Doing lots of reps leaves your muscles weak for days, but doing fewer heavy reps doesn’t make you weak for long.
Scientific Claim
High-volume resistance exercise (8 sets of 10 repetitions) leads to prolonged impairment in isometric voluntary contraction strength (MVIC) lasting up to 72 hours post-exercise in trained men, whereas high-intensity exercise (8 sets of 3 repetitions) does not produce significant deficits beyond 30 minutes.
Original Statement
“MVIC was still impaired at P-72 h following the HV protocol, while no differences were noted following HI.”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
appropriately stated
Study Design Support
Design supports claim
Appropriate Language Strength
definitive
Can make definitive causal claims
Assessment Explanation
The RCT design with longitudinal measurements supports causal claims about time-dependent effects. The language accurately reflects the observed data without overgeneralization.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
Comparison of the recovery response from high-intensity and high-volume resistance exercise in trained men
Lifting lighter weights many times (high-volume) made guys weaker for up to three days, but lifting heavy weights only a few times (high-intensity) only made them weak for about half an hour.