Thread: stamina giving way before muscles?

i recently switched from a low rep program of 4-6 reps per set that I was doing for about a year to one where I go up to 10 reps in a set. Doing this scheme for 3 workouts now, I feel like I am going to puke after every workout. I feel like sometimes my muscles can do more but I just can't get the weight up cause I am huffing and puffing and basically my body gets tired before the muscles do. For example, I was doing db curls and I knew my biceps coupld probably do another rep or 2, but by rep 9 I was completely dead, my legs were shaking, my stomach hurt and I felt like I had just sprinted across a football field.

Is there any point of me switching to a higher rep program muscle wise, or should I just let cardio and other exercising take care of keeping my stamina up and all? In other words is going to 10 reps just giving me a bit more of an aerobic workout without any added benefits to the muscle? Should I stick with my 4-6 reps and do cardio on off days?

By the way., I am currently doing full body workouts with one set per exercise. They are a complete BITCH! The hardest 12 sets ever in my life, amazing since it is only one per part and you can easily do 12 sets just for chest or back.

Originally Posted by Squaggleboggin

It also depends on what your goals are. In other words, if you're going for strength, 10 reps is generally too high. Otherwise I would lower the weight and start doing something simple such as jogging on a treadmill, increasing the amount of time and/or speed as you see fit. You will see improvements in your stamina in a surprisingly short period of time. Also, you should give your body some time to adjust. I remember when I just started to do squats, after each set it felt like I ran a marathon. You may not be doing new exercises, but new rep ranges and/or number of sets may also have this effect. Personally, I would just wait a little while before doing anything. Otherwise, good luck to you and I hope this helps.

I have thought that I should stick with what I'm doing in the hopes that as I do it more, I will get more accustomed to it and it will be easier. I guess thats what happens when you train exclusively low reps for too long a time, when you change to moderate reps, it kicks the crap out of you, especially when you change to a full body routine AND increase the rep range