Super high reps for hypertrophy?

[mateus]

Swam, how is it going? Still at it? Making any changes for the better/worse? I have been messing with this since the first week in December and I really like the results so far. Look fuller than ever before and NOTHING hurts.

[Swaminator]

Swam, how is it going? Still at it? Making any changes for the better/worse? I have been messing with this since the first week in December and I really like the results so far. Look fuller than ever before and NOTHING hurts.

Jury is still out as far as hypertrophy goes. At my age and years of training if I can put on a pound or muscle every so often I will take it! No dramatic changes though. As far as general joint health it is working very well. My low back has been feeling awesome lately which keeps me in the gym. I think it is tough to stay in the 50-40-30 range ALL the time. I am already moving toward a variety of rep ranges (still nothing too heavy). So for each muscle group I choose a:

Heavy exercise (10-12 rep range)
Moderate weight exercise (15-20 rep range)
Light weight exercise (30-50 rep range)

For example chest might be:

Incline Barbell press (3 sets 10-12 reps)
Flat Bench Dumbbell press (3 sets 15-20 reps)
Cable Flyes (3 sets 50 > 40 > 30)

I might close it with a finisher such as pec deck 1 drop set (3 or so drops)

[Swaminator]

After a few months of super high reps here is how I believe I responded:

Immediately added muscle, then hit a plateau

Joints, muscles, low back etc. all feel great. Have not felt this good in a long time.

Some muscles seemed to respond better to super high reps; most noticeable would be QUADS, CALVES, MEDIAL and REAR DELTS, BICEPS, FOREARMS

The ones that seemed least responsive: CHEST, LATS, TRAPS

What seemed neutral: HAMSTRINGS, FRONT DELTS, TRICEPS


Having a solid (anecdotal) data base now, I would say, for me the age old-standby remains true. Variety of rep ranges seem to work best. Carefully selecting exercises that do not but my low back in jeopardy is the most critical component, followed by high rep ranges (35-50), moderate (15-25) and low (8-12). Example: Cable laterals 3 sets high reps, Machine rear delts 3 sets high reps, Military Press 3 sets low reps, Upright Rows 3 sets low reps, and finish with leaning one arm db laterals 3 sets mid range reps.

[Sammich]

Question: Did you really add muscle mass, or do your muscle just look visibly bigger? I've found that changing to higher reps all of a sudden tends to make muscles look fluffier, but not necessarily add size. I don't know if it's inflammation or added glycogen storage or what, but the visual change seems to go away after a week or two of not training that way regularly.

[Swaminator]

Question: Did you really add muscle mass, or do your muscle just look visibly bigger? I've found that changing to higher reps all of a sudden tends to make muscles look fluffier, but not necessarily add size. I don't know if it's inflammation or added glycogen storage or what, but the visual change seems to go away after a week or two of not training that way regularly.

I get ya Sammich. YES, they looked fuller at least temporarily. The only muscles I can see that retained growth were the quads, calves and rear delts. For whatever reason these seem bigger even after taking a full week off for vacation (Cabo San Lucas). The rest looks about the same and my body weight is still about the same.

Here is the only proven significant thing I can confidently say. In 2011 I competed in my final powerlifting competition. I trained only for strength in the 3 big lifts. I weighed 175 and posted all time PB records despite being 43 years old at the time (started lifting at 16). Just after that meet I switched to a "Bodybuilding" method and was able to jump to 195, just as lean, but not nearly as "strong." Simply adding reps, focusing on the pump, incorporating rest pause, drop sets, super sets, volume etc. I can hang my hat on that. Now at 46+ I am not sure I can make any significant gains. I am 507, 190lbs, relatively lean (got a couple abs showing), decent vascularity... But I don't see myself magically adding 10lbs of muscle. So if I can just win a few small battles in this war, I will be happy. Perhaps 1/4" on the calves and forearms, a little leaner through the abs, higher pop to the traps etc..... I am in it for the long run, so as long as I can protect that low back and spine and not live in pain 24/7 I am winning. WINNING.

[trucelt]

Hey Swam

I'll be 46 in October and competed in bodybuilding for over a decade, once I got to a certain age the appeal of 5-7 meals per day and hours of prep cardio just lost its appeal. So I started competing in powerlifting...my next meet is in 2 weeks but for fun I decided to try your rep scheme on EZ bar curls. First set 20lbs x50. Not too bad, not nearly as bad as I thought...

Until I tried a second set with 30lb. By the 10th rep my arms were on fire and felt like they were going to shut down, I went up 10lbs every set and a funny thing happened once I got to something relatively heavy I had almost zero loss of strength. It was those middle sets of 15-30 reps that were basically horrible.

Anyways my powerlifting days are numbered and I am looking for ways to train but also keep the safety quotient as high as I can while still training "hard"....this might be my go to system to put in place for post meets (4-6 weeks) it will let me train but also be as joint-friendly as possible

[greensoup]

when you do such high reps, are they to near failure? in other words, what's the intensity behind this programming (a la powerlifting terms)

[Swaminator]

trucelt...you and i took exact opposite paths. i used to powerlift for years and recently switched to a bodybuilding style of training (not competing, just trying to look bigger). funny.

soup, when i am hitting the ultra high reps it is usually not to complete failure. i usually stop when the lactic acid builds up that it becomes too painful to go on. OR, more often, i stop when my form starts to get sloppy. when you are doing db laterals with 15's for 50 reps for example, its tough to go to true muscular failure. it seems you can always throw up a few more sloppy reps, so in those instances I stop when my form breaks down and I can tell my traps or accessory muscles are taking over for the side delts.

[trucelt]

Swam-

my biceps are very sore along the full length of the muscle.....i may have one more stage appearance left in me :bb:

[Daniel7908]

Swaminator,

You situation is very much, after about a decade of DC myself (I'm 44), I formulated Fortitude Training. www.fortitudetraining.net .

-S

I've purchased the book, and I absolutely love the workouts. The varied rep ranges, and how the leg pump sets are just insane when I get so many reps done in such a short time.

I just wasn't very lucky with my two first blasts because I got a nasty flu halfway through the first; and, at the end of the second, I got diarrhea lasting five days, followed by the flu again for two weeks, most likely because of how weak the shits had left me. My current blast, however, has already allowed me to recover most of the lost strength and some more. Hopefully, no illness will mess it all up this time!

[homonunculus]

I've purchased the book, and I absolutely love the workouts. The varied rep ranges, and how the leg pump sets are just insane when I get so many reps done in such a short time.

I just wasn't very lucky with my two first blasts because I got a nasty flu halfway through the first; and, at the end of the second, I got diarrhea lasting five days, followed by the flu again for two weeks, most likely because of how weak the shits had left me. My current blast, however, has already allowed me to recover most of the lost strength and some more. Hopefully, no illness will mess it all up this time!

Glad you're diggin' it, Daniel!

Is there any possibility you were training with too much volume (Volume Tier too high) and that left your immune system vulnerable?

-S

[Daniel7908]

I think it was most likely stress from another source which knocked me out. I've been using the tier II since I started and, before I had the problem with my gut, the tier-I intensive cruise muscle rounds were challenging, but still something that felt like an adequate deload before another blast.

[Daniel7908]

And thinking back to when I got sick, how could I have forgotten to mention that my son had been sick during the whole previous week? He didn't have diarrhea more than twice, but he puked a few times a day (and at night) for six days. So, I guess chances are that quite a bit less sleep combined with contact with him can explain what happened near the end of that intensive cruise.

[Bakagan]

Weight progression at high reps will happen, definitely more slowly on the initial stages of bodybuilding.

But then if you have some doing 50 pull-ups with 10-20kg strapped on - I can't see them being small https://femadata.com/snow-teeth-whitening-reviews/