High Reps, Low Weight For Muscle Definition – Myth, Myth, Myth

I know you will hear this from almost everybody that you need to do high reps and low weight for muscle definition. But out of all the “everybody” that’s been telling you about this, exactly how many of them are ripped?

To really get ripped (I’m talking about beach body and not bodybuilding competition ripped), you must have muscle mass, and a low bodyfat – it is that simple. When you do high reps and low weights, you aren’t burning much calories, and light intensity does not increase your metabolism. You want to build as much mass by doing compound exercises (squats, deadlift, bench press, etc.), and when you think you have reached your goal in mass, then you slowly decrease your calorie intake and do more cardio (3-4 times per week) at high intensity rate (short, but intense). This is when people think it is time to do high reps and light weight – - NO! Continue to do compound exercises but increase the reps to 8-10 instead of 6-8. As your bodyfat decreases, your joints are not as strong as before to handle very heavy weights. This is why bodybuilders who are about to enter a competition would do higher reps and lighter weight because they are getting too weak to do heavy sets around 5-8 reps. They have about 3-4% bodyfat! Imagine doing 5 reps of heavy deadlifting at 3-4% bodyfat…

As you are losing weight, continue on with 3 days a week with one day of rest in between of compound exercises. You want to maintain as much muscles as possible while losing weight. That is the goal of getting ripped.

I know a lot of people would think I’m full of crap, but for those who only believe in myths, they will never see changes.

Olympic Style Training

You don’t exactly need to know how to do the Clean And Jerk or Snatches like the Olympics do. I wouldn’t recommend doing those without professional guidance because they can easily cause injury if done improperly. You can easily learn how to do Clean Pull, High Pull, Push Press, Deadlifts, Squats, and Hang Clean. These moves require a lot of muscle groups, and almost the entire body. Go heavy on these moves for 5-8 reps per set. These moves build a lot of mass because you are using a lot of muscle groups that allow you to use very heavy weights.

Instead of doing upright rows, try doing high pulls. You’ll be able to use more weights and also hit more muscle groups. Instead of doing military press, try doing push press instead. Instead of using leg machines, go to the power rack and do squats.

I started doing a Hang Clean/Front Squat/Push Press combo. Basically I do a hang clean, and then at the end of the hang clean, I squat down with the bar in front of me still, which is a front squat, and finally, I explode upwards to do a push press. I just wanted to get the form down. Never let your ego take over and start doing heavier weights when you don’t know how to do a certain exercise. I got the form down by doing just the bar. I didn’t care if people looked at me. Either you want to gain mass or lose weight, doing compound exercises work best to increase your metabolism.

I follow Vince DelMonte’s program to get fit and looking good. Click here to learn more about Vince.

Simple Exercises to Burn Fat and Build Muscle Fast

- You will do this 3 days per week with atleast 1 day of rest in between (typically Monday, Wednesday, Friday).

- You are going to do one lower body exercise, one upper body push exercise (such as bench press), and one upper body pull exercise (such as pull ups).
Lower Body: Squat, Hack Squat, Deadlift, Good Morning
Upper Body Push: Bench Press, Push Press, Incline Bench Press, Chest Dip
Upper Body Pull: Pull Up, Chin Up, Bent-over Row, Cable Seated Row

- Do 3-4 sets with 6-8 reps per set of each exercises.

- Rest atleast 2 minutes per set. Depending on your recovery rate, you might be able to rest less to do 6-8 reps again. I’m not blessed with great genes so I rest 2 minutes to 2 1/2 minutes.

- You can do these as straight sets, supersets, circuits, whatever. The whole point of this routine is to work your whole body with compound exercises and burn the most calories in the shortest times.

- Don’t do the same exercise the next time you go in the gym. For instance, if you did Squats, Bench Press, Pull Up on Monday, go to the gym on Wednesday to do Deadlifts, Chest Dips, Cable Seated Row for example. Friday, you can do squats, bench press, and pull up again if you want, but just mix and match to prevent boredom.

- Doesn’t matter if you are skinny or obese, this is a simple approach to get a muscular body with addition to proper diet, cardio, and rest.

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