2024-01-18 17:35:49
When it comes to getting strong, the rule in bodybuilding is to lift heavy weights, no more, no less.
It’s no secret and it’s always been like this… until a new study (1) came to light…
A word on the principle of specificity
In short, she suggests that lifting heavy is not the only solution to improving your 1RM (maximum load with which you can do one repetition on a given exercise).
The other solution? Increase the number of repetitions.
Do you know the principle of “specificity”?
It comes down to a simple adage, practice makes you a blacksmith.
To improve on a specific task, you will have to do and redo the said task until specific adaptations occur.
Want to run further? You will need to increase your running volume. You want to do more push-ups, are you going to have to do more push-ups?
Bodybuilding is no exception, whether you want to increase the size of your muscles or become stronger.
The literature also supports the fact that lifting heavier loads implies having to train to lift ever heavier, logically.
What does our new study say?
Well, that’s where this new study comes in, offering another take on specificity as it relates to strength.
The study in question focuses on and confronts two things:
- increasing costs
- increasing repetitions
To do this, researchers measure several data such as:
- muscular strength,
- muscle hypertrophy,
- muscular endurance.
Thus, over 8 weeks, 43 young participants (27 men for 16 women) with at least one year of experience in bodybuilding were randomly assigned to one of the two groups, loads or repetitions.
The common protocol:
- 2 sessions per week,
- 4 leg exercises (squat, leg extensions, standing and seated calf extensions),
- 4 sets of each until muscular failure.
For the “repetitions” group, the sets started at 8-12 repetitions and the goal was to increase the number of repetitions over the sessions. without ever touching the load.
For the “load” group, the goal was, on the contrary, to increase the weight without affecting the number of repetitionsalways located between 8 and 12.
The results
At the end of the results, the two groups showed similar results in terms of hypertrophy in the 6 muscle areas noted (3 in the calves, 3 in the quadriceps).
For strength, this was assessed with an MR test on the squat exercise, as follows:
- the “repetitions” group saw their 1RM increase by 20 kg on average,
- the “load” group showed an increase of 22 kg on average.
Quite similar results which would have been difficult to predict…
That being said, the study is quite poorly done on one point, the subjects trained on barbell squats, but were tested on Smith machine squats for the final strength result…
While the two exercises seem mechanically quite similar, anyone will tell you that they are actually very different, especially for a 1RM.
Going from a free squat to a guided squat goes once morest our very principle of specificity…
That being said, you don’t add 20 kg to your squat by chance, Smith machine or not, so there are benefits in the “repetitions” protocol.
Further research is of course essential to tell us more.
So what should you do to become stronger?
Well already, don’t let one study influence your decisions.
This one, like many others, has its limits:
- she only lingered on the lower part of the body,
- it involved trained and young individuals,
- it did not necessarily require participants to have any experience with the squat.
The only conclusion that we can draw for the moment is…to wait until we have more data, sorry for the disappointment that I guess on your mines.
That being said, it costs nothing to implement this protocol if you wish.
If your training has already given you good improvements, then you should not touch it, especially if you are a beginner.
But if you are stuck in your progress and/or don’t want to tackle big bars for 5 repetitions, then try increasing your repetitions according to the study protocol.
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