The Study
Comparison of High-Volume and High-Intensity Upper Body Resistance Training on Acute Neuromuscular Performance and Ratings of Perceived Exertion.
This study compared two kinds of weightlifting and saw which one made guys weaker right after — like how far they could throw a medicine ball. It found that doing more reps made them weaker, but lifting heavier made them feel more tired. But it only tested young, strong men — so we can't say it's true for everyone.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Two groups lifted weights: one did many reps with lighter weight, the other did few reps with heavy weight. Both trained hard, but the group with more total lifts got much more tired afterward — even though they felt like they worked less hard.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 549 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — if you need to throw a ball or jump powerfully right after lifting, doing lots of reps will make you weaker than doing heavy lifts, even if it feels easier.
- 2High-volume group: 10,890 kg total weight lifted, 11% drop in throw distance.
- 3High-intensity group: 2,718 kg total, 5% drop in throw distance.
- 4RPE: 9.9 vs.
- 58.9.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
International journal of exercise science
Year
2020
Authors
B. V. D. da Silva, Daniella Bertulucci Terra Branco, B. Ide, M. Marocolo, H. L. D. de Souza, R. Arriel, D. Oranchuk, G. Mota
Related Content
Claims (6)
In young men trained in resistance exercise, performing a higher total amount of weight lifted leads to more physical fatigue in the muscles and nerves than lifting heavier weights for fewer repetitions, even though the high-volume session feels less effortful.
In young men who regularly lift weights, the medicine-ball throw accurately measures short-term muscle fatigue after a workout, with consistent results across repeated tests.
In young men who regularly lift weights, how hard they feel they are working during a workout does not consistently match the actual level of muscle fatigue caused by the workout. High-volume workouts cause more fatigue but are rated as less intense than high-intensity workouts, suggesting perceived effort is driven more by how heavy the weight is than by how tired the muscles are.
In young men trained in resistance exercise, performing four sets of 12 repetitions reduces medicine-ball throw power by 11%, while three sets of four repetitions reduces it by only 5%, showing that higher volume causes more acute loss of power than higher intensity.
In young men trained in resistance exercise, perceived effort during a workout is higher after lifting heavy weights for fewer reps than after lifting lighter weights for more reps, even though the latter causes more muscle fatigue.
When people perform resistance training to complete muscular exhaustion, using higher repetitions results in more neuromuscular fatigue and central nervous system fatigue than using lower repetitions.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.