If I were to say to a roomful of average Americans, “I’ve run 4 times a week, every week, for the past 10 years, without an exception, even when I was sick,” I’d get most of the audience nodding their heads in appreciation and admiration. I’d probably even get some spontaneous applause and a few people would be so impressed they’d be speechless.
If instead, I said to that same room full of average Americans, “I’ve lifted weights 4 times a week, every week, for the past 10 years, without an exception, even when I was sick,” I’d get
- Blank stares (confusion)
- Frowns (disappointment)
- Shaking heads (how could he waste so much of his time?)
- Scoffs (“he must be so vain to be that focused on how he looks”)
- Etc.
You get the picture.
The Average American Is A Running Snob
We’ve been conditioned/taught over decades that runners deserve admiration.
Don’t get me wrong – they certainly do deserve admiration.
But bodybuilders and strength trainers don’t get that same breadth of acceptance. Instead, they get scorn. Sadly, the steroid issue has tainted the whole weight lifting world to some degree, and quite unfairly. I’ll save that diatribe for another day.
When most people think of the term “bodybuilding”, they think of hugely muscular men whose entire exercise routine rests on lifting weights in isolation movements. It’s a shame that the term bodybuilding has been pigeon-holed into a single class of exercise. I love the term “body building” because that’s what all exercise is – building your body.
Of course, bodybuilders and strength trainers are themselves a snobbish lot. Both groups tend to dismiss runners with such phrases as (more…)
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Continue reading about Bodybuilding Snobs vs. Strength Training Snobs vs. Running Snobs
If you’ve been going to a commercial gym regularly, you might have noticed that some guys will crank out a set of 15 reps for an exercise while another guy just does 3 reps on a different exercise. What’s up with that?
The reason you’ll see people using totally different rep ranges is that some people have different goals. Doing more reps in your weight lifting routine can serve a great purpose, and doing less reps can also be useful.
Which rep range you ultimately decide to use should be based on your goals and what you want to accomplish. Here, we’ll talk about a few points that will help you make the best decision.
Let’s take a look at what each rep range can be useful for:
- 1-3 Reps: Best suited to boosting your overall strength. The focus here is improving the maximum amount of weight possible for a single repetition. You’ll see powerlifters use (more…)
Continue reading about The Best Rep Ranges for Muscle, Strength
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