The High Reps Myth
June 12, 2007 8:56 PM | Exercise | Comments (1)
| “If you want to build muscle, do heavy weight and lower reps. If you want to tone, do light weight and high reps.” This is a declaration passed along from trainer to client, trainer to new trainer, workout buff to best friend, and big buff guy to new girl in the gym (don’t get me started on that). The problem is, only the first part is true. Keep reading and I’ll explain why. First, let’s talk about the word “tone”. Scientifically, muscle tone actually refers to the degree of tension in a muscle, which is part of the way it functions. |
The desired degree will vary from person to person. Some women want Linda Hamilton arms (from Terminator 2 – I know I did), others want Angel Basset arms (from pretty much any movie she’s done). Some men want Calvin Klein model arms; others want bodybuilder arms like Ronnie Coleman. To achieve any of these looks, you need some combination of bigger muscles and less fat. You can’t do one without the other and expect results.
In order to lose the fat covering your shapely arm (or butt, etc.), you need a sound nutrition and cardio plan.
Question: “What machine works this back fat?”
Answer: “There is no machine that works fat. You need to make it go away.”
Question: “What machine works this fat on the back of my arm?”
Answer: “There is no machine that works fat. You need to make it go away.”
If your question involves getting rid of fat, the answer is a sound NUTRITION and cardio plan. If you try to do cardio without the proper nutrition, you will be disappointed, because your body will not concentrate on getting rid of your existing body fat if it has to constantly burn of the excess fat that you are consuming. See related articles Getting Started with Nutrition and Feed Your Body Right and it will Thank You.
Now, on to the muscle. To achieve our toned look, we need to encourage our bodies to undergo muscle hypertrophy (muscle growth). In order to achieve this, you need to perform 6-12 repetitions. 12 reps or more is fine if you are looking to improve the endurance of the muscle, but it will not do much for the size or your overall look.
Let’s compare a marathon runner and a sprinter. A marathon runner runs long distances and in doing so, performs repetitive movement for a long period of time. His muscle endurance is excellent. The sprinter uses more initial power and recruits more muscle fibers, although they can only do this for a short period of time. In general, sprinters have bodies that are envied, marathon runners do not.
Very high reps (more than 12) do not encourage your body to make the muscle bigger and stronger, especially since if you are doing high reps, the weight is too light to challenge it. Sure, you may “feel the burn” when doing 30 bicep curls in a row with 5 lbs, but that is not a telltale sign of burning fat. You’re feeling the burn because your muscle is tired. So before you rush to that “toning” class and grab a pair of light dumbbells and proceed to perform sets of 20 or more reps along with the instructor, consider this:
- There are better (more effective) ways to burn calories (see above section on nutrition and cardio).
- Lifting a 5 lb dumbbell over and over is doing nothing for the shape of your arm or whatever body part you want to improve. This applies to 20 million lunges, too.
High reps don’t work because you are not encouraging the muscle to get bigger, and you are not doing enough cardio at that moment to make the amount of fat smaller. You are training yourself to be able to do more reps, but if you’re looking for the types of arms you see in Oxygen magazine, you are wasting your time. Maximize your time in the gym by using a target weight training approach and challenging cardio.
And don’t forget those eating habits when you are at home. Then and only then will you see great results.
Copyright © 2007 by A.M. Birmingham, ISSA CFT
2007 Warrior Fitness World, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Posted by: trainer | April 2, 2008 12:37 AM
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