high reps vs. low reps

[blackops]

ok,

remember that im new to this......

can someone please explain why you do low reps heavy weight for mass gains and high reps lower weight for definition?

ive been doing alot of reading that suggests that you simply need to stimulate the muscle for either or. by lifting the weight, you are stimulating the muscle for growth. why does lifting the weight more times cause more definition and less mass and vice versa?

[Gethuge]

Okay I'm going to delve into this one again and I'm sure that McBain will soon be on my a** about it.

There really isn't any difference as far as muscle stimulation is concerned. Lower reps with higher weights may have the ability to stimulate the Central Nervous System more which causes a more pronounced adaptive response (muscle growth). But the fact is that if a muscle gets bigger it gets stronger and vise versa. If you can keep adding weight to the bar each session then the muscle is growing and you are in a reasonable rep range for you. If this is not the case you need to make some changes (regarding rep ranges or other changes.)

I hope that was clear enough. ( I have a tendancy to be a bit vague, or so I've been told.)

[blackops]

ok,

i do agree that stimulation leads to growth. it also makes sense that growth will lead to definition. everyone responds to the weights different.

i just hear people say the same things over and over. more reps to get defined, less reps to get big. look at power lifters; most of the "strong men" are BIG. they look like a box.

is it that this "reps for definition" came to be by people burning more fat by doing more reps? somehow they translated the fat buring into the muscle actually taking on more "shape" or form?

[Gethuge]

Rep ranges really have very little to do with definition, regardless of what anyone likes to think. Most guys will cut their calories, do more aerobics and use higher reps and then state that the higher reps make them look more defined. Fact of the matter is that the diet and aerobics took the extra fat off which made them look more defined.

Another reason that higher reps became vogue for competition training is that most guys lose alot of their energy for training while on a strict fat loss diet. The higher reps are just alot easier to handle physically and mentally when your system is being taxed by other things. Also the burn felt while using higher reps led to the belief that the body was burning more fat, but this doesn't have anything to do with fat burning at all.

[Luke530]

The only reason "strong men" or powerlifters look like that is because they need the mass for leverage, Iv'e seen picture of a strong man competitor who decided to get cut up, he looked like he could compete at the Mr. Olympia, he was shredded, so i don't think reps have too much of an impact of definition, It's all genetics and muscular maturity.