Is bigger better? How to decide on the weight and number of repetitions

Many beginners find it difficult to create a training plan: they can’t decide how much they want to do and how many repetitions they want to do. In fact, it’s not that difficult – it all depends on the task at hand. Sergey Skolsky, a professional powerlifter and two-time world champion, helped us to understand it.

The goal is to increase strength

Many people visit gyms to get stronger. However, it is not enough to have bulky muscles.

Muscles are made up of so-called muscle fibers. And when working, not all of these fibers are tense at the same time, which directly affects the strength. To increase it, you need to train in such a way that the maximum number of fibers are activated during muscle contraction.

To develop strength, you can perform exercises with a heavy weight, but with only 2-5 repetitions per approach. The weight should be selected so that it reaches up to 95% of your single-repetition maximum.

Although such training is considered optimal for the development of strength, it is not recommended to abuse it. This is especially true for exercises that involve many muscles and joints, such as the bench press or push press.

The fact is that such training tires the central nervous system. Therefore, recovery will be quite long, and because of the accumulated fatigue, the athlete can get injured. Specialists advise to dilute training with exercises with light weights, which will have a positive effect on the muscles and nervous system.

The goal is to become healthier and more resilient

Athletes who visit gyms to improve their health and endurance levels should work with light weights. Up to 50% of the maximum weight you can lift once will be enough. But the repetitions should be more – about 15 times.

Such exercises are great for beginners, people in age or after injuries. Also such a training process is considered optimal for athletes who return to strength training after a long break.

Exercises with light weights are much safer for the spine and joints. In addition, the risk of injury is reduced.

By performing up to 25 repetitions in each approach, you develop endurance. Plus, these workouts improve intermuscular coordination, which allows you to use your muscles more efficiently.

Some people think that working out with light weights, you can not increase muscle volume. This is a misconception. With multiple repetitions, muscle mass increases, as with exercises with heavy weights. However, there are a few nuances.

The goal is to increase muscle volume

To build muscle, you can perform 2 to 6 repetitions per approach with heavy weights, 6 to 20 with medium weights and 20 to 25 with light weights.

The main factor that ensures muscle mass growth is not weight at all. What is important is how much the muscle fibers are fatigued. Therefore, you should do as many repetitions as is sufficient for you specifically, so that your muscles are close to their limit. If you work out with a heavy barbell, a couple of repetitions will be enough, and to achieve similar results with a light weight, you will have to work out a little longer.

Nevertheless, it is recommended to perform an average number of repetitions. The optimal variant is from 8 to 12. With this approach, training is most effective. This is due to the fact that the muscles adapt and stop growing. In order for the muscles to continue to develop, it is necessary to periodically increase the load.

When working with an already heavy weight, it will be difficult to increase it. And the load on the joints will increase greatly, which increases the risk of injury. With light weights, the problem is the number of repetitions. There are already a lot of them, and if you increase them, each approach will be very long, and it will be very exhausting.

Therefore, it is better to perform 8 to 12 repetitions with a load of 75-85% of your single-repetition maximum. It’s much easier to build mass this way, and the risk of injury is low.

Find your own balance

Regardless of your primary goal, it is recommended to vary the intensity of your training process from time to time.

Here are some examples of how this can be accomplished:

During one workout. You can do a heavy weight squat, performing 2-6 reps. Then dumbbell press. After that, you can do push-ups on the bars 6-12 times. And another exercise will be dumbbell extensions – 15-20 repetitions.

On splits. On the first and second days to pay attention to strength. At the same time, the upper part of the body is worked out first, and the next day – the lower part. The third and fourth training days should be left for exercises to increase the volume.

By training cycles. This complex implies two weeks of training for strength, then two weeks for increasing volume and two weeks for developing endurance.