Which weight training style is best? This is one of the most commonly searched questions regarding weight training. In general, this question refers to the two most well known training methods, high rep, also known as volume training, and low rep, also known as high intensity training.
Well an answer can only be as good as the questions asked, and that is the wrong question to be asking. The question you should be asking is, “Which style of weight training is best for me?”.
Both of these training styles have numerous benefits and their own set of limitations. Your training method needs to be suitable for the goals that you are trying to accomplish. In this article we will take a more in depth look at high intensity and high volume weight training to help you decide which training method is right for you.
Weight Training Terms
Before we jump into a deeper look at the two training methods, lets define a few terms that will be used throughout this post.
- One Rep Max (1 RM) – This is the amount of weight that you can lift for one repetition in any given exercise. In other words, the heaviest weight that you can lift.
- Intensity – When referring to weight training, intensity is the difficulty of the exercise, usually measured by the amount of weight being lifted.
- Volume- In weight training, volume is the amount of work that you are performing. This is usually measured in the number of sets and reps you do.
- Training to Failure – This refers to lifting a weight as many times as you can until your muscles cannot perform another repetition of that exercise.
- Hypertrophy – This is the increase in skeletal muscle size.
- Neuromuscular Adaptation – This is the increase in efficiency in communication between your brain and your muscle fibers causing great improvements in strength and exercise performance.
- Time Under Tension – this refers to the amount of time that a muscle is under stress during an exercise.
Now let’s get into the two different training styles starting with low rep training.
What Is High Intensity/Low Rep Weight Training
High intensity or low rep training is somewhat self-explanatory. It is a weight training style in which you perform a low amount of sets and reps of an exercise using heavy weight. Usually you will be lifting weights in the 80-90+% of your one rep max. You will be doing 1-3 sets of the given exercise and stay in the 1 to 5 rep range. Many studies suggest that training in this manner will give superior gains in strength and the amount of weight that you are able to lift.
This style of training activates your type 2 or fast twitch muscle fibers which can produce more power but fatigue quickly. It also increases you neuromuscular adaptation which will increase the amount of weight that you can lift.
How To Do Low Rep Weight Training
Low rep training focuses on a few key principles to maximize its effectiveness.
- You train keeping maximum efficiency in mind. You are trying to lift as much as you can a few times. This means you want to engage as many muscles as possible to work together and move the weight. For example, when bench pressing, you would position your body in a way that would engage not only your chest but also your shoulders, triceps, back, and legs in order to move the heaviest possible weight.
- Low rep training is focused more on compound movements. When was the last time you saw a strong man trying to max out on bicep curls or rear delt flys? Probably never. Low rep training focuses on core lifts such as bench press, squat, deadlift, overhead press, pull ups, and rows. This is because, as mentioned in the previous point, it engages multiple muscle groups to help move the weight.
- Time under tension is reduced. The objective of this training style is to lift heavy weight and increase your strength. Therefore, you want to produce as much power as possible and move the weight as quickly as you can.
- Rest time between sets and exercises is very high in order to ensure that your body is rested and able to do the next set since the weight is so heavy.
- Low rep training routines are performed with more frequency. You will train each muscle 2 or 3 times per week.
When to Use Low Rep Weight Training
You will most often see this type of training used by powerlifters and strongmen competitors. It is also good for athletes training for sports which require explosive sudden movements in bursts of exertion.
On the complete flip side of that are the beginners. If you are new to weight training and fitness in general, this would be a good place to start. Developing your overall muscle mass has numerous benefits including burning more fat and upping your metabolism as well as feeling better in day to day life and helping to avoid serious injuries. If you are just starting in weight training and lead a very sedentary life, it is likely that your overall body composition does not have a lot of skeletal muscle mass so building some should be a priority.
I don’t mean that a beginner should go to the gym tomorrow and load up more weight than they can lift and drop it on their neck. I mean that when starting out, focus more on building strength on your compound lifts before focusing on trying define specific muscles. Plus, if you are really out of shape and have low muscle composition, your body will build more muscle size as you get stronger than it will with a more advanced lifter. Focus on a low rep routine that keeps your intensity as high as possible and gradually increase that intensity (weight being lifted) over time before progressing to a different training style.
What Is High Volume Weight Training
High volume training is a weight training style in which your perform a high amount of sets and reps of an exercise using lighter weight. Usually you will be lifting weights in the 60-80% of your one rep max. You will be doing 3 to 5 sets of the given exercise and stay in the 6 to 12 rep range. Many studies suggest that training in this manner is optimal for muscle growth and size.
This style of training activates your type 1 or slow twitch muscle fibers, which are endurance-based and slow to fatigue.
How To High Volume Weight Train
High volume training focuses on a few key principles to maximize its effectiveness.
- Unlike low rep training, this training style focuses on inefficiency. You are not as concerned with maximizing the amount of weight that you lift, so you actually try and disengage muscles that you are not targeting. To use the bench press example again, you will try to position your body to focus more on activating your chest only as opposed to in a way that engages other muscle groups.
- High volume training focuses on isolation movements. While compound exercises are still done, you will see these routines incorporating a larger variety of exercises targeting the same muscle in numerous different ways. This means rather than just do bench press, you would also include incline bench, flies, decline bench, etc. to target your chest muscles.
- Time under tension is increased. The repetitions are performed much slower and emphasis is put on the negative portion (lowering portion) of an exercise.
- Rest time between sets is generally shorter to increase muscle fatigue.
- High volume programs are performed less frequently. 1 to 2 times per week to avoid overtraining and allow sufficient time for muscle recovery.
- There have been studies done showing that your intensity level can be too low where you will not see any significant hypertrophy. At a minimum, your intensity should not drop below 30% of 1RM. Ideally, it should be closer to the 60% threshold on the low end.
When to Use High Volume Weight Training
High volume training is ideal for people who are into bodybuilding or trying to build an aesthetic physique. It is a great way to increase muscle size and definition. It has the added benefit of aiding in fat loss as the longer sets and less rest time create a more aerobic component than low rep training.
This can be incorporated at most stages of weight training development. However, as stated earlier, a brand new lifter should probably focus a little more on strength gains than muscle isolation and definition.
So Which Lifting Approach Is Best?
If you are still asking this question than you might not have been listening. The “better” program is the one that fits your goals. If you are going for strength or are involved in high intensity sports, the low rep routine is more for you. If you are trying to create a more aesthetic physique or play endurance sports, the high volume program is most likely better for you.
Another thing to keep in mind is that training for strength and training for muscle size are not mutually exclusive. Think about it from your own experience. Have you ever seen a really jacked dude only able to rep out 135 on the bench? Or a guy dead lifting 425 with gangly little legs and arms? Probably not to either of those scenarios. As you get stronger with low volume training, your muscles will still grow. As you get bigger with high volume, you will inevitably also get stronger. The point is that one is just more effective than the other at one specific thing.
Weight Lifting Combining Both Routines
Any good intermediate or advanced lifting program will actually incorporate a little bit of both of these principles. Hypertrophy is driven by overall training volume. A lot of people who are not competing as bodybuilders or powerlifters will alternate between 6 weeks of high volume training and then start strength training for a period of time. This will allow them to up the weights and continue to see muscle growth when they switch back to high volume training.
The training method that I have found extremely effective is high volume training…but as intensely as possible. There is some evidence to suggest that training at 80-85% of your 1 RM for 4 sets of 8 reps can add serious muscle size while also increasing strength quicker than working on the lower end of your 1 RM and higher reps (10 to 12+).
There is a direct correlation between overall training volume and hypertrophy.
- Say your 1RM on the bench press is 200 lbs.
- Lift 90% (180 lbs.) for 5 reps, your total work that set is 900 lbs.
- If you lift 60% (120 lbs.) for 10 reps, your total work that set is 1200 lbs.
- Lift 85% (170 lbs) for 8 reps, your total work that set is 1360 lbs.
Train each muscle group twice per week and keep rest time between sets moderate, eg. not as long as a low rep routine but not as short as a high volume routine. This will also still produce some of the fat loss benefits of a pure high volume program since the intensity increases even though the working time slightly decreases and rest time slightly increases.
This method is, as I said, not optimal for one goal or the other, but I doubt the average reader is a competitive bodybuilder or strongman. I think the goal of most people is to get healthier and generally look good with your clothes off. If that is the case, then this hybrid approach should work great for you. When you start to plateau in muscle growth, focus a little more on volume by adding in an extra exercise or set for a muscle group. If you are not getting any stronger and upping the weights, drop an exercise out or drop a rep, and use slightly heavier weight.
Wrap Up
So in conclusion, there is no best style of weight training. You need to pick the style that is best for the goals that you are trying to achieve. If you want maximum strength, opt for the lower rep, higher intensity approach. If you want better muscle size and definition, choose the higher volume approach. Finally, if you want to get a little of both try a moderately high volume routine while keeping the intensity around 80-85% of your 1 RM which correlates to the high end of a high volume routine and the low end of a low rep routine.
Thanks for reading and as always leave any thoughts or experiences of your own in the comments!
