Confused about rep schemes...doesn't it all just add up?

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Okay, so I heard do more for endurance do less, heavier for more strength, I have actually heard do more AND less for more mass...but I also heard that if you have more muscle mass, youd be stronger wouldn't you?

Also, if I can do 5@110,or 95@12, Id get something similar for my max.

You understand.


Also, how often should I vary my routine? Like I hit everything every third day, rest on one day of the week; should I change my rep schemes between high and low every week, or should I do like an Olympic routine where you build up, kind of like a week-based pyramid?

I think a lot of this depends on your ultimate goals and how long you've been working out. I recently just read Mike Matthew's Bigger Leaner Stronger http://www.amazon.com/Bigger-Leaner-Str ... r+stronger (I've also read Starting Strength and Arnold Schwazenegger's The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding) and he strongly suggests a 4-6 rep scheme x3 working sets for every exercise, whether it be compound (bench, squat, deadlift) or isolation. It sounds like a power lifter setup, but he swears by it, even ten years into bodybuilding, so I'm going to give that a try for 10 weeks after my week off.

Anyway, if you're starting out or within your first year of serious lifting, you should definitely focus on keeping the reps below 12. The most strength and size gains I've had, were on workout plans that preached around 8 reps (have yet to try the 4-6 reps workouts). However, I've repeatedly read that calves need 12 or more reps. Basically, what you want to do is, once you're able to hit 8 unassisted reps on any exercise, you need to add weight to that exercise next week...which should put you back down into the 5 or 6 rep range. Then, once you've gradually worked up to 8 reps at the new, heavier weight, add more weight and do it again, constantly adding muscular size and strength. If your reps or weight get stuck for several weeks, you're either in need of a week off due to over training or you're not eating enough to supply muscular growth. It's called progressive overload...if you're not giving your muscles a reason to adapt (heavier weight) then they won't adapt.

From what I've read and practice, vary your routine slightly every ten to twelve weeks (about three months). Things like, re-ordering which bodyparts you hit first or switching from barbell bench press to dumbbell bench press and bent over rows to seated, cable rows, etc. As long as you're doing bench press, squats and deadlift, you'll be gaining a lot of mass with a proper diet. I wouldn't recommend worrying about wildly varying rep schemes, negative reps, 21s, or any of those other weird intensity multipliers until you have a really solid foundation. I bet you've already heard or read most of this but hope it helps anyway. Also, I can't overstate how important diet is. If you were typically skinny and find it hard to gain weight, you can work out harder than Arnold himself and still not gain an ounce of muscle, unless you're getting the necessary protein and calories. This is an awesome Bodybuilding.com forum post on caloric needs: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthrea ... =121703981

More muscle doesn't always mean more strength. Strength is mostly central nervous system and your tendons. Your body bases what you can lift basically on how strong the tendons are, so you don't snap one, as they're very hard to heal, whereas muscles are relatively easy to heal. However, in extreme emergencies the body will override this, and that's how you'll have 110lb mothers lifting cars off children and whatnot, same with PCP sometimes giving people super strength.

Muscles enable you to basically have more training volume, but volume without sufficient loading does become useless after awhile. Like, you type at a computer and do it thousands of times, you still can't poke your fingers through steel nor do your hands get "jacked" from typing at a computer. Also, having more muscle is helpful for strength as the muscles do the contraction afterall, but the muscles are only as strong as the tendons they're connected to and the brain firing them. People on drugs a lot of times have problems, as the muscles will become stronger than the tendons by a large margin, and they'll pull tendons and ligaments walking up a flight of stairs or something. Lastly, muscle fiber type. Type II muscle fiber is the kind that allows you to be explosive, Type 1 is for endurance. Thankfully for me I'm more Type II, you train with lower reps/higher intensity, you get Type II, high reps low intensity, Type 1. You're still born with whatever muscle fibers, but your body will make Type 1 or 2 fibers to adapt to whatever workload is pushed on it. Obviously too, different bodytypes and muscletypes work better for different sports.

The reason is for muscle growth, it's caused by hormones. There've been studies done, steroids will actually grow more muscle than exercise by itself will. This is why there's variation and people who are naturally strong/muscular tend to have better hormone levels for it. For someone naturally training, generally you use less reps and more weight, to trigger a hormonal response in the body, to force it to adapt to more weight. However, on drugs it becomes a different story. On drugs you can use high rep programs like GVT (10x10) and have it work awesome, as the hormones are already there, then you break down muscle fibers, and tada, muscle mass.

As far as what you wanna do for rep schemes, you choose. Personally I dislike anything over like 8 reps per set, and love things like triples and whatnot. There's a bazillion different methods. Westside for example has a speed day where you focus on bar speed, and another day focusing on maximal lifts, back and forth. I've told you programs to try. It seems in your case you don't have a clear training goal. What do you want to do, lift more, run faster? Lift based on the activity you wish to improve.