When it comes to exercise, the rule for getting stronger is to ehh lift heavier.
That’s what we’ve recognized for a long time now.
But, is it time for this long-held rule to finally be broken and strength advice finally changed?
Change, something that definitely doesn’t happen in the world of fitness.
By the way, make sure you eat seven small meals per day, drink your protein shake 15
minutes before your workout, and only do your 3-hour cardio sessions on an empty stomach.
In this video, we’re going to look at a new study that suggests lifting heavy is not the only way to
improve your one rep max. Instead, you might be able to improve it by training with more… reps.
Hi, I’m PictureFit, I make health and fitness videos to help you with your gracious gains.
I also put on some fat over the past few years but recently lost a bit of it by doing some good
ol exercise, getting my protein, and eating a bunch of salads. Really happy about it.
All I can say now is f**k KALE. When it comes to exercise progression
of any kind, we do so by following a principle known as specificity.
Specificity, in short, means to improve a specific task, you need to perform the specific task.
For example, if you wanna run farther, then you have to run more and more distances over time.
If you wanna do more pushups, then you have to do more pushups over time.
If you want bigger muscles, well you just gotta draw them of course.
Specific tasks for specific goals. Getting stronger is no exception,
and to this point, and one strongly supported by the scientific literature,
we assume that lifting heavier requires training with heavier and heavier weights.
And that’s why this new study is fascinating because it might just change how we look at
specificity in the realm of strength. Let’s take a look!
The researcher’s goal with this study is to observe the effects of progressing LOAD,
or the weight you lift, versus progressing REPS. The researchers measured multiple muscle outcomes,
like strength, growth, endurance, and explosiveness.
For this video, we’ll specifically look at the outcomes for muscle strength and muscle growth.
In this 8-week study, 43 college-aged participants with at least one year of
training experience were randomly assigned into either a group called REPS or a group called LOAD.
The participants trained twice a week, performing four lower body exercises for four sets each,
taking each set to concentric failure. For the REPS group, starting with a
predetermined 8 to 12-rep range, their goal was to increase the amount of REPS performed in
subsequent sessions while maintaining the same load, or weight lifted, throughout the study.
Conversely, the LOAD group had the goal of increasing subsequent load while,
as you might guess, staying within that initial 8-to-12 rep range.
As we can see, the two groups have clear and distinct goals,
so hopefully we also get clear and distinct answers.
First, for muscle hypertrophy, or growth, both groups showed similar improvements
in six muscle sites measured, three in the calf muscles and three in the quad muscles.
Both groups observed improvements in three additional quad muscle sites, specifically the
rectus femoris, but the REPS group improved slightly more. Outside of speculation,
the researchers aren’t certain why this is the case, so further research is needed.
But, when taking all measurements into account, doing more reps and lifting heavier seem to be
similarly viable options to improve muscle growth. Now, for muscle strength.
Muscle strength was measured using the back squat one rep max.
For that, the REPS group increased their 1RM on average by about 20 kilograms.
The LOAD group, on average, increased their 1rm by about... 22 kilograms.
A very slight 2-kilogram favor to lifting heavier but the results were closer than
expected and the researchers question whether the differences were even meaningful.
That’s a pretty big jump in eight weeks without ever lifting a weight heavier
than with what they started. However, there is a catch.
During their training sessions, the participants performed free-weight back squats.
But, during the actual testing, they did back squats in the Smith machine instead.
Although the two exercises are mechanically similar,
if you ask anyone that actually done both, they will tell you that they feel very different.
Especially when attempting a one-rep max, the amount of weight you lift will not
be the same between a Smith and a barbell and they certainly will not feel the same.
In other words, going from free weights to a Smith machine does not follow the prime principle of
specificity, casting doubt to the findings. Still, you don’t put on an extra 20 kilos
on your squat by mistake, Smith or not. There definitely seems to be some benefit
with progressing just reps. But it will be nice to see
future research actually use testing that is relevant to their training.
Now, what does this mean for you and your training moving forward?
Well, first, always remember that with videos like this,
we are only looking at one study and never should one study completely dictate your decisions.
The study, like all studies, also have limitations, like only testing the lower body,
applying to only trained individuals, and again, in terms of specificity, the participants
were not required to have any squatting experience, which can muddy the outcomes.
Pair that with the scientific literature consistently showing the connection between
strength gains and lifting heavy, the only thing we can do with this information is…
unfortunately wait for more. Luckily, it doesn’t really
hurt to try this out if you want to. Now, if you’re already seeing good gains
from your current training, then you shouldn’t change a thing just yet, especially beginners.
But, if you’re currently stuck in a rut or prefer not to do a bunch of heavy one to five rep sets,
then try giving rep progression a shot, it really doesn’t hurt. Switch it back if you don’t like it.
Otherwise, the name of the game here is to wait and see. The data does seem promising
aso hopefully future research can support it, or challenge it cause we’re not bias here, right?
But I’ll be more than happy to see a potentially new alternative to helping
us reach that mythical 2-plate deadlift. Hey, we all progress differently okay.
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As always, thank you for watching and don’t forget to get your PROTEIN!