I love when my clients come to me with questions like this one: which is better, heavier weight and fewer reps? Or lighter weight and more reps? Let’s break down this question and see how it works.
The short answer: neither is best
As long as two criteria are met, either approach can be useful to a trainee.
- #1) Whether you pick a lighter weight or heavier one doesn’t matter as much, so long as the reps you do come close to technical failure. This means that you keep pushing and pushing until either your technique breaks down, or you’re unable to complete any more reps.
The reason for this is because the strongest muscle fiber types, the ones that make you feel and be actually strong, are Type II or “fast twitch” fibers, and your body won’t recruit them to do work unless you’re either (A) lifting a weight until complete failure or (B) lifting a super heavy weight.
If you fall short of momentary technical failure, or the weight is too light, your body doesn’t need to tap those Type II fibers, and while you’ll still build some muscle, you’ll be leaving potential gains on the table.
- #2) Progressive overload is King: If you pick up a super heavy weight only three times this week but pick the same weight up six times next week, you’ve made progress and become stronger. If you lift a light weight 20 times and next week lift it 30 times, you have gotten stronger.
When I’m coaching a client, I’ll ask, “how did it feel?” and “could you have done more?” By doing so, I can make sure that the work they are doing today is challenging enough and gives me an idea of how to push them next time. This is the essence of progressive overload.
Both approaches work!
So, lights weights are great! And heavier weights are too…we use both in the gym depending on your abilities, likes/dislikes, and the exercise at hand. So long as it’s challenging, and so long as we make progress every week or every other week, then you’ll always get stronger and build new muscle.
The body is truly amazing!
That’s all I have for now. If you have any questions or wanna learn more, you know where to find me. See you in the gym!