6 reps vs 8 reps for muscle gain? page

[Englishman in Oz]

So I'm trying to add muscle and my current routine (squats, deads, bench, pull ups, chin ups, shoulder press) involves 3 sets of 8 reps. When I can do this I add weight. My question is, would I see better gains upping the weight when I can do 3 sets of 6 reps, or does it not matter?
I'm seeing progress in strength and muscle, although the latter seems like slow going.

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Thanks!

[Darwin17]

Both.....do one higher rep lower weight for a couple of months and then a higher weight just don't stick with anything for too long and work at always improving and you will be fine as you will be constantly progressing and your body is having to constantly adapt to a different stressor.

[Scott F]

the intensity of effort and time under load is more important to focus on. Your set should not last more than about 90 seconds before you fail. I'm 205lbs and have followed a H.I.T for weight training since the 80's. I pretty much agree with Dr. Doug McGuff MD on his big 5 execept I think you can do 2 sets. But I don't lift more than once every 7-10 days.

Here's videos on his lectures and how they approach weightlifting VIDEOS »

[Dirlot]

Make sure you are going to failure with each set to increase strength.

[MightyMouse]

It depends. If its more muscle mass, than going to failure can be a good thing, but for strength I don't think failure is something to strive for. Just read Practical Programming. It explains intensity/volume/recovery very well.

[BStoneFitz]

low reps (2-4), heavy weight = strength not size. its called myofibrillar hypertrophy and doesn't build bigger muscles but makes them stronger. going to failure would be a process called cumulative fatigue which promotes sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which means more size, not as much strength gained. ultimately, both ways are good to use and both should be cycled on some sort of program if you want to build size and strength.

right now i'm going for strength and for chest as an example, i'll do 5 setsof bench press, but 2 really tough ones. 135x4, 205x3, 225x3 all not to tough, then 245x2 and 265x2 to really build strength. i follow this same pattern with military press, deads, curls, tris, pull ups, rows. so far i've gotten a lot stronger and lost a lot of body fat.

[Scott F]

a lot of size or strength is related to genetics and body type.
"Body by science" by Doug McGuff, MD - YouTube

[The Scott]

Reverse pyramid? 6-8-10 or 6-10-12 or 8-12-15

[szorn]

Your set should not last more than about 90 seconds before you fail.

This depends on what muscles are being worked. This is a good range for the legs and hips but too high for the upper body. If adhering to time under tension, it would be in the range of 40-70 seconds for the upper body. However, what many have found and regardless of what HIT advocates say is that TUT doesn't have to be performed in a single set. In other words if a person performs 5 sets of bench for approximately 12 seconds per set, they would still have 60 total seconds of time under tension for those muscles involved in the bench. Delorme and Watkins figured this out in the 40's but it's still overlooked today. This is why thousands of people get good results performing multiple sets and avoiding failure.


To Englishman in Oz...

As others have mentioned varying the rep ranges works well. I personally like to use undulating periodization, which is essentially changing the set and rep scheme at each workout. This is something that Chad Waterbury and Alwyn Cosgrove promote. Do a search on it for more details.

Regardless of what people tell you, the key is trial and error to find out what works best for you. While the underlying principle for building size and strength are the same, the fact is that we are all different. What works great for one person may not work as well for another. This is why there are so many different ways of training for similar goals. This is why one person can workout 6 days per week and while another can barely workout twice without overtraining.

Find what works for you.

Steve

[Englishman in Oz]

Thanks everyone, lots of things to think about there. I think I'll go with what I'm doing currently until the gains level off and then change it up a bit. Happy with my strength increases atm, and although muscle growth is slow it is definitely still happening.