Alternating low and high rep ranges.

R1187

R1187

Active member
Because there's way too much conflicting information, and nobody seems able to say whether it's low or 20+ reps for hypertrophy, I've decided to incorporate both.

My question is, should I maybe do a mix of high and low rep ranges in the same workout, or should I alternate high and low every other workout?

Right now I'm leaning to doing drop sets. Not in the sense that I won't rest, but I'm going to start with the heaviest set first and work my way down to higher reps. This would actually be the opposite of what I normally do.

Any input appreciated .
 
I mix min in each workout, so things like deadlifts can be heavy sets of say 1-5 and then I may do a back down set or some speed pulls with a lighter weight and maybe 8-15 reps depending.

This made my strength sky rocket last year and also made my physique change A LOT!
 
I would mix it between workouts. I've found the biggest improvement in myself and several of the people I train with by training in a rep range one workout and changing up the next.
 
PHAT mixes them in every workout pretty much. Big fan compared to when I used to do 5/3/1 with 1 heavy day and 1 hypertrophy day.
 
sciences states that the reps dont matter as much the effort put in to the last rep. so whether you are doing 5, 10, 15, or 19 reps, just be sure to push till muscle failure for the set. rinse, and repeat. this is how some people seem to gain on one rep range while others gain on other rep ranges. people can gain on any rep range as long as the effort is put in well enough. which rep range do you believe in? as that is the rep range you should train in.

long usage of periodization by strength athletes has shown that varying the reps within a cycle or from cycle to cycle gain garner even better gains. i like the idea of training like a powerlifter, do accessory work like a bodybuilder, do conditioning like a strongman.
 
This is basically why I switched to a 1 working set routine
 
asooneyeonig said:
sciences states that the reps dont matter as much the effort put in to the last rep. so whether you are doing 5, 10, 15, or 19 reps, just be sure to push till muscle failure for the set. rinse, and repeat. this is how some people seem to gain on one rep range while others gain on other rep ranges. people can gain on any rep range as long as the effort is put in well enough. which rep range do you believe in? as that is the rep range you should train in.

long usage of periodization by strength athletes has shown that varying the reps within a cycle or from cycle to cycle gain garner even better gains. i like the idea of training like a powerlifter, do accessory work like a bodybuilder, do conditioning like a strongman.
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I agree with this and would add small bit to it. I find that if you are training to failure, % of 1RM has some impact on recovery/improvement. If you are training in the 5 reps to failure range on every set, all-out, then you are going to be treading on a fine line between stimulating your muscles for growth and over-taxing your CNS. At least, this is my theory based on my own experience.

What I find is that training in the 8-10 or 8-12 rep range has very little impact on my CNS while doing 4-7 reps to failure can be hard to recover from. I'm not saying that I don't do this rep range, because I do - but I try to add reps and keep at the weight until I'm at 8-10 or 8-12 reps depending on the exercise.

So, I may have some exercises where I'm failing at just 4 or 5 reps if I'm using a new weight, and in that same workout I may be doing another exercise that I am doing 8-10 reps and I try to avoid a situation where I'm doing the entire workout in the 4-6 range. Even given the fact I may do just 3 working sets per muscle group, using such heavy weights that I'm at 4-6 reps for all of the workout seems to slow my progress.

Once I hit 10 reps, I increase the weight. This almost creates a default periodization in a way too - I have a heavy weight and 4-6 weeks later that weight is allowing me to get 10 reps, which almost simulates a de-loading phase.
 
max d said:
With one working set how do you get enough time under tension for hypertrophy?
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Well its after 2 warm ups... I follow dorian yates blood and guts program... with slightly higher reps...
 
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