# Are single reps dangerous?



## basskiller (Feb 12, 2013)

Powerlifters and Olympic lifters do lots of low reps in the 1-3 range, most BB’ers do not. I have known BB’ers that have lifted for 5-10 years and have NEVER taken a single rep max, even benching. Ask most of these guys why and they will tell you it’s just an ego lift and doesn’t build muscle. And they will usually follow up with how dangerous they are. Are these allegations valid? Lets look a little closer to see.

Are they truly just an ego lift that doesn’t build muscle? Well if they are only being done once in a great while the answer is yes. Taking a max every so often just to check what you are capable of is mostly just stoking your ego and obviously doing 1 rep with the most weight you can handle every three months will not contribute to strength gains. But what about using low reps to build strength? For many bodybuilder brought up on high rep volume training this probably sounds like heresy. Whats the point? The point is that the fastest strength gains will occur when doing extremely low reps, and the strength gains will be to a large part transferable to your lower-medium range hypertrophy reps. That means you will soon be able to use heavier weights in the rep ranges that build muscle. Does that make it sound like extremely low reps don’t build any muscle? Well for most people the answer will be very little compared to mid-and high rep hypertrophy sets. But again, if you can get a lot stronger doing low reps, what happens when you do the higher reps with a lot more weight? Bigger you is the answer.

Charles Poliquin: http://ironaddicts.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1131

has long been a big advocate of using low reps by boudybuilders and you need only look at what Dexter and Ronnie to see what some low rep training can help provide to your physique.

Now onto the question of safety. Are low reps really the body wreakers they are often made out to be? Well, the answer is sometimes. The potential is definitely there IF your form isn’t good. Get out of the groove, or just have plain bad form to begin with and you are likely to get hurt. If your form is good, and you are using a solid power rack and/or competent spotters I think the dangers are grossly exaggerated. Do you know when people most often get hurt? When they are at the end of a high rep set and are compromising their form to get in those last few reps. When doing a singe or three rep set, you only have 1-3 reps to give your TOTAL focus to form to. This means for should be PERFECT! When I miss a single I am always still in perfect form, but the weight just doesn’t make it up and is lowered back down on the pins in the rack or on the floor. It really is that simple, unlike the almost enevitable small form breakdown that occurs on 8-20 rep sets done all-out.

If you are new to low rep work I suggest you start with 5’s for a few weeks before doing some 3’s and then finally going for a max. Beware! Using the same lift for more then 4 weeks WILL result in a decrease in performance so if it is your intent to us them on a long term basis, the lift must be rotated to a different lift that targets the same prime movers every 1-3 weeks as per Westside Barbell. Does this type of training work? Ask those competing against the WSB crew. They usually do quite well!

Iron Addict


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