so many sets and reps

[lil john]

While looking round at lifting routines and wondering what to do in the new year, all I can think is there are so many combinations.
3x5
5x5
5x3
1x5
1x3
1x2
5/3/1
Doubles followed by high rep

Etc etc etc

Does it really matter. Is doing 3x5 better than doing 1x5 or 5x3 better for strength gains than 1x3.
Or is it just lift however you want so long as there are gains.

[Cookie]

Generally your looking at 3-5 reps for strength & 8-12 for muscle growth/size. I normally stick with 3-5 reps for my basic exercises. On rare occasions when I need to increase my endurance for running I'll do excessively high rep walking lunges. One thing to remember is to make sure that as your workouts progress through the week your overall volume decreases.

[lil john]

What about diffrence between one set and 5 reps and same weight for 3 sets of 6?

And as progress through the week workout decreases? Can you explain that as not sure I quite get it.

[Cookie]

What about diffrence between one set and 5 reps and same weight for 3 sets of 6?

As the rep numbers increase it affects the muscle fibres in different ways.

And as progress through the week workout decreases? Can you explain that as not sure I quite get it.

If you look at my last training journal you'll see that the first workout of the week was high volume (sets) & the second & third workouts the volume (sets) decreased but I didn't reduce the weight on each exercise. This is done to allow for greater recovery & to give your CNS a break.

[lil john]

So in that theory, if you start at say 3 sets same weight for 5. Then if doing same exercise later in week you would do maybe 1x5 instead of 3 sets?

The other thing I've noticed with guys wanting size and some strongmen stuff is mixing the low reps with high reps. Now I can see benefits in strongman as so much is for reps now. But does it work? Obv no point doing it if you can actually lift say 200kg dead in first place or squat 200kg or is there an benefit to doing low rep followed by high rep?

Lots of questions from me today haha

[samurai69]

So in that theory, if you start at say 3 sets same weight for 5. Then if doing same exercise later in week you would do maybe 1x5 instead of 3 sets?

The other thing I've noticed with guys wanting size and some strongmen stuff is mixing the low reps with high reps. Now I can see benefits in strongman as so much is for reps now. But does it work? Obv no point doing it if you can actually lift say 200kg dead in first place or squat 200kg or is there an benefit to doing low rep followed by high rep?

Lots of questions from me today haha

most strongmen in training will only train to about 80% of 1RM depending on wether its a heavy comp or a lighter comp will dictate more how they hit training on the run up to it, but most hit a mix of higher reps then lower reps with more weight, though even then on events days they try to go balls to the wall as much as possible certainly a way off from a comp .... seems to worjk for them

[lil john]

Would you think that for someone like me say next year when wanna change up things, if you still need to train to get to the lifts that require a novice strongman, to just keep lifting heavy and not bother with high rep stuff till up to competition level?

[Cookie]

So in that theory, if you start at say 3 sets same weight for 5. Then if doing same exercise later in week you would do maybe 1x5 instead of 3 sets?

No. 3x3 would be better.

The other thing I've noticed with guys wanting size and some strongmen stuff is mixing the low reps with high reps. Now I can see benefits in strongman as so much is for reps now. But does it work? Obv no point doing it if you can actually lift say 200kg dead in first place or squat 200kg or is there an benefit to doing low rep followed by high rep?

Even if you just stick to 3-5 reps per set there will inevitably be some muscle growth as the weights go up. Its the bodies way of adapting to stress. For strongman as S69 pointed out its about training at around 80% of your 1 rep max to build strength up & then as a competition gets closer you can work on increasing those repetitions in the events that require more reps.

[lil john]

Intresting.
3x3 would you up the weight to max 3 rep or keep it same as your max 5?

[Cookie]

Intresting.
3x3 would you up the weight to max 3 rep or keep it same as your max 5?

Keep it the same but look at doing each rep faster on the concentric portion.

[samurai69]

Would you think that for someone like me say next year when wanna change up things, if you still need to train to get to the lifts that require a novice strongman, to just keep lifting heavy and not bother with high rep stuff till up to competition level?

well its best to be able to lift 1 time first, if you can do that then yeh the lower weight higher rep stuff is important too, if not then get up to being able to do it once at least first

eg, my comp, 200kg deadlift i train at 200kg for singles and 160 or 180 for reps

i want to hit 4 or 6 reps on comp day


.

[lil john]

I see.

Well hopefully new year ill start events. How would you train with an event day. Ill hopefully be lifting with a group on a weekend, but during the week be in the gym, with equipment there.

As a routine what would you think for a novice trainer?