Neither heavy nor light lifting made people better at doing more reps in a row—except maybe a small, not certain improvement with lighter lifts in squats.

Pro

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

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Volume-equated high- and low-repetition daily undulating programming strategies produce similar hypertrophy and strength adaptations.

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2016 Jul

The study found that doing lots of reps or few reps didn’t make people much stronger at doing many squats or bench presses after 8 weeks, but doing more reps did seem to help a little with squat endurance—even if it wasn’t a huge change.

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

Source Study

Volume-equated high- and low-repetition daily undulating programming strategies produce similar hypertrophy and strength adaptations.

Score: 45

DOI: 10.1139/apnm-2015-0707

Similar Assertions

When people who already lift weights do either mostly heavy lifts or mostly lighter lifts—but keep the total amount of work the same—both ways make them just as strong after 8 weeks.

92%

Whether you rest 1 minute or 2.5 minutes between sets, your strength gains in squat and bench press end up being about the same after 10 weeks of training.

82%

If you're already trained, doing light weights with short or long breaks between sets gives you about the same strength boost in your chest and legs after 8 weeks.

81%

If you're already strong and lift weights, training each muscle group either once or five times a week for eight weeks will give you about the same strength gains on the bench press, squat, and row.

81%

Whether people lift heavy weights with few reps or lighter weights with more reps—while doing the same total amount of work—both ways make their muscles grow about the same size in the chest and thighs after 8 weeks.

80%