When it comes to lifting weights, people always have one of two goals in mind. These goals are either to gain muscle mass and get bigger or to lose weight and get rid of excessive body fat to become leaner.
In order to achieve their goal, they adjust their workout accordingly. Unfortunately, most people have read an article in a fitness magazine or got their information from some random guy in the gym on how to adjust their workout routine towards their goals. Why do I say unfortunately? Because most of the time that information is wrong and people simply set themselves up for failure.
What I often hear is that people believe the myth that if you want to build muscle mass, you have to lift very heavy weights for low reps, usually under 5. On the other hand, if you want to lose body fat, you have to train with very light weights to burn off body fat due to increased calorie expenditure, usually above 15 reps.
While it is true that muscle mass can be build in any rep range as long as you use a weight that is heavier than about 30% of your one rep max and you end each set within a close proximity to failure, it’s not all that black and white. Using the advice that old school lifters used to give of using extremely heavy weights to bulk up and extremely light weights to get shredded is simply not the most efficient way to build muscle mass or melt off body fat, it’s impractical and extremely time consuming.
The truth is that lifting for hypertrophy actually isn’t any different than lifting when you want to lose body fat. Let me explain why this is the case.
HOW TO BUILD MUSCLE MASS – WEIGHT TRAINING FOR HYPERTROPHY
The amount of muscle mass you currently carry on your frame is the result of the physical activities which your body is accustomed to. If you currently don’t carry a lot of contractile tissue, it means that your muscles is not frequently exposed to high levels of tension.
In order to increase the size of your muscles, you should frequently expose your muscles to higher levels of tension than they are currently used to. Lifting weights is a practical tool that we use to create that tension by performing certain movement patterns in the form of exercises. By doing so, we train our muscles to become progressively stronger over time. Getting stronger on your exercises is due to neurological adaptions and structural adaptions, meaning that you get more efficient at performing certain movements while being able to contract as much muscle fibers as possible and your muscle fibers becoming thicker.
The three most important factors when it comes to training are volume, intensity and frequency. Volume refers to the number of hard sets you perform on a weekly basis. Intensity means that you have to end each set within a close proximity to failure. Frequency refers to how many times you train a muscle group per week and how you divide your volume.
In order to optimize results, most people will do best with a training volume of 9 – 15 sets per week depending on their level of experience. Each set should be performed with an intensity that allows them to stop each set within 2 reps shy of failure with a training frequency of training each muscle group at least 2 times per week.
A topic that lots of people get confused about when it comes to building muscle or losing fat is which repetition range they should use in order to achieve their goal. As I’ve mentioned before, a lot of people are of the misbelief that if they want to build muscle mass, they should focus on lifting extremely heavy weights that allow them to lift 5 reps at most with a certain weight and keeps them in the 1 to 5 rep range.
On the other side of this misbelief, there’s another misconception that in order to lose fat and reveal a muscle’s “tone”, they should drop the weights they lift dramatically and use a rep range of 15+ for each set.
The truth is that on a per set basis, triggering muscle growth will be optimized on a per set basis if each set is executed in the 5 to 35 rep range on condition that each set is finished within close proximity of failure.
This doesn’t mean that muscle mass can’t be built using a very low rep range under 5 reps. But due to lack of time under tension, you only get about 60-80% of the stimulation for hypertrophy you would get from a set of 5 or higher. This can be solved by performing more sets to even out the level of stimulation you would get in order to optimize the hypertrophy response, if you would exclusively use low reps.
However, both extremely low reps and high reps have their problem. Using only extremely low reps will require you to perform more volume to get the same hypertrophy response as higher rep sets, it causes a lot more fatigue than is necessary and it increases the risk of injury due to the very heavy weights being used for multiple sets. Due to the number of sets performed to even out the muscle building response and longer rest times that heavy weight sets require, you’ll spent way more time in the gym than necessary.
High rep sets of 15+ reps aren’t advised for most of your training volume either. The problem with extremely high rep sets is that it’s extremely fatiguing and you’ll be limited by your cardiovascular system giving out before you actually reach true muscular failure. Due to the extremely high reps, you will experience a lot of lactic acid build up and get sore way more easily, which causes you to go through grueling pain. Do this for multiple sets of big exercises such as squats and I can guarantee you that you won’t be looking forward to your next workout.
Another disadvantage of using high reps is that they cause a ton of central nervous system fatigue. Contrary to popular belief, high reps are actually way more likely to cause CNS fatigue as opposed to low rep sets with a heavy weight.
Am I saying that very low reps with a heavy weight and high rep sets with lighter weights are useless? Absolutely not. If you want to maximize your strength development it is obligatory to throw in at least some very heavy work. This is because getting extremely strong is a skill that is only learned through lifting very heavy, which causes your CNS to handle heavy weights efficiently and to recruit as much muscle fibers as effectively as possible.
Very high rep sets can be used as a tool to train exercises that you won’t be able to perform correctly if you were to use weights that are too heavy. I’m talking about smaller exercises such as rear delt flyes, facepulls, lateral raises, leg extensions, leg curls, etc.
When it comes to “toning a muscle” with high rep sets, don’t worry. There is no such things as “toning a muscle”. A muscle can only become bigger or smaller through progressive resistance training. The amount of muscle definition or “tone” is the result of the amount of body fat you carry. If you want to make your muscles more visible, the only way to do that is to lower your body fat percentage through your diet and making sure that you don’t lose muscle mass while cutting down.
Now that we know that both very low reps and very high reps aren’t optimal for hypertrophy on a set per set basis to make long term hypertrophy gains, what should you do?
The answer is, to stick within the 6 to 15 rep range for the majority of your training. More specifically, stick within the 6 to 10 rep range for most of your key compound exercises and 8 to 15 rep for most of your accessory and isolation exercises. Sticking to the rep range recommendations I just mentioned for the majority of the volume you perform will allow you to lift with challenging weights and scale your progress easily, it will allow you to use good technique on your lifts and reduce the chance of getting injured, it won’t cause CNS fatigue and you won’t be limited by your cardiovascular system giving out and extreme levels of muscle burn occurring. Plus, you’ll be stimulating the maximum amount of hypertrophy on a set per set basis.
In short, gaining muscle is all about progressively getting stronger over time and is achieved through resistance training combined with performing sufficient weekly volume with the right intensity and with the right frequency.
To optimize your muscle building results, it’s advised to eat in a calorie surplus and eat sufficient protein to give your body the necessary building blocks to build new muscle tissue. A calorie surplus of about 200-300 calories is recommended to gain predominantly muscle without gaining too much body fat a long the way. As you stall and hit weight gain plateaus, you may have to bump up the calorie surplus a couple of times as you resume a successful muscle gaining phase.
WEIGHT TRAINING FOR FAT LOSS
The new muscle tissue you’ve added to your frame is the result of exposing your body to progressively heavier weights frequently that has led up to you being a bigger version of yourself in order to be able to lift those heavier weights.
When the time comes where you want to shift your focus on losing fat, don’t make the mistake of lifting extremely light weights for very high reps in order to burn more calories or “tone” the muscle, which does not exist. Again, muscles can only become bigger or smaller and will become more visible by lowering an individual’s body fat percentage.
The primary tool for fat loss is not exercise, but diet. This is achieved by creating a calorie deficit, i.e. eating less calories, which will over time lead to fat loss.
In order to make sure that you don’t lose muscle mass while dieting down to leaner levels, you have to keep giving your muscles the same stimulation you’ve given them in order to build more muscle mass. It’s only then, that your body will hold on to your hard earned muscle mass, even when it is given less energy.
Your main goal when it comes to lifting weights when cutting down is to maintain the strength you’ve gained on your muscle gaining phase. Maintaining strength is an indication that you are holding on to your muscle mass.
So what that means is that nothing has to change in your training! There is absolutely no difference between training for gaining muscle mass vs training for fat loss. The difference is in the diet, more specifically, in the amount of calories you eat. On a muscle gaining phase called a bulk, you consume more calories than you burn in order to gain new muscle tissue. On a fat loss phase called a cut, you eat less calories than you burn in order to use your stored energy reserves, which is stored as body fat and will disappear.
The only exception may lay in the amount of volume you perform. In order to maintain the muscle mass you’ve built, you only have to perform 1/3rd of amount of hard sets per week that you’ve used to build your muscle mass, on condition that they are hard sets close to failure in a rep range that stimulates optimal hypertrophy on a set per set basis.
While I’m not recommending that you instantly drop down your volume to only 1/3rd, if you are on a prolonged energy deficit and you start running into recovery issues, then it may be time to gradually decrease your volume. This will not be necessary most of the time for people who use a moderate volume approach of 9 to 12 sets per week. People who were on higher volume phases of 15+ sets per week muscle group per week, are more likely going to have to lower their volume to more moderate levels in order to ensure proper recovery on a cutting phase.
CONCLUSION
Besides having to modify weekly volume if recovery has become an issue due to energy deficits or other things such as stress, sleep deprivation, etc. your training should stay exactly the same when it comes to both building muscle and losing fat.
You’ve build up your muscle mass by allowing your body to adapt to higher workloads. The additional muscle mass is a result of your body forcing itself to being able to complete the task it is given to lift heavier weights. In order to keep your muscle mass while on a fat loss phase, you have to keep giving your body the same stimuli in order to hold on to its muscle mass so that it can keep completing the task of lifting heavy weights.
The main difference between bulking and cutting is in the calories eaten and for some people in the amount of volume they perform, as advanced lifters may need to adopt a higher volume approach to maximize their muscle building process after years of building up their foundation. This is only sustainable for a temporary time period and while on a higher calorie phase.
Due to a decreased calorie intake on a fat loss phase and requiring less weekly sets to maintain muscle mass, advanced lifters will be better off lowering their volume to more sustainable amounts in order to ensure proper recovery.
The takeaway is that there is no difference in training for hypertrophy vs training for fat loss! Lift challenging weights near failure in the 6 – 10 rep range for compound lifts and 8 – 15 rep range for isolation lifts for 9 – 15 weekly sets per muscle group. You’ll gain muscle on a calorie surplus and lose fat on a calorie deficit!
Kevin Mahjoubi