When building muscle, what's better 12 reps with a lighter weight or 8 with a heavier?

10-12 for mass with a weight that takes you to failure.



This post was edited by Yohey on Feb 13 2016 11:05am

I mix it up and do both high reps with lighter and low reps with heavier weight. One week I go heavy the next week I'll go lighter. Everyone is different though I recommend doing both and seeing what works best for you.

You don't need to go to failure.

not every set

but it can be good to do at times, depends on goals

Alright well if you quit 2 reps before failure your only cheating yourself. He probably doesnt need to go to failure because hes just starting but after youve been lifting awhile you should go to failure every set.

i go 2 days heavy and 3 light per week, check it out

interesting article

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16410373

basically saying "Strength training leading to RF resulted in reductions in resting concentrations of IGF-1 and elevations in IGFBP-3, whereas NRF resulted in reduced resting cortisol concentrations and an elevation in resting serum total testosterone concentration. This investigation demonstrated a potential beneficial stimulus of NRF for improving strength and power, especially during the subsequent peaking training period, whereas performing sets to failure resulted in greater gains in local muscular endurance."


RF is to failure

NRF is not to failure




and as far as weight and volume

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2918506/

"In conclusion, we have demonstrated that low-load high volume resistance exercise has a potent stimulatory effect on anabolic signalling molecules, MyoD and myogenin mRNA expression and muscle protein synthesis. Our results support previous findings that demonstrated after 16 weeks of isometric training at 30% maximal voluntary contraction that significant increases in fibre area can be achieved."

"our data provides further support that low-load contractions performed with numerous repetitions or high-load contractions performed for fewer repetitions will result in similar training induced gains in muscle hypertrophy as previously suggested, or even superior gains, as results from the current study would predict."

This post was edited by noob_whacker on Feb 13 2016 01:46pm

good read, so it just depends on what your training for.

low rep heavy weight for strength, longer time between sets
what yohey said for mass
high rep low weight for endurance, less time between sets

all of those will build muscle and strength, respectively, to a degree, and as noted above some more than others, pick your favorite.

This post was edited by Wretch on Feb 13 2016 06:35pm