What causes you to grow more...

[MadMachine]

Going to faliure in a few sets, with heavy weights and low reps (4-8), causing a large amount of fatigue but less muscle damage.

or

Using the resistance over time to breakdown the tissues, but not so much that you fail and can't repeat it to break them down further. IE, higher reps, 8-12, not going to faliure, but developing larger pumps generally speaking.

Big debate in my gym over this, looking for your opinion!

 

[Phemomena]

i always thought it was going heavier... i mean isn't that why they always tell women to go with a moderate weight and do higher reps, so they don't get "big" (like they really could, BUT...)...

i found personally i grew better when i went heavier... just because you do less reps doesn't mean that the muscle is worked less... a pump is just the blood going to the muscle (which is good, i always finish an exercise with a lighter set with more reps just to get the blood in there)

that's just me... not sure about the whole science behind it... any gym majors in the house (hehe that's what us engineers called the kines. majors )

 

[MonStar1023]

I kinda go in between actually. Low-volume doesnt do jack for me. I dont care what anyone says or the biochemical reasons behind why HIT is so great etc. I need moderate/high-volume to make size gains. Strength on the other hand, high-volume doesnt seem to do much for, but volume training has always worked great for me. Going to failure is something that I do probably on 50% of all of my exercises. If not 50% around then. I usually dont ALWAYS go to failure because I know that really affects your nervous system more than your muscular system and can quickly lead to overtraining. So Im just somewhere in between the 2 you listed.

 

[he-man]

i've always grown off increasingly heavier weight with low reps.

 

[Kryp2o]

The one thing that has been constant with my workouts is that I use moderate weight concentrating on correct form which is first and foremost important to me and were I get the best result. I go heavy usually on major muscle groups with one exercise per session but not always except when I do calves, I usually try to blow them up with nothing but heavy weight twice a week.

 

[Vageta]

There is no answer to this as we all respond differently to training. Some grow with high volume where others will overtrain. Some grow with low volume where others won't get enough stimulation for growth. I'd say for some basic rules you shouldn't go over 12 reps or under 6 reps for pure hypertrophy. And I think the type of exercise dictates your rep range. I'd recommend lower reps for compound exercises and higher reps for isolation. Personally I do 6-8 rep ranges most of the time as I usually work on compound exercises. Squats and bench is always 6 or less. Most others I shoot for 8. Sometimes on things like cable crossovers, reverse curls, etc.. I will do 10-12 but if I can do that much I usually add weight and drop the reps.

Fact is personally I want to get stronger as well as bigger. You aren't going to get as strong doing reps of 12 as you will doing reps of 6-8 as you can use much heavier weights. Also it has been proven that lower reps with heavier weights will increase resting tension in the muscle which makes them harder. I'd rather have dense looking muscles than soft bloated ones.

 

[The mann]

i do great off reps in the 6-8 range,any higher for me and i get that false pump .

 

[MadMachine]

Define intensity in your opinion then. I know the Mike mentzer definition, but what's yours.

 

[Vageta]

Intensity should simply be the % of your 1RM, that is how the top strength coaches explain it. 80% is high intensity, 65% isn't. People think that doing 15 reps is high intensity because it burns so much. Here's a little secret, there is a big difference between percieved tension and actual tension. Take a weight you can do 12 times and on that 12th-13th rep it will feel almost as heavy as your 1RM however it is nowhere close. The difference is that just because you percieve something to be heavy doesn't mean that your body will believe it.

Muscle growth is directly related to the amount of tension exerted on the muscle in a given amount of time. Heavy weight provides the most tension, and even if those light weight begin to feel heavy in higher rep ranges, they are still light and your body knows it. Heavier weights, low reps, more sets is the key. 3 sets of 12 reps with 65% of your 1RM is NOT the same as 6 sets of 6 reps with 80% 1RM, the heavier weight will stimulate more strength and growth over time. If people realized this they would be stronger and bigger.