# Going "High Reps" and you can't stop me!



## trodizzle

Been doing low reps (3-6), high weight for some months now.

Just today I switched to high reps (16-20), lower weight.

Wish me luck. I want to keep my muscles guessing and keep them #gains coming!

Kali Muscle promoting high reps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHqC9t8lfgw
Rich Piana promoting high reps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi6R3e6KlTc#t=186

Wish me luck! This is how today went, my legs are jello right now.







-Bruce Leans


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## DF

Get off that Smith! Toe Shoes


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## DieYoungStrong

You'll stop yourself when your dick slowly shrivels up until it becomes a mangina.


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## mickems

kali muscle?


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## trodizzle

DF said:


> Get off that Smith! Toe Shoes



The gym has what the gym has brah. I'm making it work.


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## Pinkbear

Still.... Remove the toe shoes


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## NbleSavage

You trollin' Trini? That is so not your leg workout...


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## Get Some

Legs for me have always gained the most definition along with size from 20 rep sets with fairly heavy weight. But, for everything else, you border on wasting too much stored energy each workout by doing high reps and it can actually be catabolic unless you are eating enough. But for legs, go for it!


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## NbleSavage

If I'm reading the chart properly, thats 4 sets of descending reps (20-18-16-12) reps of 50 Lb squats in the Smith machine? Doesn't seem like enough load to induce hypertrophy if correct, even with the high rep sets.


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## transcend2007

I don't like the idea of rep dogma.....I do high reps ~ No - I do low reps.  Shut-the-front-door.....and do it all FFS (for fvcks sake)!

I mix it up every 2 to 4 weeks.  In the 4 to 7 range, 8 to 12, and 15 to 20.

When you hear Mr. Olympia style super huge guys lifting 20+ reps do you think they spent their whole career doing that?  Or, do you think over 20+ years they've been lifting they've pretty much done all rep range and combinations to gain their size.  My votes on they do it all, they've done it all, and they'll keep switching it up.


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## shenky

I think for hypertrophy a combination of low and high reps is optimal. 

Also, fukk you guys, toe shoes rock. I've never felt better than when I am wearing Vibrams. Less back aches, less knee aches, less RLS (restless leg syndrome...which i still have, but less than i did).


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## Azog

Use both high and low reps. Even in the same workout. They both have serious benefits. If you are stuck squatting on a smith, and feel like ****ing yourself up (in the best possible way) go hard as you can on these:


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## NbleSavage

1.5 rep squats in the Smith are painful  

No hate for squatting in the Smith, I'm just questioning whether 50 Lbs is enough load to induce hypertrophy in any rep range.

Agree with Ecks and Transcend too - "surf the strength curve" (I forget who said that but I liked the sound of it) and work across multiple rep ranges IME.


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## trodizzle

transcend2007 said:


> I don't like the idea of rep dogma.....I do high reps ~ No - I do low reps.  Shut-the-front-door.....and do it all FFS (for fvcks sake)!
> 
> I mix it up every 2 to 4 weeks.  In the 4 to 7 range, 8 to 12, and 15 to 20.
> 
> When you hear Mr. Olympia style super huge guys lifting 20+ reps do you think they spent their whole career doing that?  Or, do you think over 20+ years they've been lifting they've pretty much done all rep range and combinations to gain their size.  My votes on they do it all, they've done it all, and they'll keep switching it up.



Yes, what I think I hear you saying is the key is variety and I agree. Keep mixing it up!


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## trodizzle

NbleSavage said:


> 1.5 rep squats in the Smith are painful
> 
> No hate for squatting in the Smith, I'm just questioning whether 50 Lbs is enough load to induce hypertrophy in any rep range.
> 
> Agree with Ecks and Transcend too - "surf the strength curve" (I forget who said that but I liked the sound of it) and work across multiple rep ranges IME.



Well, first time high rep. I do know that it was a beast on those higher reps to do the full squat and I gave it my all even with that lower weight. I came up with that weight by taking a look at my average for my low rep days. On those days I had been doing around 5 reps of 160 before crapping out. So I dividing that total weight moved, 800lbs by 20 reps, my high rep goal, to get my starting weight, 40lbs. I ended up bumping that up to 50.

It was a challenge, I know that.


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## trodizzle

Azog said:


> Use both high and low reps. Even in the same workout. They both have serious benefits. If you are stuck squatting on a smith, and feel like ****ing yourself up (in the best possible way) go hard as you can on these:



Thanks bro!


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## trodizzle

High reps, day 2:

Felt great.
The pump was amazing. Veins in my arms all pumped juiced up from the high reps.
The dumbell deadlifts were pretty difficult in the higher reps. Maybe 40's next time to get closer to my rep goal.
The assisted pullups are on max assist so I'm just unable to get more reps (closer to my 20 rep goal) until I get stronger.


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## NbleSavage

trodizzle said:


> Well, first time high rep. I do know that it was a beast on those higher reps to do the full squat and I gave it my all even with that lower weight. I came up with that weight by taking a look at my average for my low rep days. On those days I had been doing around 5 reps of 160 before crapping out. So I dividing that total weight moved, 800lbs by 20 reps, my high rep goal, to get my starting weight, 40lbs. I ended up bumping that up to 50.
> 
> It was a challenge, I know that.



If it was intense then its a good weight for your rep range. No hate here


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## trodizzle

High reps, day 3:

Really felt like a puss with some of this weight but once the reps get up in the 12+ range and things start to get hard, I eased up on myself.
Pump was a bit rough on the pushdowns at the high reps.


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## trodizzle

High reps, week 1, day 5, cardio day:

Okay, since I lift 4 days per week, M-T, I've been trying to keep 2 days dedicated to cardio and 1 day off. 
Today was a cardio day.
Felt great, lots of endurance, made really good time, 9:41 pace.


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## trodizzle

High reps, week 2, day 1.

First time doing chest day with a target rep range of 20 in some time now.
Calculated weight based off of 3-6 rep range max from previous months.
Pushed through the burn until form started to get sloppy.
First day back on TRT after a 4 week break (100mg Test C)


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## trodizzle

High reps, week 2, day 2, leg day!

Adjusted my weight a bit this week to come closer to my target range, 16-22 reps each set.
Always dizzle for a minute or so after finishing Leg Curls. Seems to be increased with higher reps vs lower reps.


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## Get Some

I don't like the idea of doing high reps with the smaller muscle groups. They already get accessory work from your traditional compound movements. In fact, my arms gain more size when I don't lift them at all and just focus more on back. Proper form, heavy barbell rows build more mass than any curl you will ever do, at least that is what I have noticed. I don't remember what your goals are, but I think you'd be better off doing supersets to achieve the same kind of results rather than high reps of the same thing. This is just my opinion as I know you are going to continue with high reps but just saying maybe for your next switch up work in some supersets!


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## trodizzle

Get Some said:


> I don't like the idea of doing high reps with the smaller muscle groups. They already get accessory work from your traditional compound movements. In fact, my arms gain more size when I don't lift them at all and just focus more on back. Proper form, heavy barbell rows build more mass than any curl you will ever do, at least that is what I have noticed. I don't remember what your goals are, but I think you'd be better off doing supersets to achieve the same kind of results rather than high reps of the same thing. This is just my opinion as I know you are going to continue with high reps but just saying maybe for your next switch up work in some supersets!



Right now, due to time constraints, everything is a super set on high rep and low rep days.

For instance today, leg day, I would have done 1 set of squats, then moved over to the leg press for a set, then back to squats. I repeat until all my sets of those two movements are done, then I move on to the next two.

My goals are to look good naked. Get lean as **** first, then build some mass later.


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## gymrat827

trodizzle said:


> *My goals are to look good naked. Get lean as **** first, then build some mass later*.



okay....so standard POB goals.


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## TheBlob

Please allow me to pee in your cheerios a bit.. Dude stop with all the mathematics and "rep range 16-20" or whatever.. Dude worry about drive, and go in there and kill it... Put on a heavy load and go till your sphinctre shoots out. Work all rep ranges, with overload... Dude if your maxing out with 5 reps at 160... Next time hit that shit for 6,,, then 7,,, and so on... You will get all ranges in, then when you get to 12 or 15 start over.. This method will work of course till you plateau but i dont think your gonna plateau for a while... If you miss your goal one week to increase reps,,, suck it up and do it next week.. If it fails again eat some more food... Bro my point or advice is...Lets get a little more weight on that bar my friend.. Keep up the hard work, and increase your muscular strength and size all around with this method while you can.


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## trodizzle

TheBlob said:


> Please allow me to pee in your cheerios a bit.. Dude stop with all the mathematics and "rep range 16-20" or whatever.. Dude worry about drive, and go in there and kill it... Put on a heavy load and go till your sphinctre shoots out. Work all rep ranges, with overload... Dude if your maxing out with 5 reps at 160... Next time hit that shit for 6,,, then 7,,, and so on... You will get all ranges in, then when you get to 12 or 15 start over.. This method will work of course till you plateau but i dont think your gonna plateau for a while... If you miss your goal one week to increase reps,,, suck it up and do it next week.. If it fails again eat some more food... Bro my point or advice is...Lets get a little more weight on that bar my friend.. Keep up the hard work, and increase your muscular strength and size all around with this method while you can.




Thanks for the info. I'm a math and numbers guy, so I'm going to track this stuff regardless. 

I do my best to kill it every time I step foot in the gym. This is regardless of if it's high reps or low reps or anything in between.

The past three months were much, much heavier than this but I had a target rep range of 3-6. I just now switched to higher reps to get more pumps and more variety which I outlined in my initial post. I will try this for a few months I think. I want to see what results I get focusing more on the pumps vs just heavy weight.

Thanks for the input, taking all of this to heart.


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## trodizzle

Tell em Kali!


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## Get Some

TheBlob said:


> Please allow me to pee in your cheerios a bit.. Dude stop with all the mathematics and "rep range 16-20" or whatever.. Dude worry about drive, and go in there and kill it... Put on a heavy load and go till your sphinctre shoots out. Work all rep ranges, with overload... Dude if your maxing out with 5 reps at 160... Next time hit that shit for 6,,, then 7,,, and so on... You will get all ranges in, then when you get to 12 or 15 start over.. This method will work of course till you plateau but i dont think your gonna plateau for a while... If you miss your goal one week to increase reps,,, suck it up and do it next week.. If it fails again eat some more food... Bro my point or advice is...Lets get a little more weight on that bar my friend.. Keep up the hard work, and increase your muscular strength and size all around with this method while you can.



There is a training method similar to this that I have some clients of mine utilize from time to time. Get them to a weight where they can barely do 10 reps for 3 sets... then week to week work until you can get 3 sets of 15 at that weight before moving up in weight and back down to 10 reps again. It's more of a motivational thing because no one wants to be stuck on higher reps and would much rather lift heavier weight. It's amazing what the psychological aspect of this game can do


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## Get Some

trodizzle said:


> Tell em Kali!



He says 20 reps for legs but then mentions at least 12 reps for other exercises. I do NOT consider 12 reps to be in the high reps range, for me that starts at 15. High reps for a powerlifter is like 3, maybe 4. But then again look at POB's attention span


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## Get Some

What I had debated really telling you is this....

SInce you want to get ripped... I have no doubt that following either p90x3 or the T25 workout program will get you ripped faster than anything you are doing now. If your main goal is to get shredded and then bulk up later, then you need to focus on cardio and higher intensity weightlifting. Either of those programs provide that in 25-30 minute videos. bang out 2-3 of those a day and before you know it you'll be lean enough to want to start putting on some size. I normally don't endorse programs like that but these are the best (combined with a solid diet) at getting you cut


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## trodizzle

Get Some said:


> What I had debated really telling you is this....
> 
> SInce you want to get ripped... I have no doubt that following either p90x3 or the T25 workout program will get you ripped faster than anything you are doing now. If your main goal is to get shredded and then bulk up later, then you need to focus on cardio and higher intensity weightlifting. Either of those programs provide that in 25-30 minute videos. bang out 2-3 of those a day and before you know it you'll be lean enough to want to start putting on some size. I normally don't endorse programs like that but these are the best (combined with a solid diet) at getting you cut



Thanks brother!


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## TheBlob

I hate to get all scientifical on you guys but 12 reps is not high rep range,, plus assuredly we are talking 12 heavy reps.. Furthermore this rep range stimulates Type 2 fast twitch fibers, which have tremendous potential for growth....ALSO this demonstrates he has a large number of that particular muscle fiber...Bottom line...All fibers can grow... Your best bet is to hit all of them...But when your just starting out brother...Get that foundation first before you worry about all that extra stuff... Start with meat and potatoes brother then you can effectively design a program built for YOU not Kali muscle or anyone else. I can find you great physiques on youtube that say the opposite of these guys...Start with your fundemantals get them rock solid, get your mind muscle connection, learn to make less weight heavy. Etc. And get some plates on those bars,,, before you build a house build your foundation..Some size, strength and mastery of the basics...


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## Get Some

TheBlob said:


> *I hate to get all scientifical on you guys but 12 reps is not high rep range*,, plus assuredly we are talking 12 heavy reps.. Furthermore this rep range stimulates Type 2 fast twitch fibers, which have tremendous potential for growth....ALSO this demonstrates he has a large number of that particular muscle fiber...Bottom line...All fibers can grow... Your best bet is to hit all of them...But when your just starting out brother...Get that foundation first before you worry about all that extra stuff... Start with meat and potatoes brother then you can effectively design a program built for YOU not Kali muscle or anyone else. I can find you great physiques on youtube that say the opposite of these guys...Start with your fundemantals get them rock solid, get your mind muscle connection, learn to make less weight heavy. Etc. And get some plates on those bars,,, before you build a house build your foundation..Some size, strength and mastery of the basics...



I beat you to this  ... but it got lost at the end of last page and now no one will ever see it, lol


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## TheBlob

Anyway my friend...I also encourage doing anything and everything you want in regards to your weightlifting journey....No matter what your gonna progress, either in knowlege or physical fitness


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## anewguy

Hey dizzle, can you lay out your stats and goals here too?


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## trodizzle

anewguy said:


> Hey dizzle, can you lay out your stats and goals here too?



Current Stats:

6'2"
Age 38
Weight 229

Goal:

Right now I want to lean out my stomach and get the loose fat off my belly and lovehandles. Once that is gone and I'm a bit lean (thus my Bruce Leans avatar), then I will switch my focus to build some mass. Right now I just want to mow through the remaining fat (I used to be 315lbs) an get lean as hell.


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## trodizzle

TheBlob said:


> Anyway my friend...I also encourage doing anything and everything you want in regards to your weightlifting journey....No matter what your gonna progress, either in knowlege or physical fitness



Yep, I appreciate the words of encouragement. Everyone has things they think works best but I've found a great deal of this lifestyle is a personal journey that varies per person. Regardless of high rep, low rep, p90x, etc, I/we are doing more that most people out there.


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## trodizzle

TheBlob said:


> I hate to get all scientifical on you guys but 12 reps is not high rep range,, plus assuredly we are talking 12 heavy reps.. Furthermore this rep range stimulates Type 2 fast twitch fibers, which have tremendous potential for growth....ALSO this demonstrates he has a large number of that particular muscle fiber...Bottom line...All fibers can grow... Your best bet is to hit all of them...But when your just starting out brother...Get that foundation first before you worry about all that extra stuff... Start with meat and potatoes brother then you can effectively design a program built for YOU not Kali muscle or anyone else. I can find you great physiques on youtube that say the opposite of these guys...Start with your fundemantals get them rock solid, get your mind muscle connection, learn to make less weight heavy. Etc. And get some plates on those bars,,, before you build a house build your foundation..Some size, strength and mastery of the basics...



Yes, very well put.


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## TheBlob

Get Some said:


> I beat you to this  ... but it got lost at the end of last page and now no one will ever see it, lol



Hahahaha I was just repeating what I already heard you say..lol


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## ken Sass

transcend2007 said:


> I don't like the idea of rep dogma.....I do high reps ~ No - I do low reps.  Shut-the-front-door.....and do it all FFS (for fvcks sake)!
> 
> I mix it up every 2 to 4 weeks.  In the 4 to 7 range, 8 to 12, and 15 to 20.
> 
> When you hear Mr. Olympia style super huge guys lifting 20+ reps do you think they spent their whole career doing that?  Or, do you think over 20+ years they've been lifting they've pretty much done all rep range and combinations to gain their size.  My votes on they do it all, they've done it all, and they'll keep switching it up.


^^^^^^^^^^this


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## trodizzle

High reps, week 2, day 4,  Back day:

My chest was achy this am, that's good! I worked chest Monday.
My legs were achy this am, that's good as well! I worked Legs yesterday, Tuesday.
Adjusted my weight a bit from last week to get closer to my 16-22 rep target range.
Loving the pumps from high reps, arms on swole and full of blood.







Dem pumps! Veins way more juiced up it seems from the higher reps.


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## trodizzle

Typo on the date above, it should read 10/22 where it reads 10/21.


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## TheBlob

Dude totally.. High reps definitely get your veins popping..... aaaahhhh yeah


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## Onrek

A lot of interesting opinions here. I've been personally aiming for a 6x6 format except on legs and abs. I'm more of a fan of packing on heavier weight as a high-rep induced pump without good muscle tearing from prolonged heavy weight seems useless to me. Regardless, I seem to have a body that always gets a "pump" even just from heavy weights. People usually stare at me like I'm a freak.

Down the road I'd like to incorporate a high rep format, but still not sure what the use for it would be if I'm getting enough growth in from heavy sets.


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## TheBlob

Onrek said:


> A lot of interesting opinions here. I've been personally aiming for a 6x6 format except on legs and abs. I'm more of a fan of packing on heavier weight as a high-rep induced pump without good muscle tearing from prolonged heavy weight seems useless to me. Regardless, I seem to have a body that always gets a "pump" even just from heavy weights. People usually stare at me like I'm a freak.
> 
> Down the road I'd like to incorporate a high rep format, but still not sure what the use for it would be if I'm getting enough growth in from heavy sets.




I dont know where you are at in your training brother, but the more weight you can rep the bigger your gonna get... At some point you are gonna want to incorporate all the rep ranges because fact is all your different fibers can grow. The more fibers you can get to fire the better...But at the beginning just worry about your basics, heavy weight, controlling it, feeling the reps in your muscle, squeezing... And just getting stronger and bigger for now....Which will work for a pretty long time, for growth.. By the time your ready for advanced lifting you will have mastered the fundamentals and not likely ever need a cookie cutter routine..


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## trodizzle

High Reps, Week 2, Day 4, Shoulders/Triceps

Entire body is tight and a bit sore today.
Really liking the feeling from high reps.
The pumps today again were insane, to the point they were almost painful but in a good way.
Worked each set until well into the burn.


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## trodizzle

High Reps, Week 2, Day 5, Cardio day!

Went to bed late last night.
Had a cheat day yesterday (ice cream at work, ton of popcorn at movies) so bloated today, thus the weight increase.
Felt strong at the end of the run, speed wasn't as good as last week though.


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## trodizzle

High Reps, Week 2, Day 6, cardio day.

My diet hasn't been on point for the last 3 days.
Pace was slower this week vs last week for the same 5k (around my neighborhood). Maybe because I ran fasted?


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## trodizzle

High reps, week 3, day 1, day off but cardio!

Diet has been crummy the last few days so I figured I would get a bit of extra cardio in today.
Pace was better today over yesterday, interesting.
Back to the lifts tomorrow!


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## trodizzle

High reps, week 3, day 2, Chest/Biceps:

Noticed my arms were still slightly achy from last week still this am.
Water intake has been poor, working on tracking that better with MyFitnessPal.
I did a better job of hitting my target range, 16-22 for each set this week.
I think I'm going to unlink my heart rate monitor from MyFitnessPal so I stop eating back calories burned each day.


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## trodizzle

High reps, week 3, day 3, Leg day:

I tried to catch up on sleep last night.
Happy with diet/calories.


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## trodizzle

High reps, week 3, day 4, back day!

I don't even want to discuss just how much food I ate last night... It shows on the scale this am though. **** it.
Week 2 of TRT, sex drive is increasing, woot!


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## trodizzle

High reps, week 3, day 5, Shoulders/Triceps:

Felt good today, even though I didn't get a full nights sleep.
Diet was on point yesterday, at my target cals and macros.
Water intake was good as well, aiming for 1 gallon of water per day.
Moved more weight this week (in total) across the board, and I hit within my target range, 16-22 for each set performed.


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## Live2Train

I'm all about high reps.  I usually stick with 315 for sets of 20 for squats.  I have dropped to 225 for 40 reps and it killed.  I get a lot more out of doing high reps than any other method of training.  I train like CT Fletcher and it pays off.  Just the other day my partner and I were doing chest and I hit 13 sets of 15 reps with 225.  My chest was cramping up all night long.  I love it!  Good luck man!


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## trodizzle

High Reps, Week 3, Day 6, cardio:

Pace was great today.
Felt really strong, plenty of endurance. (thanks TRT, which I'm in week 2 of)
Diet was on point today, dead on for calories.


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## bugman

trodizzle said:


> The gym has what the gym has brah. I'm making it work.



I'm in this same situation.   We are members of anytime fitness.


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## trodizzle

High Reps, Week 4, Day 1, Day Off:

No cardio or lifting today.
1st day off in 2 weeks.
Diet was very poor over the entire weekend (big caloric surplus)


High Reps, Week 4, Day 2, Chest/Biceps:

Back to clean eating today after 2 tough days.
Overall pushed more total weight this week over last week which is good.
Hit my rep targets for all sets except the assisted chest dips which is already on max assist.


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## trodizzle

Updated stats/schedule:





Updated pics:


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