8-10 reps for bulking 12-15 reps for toning. Fact or Fiction?
08-24-2011, 02:28 PM
#12
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 3,742
Originally Posted by tandoorichicken
Thanks for the perspective almeeker. Congrats on your weight loss btw! It's been a while since I've been around these parts and I'm impressed! 
Outside of diet and exercise I happen to think that height plays a roll in how bulky a person looks. I happen to be short with a light frame, so the same size muscle looks much bigger on my arm then it would on a longer or larger one. But I also happen to think that height plays a roll in strength too, it certainly plays a roll in structural engineering. In engineering it's referred to as "slenderness ratio", which basically means that if you have two steel columns of identical cross section, then the shorter one will in fact be the stronger of the two. This is negligible for columns of minimal differences in length, but becomes much more of a factor when the longer column is twice the length of the shorter one. I think it definitely holds true when using the weight machines. I've often felt because of my compact build that I can lift a lot more than taller people, just from the shear physics of the equation.
At my gym there is a 14 yo boy who is close to my height, only his frame looks heavier. He's nearing the school record for dead lift and has already broken the record for bench press. His goal is to smash through all the school records before he graduates. I suppose so long as he doesn't grow a foot taller overnight he'll manage it.
08-24-2011, 08:42 PM
#13
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 576
Originally Posted by almeeker
it certainly plays a roll in structural engineering. In engineering it's referred to as "slenderness ratio", which basically means that if you have two steel columns of identical cross section, then the shorter one will in fact be the stronger of the two. This is negligible for columns of minimal differences in length, but becomes much more of a factor when the longer column is twice the length of the shorter one. I think it definitely holds true when using the weight machines. I've often felt because of my compact build that I can lift a lot more than taller people, just from the shear physics of the equation.
08-25-2011, 12:21 AM
#14
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 3,742
Originally Posted by tandoorichicken
That makes sense. I didn't know you spoke engineering! That's what I do in my real life.
06-02-2013, 08:01 PM
#15
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 1
Originally Posted by Gnomekicker
From what I understand on the subject. You do more sets of less reps at a heavier weight to build muscle mass. The muscle mass you put on from this isn't very dense. Doing less sets at a higher rep count with less weight makes your muscles more dense and stronger instead of really creating any mass. Builders alternate between both.
Heavy weight less reps = density and minimal growth.
Low weight and more reps = Growth and less density.
G
