Comments on: High Reps & Low Weights – Good For Cutting?

By: Charlie

Charlie — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:12:30 +0000

Great Article Mark!
I have been doing 2 sets of 8-12 reps (12-16 for thighs and back) for over 2 years. my each set is ALWAYS to the failure. when i reached a sort of plateau, for a few months I tried adding a third set of low reps (4-6) but very heavy and saw good results. so basically i am more like in your camp than the opposite. but rencently saw a few articles that said if low rep sets are better than high rep ones then “why weight lifters don’t looks as big/strong as bodybuilders?” Here we are comparing a BB to a WL of same height/weight who can lift much more than a BB.
How would you answer this question ?
also i can understand why muscle magezines exagerate protein needs(they are directly/indrectly owned by supplment industry), but why would they lie about low/high reps?

By: Gain Muscle Mass With Nick

Gain Muscle Mass With Nick — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:47:15 +0000

Very true! I like to teach people to focus on building lean muscle mass rather than keeping a constant eye on their mid section. I find that once they wrap their mind around the concept, they begin to shed some serious body fat. I still have a hard time convincing most of them to step away from the ab machine and start performing heavy compound exercises, but once they come over to “the dark” side, they begin to see some fat loss wile the pack on muscle mass.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:49:27 +0000

@Jean P. Johnny hit the nail on the head here. Try adding weight somehow to the point where you reach failure ‘on or before’ the 12th rep.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:45:04 +0000

@Johnny. Mini-cutting is not suitable for losing 13 pounds of fat but rather maintaining that level of leanness year-round once you’ve attained it. ‘Total Six Pack Abs’ is the full cutting strategy for losing exclusively body fat and maintaining/building lean muscle.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:40:08 +0000

@Ray. It’s probably going to be easier for you to go on GLAD after your cut. It would be very hard to find low-carb food with your lifestyle. When you’re finished your cut, work out your caloric intake for building, then eat a low-glycemic diet to this level. If there are no low-GL options, just eat what’s available. It’s better to eat something than nothing. Just ensure that you don’t overdo your daily calories no matter what you eat

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:36:06 +0000

@Keith. Lifting weights and promoting muscle growth is one way of telling your body that its muscle is valuable and not to be robbed for energy. But this is not enough on its own. The type of metabolism is very important i.e. glucose or fat metabolism – this is taken care of with diet – obviously we want to program our body in a way that it uses fat as its primary source of fuel. Then, as you get leaner your body will increasingly want to keep its fat stores and try to turn to use protein (via gluconeogenesis) for energy. This is where we need to use some dietary tricks to keep the fat-burning furnace alive.
The last 2 points I have discussed here are fully catered for in ‘Total Six Pack Abs’ and is THE way of cutting off fat exclusively to attain the ‘very lean’ look.

By: Johnny

Johnny — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:53:08 +0000

@Jean P

I think you should get a backpack on and load it with weight to try to get as close to 8-12 as possible. I could be wrong, but doing 30 pushups w/o weight is better than 10 pushups w/o weight. You would be training endurance more than extrophy though, and I don’t know if it is possible to get extrophy results by stopping prematurely at 8-12 pushups. I think you have to be using a weight that can only do 8 – 12 times.

I am not basing that on any science. I don’t even know why extrophy rep ranges work. Just my thoughts.

By: jean p

jean p — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:59:33 +0000

Hey man im just wondering. What if i didnt have the chance to go to a gym or have any weights, i were to do pushups and pull ups and stuff with my own body weight but, how would i exercise? 3 sets of each exercise until i reach positive failure or mantain it to 8-12 reps?

By: Nischal

Nischal — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:41:53 +0000

Hi mark, this is nischal. i just wanted to know , is there any way i can loose my weight. My height is 6 feets and i am weighing 264 lbs. Doctors told me to go for operations. but i want to burn it naturally. is it possible that i can have abs just like you?

By: john nelson

john nelson — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:39:07 +0000

I need to know about how a person enjoy building musles while eliminating body fat

By: Tyler

Tyler — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:22:22 +0000

This is an interesting and quite controversial discussion you are bringing up. I’m not really sure which side of the argument I reside upon, but I’m curently using the Escalating Density Training program and it focuses more on lower reps.

I’m not sure which is more beneficial but I’ve been sticking to the program and seems to be working. However, thanks for helpful tips, I’ll be looking more into that.

By: SnowDog2003

SnowDog2003 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:00:41 +0000

I’m fairly new, but how many reps and sets of reps do you recommend? And do you recommend to go to failure?

By: Johnny

Johnny — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:08:14 +0000

Hey Mark I love your site, and I have been learning quite a bit about muscle gain. I know a lot about gaining muscle now, but can you write more detail about losing fat?

I couldn’t agree more with your statement “The bodybuilding world is bursting at the seams with fiction.” I read to not do cardio, but won’t cardio help me burn calories? I realize the key is calorie defecit and staying tough with healthy, filling food. How much macronutrients should I have when cutting? I weigh 180 currently and I have been taking 180g of protein, 250 carbs, and 50 fat per day (average). This equates to ~2200 calories a day. I shoot for 2000 – 2400 calories a day.

I read your minicutting guide, but I got my body fat calculated and I need to lose 13 pounds of fat to get to 8% body fat. This is about a 2 or 3 month goal correct?

I am pretty sure I am doing ok food wise (or is it more than just calorie defecit?). I really need to know what kind of exercise plan to do while cutting. I’ve read bits and pieces on this site about how to implement cardio, but I am still confused.

Thanks so much Mark for taking the time to research and make truthful, non-hype information available to the public.

By: Darrin_lean_muscle

Darrin_lean_muscle — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:06:49 +0000

Hey Mark – spot on here. I sometimes recommend people do a few weeks of high-rep sets (even triple-setting) as a metabolic jump-start. Essentially, such a workout makes your weight training a semi-cardio training in and of itself. I find it is good (in brief doses) for shedding fat while preserving muscle. But definitely not a long-term strategy.

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:15:53 +0000

Mark I’m confused as to which diet I should be following. I am curently doing tspa weigh 175 @ 15% Should I stay with tspa until I drop 5% and then switch to glad or manns? I am hungry all the time, I drive truck so its hard to stay away from the carbs and get a good QUICK meal on the go. Any sugestions.

By: Keith Davis

Keith Davis — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:30:28 +0000

Great post.
I started lifting weights just to put on a little muscle in order to lose fat… and it has worked for me.
Then I found this site and took the muscle building a little more seriously.
One thing I’ve never fully understood… when you cut down on calories and lose weight, how does your body decide what to lose… fat or lean muscle?
Any ideas Mark