HOW MANY REPS WILL MAXIMIZE YOUR MUSCLES GROW

Do you want to improve the effectiveness of your workouts and grow more muscle than usual? Maybe you’re a martial artist and you need strength endurance? Absolute strength?  There are many factors and secrets that affect the progress rate in these areas.  Today I’ll tell you about several of them involving the number of reps, the speed and weight of the equipment.  Moreover, this information is not the usual crap from bodybuilding magazines, but fresh from three foreign universities where relevant experiments were conducted.  You’ll learn what happens if you train your muscle with a light or even very light weight, how to fight atrophy if you can’t properly train, how to increase the post-workout anabolic potential of protein, what happens if you train only the left side of your body and even how best to train martial arts in the gym.  I decided to spoil you today with compelling information about bodybuilding.

How to Workout When There’s No Heavy Gear

Workouts under limiting conditions is one of the most pressing issues, since we can’t take the gym everywhere we go.  Moreover, it is often the case that we can’t go to the gym due to some restrictions (e.g. injury or heart disease or age).

And although there are crazy people among bodybuilders who can overcome this challenge in quite odd ways (Arnold, for example, carried a barbell in his tank when he served in the army), but this is unacceptable for most normal people and you have to seek solutions.  Most often, there’s enough training ‘gear’ around, such as home decor or other stuff we use.  The problem is that they are too light for a traditional workout.  Each iron pumper knows a lot of exercises to work his whole body out without any equipment at all.  These include various bodyweight squats and push-ups, lifting buckets, bottles, chairs and other home decor.  In other words, we can always find the right vectors to load our muscles with work, but the work is too small, because the weights are too small.  So how to make the most of lightweight workout and is it possible?

I’ll say right away, YES, it’s possible.    Moreover, scientists at the University of Tokyo have found out that it is possible to fully compensate for the lack of heavy gear.  In other words, you could workout with light weights and get the same result as when training with heavy weights.  To do that, you need to SLOW DOWN!

Let’s take a closer look at this interesting experiment.  The Japanese decided to test an unusual training method, which they called ‘resistance exercise with relatively slow movement and tonic force generation’. The test subjects had to perform 8 reps of SEATED LEG EXTENSION with a light weight of 50% of 1 RM. Namely, that they had to spend 3 seconds to lift and 3 seconds to lower the weight.

The scientists took 24 STUDENTS and divided them into THREE groups.

• LST EXPERIMENTAL:
• HN FIRST CONTROL: 8 reps with 80% load.  Failure
• LN SECOND CONTROL:

The EXPERIMENTAL group did leg extensions with light weights, but slowly.  CONTROL groups did extensions with regular weights. The only difference between them was the presence of failure (the first group trained to failure, the second one didn’t).

The table shows that the experimental group and 1st control group (with failure) demonstrated equal progress in terms of increased quadriceps volume.  The second control group, which did not train to failure, was slightly behind.  What caused such results?

There were two factors that did their part: HYPOXIA and HYDROGEN IONS (LACTIC ACID).  The table below shows that oxygen consumption in the experimental group dramatically decreased during the workout.

Why did hypoxia increase? Apparently, the thing is that the slow exercises caused the blood vessels to clamp down harder due to constant tension during the work.  Oxygen is delivered by blood. So when the blood flow is obstructed, oxygen supply to the muscle is also obstructed.

When there’s no oxygen, the muscle acidifies with lactic acid faster and is filled with its products - hydrogen ions, necessary to trigger muscle anabolism.   Under normal conditions, when the muscle is full of oxygen and mitochondria, they destroy the hydrogen ions we need.  Oxidative fibers (containing many mitochondria) destroy hydrogen ions, turning them into water. But they need oxygen for that.   In the experiment, the scientists created problems for oxygen to be delivered to the muscles, which significantly increased the level of lactic acid and, as a result, the level of hydrogen ions during and immediately after the set.  See the table.

Hypoxia increases lactic acid in muscles.  Hydrogen ions are metabolites of lactic acid. They make a muscle cell labile for testosterone and growth hormone to come though to read information on protein synthesis (mRNA creation).  Muscle mass is growing as a result.

Why does the 2nd control group demonstrate lower acidification?  Because there’s more oxygen. There was no strong tension (failure), and we did the exercise in full amplitude, so oxygen freely flowed to muscle fibers.  Moreover, the work was easier, so energy resynthesis with extra lactic acid formed was not as intense as in the groups that trained to failure.

CONCLUSION: You can build muscles with small weights if you move slowly. 3 seconds to lift the weight and 3 seconds to lower it will be enough to promote protein synthesis subject to failure.

This routine will not work for increasing strength, since we mostly train the mechanisms necessary for endurance.   If you want strength, train with heavy weights and low reps.  If you want mass, you can train with light weights. The key point is to do it slowly and to failure. In this case the creation of new protein structures will be activated just like in a regular workout.   Now let’s talk about what happens with protein synthesis after a lightweight workout.

How Superlight Weights Stimulate Muscle Protein Synthesis

Two experiments carried out at the University of Copenhagen will help us answer this question.  The first experiment was nothing new. It only confirmed what all bodybuilders already know. But the second experiment is very useful for those who train naturally, and for those who can’t work with large weights (for example, due to injuries).  Let’s start with the beginning... The first Danes experiment [J Appl Physiol. 2008 Nov; 105(5): 1454-61.] I learned of was conducted a while ago. Back in 2008.  I’ll tell you about it to have a consistent story.  Scientists had the test subjects do leg extensions for 12 weeks.  While the load on each leg was different:

• Left Leg = 70% of 1RM
• Right Leg = 16% of 1RM

They wanted to check the obvious: which load better hypertrophies the muscles.  You can see the result in the table below.

The results show what the iron men already know.   The left leg (heavy weight) grew more (+ 7.5% in circumference), and the right leg (light weight) grew less (+ 2.5% in circumference).   CONCLUSION: in regular workouts, heavy weights (70% of 1 RM) build muscle better than light weights (16% of 1 RM).  That figures, bodybuilders do train so by trial and error on an ongoing basis.   This experiment is a scientific evidence that working with 70% of 1RM is effective.

The next Danes work is more interesting.  Scientists decided to identify a relationship between super-light workouts and muscle protein metabolism. This experiment proved that training with very light weights, like traditional training, drives protein metabolism and growth.

For the experiment, the Danes took 10 guys at the age of 20 and had them do extensions with one leg (the other was not trained) in the morning.  The load was very low - 16% of 1 RM and consisted of 10 sets of 36 reps.  After the workout, the test subjects received small portions of protein.  First, every half hour, and then every hour during the day.  Total protein amounted to 65 grams, divided into a dozen servings throughout the day.  Scientists wondered how light load affects amino acid metabolism. So they measured post-workout protein synthesis rate in both legs.  And here’s what they saw:

Protein synthesis equally accelerated in both legs for 8 hours.  It wasn’t much higher in the active legs (it can be neglected).  However, after 8 hours, the anabolic effect of protein disappeared in the inactive leg, but remained in the one that was trained.  Taking protein after training significantly increased LEUCIN (by 39%) and essential amino acids (by 20%) compared to baseline concentrations (without training).

CONCLUSION: Heavy work is great for boosting protein metabolism and muscle growth.  However, light work also improves muscle sensitivity to protein.  In real terms, this means that the anabolic potential of protein can be extended with light loads.

This can be used to control muscle atrophy while lying in a hospital. On top of what, this can be used by natural bodybuilders to naturally stimulate the anabolic effect of protein mixtures they take.  I’ll give more detail in a material for natural bodybuilders “NATURAL: How to Grow Your Muscle Without Steroids”, which will be released in late August on a paid basis.   The main idea is to slightly load your muscles every day to stimulate protein anabolism.

How Light and Heavy Weights Affect Muscle Growth, Strength, and Endurance in Experienced Bodybuilders.

Previous experiments were conducted among ordinary people.  It raises the question about how light weights affect experienced bodybuilders who have adapted their bodies to constant loads. Perhaps light weights will not be stressful enough for them.  Let’s not second-guess and turn to American research on the subject.

The EXPERIMENT was as follows:  They took 18 experienced bodybuilders who had been practicing for more than 3 years and were used to strength training.  They were to do FULL BODY three times a week for 2 months.  The program was basic and included 3 sets of 7 basic multi-joint exercises.  These men were divided into TWO groups and made work with different weights:

• 1st group ‘HEAVY’ = 70-80% of 1RM (8-12 reps in the set)
• 2nd group ‘LIGHT’ = 30-50% of 1RM (25-35 reps in the set)

Japanese research was confirmed.  Both groups demonstrated approximately the same muscle gains. You can see that in the table:

It was interesting for me to note that biceps grew much better from “LIGHT” weights, while triceps, on the contrary, reacted better to “HEAVY” weights.  You can and you should use this in your workouts: do more biceps, and less triceps reps.  However, you see that the overall reaction was almost the same.  Both groups roughly had the same muscle gains.

However, if we look at STRENGTH development in 1RM, then the situation is different:

Strength increased much greater in the “HEAVY” group.  The increase was measured in bench press and squats.   In presses, the HEAVY group outperformed the LIGHT group by three times (+6.6 kg against +2 kg), and by more than twice (+23.7 kg against +10.7 kg) in squats.

What about strength endurance? I was also measured.  They made both groups work at their maximum reps with 50% of 1RM. That’s where the LIGHT group was on the roll. The guys were able to do more reps and in total lifted more kilograms than the HEAVY group.  Look at the result:

You can see that ENDURANCE even decreased in the “HEAVY” group (-17.4 kg, or-1.2%), compared to its value before the experiment. While the “LIGHT” group significantly improved this indicator (+213.2 kg, or + 16.6%).

CONCLUSIONS: We develop what we train. Many reps are great for building muscles (no worse than the classic 6-12 reps). Kai Greene practices in a wide range of reps for a reason.  It’s okay to do up to 30 reps for good muscle growth.

However, if you need strength, you should forget about high rep workouts and do a low number of reps with a big weight.  On the other hand, if you need endurance rather than muscle strength, you should do 20-30 reps with 50% of 1RM.  This can be extremely useful for martial arts guys.  In martial arts, strength endurance is many times more important than absolute strength. Now we know a good way for its development.

CONCLUSION

You can very efficiently build muscle with light weights. Moreover, we can do it TWO ways: do more reps, or perform movements move slowly. In both cases, muscles grow as good as in a classical workout.

On rest days, natural bodybuilders can do TONIC load with light weights on all muscle groups to activate protein metabolism and muscle protein sensitivity.  Bodybuilders do not have any problems with the process due to an excess of anabolic agents. However, it is reasonable for a natural bodybuilder to help his or her muscles with such light workouts.

I suggest you decide what you’re training for. Given that, the development of strength endurance and the development of absolute power require different training.  Moreover, if you need endurance (for example, you are a martial artist), then training by lifting programs will worsen your endurance and impair your main achievements.  On the other hand, bodybuilders’ high-volume training programs will interfere with the development of absolute strength. You should set your priorities.