Is it bad to keep working out using less weight?

[phil88 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close phil88]

I usually push myself until I cant do anymore reps, unless I lower the weight. Would there be any negatives in just using less weight so that I could keep working the same muscle group?

[Nothin2ItBut2DoIt Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nothin2ItBut2DoIt]

What are you looking for, lean muscle or mass? And how many reps are you doing? You also don't want to overtrain.

Just a quick guide.

Lean muscle: 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps (lighter weight)

Mass: 2-3 sets of 6-8 reps (heavy weight)

[phil88 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close phil88]

I want lean muscle. So far I do the 3 sets, 12-15 reps, but I do it with the most weight I can handle. What I want to know is when Im done those first 3 sets, if I did another 3 sets with lesser weight, what would the affects be?

[vulcan Retired ModeratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close vulcan]

If a guy is an Endomorph, then high repetition work is what I would primarily focus on ~ if the person just wants to look fit & athletic.

[Nothin2ItBut2DoIt Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nothin2ItBut2DoIt]

You might quickly overtrain. It kind of all depends on the person. You could always switch exercises that still target those muscle groups. When I was going consistently I usually did 2 or 3 exercises for whatever muscle group. Like chest and back - bench press, incline flies, decline bench press + lat pull downs (regular grip), lat pull downs (wide grip), bent over rows.

Every once in a while I did drop sets (lower the weight each time when needed) until failure, but I wouldn't suggest doing those all the time.

[Nothin2ItBut2DoIt Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nothin2ItBut2DoIt]

If a guy is an Endomorph, then high repetition work is what I would primarily focus on ~ if the person just wants to look fit & athletic.

Forgot to take that into consideration at all.

Here's a link if you don't know what you are. Body Types

[phil88 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close phil88]

I am an ectomorph. I am not too worried about over-training. If I do ill just know better for next time. I was under the impression that continuous strain built much more dense hard muscle though. Like a lumberjack swinging an axe continuously all day vs a 90 second workout that strains the muscles for only 90 seconds.

I was wondering if I could build harder, smaller, muscles through tearing the shit out of them and working them out a little longer with lesser weights.

[vulcan Retired ModeratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close vulcan]

If I was an Ectomorph I would lift heavy (rep range 5>9) mainly compound lifts especially deadlifts. This will ultimately lead to the ectomorph looking like a decathlete.

Bad idea/waste of time for an ectomorph to do very high reps IMO.

[Nothin2ItBut2DoIt Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Nothin2ItBut2DoIt]

I'm not sure... I did see a video one time about a place in Africa where there were bartenders who had HUGE biceps and literally all they did was lift kegs over and over.. so it might work. I just don't know if you could replicate that with only gym sessions compared to every day activity/job - same as with the lumberjack idea.

[vulcan Retired ModeratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close vulcan]

No doubt, you can get into very good shape through manual labour.

Some guys just have very enviable genetics & look very good without working out much at all.

[phil88 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close phil88]

I dont really care what I look like. I want the most strength with the least amount of muscle. This would mean increase muscle density I think. What is the best way to do that? I mean manual labor seems to work great but is that because it is continuously tearing the muscle? Working out would cause bigger tears but over a much shorter period of time. Can someone who knows explain this to me please? Would be greatly appreciated, thx.

[Closed039 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Closed039]

Well if you want the most strength with the least amount of muscle, you are probably after what is known as functional strength.

[DemOne Banned Find all posts View Profile Close DemOne]

I dont really care what I look like. I want the most strength with the least amount of muscle. This would mean increase muscle density I think. What is the best way to do that? I mean manual labor seems to work great but is that because it is continuously tearing the muscle? Working out would cause bigger tears but over a much shorter period of time. Can someone who knows explain this to me please? Would be greatly appreciated, thx.

Pushups, pull ups, crunches, squats, sit ups, and plyometric workouts, etc are perfect for that. Like PEskeptic said, you'd be interested in functional strength straining. Eventually you'll be able to do say 5 more pushups every week. You're not going to be gaining a lot of muscle mass, but your endurance and strength will increase.

[phil88 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close phil88]

Perfect, thank you. From what I can tell this is exactly what I was looking for

[Flanker6 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Flanker6]

check out crossfit.com
there are great exercises that compound fitness with strength. It sounds like it'd be a perfect match for you.