To add mass to my legs, should i lift heavy with few reps or lighter with 12-15 reps?

Asked by: Lamont Brody

Should I lift heavy or light on legs?

Lifting for pure strength is best partnered with heavy weights. “If you’re trying for strength, or your max force output, the heavier the weight, the more strength gains you’ll have, along with size gains,” Tuminello says. It’s also super time efficient.

Is it better to lift heavy weight less reps or light with more reps?

Generally, exercises with higher reps are used to improve muscular endurance, while higher weights with fewer reps are used to increase muscle size and strength.

How many reps should I be doing to gain leg muscles?

The rule of thumb for gaining size is to use a rep range of 8-12. With legs, however, I always found – and research backs me up – that higher reps produce the biggest gains. I experienced great results with squats, lunges, leg presses and leg extensions when doing sets of 15-20 reps.

Can you build muscle with light weights high reps?

More repetitions with lighter weights can build muscle as well as heavier weights — assuming they are done to the point of exercise-induced fatigue. And fatigue is the important point. That means even with light weight, the last two to three reps should be hard.

Can you build big legs with light weight?

In fact, despite the widespread belief that muscles only grow after lifting heavy, you can and will build muscle just as effectively using lighter weights and higher reps. Researchers from McMaster University got a group of men to train their legs 3 times a week for 10 weeks.

Do you have to lift heavy to get big?

A loaded barbell isn’t the only path to building muscle. According to a new study published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, you don’t have to lift super heavy in order to boost strength and gain muscle. As long as you go to failure, it doesn’t matter how much weight you lift.