Should I be lifting heavier weights or more volume to build muscle?

[jacksonjogu]

I’m 22M looking to build muscle and loss some weight.

I wouldn’t consider myself overweight but have a slight beer belly.

I’ve been working out since October and haven’t seen a lot of muscle growth. My girlfriend said she can see a difference but I’m struggling too.

Currently at the gym I aim for higher weight but as a result I do 3 sets of 6/7 reps depending on how much I have done prior to starting the exercise I struggle. However, on the lower weight I can easily get out 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

Everything I’ve seen online has said once hitting 10 reps easily to increase the weight but I feel this isn’t working for me.

Any tips?

 

[gypsyjill88]

@jacksonjogu Everything works. That is what I realized after almost two years of working out daily.

It doesnt matter if you go 4 times a week or 6, or if you do short sets with heavy weight or long sets with less weight or long sets with heavy weights.

The only thing that matters is how you train. Lifting very heavy often comes with poor form, lifting lighter gives you a lot more control over your execution but can get soulcrushingly boring.

As long as you hit the muscle you plan to hit, feel that pump and exhaustion in the end - that is the sweet spot. You also don't need to train to absolute failure, you can stop a few reps before.

These myths have mostly been debunked by now.

 

[dawn16]

@gypsyjill88 Saying everything works is the exact same as saying nothing worksthere is no value in that statement

 

[gypsyjill88]

@dawn16 I was mostly talking about the fact that every gym bro, maybe you are one of them, tries to push their own narrative onto others.

"You gotta train to failure everytime bruh"

"You gotta do this and that amount of reps for optimal muscle development, bruh"

"Bruh that exercise is garbage, take this and that one"

In fact most of these topics have been debunked by science already, I am not saying there are no optimal ways to go about it and suboptimal ways, but what matters is the training effect and how you get there is completely up to you and what you like to do.

Most people dont need to stress themselves with perfect routines, they just need to start and get into it. What they do, be it cardio, strengthtraining or mobility training is completely up to them.

So no, my statement is not without any value you dork.

 

[gypsyjill88]

I was speaking objectively. You’re calling me a gym bro when your making statements like “feel the pump and the exhaustion” you watched pumping iron once and based your personality around that.

And my question is if you dont need to train to failure and like you said ‘you can stop a few reps before’ why would your muscle ever grow? If it has no reason to get stronger and all you need is a pump then why not do just that?

I can only assume why you deleted this comment and decided to bother me in personal messages instead. But reading this I can't really believe your PM to me where you say you meant no disrespect mate. I don't even know what pumping iron is and I don't base my personality on the gym either, I don't need to cause I got a lot of other good shit going on for me in my life as well.

To answer your other oblivious question, it has long been proven scientifically that you don't need to train to absolute failure to achieve optimal hypertrophy, you can already stop a few reps before that point.

https://sportrxiv.org/index.php/server/preprint/view/295

And here is a source, yet we both know you won't read that anyway

So gtfo out of my DM's boy.

 

[scriptblue]

@jacksonjogu Progressive overload is your friend.

I'd be upping all my weights to a point when I can only get 6 reps out at a push, then work on upping the reps to 10 at a push; then up the weight for 6 reps. Rinse. Repeat.

Nutrition is the other 50%. If you're not in a caloric surplus then you'll really struggle to build muscle, so ensure you're fuelling your workouts with some decent carbs. I like bananas, honey and a protein shake before, then drink electrolytes and some creatine.

 

[nhaas11]

@jacksonjogu Building muscle can take quite a bit of time and if you are carrying a bit of extra fat it may not show straight away. So first just keep it up.

Anywhere between 5-30 reps can build muscle as long as you are training to the point you can't lift the weight anymore.

The most important thing is to try to increase the reps or weight each time you do the exercise again.

It's probably best to go 5-10 reps for compound exercises (bench, deadlift, squat, row) and 10-20 for isolation (flys, lateral raises, biceps ect..)

Just go try to go a rep each time until you get to your range then add weight.

If you want to loose fat just make very small changes to your diet

 

[dch]

@jacksonjogu Follow a good program and do whatever amount of volume that it says to do

https://thefitness.wiki/routines/strength-training-muscle-building/
Here you can find some

 

[theadmiral]

@jacksonjogu Generally both, many people tend to do different things at different times in order to get the benefits of all types of training

In your shoes I would follow an actual program, that way you know that what you're doing will actually work, the link below has many

https://thefitness.wiki/routines/strength-training-muscle-building/

 

[cerddoriaeth]

@jacksonjogu Different muscle groups respond better to higher reps and other sto higher weights. For example, biceps respond better to lower weight and higher reps.

 

[lnjblessings]

@jacksonjogu If you follow a proper routine you won't need to ask this question. Have a read of the wiki.

 

[fizzyizzy1234]

@jacksonjogu Olympic weights 5×5 workout and you will be built like a tank in months, and concentrate on diet

 

[walkaway]

@jacksonjogu Are you following a structured program or just doing your own thing? If you're not following a program, I'd start there. These have been written by professionals and outside of having a personal trainer, a structured program is going to produce the best results. They help immensely with proper periodization, volume, etc to meet your goals.

 

[kati]

@jacksonjogu The days u lift weights,do cardio on tha days in-between,or try sum circuit training,

 

[dawn16]

@jacksonjogu Mix it up and use the strength based exercises for lower reps and the isolation and machine exercises for higher reps.

So - bench press, incline, barbell rows, t bar row, reverse rows keep in the 6-8 rep range

Dumbbell exercises keep in the 10-12 rep range

Machine and cable exercises keep in the 12-15 reps

It’s just a decent rule of thumb for your programming as a beginner you can kind of feel it out for there. That would be for a high volume hypertrophy workout. If you were running a maintenance phase you would want to reduce your weekly and per session working sets and lower the volume and raise the intensity. So in that case you could do some cable exercises at 8 reps and some dumbbell exercises at 6-8 reps.

I dont know where I heard it at but it was some pretty good advice it said keep the strength exercises for what they are for and use them for what they are for. You’ll get more benefit out of taking dumbbell flat bench to 12 reps than barbell because barbell is where you load it with heavy weights thats the whole purpose of it.

It’ll take years to max out machines and dumbbells at a decent gym and by then you’ll have enough experience under your belt to start coming up with creative solutions instead of doing all free weights or moving on to a more expensive gym or even relocating to one of the only ones in the world you can keep working out at. Like right now I have to wear a belt and 45lb plate around my waist just to do cable skullcrushers.

Oh yeah your better off dropping the weight 10lbs or so and cranking out the rep and volume you were aiming for if hypertrophy is really your goal. Doesn’t hurt not to but volume is gonna be king and hitting your goal number and maintaining consistency is probably going to yield best results. Dont be afraid to drop it if your like 30-75 percent of your 1 rep max you’ll be good. So try to stick to the rep you were aiming for much more often than not aside from slip ups or just not knowing.

Edit : and btw most the time like a bicep curl you will have to crank out like 15 reps to get your 10RM up. So you got to curl like 15 reps of 35 before you can lift 37.5 for 10. Sometimes you do gotta push past 12 reps on some exercises but you’ll figure that out in time. Its alot more prevalent in isolation movements with dumbells and cable exercises because you might hit 10 reps but only get 6-4-2 on your next weight up or not be able to control the cable with good technique and form.

 

[dawn16]

@jacksonjogu Train with intensity and regulate volume in a way where you can recover.

Its been evident in bodybuilding for the past 40 years that in order to stimulate growth you must train to failure and if you train to failure you cant train for long or the risk of overtraining gets involved.

Get stronger over time and as you do increase your intensity not volume.

 

[dawn16]

@jacksonjogu There are lots of good comments so I’ll just add: if you can afford it, do a cycle of training with a personal trainer. I thought I knew a lot but my first PT session made a difference. I worked harder, got told about problems in lifting form, and had a programme developed for a specific goal at the time. This is what PTs - good ones- will help you with: clarifying your goals, and helping you get there.

As an example: working out to lose weight (and most of us have a touch of body dysmorphia, let’s be honest) is different from working towards strength or aesthetics. Nutrition comes into it also.

Don’t forget- you have done the hardest part on your own . You made a start and you keep showing up. I hope you smash your goals in 2024.