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Hmm if the 8-12 week is good then why is

goldengloves Posts: 690 Joined: 2003/09/19	2003/09/29, 10:45 PM Ok people recommend the 8-12 week program saying it works and you should see considerable gains. But also im seeing the same people post and say to build muscle you must lift less and use more weight. Then what is the 8-12 week program for? If people are saying you should only do 4-8 a rep then why am I doing 20-15-12-10 and such? Will I not build muscle? Or what is up with that?
bb1fit Posts: 11,105 Joined: 2001/06/30	2003/09/29, 10:53 PM The 20 reps are a warmup set. A range of reps of 9-12 is optimal for growth(hypertrophy). Using as heavy a weight as possible for these reps will induce growth. The 4-8 rep scheme is good, better for some folks than others, depneding on your muscle fiber distribution. Most people will gain more from the 9-12 rep range. But always go as heavy as you can for these reps. Mix things up, when you are finished with this program, go to a program of higher weights lower reps, and see how you gain from it. The bottom line is you need to work all types of muscle fibers to induce growth. The 4-6 rep range with heavy weight will make you stronger, but not necessarily make you grow. If your distribution of fast twitch muscles is small(not alot of them), you will not see much growth. Different rep ranges for different fiber types. Attack all fiber types with different rep ranges for optimal growth. -------------- Great people never want it easier, they just want to be better! Ron
goldengloves Posts: 690 Joined: 2003/09/19	2003/09/29, 11:09 PM I usually start w/ the 20 set of being around 5-10 pounds on each dumbell and increasing usually up in the 20-40 pound range on each dumbell w/ the 15-12-10 sets. so should I do each exercise 20 to warm up and then knock it down to like 10-8-4 or something like that using extreme weight? I usually dont feel much after the workout but sweat but during the night and the next day I feel pretty sore. So should I do warmup of 20 and then cut it down like I said to gain muscle mass? I have been doing majority of the noted reps w/ a descent amount of weight.