Thread: Is it bad to lift weight that you can't do 5 reps to?

My question is: why in the hell do you want to do 5 reps. in the first place?

Originally Posted by Mariache

I've read this somewhere and I wanted to make sure. My high school program for basketball/football has us doing 3 sets of 4 reps with heavy weights(90% of your max). Can anyone help me out here?

I can understand football training having you do this for strength/power.

I think it makes sense, do you want huge baseketball players that cant move around? NO. But you want strong players, and low reps with very high weigh will get you stronger without putting on huge muscles. Or so ive read a million times....

Mass comes with strength and strength comes with mass......has alot to do with diet as well. It makes sense to me, no one wants weak sports players.

Originally Posted by DeadBolt

Mass comes with strength and strength comes with mass

Sort of, but not really. If you don't eat an excess of calories, then you aren't going to gain mass. However, you will gain strength if you train for it. When I was on the wrestling team in high school everyone dieted like crazy to try and make the lowest possible weight class (Except me, hehe). Did they get bigger while weight training? No. Did they get stronger? Hell yes.

Originally Posted by DeadBolt

......has alot to do with diet as well.

Hence this comment cowpimp. I understand where your going with your comment though.

I use to watch the wrestlers back when I was in highschool gain or drop 30lbs over night and boy it was funny as hell. I give them loads of respect and I come from a long line of wrestlers so I know whats its like for them.

Originally Posted by Mariache

I've read this somewhere and I wanted to make sure. My high school program for basketball/football has us doing 3 sets of 4 reps with heavy weights(90% of your max). Can anyone help me out here?

makes total sense. like prince said, strength and power are absolutly needed on the field.

Well maybe the coaches know what their doing after all.

I train between 4 and 6 reps. If I keep my calories the same I will gradually get stronger without getting much bigger (although slightly). If I take in tons of protein and good amt of carbs, I get bigger as well

I have a question. If I can lift a certain weight one time I usually can lift it several times. So basically i cant find a one rep max...cuz i can always do another rep or 4, but when i go up lets say ten more pounds i cant get it off the rack. What would cause this?

I was always under the impression that lower than 5 reps was a good mass builder. Damn my football coaches, damn them all to hell. So am i to unerstand 8-12 reps is the best range for building mass?