15, 12, 10, 8, 8

15, 12, 10, 8, 8

Since reading this forum I have done 5 sets of 5 reps and now do 3 sets of 8 reps. I know this forum advocates a less is more approach to weight training but I see a lot of people in my gym doing a lot of reps.

The main guys in my gym do a lot of exercises per muscle group and they are the biggest people in there.

Are they really wasting their time and overtraining?

For a shoulder day they do an incline shoulder press, side laterals, front laterals all at 15, 12, 10, 8, 8.

For chest they will do bench press, some kind of standing press thing and then an incline press on the smith machine with a really small range of motion but doing it really quick and for many reps.

They do other moves too, this is just what I have observed them doing.

I guess I am just trying to work out what is best - more or less?

Opinions?

also the dude that owns the gym and was massive in his day said that low reps are ok but your body gets used to them so you have to do loads

First off, this guy who was massive in his day sounds like an idiot. Your body "gets used to" low reps but not to high or medium reps? Rubbish. Your body doesn't "get used" to any rep range. It gets used to a certain resistance if you never increase it, but that's nothing to do with reps.

The people who do loads of work and yet are massive- obviously they are not overtraining because they have got results from it. But whether they are doing what is optimal is another question entirely.

Two things you have to remember- first, some people are naturally gifted and can get away with training in a totally moronic fashion while still getting bigger and stronger. Chances are most of these main guys are such people. Secondly- what are the people who aren't so big doing? You'll probably find that they're doing the same thing! Only you don't pay as much attention to them because they're not as big. So what at first glance looks like some kind of evidence for training a certain way is nothing of the sort. Most people in gyms do too much work, and train as you describe. You notice the big guys doing it and assume that's what works. But if the small guys are doing it too, you're just back to the naturally gifted.

There is no "one size fits all" way to train. People respond differently to different methods of training; people have different recuperative powers. The reason why most people on this forum have a somewhat "less is more" ethos (which I think at times is wrong anyway) is because the number one mistake made by almost all beginners in weight training is doing too much work. If you can add volume and still make progress, or make better progress, that's great- and few on here would deny that that is possible. But it's best to start out with something like 5x5 or 3x8 on a few compound exercises rather than doing endless sets of isolation exercises.

A final pedantic note: There are no such things as "front laterals". "Lateral" means "to the side", so anything to the front cannot by definition be "lateral". You mean "front raises". Also, "side laterals" is a tautology. Not as wrong, but just as annoying.

A final pedantic note: There are no such things as "front laterals". "Lateral" means "to the side", so anything to the front cannot by definition be "lateral". You mean "front raises". Also, "side laterals" is a tautology. Not as wrong, but just as annoying.

Sorry, I don't do those moves so didnt really think before posting.

re: big reps and sets

But if its so wrong why do so many people advocate it?

I've got a couple of books that list workouts like that.

Just interesting, I guess its because there is no way to really monitor whats working and what isnt as it takes so long to be able to tell whether it works or not and there are so many other variable to take into account - diet, sleep, etc

A final pedantic note: There are no such things as "front laterals". "Lateral" means "to the side", so anything to the front cannot by definition be "lateral". You mean "front raises". Also, "side laterals" is a tautology. Not as wrong, but just as annoying.

Sorry, I don't do those moves so didnt really think before posting.

re: big reps and sets

But if its so wrong why do so many people advocate it?

I've got a couple of books that list workouts like that.

Just interesting, I guess its because there is no way to really monitor whats working and what isnt as it takes so long to be able to tell whether it works or not and there are so many other variable to take into account - diet, sleep, etc

Why do so many people advocate routines that contain far too much work for the average (or in some cases above average) trainer to progress with?

Two principal reasons: 1) A lot of training advice is given by pro bodybuilders who are able to shoulder such large workoads because they use drugs. 2) More is better. Duh!