More reps, sets or more weight?

[Jariel]

I'm after some opinions from bodybuilders on whether you prefer to increase the weight you lift, the sets or the reps as you progress.

Somebody told me that the best way to get muscle definition is to keep the weight light and go for higher sets and/or reps, whereas increasing weight is better for overall bulking and strength. Is this true?

 

[Heizen]

No, it is not. Definition is directly related to body fat, so doing higher reps will do nothing for that.

I perfer to add weight.

 

[MindOverMatter]

like the person above says, definition is related to your bodyfat, if you want to be cut and have good definition, lower your bodyfat bellow 9%. doing high rep workouts will not make your muscles more defined, just like doing hundreds of crunches will not give you a 6 pack if you have a beer belly.

Generally what I do during the winter is, bulk, eat a lot, train heavy (4-6 rep sets, 9-12 sets total, 40-45 mins spent working out), take a week off every 2 months...then in spring, im usually at around 13-14% bf. that's when I'll start lowering my carbs, doing HIT cardio on off days. by the time summer hits im usually at 8-10% bf.

 

[Nightwing]

Originally posted by Jariel
I'm after some opinions from bodybuilders on whether you prefer to increase the weight you lift, the sets or the reps as you progress.

Somebody told me that the best way to get muscle definition is to keep the weight light and go for higher sets and/or reps, whereas increasing weight is better for overall bulking and strength. Is this true?

That's bullshyt. Always go 80% of your max in good form. You should be able to lift the weight for at least 6-8 reps for one set.

One set to muscle failure is really all you need to make the muscle grow and develop definition.

 

[UltraMan]

Re: Re: More reps, sets or more weight?

Originally posted by Nightwing
One set to muscle failure is really all you need to make the muscle grow and develop definition.

I agree.

 

[Peter Parker]

Can someone please define “one set to mucsle faliure”.

 

[Heizen]

Go til you can't go anymore; til your muscles says "nuh uh" and doesn't lift the weight.

 

[UltraMan]

Originally posted by Peter Parker
Can someone please define “one set to mucsle faliure”.

I do 1 set to warm up of 10 reps at 50% of my second set. The second set is 4-8 reps. If I can do 8 reps I increase the weight. I do just these 2 sets for each exercise.

One site, I think it was bodybuilding.com described lifting to failure as "If Britney Spears offered to take you to her room if you just do one more rep, and you still can't do it, that's to failure."

 

[Jariel]

Thanks. You wouldn't believe some of the sh1t you hear when you attend a university gym.

 

[UltraMan]

One other thing I do that I almost never see anyone else in the gym doing is using slow controlled reps with good form. Take 2 seconds on the positive motion (the lift) and 4 seconds on the negative (the return) on each rep. Do not pause at the top of the rep or at the bottom, make it one smooth motion. This way you are using the resistance of the weight throughout the entire rep, and not just "jerking" the weight. Remember to breath!

Two good sites I have found for information are

www.exrx.net

and

www.bodybuilding.com