Pumpatron

I actually have 2 questions:

1st Question

I've been hearing for a long time now that in order to prevent a plateau you must change your rep range from time to time. Well for the past few months I've been using 8 reps on all my lifts.

I'm going to be doing a certain rep range for 8 weeks and then another rep range for a further 8 weeks & then repeat.

I was wondering if it would be more beneficial for size to do 8 reps for 8 weeks, then 6 or 10 for another 8 weeks.

2nd Question

Is it enough of a change in reps to make any difference to whether I plateau or not, as it's only a 2 rep difference.


HK

__________________
Trainee Under Myself!

"2 Mice Fell Into A Bucket Of Cream. The 1st Mouse Gave Up Trying To Get Out And Drowned. The 2nd Mouse Was Determined Not To Give In And So Struggled And Struggled For A Good 10 Minutes. All This Struggling Churned The Cream Into Butter Which Allowed The Mouse To Escape From The Bucket"

Now Ask Yourself... Which Mouse Are YOU?

Richo

with my basic knowledge, i think its not the rep range you use but probably the weight you use and some training techniques. If you are worried about hitting a plataeu (sp) i suggest maybe adding a tiny bit more weight to stress the muscles more to overload them. or maybe do drop sets, pre-exhaustion (sp), super-sets etc etc these help shock the muscles and such.

but also, maybe changing your rep range will decrease the risk of a plataeu. i don;t know, i'm not a personal trainer. i'm sure someone could help you more than me, but thats just my answer based on my limited knowledge

__________________
Richo's Road to Track & Field Journal Thread
http://www.ironmass.com/forums/worko...ack-field.html
-----------------------------------------------------
Stats
Age - 18
Weight - 50kg

1RM Benchpress - 42.25kg
1RM Barbell Row - 45kg

50m Time - 8secs
Standing Long Jump - 2.20m
-----------------------------------------------------

rusty319

I'm far from an expert, but I've played around with my rep ranges for a long time now. I think your muscles benefit from changing the rep ranges every month or two as well as the exercises. I don't believe as some do that low reps build strength, medium reps build size and high reps build endurance. I think you need all three to maximize your growth potential.

I like to try for rep ranges rather than a set amount of reps. That is, when I'm in a low rep period, I will shoot for 6 to 8 reps on an exercise. I start with a weight that I think I can get 6 reps with and go for a smany as I can. When I hit eight reps I up the weight so my reps drop back down to around 6. Sometimes I add a little too much and only get 5, but that's OK. I just keep this going for 4 to 6 weeks, then I change to either moderate reps (I use 10 to 12 as my range for these) or to high reps (I use 12 to 15 for this range).

Any way you choose to do it the important part is to try for progressive overload where you're either lifting the same weight for more reps or more weight for the same or a few less reps. You won't always be able to do this, but this is what I shoot for.

SoMdHunter

There really isn't too many wrong ways, and some ways are better than others...

IMO, you can either increase the weights or increase the reps, or both. It is a bit complicated, since it deals with slow twitch muscle fibers and fast twitch muscle fibers, and how much you have of each for any one muscle. Therefore, a general "rule of thumb" exists that says 8-12 reps for 3-5 sets should be your target range.

My routine would be something like this: Let's say I'm doing incline DB presses for my chest. My target reps are 10 reps for 4 sets at 55lbs (10x4x55). Once I can get 10 reps for 4 sets at 55lbs comfortably, I'll increase the weights to 60lbs and get all the reps I can. Let's say my first routine at 60lbs is 10 reps for 2 sets and only 6 reps on the 3rd set.

Now I'm at 10x2x60 and 6x1x60. I will stay at 60lbs until I eventuallly get to my 10x4x60, then it is time to increase the weights again. Using this routine, I have changes weights, reps and sets. This keeps the muscles under constant changing stress, forcing them to get stronger and larger.

Hope this answers your question. And please remember, this is what works for me. You have to experiment around to see what works for you sspecifically.

__________________
Vegetarian - ancient Indian term for bad hunter.

powerman2000

Read the stickies about periodization.

__________________
Don't forget to periodize
Best BP 507 lbs *competitive*
Best Squat 705 lbs *competitive*
Best DL 650 lbs *competitive*


Guns don't kill people, men who come home early do.

My workout log http://www.ironmass.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6247

Pumpatron

HK

__________________
Trainee Under Myself!

"2 Mice Fell Into A Bucket Of Cream. The 1st Mouse Gave Up Trying To Get Out And Drowned. The 2nd Mouse Was Determined Not To Give In And So Struggled And Struggled For A Good 10 Minutes. All This Struggling Churned The Cream Into Butter Which Allowed The Mouse To Escape From The Bucket"

Now Ask Yourself... Which Mouse Are YOU?

sulcop

Here is part of a book I have been working on that covers rep ranges.

EFFECT OF THE REPITITION ON MUSCLE FIBER SIZE

Now that we have our schedule down lets discuss rep and set selection and workout volume. How many reps per set is a highly debated topic. In general most will tell you that the 3-6 ranges will develop strength and some hypertrophy, 7-12 range hypertrophy and 15+ endurance. Before I can recommend my preferred rep range I want to review the muscle cell. A muscle cell is comprised of many different components, each requiring a different form of stress for it to adapt. Each component of the cell makes up the overall size of the cell itself, and ultimately the size of the muscle. Muscle cells are made up of myofibrils, mitochondria, sarcoplasm, capillaries, fat deposits, glycogen, connective tissue and other subcellular substances. The membrane surrounding the cell is the sarcolemma. Just beneath the sarcolemma are the cell’s nuclei. The fluid inside the cell contains the myofibrils and is the cell’s contractile elements. The fluid is called the sarcoplasm, and is actually a gelatinous protein substance. Tiny organelles called mitochondria are found between the myofibrils and are responsible for oxidative metabolism and production of adrenosinetriphosphate or ATP. Each part makes up an approximate percentage of the cells total size and each has a different method of overload. For example the myofibrils make up 20-30% of a cells size and are overloaded in the 6-12 rep range. The mitochondria make up 15-25% of a cells size and the method of overload is in the 15-25-rep range. The sarcoplasm makes up 20-30% and is worked in the 7-10 rep range and with exocentric training. Fat deposits, glycogen and other subcellular substances are mostly affected by nutrition and rest factors. The muscle cell is a very complex entity and no single method of training can force an adaptive process to occur in all aspects of the cell.
All of the cells components take up space and therefore contribute to overall muscle size. Each component responds to a different form of stress by adapting to that stress. Once adaptation has occurred a greater amount of stress must be delivered at the right time for greater development. To maximize cell size a wide variety of stressors must be applied to the cell allowing a greater number of the cell’s components to be developed. High reps, low reps, fast movements, forced reps, cheat movements, iso-tension and everything in between should be preformed to make the muscle grow. And finally the overcompensation period must be determined for each muscle group to both recover and hypertrophy. So as you can see limiting yourself to one type of rep pattern will not allow for maximum hypertrophy.

Now putting it all together we need a variety of rep patterns for maximum hypertrophy. High reps are often overlooked by bodybuilders, but the high rep sets will increase mitochondrial mass and can account for up to 20-30% of the gross size of a muscle. Performing high reps with continuous tension will force a greater number of capillaries to form enabling the vascular bed surrounding each cell to become more prolific, thereby contributing to greater size. The fluid portion of the cell, the sarcoplasm, will also increase and will contribute as much as 25-30% of the cell’s total size. The lower rep work will increase the number of myofibril elements in a cell and that accounts for 20-30% of the cells size. Fast, explosive movements tend to affect the fast-twitch (low-oxidative) fibers more then the red slow-twitch (high-oxidative) fibers. The slow-twitch fibers respond more to the higher reps with a lighter load and slower movement. So at a minimum each workout should incorporate sets of 4-6 explosive reps done with a normal cadence. Sets of 12-15 reps done at a moderate speed and holding the contracted and extended portion of the rep and sets of 20-25 done in a slow continuous tension with no rest or pause through the set.

The short answer is that it makes little differance in your training as to what rep patterns you go to-from, but there is a need to alter the patterns for the best hypertrophic response.

Sully

__________________
www.SOAbodybuilding.com