"The second you can do 50 reps, up the weight"

Karl Hungus

A friend of mine told me this, and he's quite a fit person himself, so I was wondering if there's any truth to it at all? He commented on my weights, saying that I should put more weight on the bars as I've had the same amount on there for a while, and he assured me that some fitness instructer told him that you should put more weight on the bars as soon as you can do 50 reps.

I have indeed increased the amount I've been lifting recently, and there's definetly been some noticable improvement, but I thought I'd get another opinion on this matter here.

I'm also curious about what circumstances would you increase the amount of weight that you're lifting?

Thanks.

amazingemmet

First piece of advice ignore what 90% of fitness instructors say.

Secondly whats your goals then i'll be able to say when to increase the weight and what amount of reps to use

Karl Hungus

amazingemmet wrote:

First piece of advice ignore what 90% of fitness instructors say.

Secondly whats your goals then i'll be able to say when to increase the weight and what amount of reps to use

Alright. Goals are pretty much just build some muscle, get fit, and lose weight.

amazingemmet

For building muscle personally i'd got with a three day split, i.e back and shoulders one day, chest and arms the next, and then legs.

Choose about 6 exercises and do them for 8-12 reps ie start at a weight that you feel the burn at the last two of 8 then add a rep each session til you can do
12 reps then add 5lb/2.5kg then start off with 8reps again.

As for the getting fit/ losing weight if you got time in the morn go for a walk before you eat in the morn. If not do some HIIT after your weights sessions

Also make sure your eating properly.

Dragan

Karl Hungus wrote:

I'm also curious about what circumstances would you increase the amount of weight that you're lifting?

Thanks.

Every chance i get. It's really that simple. To be honest, from your post it would seem that some is doing 50 rep sets, thats kinda crazy if true.

To grow just pretty much follow what Emmet said. It will work really well for the majority of people. Don't forget, you gotta be FAILING when you lift, not just stopping dude.

mloc

its basic training theory... the muscles will only grow when they are made do things they are not used to, be that increased reps or increased resistance (weight).

The human body is made to adapt. Usually by getting stronger!

DOLEMAN

Wow, 50 reps. I always read that 15 is the max you should be doing. Anything above that and the weights are too light...

rubadub

50 reps? is this having a **** with a wrist weight or something?;)
everywhere I read says 8-12, some go even less. As I read in some other post if 50+reps grew muscles every shelf packer in tescos would be walking around like a hulk

amazingemmet

amazingemmet wrote:

For building muscle personally i'd got with a three day split, i.e back and shoulders one day, chest and arms the next, and then legs.

Choose about 6 exercises and do them for 8-12 reps ie start at a weight that you feel the burn at the last two of 8 then add a rep each session til you can do
12 reps then add 5lb/2.5kg then start off with 8reps again.

As for the getting fit/ losing weight if you got time in the morn go for a walk before you eat in the morn. If not do some HIIT after your weights sessions

Also make sure your eating properly.

Why before?

Dragan

bluewolf wrote:

Why before?

Because after 8 hours sleep your body is glycogen depleted, so if you go walking before you take in carbs you will be burning stored energy i.e body fat as opposed to glycogen from whatever carbs you would eat for breakfast.

Kinetic^

Dragan wrote:

Because after 8 hours sleep your body is glycogen depleted, so if you go walking before you take in carbs you will be burning stored energy i.e body fat as opposed to glycogen from whatever carbs you would eat for breakfast.

Apologies for the hi-jack here but it will be of relevance to you too.

Dragan, obivoulsy this relates to all cardio but should I limit what cardio I do in the morning?

justsomebloke

is generally doesn't matter what type of cardio it is, the important thing is to keep your heart rate at around 65% of maximum heart rate so that you are using your fat reserves

g'em

Keyser Soze 5 wrote:

Dragan, obivoulsy this relates to all cardio but should I limit what cardio I do in the morning?

keep it LIT- anythhing too strenuous and your body will start pulling its glycogen store, and that's never good!!

Sandals

So no running in the morning, just quick walking?

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

DubNside

if the body does not have carbs to burn in the morning or anytime it will burn the next most metabolically available material.....muscle!

g'em

well it depends on the intensity of the exercise too. fasted cardio is kind of controversial, but theory has it that doing cardio in the am on an empty tummy will burn stored body fat for fuel if the intensity is kept low. if the intensity is higher that's when you run the danger of burning muscle mass as opposed to body fat

DubNside

Low intentsity being fast walking or light weights, anything more than that would probably lead to loose of muscle, which of course burns off way quicker than fat, as muscle is more metabolically active.

Transform

"Loss of muscle............. as its more metabolically active"

Mmmmmmmm gonna have to explain that to me as to how muscle is burned quicker than fat

Fat when used in your body will yield more ATP (thats energy to all the non science folk) that carbs or protein combined.

Whether you use fat or protein or carbs all depends on your optimal fat buring zone this is why its important to use a Heart rate monitor when training as a brisk walk would not get my Heart rate over 100bpm but jogging at about 12kph puts me in a light (zone1) range.

Finally to get bigger you must get stronger KARL -put your diet and program up on another link

TerrorFirmer

Okay - all the conversation aside, does anyone actually do 50 reps??

Not if my life depended on it, I couldn't...

RealJohn

I used to do 50 reps on bicep curls with 5 kg dumbells just because I didn't have anything heavier. Actually, my memory is telling me I held both in one hand (which would have made it 10 kgs) but I'm not sure I'm remembering that right because I don't think I can do that now that I have properly weights. On the other hand, I'm paying more attention to form now.

Dutchboy

I think 50+ rep excercises should be pushups, situps, bodyweight squats, and other endurance excercises.

Doing 50reps for anything in the weightroom is a bit rediculous:eek:

As for weight loss Its not about how much you eat but what you eat.
In College 2 years ago, lived off nothing except huge amounts of porridge, veg veg and more veg, and mince and chicken by the half kilo each time.......the fact i was broke probably helped my diet, but its got me ripped in 5months!!:D

TerrorFirmer

RealJohn wrote:

I used to do 50 reps on bicep curls with 5 kg dumbells just because I didn't have anything heavier. Actually, my memory is telling me I held both in one hand (which would have made it 10 kgs) but I'm not sure I'm remembering that right because I don't think I can do that now that I have properly weights. On the other hand, I'm paying more attention to form now.

Yeah, thats understandable...I just understood from the original post that this guy was doing 50 reps when he was benching :eek:

sully-gormo

jsb wrote:

is generally doesn't matter what type of cardio it is, the important thing is to keep your heart rate at around 65% of maximum heart rate so that you are using your fat reserves

When I exercise I usually go for a run round my school, but id usually be worn out by the end of it; and my heart rate would be nearing the max, 125to140 bpm. I wouldn't be that fit and I only just started recently so if i want to burn fat is this the wrong approach to take?(I weigh about 75kg and im 5ft11) Problem is that I dont really have access to weights (hopefully thatll change next year when im in college.)

rubadub

I was reading on some site about a guy recommending low weight high reps, not counting at all, just go until complete exhaustion, then do a few proper low rep sets at high rate. He reckoned it shocked the muscles and was good for plateaus. Or do the opposite, normal sets, then low weight until exhaustion.