# Rich Piana on training with "light" weight and high reps for size when on-cycle



## NbleSavage

*Rich Piana on training with "light" weight and high reps for size when on-cycle*

FWIW, I don't share Rich's opinion that squatting 5 plates for 6 reps "don't mean sh1t" but I do agree that high volume training does have a place in the toolbox when seeking hypertrophy.


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## Tren4Life

2 plates for 30 reps. Challenge accepted 

After the meet there is gonna be a new place on the board for challenges. 

Bring It!!


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## Trauma RN

I saw him at The Arnold....OMG he's a beast!!!!! He was a pretty nice guy too.....I know he "has" to be while at these things....but he was talking to everyone like he had all the time in the world with each one


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## DocDePanda187123

Steelers4Life said:


> 2 plates for 30 reps. Challenge accepted
> 
> After the meet there is gonna be a new place on the board for challenges.
> 
> Bring It!!



225 squats for 30reps? Let's do it brother!!!!


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## Trauma RN

Docd187123 said:


> 225 squats for 30reps? Let's do it brother!!!!



Is he saying 2 plates total, or 2 plates on each side??? HUMMMMMMM


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## Tren4Life

Trauma RN said:


> Is he saying 2 plates total, or 2 plates on each side??? HUMMMMMMM



The reference is always to one side. So 4 total 225 
When he said 5 plates for 6 reps that's 10 plates or 495


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## Tren4Life

Docd187123 said:


> 225 squats for 30reps? Let's do it brother!!!!



So you'd be interested in my challenges?


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## DocDePanda187123

Steelers4Life said:


> So you'd be interested in my challenges?



Why not? I think it'd be a great way to get activity on the board.


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## Seeker

Hmmmm, sounds like someone i know


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## DocDePanda187123

Seeker said:


> Hmmmm, sounds like someone i know



Seek, you better get your ass in on this challenge brother lol. And you better not beat me old man


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## Seeker

Docd187123 said:


> Seek, you better get your ass in on this challenge brother lol. And you better not beat me old man



225 @ 30 reps? Shit I just did that last night


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## Seeker

Ok it was 20 reps. But he has taken the words right out of my mouth when explaining squats for bb versus pl.


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## f.r.a.n.k.

Hahaha I like this guy. Yes I disagree with the 5 plates for 6 reps comment...that it doesn't mean shit. Squatting heavy has its benefits natural or not.
I'm training to compete. The only thing I go heavy for low reps are squats and deadlifts. The overall core strength produced by squats and deadlifts are something I cannot ignore. Plus it's always an awesome feeling to squat heavy in front of all the individuals that don't have a leg day.


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## JOMO

I like this guy. No Homo


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## Bigpapi75

I currently using volume training right now, Sunday was leg day and I'm still feeling the effects today, while the lower reps will get you that strength, the ability to go longer will give you that size.


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## Tren4Life

Seeker said:


> Ok it was 20 reps. But he has taken the words right out of my mouth when explaining squats for bb versus pl.



No vid didn't happen. 

Just sayin


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## RJ

You get bigger by getting stronger. Always. Now, that works two ways. If you do 5 plates for 6 and two months later you do 5 plates for 8 reps you have gotten strnger. If you do 2 plates for 20 and two months later you do it for 30 you have gotten stronger. Both ways you have gotten stronger and as long as you eat you will grow. 

Everyone always thinks low reps means heavy weight and high reps means less weight. I always lift heavy. Always. Now i do 8-12 reps, but always lift heavy. Because that is how you grow. Whether you do 6 reps of 60 reps. Lift heavy. Same with dieting. People think to get lean for some reason you have to do light weight for high reps. Again... nonsense. Wanna get big? Lift heavy. Wanna get lean? Lift heavy.

PLease don't think if you get an awesome pump/burn that is why you are growing. Strength breeds size. Not the other way around. No pro BBers/PLers EVER lifted light weights and got jacked. They lifted big heavy iron and took lots of drugs and got big as ****. Once BBers get big they may use light weights for reps or do Giant sets to help develop/carve those muscles, but believe me they started out lifting heavy.


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## ECKSRATED

Risk piana looks like complete shit. Big yes but very ugly looking big.


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## Seeker

Say what you want about Rich but he's one of the nicest guys around. He trains right down the street from my office, and he will stop to greet anyone who asks him to.


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## #TheMatrix

Rich is my herro


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## RJ

Seeker said:


> Say what you want about Rich but he's one of the nicest guys around. He trains right down the street from my office, and he will stop to greet anyone who asks him to.



he may be, but honestly i judge him explicitly simply for wearing a watch to workout in. Especially a gigantic oversized douchebag watch. 

I mean really...  who the **** does that? Oh yeah... Piana does. hahaha

more importantly Seeker, who is that incredible specimen in your avi? My next ex-wife is definitely gonna have some heavy tat work.


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## Fsuphisig

the forever debated question of reps vs weights......


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## bvs

my coach is all about high volume at the moment which is something ive never really done. on the leg press the other day he said give me 50. i said pardon thinking he said 15. nope. 50 it was. by the end i was struggling to hold my breakfast down! but im noticing good results doing 3-4 sets of 20,20,15,10.


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## Seeker

RJ said:


> he may be, but honestly i judge him explicitly simply for wearing a watch to workout in. Especially a gigantic oversized douchebag watch.
> 
> I mean really...  who the **** does that? Oh yeah... Piana does. hahaha
> 
> more importantly Seeker, who is that incredible specimen in your avi? My next ex-wife is definitely gonna have some heavy tat work.



Haha she is special. I have a fondness for pretty tatted women. Free spirited and sexy as hell!  As for Rich, yeah he's let Hollywood get to him a little bit. Lol but still a big sweetheart of a guy.


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## Throbber10

I love rich, this dude is pretty straight forward with what he says.alot of respect for him being open about everything, well maybe not all, but most. I feel higher reps while being enhanced is the way to go. I watched this video awhile ago and tried the 225 for 30 was killer I failed at 22. After 22 reps  my form looked like an average gym goers who squats once a year I feel everyone should give it a try.pretty brutal.


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## JAXNY

Trauma RN said:


> I saw him at The Arnold....OMG he's a beast!!!!! He was a pretty nice guy too.....I know he "has" to be while at these things....but he was talking to everyone like he had all the time in the world with each one


Usually when you say 2 plates or 3 plates etc. You are meaning per side. At least every where I've been its just always been known to be per side.


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## bvs

will also be interesting to see his supplement line considering he said there wont be a protien or mass gainer


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## Throbber10

bvs said:


> will also be interesting to see his supplement line considering he said there wont be a protien or mass gainer



I'm guessing it'll be some prohormone type deal


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## Lt. Aldo Raine

Ive been following rich for awhile and I respect the hell out of him for willingly coming forward and posting multiple videos on youtube of his aas use and opinions. He is not benefiting from those vids and i listen because he is definitely doing something right.


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## Milo

RJ said:


> he may be, but honestly i judge him explicitly simply for wearing a watch to workout in. Especially a gigantic oversized douchebag watch.
> 
> I mean really...  who the **** does that? Oh yeah... Piana does. hahaha
> 
> more importantly Seeker, who is that incredible specimen in your avi? My next ex-wife is definitely gonna have some heavy tat work.



If you're worrying about what other men are wearing in the gym, I've got some bad news...


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## trodizzle

I'm a big fan of high reps, low weight. I alternate my four day split doing low rep, heavy weight for 4 days then the next four day split I do high rep, low weight. It works both fast and slow. I love the extra cals burned on high reps as well as the pumps obtained from them. Why not mix it up?


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## HDH

I haven't done heavy anything in 3 years and I've grown the most in that time. I will say though that I have tightened everything else in that time as well.

I've felt the most nauseation in that time not counting legs. When you turn off the pain switch sometimes the only thing to stop you is near hurl or hurl.

H


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## Mike Arnold

Rich is really maaad man ...)


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## McDuffy

HDH said:


> I haven't done heavy anything in 3 years and I've grown the most in that time. I will say though that I have tightened everything else in that time as well.
> 
> I've felt the most nauseation in that time not counting legs. When you turn off the pain switch sometimes the only thing to stop you is near hurl or hurl.
> 
> H



Wait what? You don't do any heavy lifting and that's how you'Ve gotten big? Care to expand on that?


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## trodizzle

High reps is where it's at. I don't give a FARK what my max rep is in anything, it's a one way ticket to snap city in my opinion. High reps keeps the heart rate up and has really helped in my journey.


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## whitelml

I do both.  Lower reps even singles for deadlift, squat, bench just because i would like to compete at some point soon. And its encouraging to watch numbers climb.   Everything else is around 8-10.


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## trodizzle

whitelml said:


> I do both.  Lower reps even singles for deadlift, squat, bench just because i would like to compete at some point soon. And its encouraging to watch numbers climb.   Everything else is around 8-10.



8-10 isn't really high rep IMHO. Rich in his video says do 30, with good form, no breaks, then come at him. I use a 22 rep target for my high reps. Lower the weights and go higher bro! Pumps are insane and the burn is no joke!


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## HDH

McDuffy said:


> Wait what? You don't do any heavy lifting and that's how you'Ve gotten big? Care to expand on that?



You couldn't have asked that question at a better time. I sent a PM to a buddy yesterday going over a little of it. The most important thing to remember is diet makes you grow, maintain or lose. As long as the muscles are being tore down properly for rebuild. Many ways to do it.

Here is what I sent-

My training has been evolving for three years now. I had to many injuries and kept having to see the chiro each week but I found after a week it was right back to being f'd up. I had to make changes to my routine with injury prevention being first in line. I had to throw away the old ways, my lifting ego and pride so I could start over.

 I started with the most troubled areas. lighter weights, slower negatives, pre exhaust, hold and squeeze, supersets, tri sets, giant sets, stripping, drop sets, rest pause, pyramiding up in weight, always in strict control of the weights, mind to muscle connection, etc... 

 I started doing all the reading on advanced training techniques that I could and applied them.

 I figured out what exercises didn't hurt me, mostly machines, and kept the same exercises but switched up by applying one to a few of the many I have listed above off the top of my head. There are more that I don't have listed.

 My training is fast passed and exhausting but I wouldn't have it any other way.

 Here is an example of a giant set on back/chest day-

 Start with DB flies to smith bench to smith row to fixed BB curl to cable pushdown.

 That's 5 exercises in one set. I go from pre exhaust to finishing up my arms.

 That's the most exhausting besides legs but my favorite as well.

 Pick out what exercises agree with your body the most and start applying some of these principals slowly. If you do to much to fast you will go through over working as I did at times. It's a lot of trial and error but well worth it in the end.

 Listen to your body well, it'll tell you what's right or wrong.

 H


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## McDuffy

trodizzle said:


> 8-10 isn't really high rep IMHO. Rich in his video says do 30, with good form, no breaks, then come at him. I use a 22 rep target for my high reps. Lower the weights and go higher bro! Pumps are insane and the burn is no joke!



When on gear ill go high rep like that at the end of my workout. i like to get on a machine and do 20-30 curls until i can't move my arms, but i'd only do it after all my low rep sets and mid rep sets


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## McDuffy

HDH said:


> You couldn't have asked that question at a better time. I sent a PM to a buddy yesterday going over a little of it. The most important thing to remember is diet makes you grow, maintain or lose. As long as the muscles are being tore down properly for rebuild. Many ways to do it.
> 
> Here is what I sent-
> 
> My training has been evolving for three years now. I had to many injuries and kept having to see the chiro each week but I found after a week it was right back to being f'd up. I had to make changes to my routine with injury prevention being first in line. I had to throw away the old ways, my lifting ego and pride so I could start over.
> 
> I started with the most troubled areas. lighter weights, slower negatives, pre exhaust, hold and squeeze, supersets, tri sets, giant sets, stripping, drop sets, rest pause, pyramiding up in weight, always in strict control of the weights, mind to muscle connection, etc...
> 
> I started doing all the reading on advanced training techniques that I could and applied them.
> 
> I figured out what exercises didn't hurt me, mostly machines, and kept the same exercises but switched up by applying one to a few of the many I have listed above off the top of my head. There are more that I don't have listed.
> 
> My training is fast passed and exhausting but I wouldn't have it any other way.
> 
> Here is an example of a giant set on back/chest day-
> 
> Start with DB flies to smith bench to smith row to fixed BB curl to cable pushdown.
> 
> That's 5 exercises in one set. I go from pre exhaust to finishing up my arms.
> 
> That's the most exhausting besides legs but my favorite as well.
> 
> Pick out what exercises agree with your body the most and start applying some of these principals slowly. If you do to much to fast you will go through over working as I did at times. It's a lot of trial and error but well worth it in the end.
> 
> Listen to your body well, it'll tell you what's right or wrong.
> 
> H



Good to know, this is kind of what i did during last cycle, but i also went heavy. I need to familiarize myself with all the different terminologies like 

hold and squeeze, supersets, tri sets, giant sets, stripping, drop sets, rest pause

i can guess but im not to sure what ay of that stuff is...


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## HDH

McDuffy said:


> Good to know, this is kind of what i did during last cycle, but i also went heavy. I need to familiarize myself with all the different terminologies like
> 
> hold and squeeze, supersets, tri sets, giant sets, stripping, drop sets, rest pause
> 
> i can guess but im not to sure what ay of that stuff is...



Google is about to become your best friend  

You can find anything.

H


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## ECKSRATED

Incorporate all rep ranges!!!!!!!!!!


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## GSgator

I'm going to try that out HDH lately all compound moves have been aggervating my joints. Im 6 weeks in from a year off and progress is great but the achy joints are once again showing there ugly faces which is one of the reason I stopped before. I hated being injured all the time for me at this point in my life it's all about looking good and being in great shape I'm married with a family and work construction what's the point of benching, squatting and dead lifting 100's of pounds lol. I guess I need to figure out and revamp everything.


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## HDH

GSgator said:


> I'm going to try that out HDH lately all compound moves have been aggervating my joints. Im 6 weeks in from a year off and progress is great but the achy joints are once again showing there ugly faces which is one of the reason I stopped before. I hated being injured all the time for me at this point in my life it's all about looking good and being in great shape I'm married with a family and work construction what's the point of benching, squatting and dead lifting 100's of pounds lol. I guess I need to figure out and revamp everything.



The lighter weights, slow negatives and a good squeeze on everything possible creates TUT and also alleviates the pressure on the joints from heavier weights. I knew a couple guys that tried it with heavy weights and it just tore their joints up. The slower negatives and hard squeezing at the top eliminates some of the high rep work that can cause stress on the joints as well.

Pre exhaust for the bigger muscle groups allows for the lighter weights to be more effective. The supers, trisets, and giants of opposite muscle creates a synergy for growth and same muscle supers, trisets and giant allows different angles all at once, add in some TUT work while doing it and in a few weeks, relief should come for the joints.

When you get some good routines down, you can start switching up different techniques. 

Mind to muscle is very important as well. It started for me during the squeeze then next through the slow negative. Weight can't be to heavy or light though. You'll find a sweet spot for whatever exercise you are doing but it does take time.

It worked well for me because I'm motivated by challenge.

H


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## Live2Train

I'm with Rich on this one.  I train like this and it kicks your ass more than any type of strength training.  I do however switch up my rep ranges often though, but I like to hit around 6 weeks with very high rep ranges and many drop sets.  I do a lot of the stuff that CT Fletcher and Mike Rashid incorporate into their training.  The results are nothing short of amazing for me and the guys I train.  Nothing like squatting 225 for 40 reps and feeling like your quads are about to literally blow up.  I usually stick to around 20-30, but once in a while I'll muster the strength/stamina to put up 40.  I believe a lot of guys don't try this type of training because it's too difficult for them.  I have backed that theory up many times in my gym I take the guys who have been training for a while and already built good and put them through some of my routines and they drop out quick saying I'm a machine and they don't know how it's possible to do what I'm doing.  It's called determination and a strong will to be better than I was the day before.  It's tough, but if it were easy everyone would be doing it.


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## McDuffy

HDH said:


> Google is about to become your best friend
> 
> You can find anything.
> 
> H



I goodled a lot of this stuff, i'm not really going to get to try it this cycle much as POB is handling my training but next cycle i'll take some emphasis off heavy lifting and incorporate more of this type of work. My new gym has a bunch of huge guys that lift light weight, seems strange but its obviously working


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## LeanHerm

Live2Train said:


> I'm with Rich on this one.  I train like this and it kicks your ass more than any type of strength training.  I do however switch up my rep ranges often though, but I like to hit around 6 weeks with very high rep ranges and many drop sets.  I do a lot of the stuff that CT Fletcher and Mike Rashid incorporate into their training.  The results are nothing short of amazing for me and the guys I train.  Nothing like squatting 225 for 40 reps and feeling like your quads are about to literally blow up.  I usually stick to around 20-30, but once in a while I'll muster the strength/stamina to put up 40.  I believe a lot of guys don't try this type of training because it's too difficult for them.  I have backed that theory up many times in my gym I take the guys who have been training for a while and already built good and put them through some of my routines and they drop out quick saying I'm a machine and they don't know how it's possible to do what I'm doing.  It's called determination and a strong will to be better than I was the day before.  It's tough, but if it were easy everyone would be doing it.


da fuk!!!!! Where you been???


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## HDH

McDuffy said:


> I goodled a lot of this stuff, i'm not really going to get to try it this cycle much as POB is handling my training but next cycle i'll take some emphasis off heavy lifting and incorporate more of this type of work. My new gym has a bunch of huge guys that lift light weight, seems strange but its obviously working



You might like what POB puts out for you. If you keep up your end (not saying you wouldn't) he will make you grow. It's tough to change something that your doing when you get results. I wouldn't have made the switch if I wasn't having so many problems with neck, back, shoulders and knees.

You also have an advantage with him because you will learn to train heavy with safety and long term health in mind.

H


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## Live2Train

I know right.  I've been busy as hell with the softball season.  I even cut way back on the gym and now that the season is coming to an end I'm a little pissed about it  It's tough to go to the extreme on both at the same time though.  How have you been bro?  I'm back now and ready to get jacked!


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## saltylifter

I love high volume training. I tend to keep the first couple sets of every excersise heavy weight and kill it with high volume.


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## Bro Bundy

Live2Train said:


> I know right.  I've been busy as hell with the softball season.  I even cut way back on the gym and now that the season is coming to an end I'm a little pissed about it  It's tough to go to the extreme on both at the same time though.  How have you been bro?  I'm back now and ready to get jacked!


Live2train replied


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