibility required is substantial, and overall the sport is awesome on every single level, especially on the rock outdoors. Whatever works for you long term, stick to it. You should know your body better than anyone else. I know amount of load made a big difference in injury risk for me, going lighter but still almost till muscle failure I have lost 0 of the power, and gained tons of endurance. But that's just me.
- nradov 8y ago

buckhx 8y ago

Low reps (<=5) maximize strength, you're not going to get Arnold muscles if your goal is strength. Bodybuilding emphasizes size > strength and is more in the medium reps range (8-10). Higher reps basically turn into cardio and joint stability work.

SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
I really like this chart for references on rep range: https://i.imgur.com/UrF1U.png https://i.imgur.com/UrF1U.png

vidarh 8y ago

Low reps is more frequently used for powerlifting than bodybuilding. Body builders tends to use medium to high reps. (And Arnolds body type is not possible without steroids, in any case)

slothtrop 8y ago

You have it backwards. Bodybuilding is mainly high-rep, often with isolating exercises for muscle hypertrophy. Obviously concessions are made to improve strength for size, but strength training is where you really see the focus on low-reps.

rebuilder 8y ago

You can just as easily get too close to your limits with high-rep work. In fact, if I've ever been injured doing something, it's been wear and tear from high-repetition strength endurance exercise. IMO neither is inherently mote dangerous than the other, you have to know your limits whatever the repetion range you work in.