Light Reps Do Amazing Things to Your Body — Transcript

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1. 0:00There is no such thing as junk volume.
2. 0:02So, one of the most common criticisms I
3. 0:04get of the kind of high repetition, body
4. 0:07weight, lightweight training that I like
5. 0:09to do is that I'm just doing loads of
6. 0:11junk volume for no reason. The argument
7. 0:14being that in order to build size and
8. 0:16strength, you need to stimulate the high
9. 0:17threshold motor units. You only tend to
10. 0:20do this once the movements become
11. 0:22difficult, which is often during the
12. 0:24last few repetitions of a given set. So,
13. 0:26why would you do so many repetitions and
14. 0:29waste [music] all that time when you
15. 0:30could just use a heavier weight and get
16. 0:32there sooner?
17. 0:34Oh, you poor hapless fools. Allow me to
18. 0:37explain. First, getting tired [music] is
19. 0:40a good thing. It means you're training
20. 0:42endurance, both cardio and strength
21. 0:43[music] endurance. Strength endurance,
22. 0:45by the way, is what you need for the
23. 0:47majority of strength-based tasks. You
24. 0:49need to exert strength for a significant
25. 0:51period of time, whether wrestling, doing
26. 0:53DIY, carrying something heavy, moving
27. 0:55furniture, you name it. Meanwhile,
28. 0:58you'll boost your work capacity, meaning
29. 1:00you can get more from every subsequent
30. 1:02workout. This means you'll have more
31. 1:04energy and endurance for the workouts
32. 1:06themselves, so you'll be able to do more
33. 1:08exercises at a higher level. Plus, with
34. 1:11high rep training, you get
35. 1:12cardiovascular benefits and angioenesis,
36. 1:15meaning you feel better during the day
37. 1:16and recover faster from training.
38. 1:19You're getting the aerobic training and
39. 1:21the accompanying fat loss for free,
40. 1:23taking the pressure off the need to go
41. 1:25for long runs or the like. [music] If
42. 1:27you find you're getting tired from this
43. 1:29type of training before you're able to
44. 1:30build muscle, that just means you need
45. 1:32to improve your cardio until that's no
46. 1:34longer an issue so that they improve in
47. 1:36tandem. Again, this is a good thing. The
48. 1:39whole reason we think of powerlifterss
49. 1:40and bodybuilders as being constantly out
50. 1:42of breath, even if that's not always
51. 1:44fair, is that they prioritize their
52. 1:46strength so far above their aerobic
53. 1:48training. When you train with higher
54. 1:50reps, you prevent this from happening.
55. 1:52But let's say you're only interested in
56. 1:54strength and muscle gains. High rep
57. 1:56training will get you there, but could
58. 1:57you not get there faster using lower
59. 1:59rep? Well, here's the thing. Those
60. 2:01lighter reps aren't doing nothing. They
61. 2:04are actually isolating the lower
62. 2:05threshold motor units and taking them to
63. 2:08failure and this actually creates
64. 2:10strength and size in those smaller slow
65. 2:12twitch muscle fibers. The slow twitch
66. 2:14fibers are smaller than the faster ones,
67. 2:16but there are also more of them, meaning
68. 2:18that they contribute roughly an
69. 2:20equivalent surface area of the muscle
70. 2:22and they contribute to your power output
71. 2:24too in the vast majority of scenarios.
72. 2:28Sidebar here. This concept of training
73. 2:31the slow twitch muscle fibers to failure
74. 2:33is something people struggle to
75. 2:35understand. So, let's use an analogy.
76. 2:38Imagine a competition where you have
77. 2:39teams of people trying to tug
78. 2:41increasingly heavy objects attached to a
79. 2:43rope. Our team has some extremely strong
80. 2:46guys in it who tire out fast. So, we
81. 2:48only use those guys [music] when the
82. 2:50object getting pulled is sufficiently
83. 2:52heavy or when the weaker guys collapse.
84. 2:55Of course, they represent your fast
85. 2:57twitch muscle fiber or your larger motor
86. 2:59units. The smaller guys on the team have
87. 3:02more endurance, so they [music]
88. 3:03contribute to pulling everything either
89. 3:06on their own or with the help of the
90. 3:07strong guys when the object gets
91. 3:09heavier. They are your slow twitch
92. 3:11muscle fiber. When the team starts
93. 3:14tugging a lighter object, the bigger
94. 3:16guys will stay on the bench. And this is
95. 3:18the same for the fast twitch muscle
96. 3:20fiber or larger motor units. Lifting a
97. 3:22light object a few times [music] won't
98. 3:24touch them at all. They're just not
99. 3:26needed. Conversely though, when we tug a
100. 3:29much heavier object, both the smaller
101. 3:31endurance guys [music] and the bigger
102. 3:33strong guys get involved. You cannot
103. 3:35involve the bigger strong guys without
104. 3:37also involving the smaller, weaker guys.
105. 3:40This way, everyone [music] is getting
106. 3:42some training. This is effectively why
107. 3:44we typically train with heavier weights.
108. 3:46But there's a problem. You see, the big
109. 3:48guys are actually doing most of the work
110. 3:50in this scenario. The problem is when
111. 3:52the big guys tire out, the smaller guys
112. 3:55aren't cumulatively strong enough to
113. 3:57move the object at all. [music] So, they
114. 3:59have to stop as well. They effectively
115. 4:01aren't getting all that much training
116. 4:02from the experience. They're not being
117. 4:04taken to failure [music]
118. 4:05because they have to stop as soon as the
119. 4:07bigger guys wear out. So, what's the
120. 4:09solution? It might just be high rep
121. 4:11training [music] with lighter weight.
122. 4:13The equivalent of getting our team to
123. 4:14tug a smaller item a long, long way. Now
124. 4:17what will happen is that initially we'll
125. 4:19[music] use only the smaller guys but
126. 4:21eventually they will tire out. Now the
127. 4:23bigger guys have to come and [music]
128. 4:25chip in to take over. We need to recruit
129. 4:28those bigger guys at this point to
130. 4:29continue moving the object. And this is
131. 4:30exactly how the body works. The smaller
132. 4:33guys get trained entirely [music] to
133. 4:34failure. And eventually even the biggest
134. 4:37guys can get trained to failure this
135. 4:38way. Especially because their combined
136. 4:41power isn't as much without those
137. 4:43smaller guys. If you keep going and keep
138. 4:46going, eventually every single member of
139. 4:48your team will be completely fatigued,
140. 4:50taken [music] to complete failure. Now,
141. 4:52of course, you're not going to train
142. 4:53every single muscle fiber in your body
143. 4:55to complete failure. But we're much
144. 4:58closer to achieving this by using this
145. 5:00methodology.
146. 5:02So, all those extra reps are not junk.
147. 5:04They're just training a different though
148. 5:06equally important part of the muscle.
149. 5:08And that's before you even consider the
150. 5:10role of metabolic stress and muscle
151. 5:11damage, both of which can occur at any
152. 5:14rep range. Some will say that only
153. 5:16mechanical tension matters [music] for
154. 5:17muscle growth. But I made a pretty
155. 5:19in-depth post explaining why that's
156. 5:20probably not the case. You can check
157. 5:22that out in the link in description down
158. 5:24below. It's a free article you can read
159. 5:25over on my website. But even if you
160. 5:27don't agree with me on that, we're
161. 5:29getting some [music] strength and size
162. 5:30benefits from the lighter weights either
163. 5:31way by training the slow twitch fibers.
164. 5:34Then there's the fact that you're
165. 5:35greasing the groove and rehearsing the
166. 5:37movement. There's the fact that you're
167. 5:38improving your strength to weight ratio.
168. 5:40There's [music] the way you're
169. 5:41stimulating tendon growth by using a
170. 5:43slightly plyometric approach. I can do
171. 5:45all the flying push-ups and other tricks
172. 5:47I do because I do such explosive [music]
173. 5:50push-ups with such high repetitions. I
174. 5:52know it doesn't cause joint pain or
175. 5:54repetitive strain injury either. This
176. 5:56comes from training the muscles in an
177. 5:58imbalanced way. You're at no greater
178. 6:00risk here than you are with heavy lifts.
179. 6:02Contrary to popular belief, high rep
180. 6:04training doesn't take ages either, which
181. 6:06is another common criticism of this
182. 6:08style of training. You can bash out 35
183. 6:10dips and it'll still take you less than
184. 6:1230 seconds [music] if you're using a
185. 6:14rapid cadence. Not that different from
186. 6:16five slow grinding reps. In fact, it may
187. 6:18be quicker once you factor in the amount
188. 6:20of time it takes you to set up to get
189. 6:21into position, etc. There are shorter
190. 6:24rest times, too. I find the whole thing
191. 6:26to be far quicker and easier to fit into
192. 6:28my routine. In fact, doing those lighter
193. 6:30reps at higher counts just means you
194. 6:32don't need as much equipment or space
195. 6:34and it lowers the recovery cost. It's
196. 6:36allowing me to train anywhere whenever I
197. 6:38like with minimal recovery cost and no
198. 6:41commute. So, they are not junk reps. But
199. 6:44even if they were, they beat junk
200. 6:46commuting and junk queuing for the bench
201. 6:48and junk time in the changing rooms. So,
202. 6:50am I claiming that you can get as strong
203. 6:52by using high repetitions with body
204. 6:54weight or light weight training as you
205. 6:56can with heavy weights with your squats
206. 6:59and bench press and deadlifts? Well, no,
207. 7:01I'm not. They're actually very different
208. 7:03things. If you want to get really good
209. 7:04at those movements, you need to practice
210. 7:07lifting really heavy weights [music] in
211. 7:09those movement patterns. There are
212. 7:10neural adaptations that occur here.
213. 7:12These are compound movements that train
214. 7:13you to use your whole body at once in a
215. 7:16certain way. But it is a little bit of a
216. 7:18misconception to think that you can't
217. 7:20get as strong by using just body weight.
218. 7:23I mean, look at someone who does a PLCH.
219. 7:25The PLCH is just as much a strength
220. 7:27exercise. Someone who has an amazing
221. 7:29bench press cannot plunchch. It's just a
222. 7:32different set of neural pathways. It's a
223. 7:34different intramuscular coordination
224. 7:37that's required. So, it doesn't really
225. 7:39matter who's stronger. That's really a
226. 7:41nothing sandwich. And what I'm saying is
227. 7:42that you can get perfectly strong enough
228. 7:44and build enough muscle and size using
229. 7:47lighter weights using your body weight.
230. 7:49You can build so much strength and
231. 7:51performance and you can look so great
232. 7:53just training this way from home that it
233. 7:55makes me question why you'd ever need to
234. 7:57go and lift really heavy weights [music]
235. 7:59unless you want to be a powerlifter,
236. 8:01unless you want to be a bodybuilder. And
237. 8:03that way you can create a really jacked
238. 8:04and athletic physique from home by doing
239. 8:08junk volume.
240. 8:13And more importantly, the real message I
241. 8:15want to convey is movement is never
242. 8:17junk. Movement is never pointless. The
243. 8:20very fact that we call some movement
244. 8:22junk just because there's not the most
245. 8:24optimal growth, just cuz there's not an
246. 8:26ROI shows just how warped fitness
247. 8:28messaging has become. If you're moving,
248. 8:31you're improving.
249. 8:37And guys, if this is all making sense to
250. 8:39you and you want a guide to help you
251. 8:40start training in [music] this way, you
252. 8:43can check out my ebook and training
253. 8:44program, Superfunctional Training 3,
254. 8:46Super Mover. It's designed to help you
255. 8:48build an athletic and jacked physique.
256. 8:51One that can actually move and looks
257. 8:53great from the comfort of your home with
258. 8:55workouts just like these. When you
259. 8:58realize you don't need to train like a
260. 9:00bodybuilder or a powerlifter in order to
261. 9:02look the way you want to look and also
262. 9:04move as well as possible. And when you
263. 9:06learn that you can actually move better
264. 9:08by training with your body weight by
265. 9:10focusing on body composition, it just
266. 9:12becomes a whole lot easier. You realize
267. 9:14you can use these kind of workouts to
268. 9:16get the results you want faster so that
269. 9:18they fit into your routine, into your
270. 9:20lifestyle. And if you don't need 21in
271. 9:22biceps, then you don't need to be
272. 9:24training that way.
273. 9:26comes with a 200 plus page ebook, 25
274. 9:29instructional training videos, Q cards,
275. 9:32easier versions of workouts, harder
276. 9:34versions of workouts, mobility routine,
277. 9:35and loads more. Find a link to that in
278. 9:37description down below. Please check it
279. 9:39out if you're interested. Thank you so
280. 9:40much for watching this one, and I'll see
281. 9:42you next time. Bye for now.