[POLL] Resistance Training - Low volume/high weight or high volume/low weight?

#1

What is your resistance training philosophy? (explain why below)

  • Low volume/high weight
  • High volume/low weight

0 voters

For the longest time I was working out at home using some adjustable dumbbells, a pullup bar, a bench and dip bars. Very basic workouts that allowed me to build a respectable physique without having to pay for or travel to the gym.

Why did I change?

Recently my dumbbells were damaged and I had to pick between buying new ones or using that money to get a gym membership. I decided to join the gym.

At home alone with dumbbells low volume/high weight isn’t possible without risking serious injury.

I am subscribed to a lot of exercise and fitness Youtube channels and as of late they are preaching that low volume/high weight is superior; and having given it a go I am inclined to agree.

Get the same workout or more done in half the time

With low volume/high weight in 30 minutes I’m able to achieve a better workout than I could in 1+ hours at high volume/low weight. I’ve quickly gone through barriers of weight I can lift faster than I could imagine, and my workouts are not dreaded marathons anymore!

I don’t bring my phone to the gym. It’s quite annoying when you’re waiting to use a machine or a spot and someone is scrolling on the internet while taking up the space. I also think that using a shorter break between sets is ideal for most types of exercise.

I do 2-3 sets; typically the first one is a bit lighter than what I consider to be heavy just to gauge how I’m feeling at the time to avoid injury, 2nd set I jump the weight up as much as possible and then third set I do as many reps as possible at that weight or a bit heavier to finish it off. Typically aiming for 5-10 reps, but I’m not concerned if it is closer to 5 as this simply means I’ve chosen a very heavy weight for my strength.

For the moment I’m avoiding doing squats, deadlifts and bench press and sticking to machines and isolating muscles using mostly machines. It’s really allowing me to build up muscles I was missing doing basic lifts with dumbbells at home. I just finished a leg workout and my legs are shaking but I was only in the gym for 25-30 minutes.

Want to Live Longer? You Better Start Moving —All Day Long. (Outside Mag)
#2

Missing a third option : alternating between both. You’ll find that there might be a point when you stop progressing on your low-rep heavy lifts. One effective way for me to get over this is to lower the weight, but increase the number of repetitions. So instead of squatting for 5 sets of 200x5, I do 5 sets of 150x7, which is effectively more work in terms of training volume.

I mostly do compound lifts with barbells or dumbbells, but keep track of training volume for all all my sessions. This allows me to not lie to myself about how much work I can put into a session, and provides me with a single metric I can use to track progress whether I train unilaterally, with barbells, body weight, or dumbbells, etc.

This all depends on your goals and training status. Experienced bodybuilders, for example, would benefit more from high reps, in part because more volume is needed to drive more growth.

Anyway, the name of the game is progressive overload. You can use whatever method to achieve progression, you don’t have to limit yourself to one progression metric.

2 Likes
#3

One can typically address this issue by giving yourself enough time to recover.

1 Like
#4

Good points. I guess I was in desperate need to massively increase weight with the safety of machines, it will help me increase free weight strength. I already feel way stronger in everyday life.

I need to work on flexibility a bit, I keep getting cramps or pulling muscles.

#5

I think the poll asks too narrow a question.

See linked video by CrossFit founder, Greg Glassman.

The Three-Dimensional Definition of Fitness and Health

I’ve brought Glassman’s thinking to the forum’s attention a few times.

He may have a crude personal life and outlook, but on this stuff which goes directly to sustaining healthspan, he looks like a genius to me.

Glassman makes the case for working on the things you dread doing (the weaknesses) because it can advance capacity across things we wouldn’t consider, e.g., skiers that do pull ups ski better.

Lot’s of reasons to discount CrossFit. Its competitiveness and intensity can push people into injury.
That said one can scale intensity of any CrossFit workout.

Video Summary

In The Three-Dimensional Definition of Fitness and Health, Greg Glassman argues that both fitness and health can be expressed through measurable work capacity. He describes fitness as your ability to perform real physical work—quantified as average power (force × distance ÷ time) and sometimes expressed in foot-pounds per minute. He stresses that without observable and repeatable measurement of mass, distance, and time (MKS units), human performance analysis cannot move into a scientific discipline.

Glassman explains that fitness depends on moving loads, over distances, and the time to do it, across the widest variety of modalities (think 1 rep maximum to ultra marathon). Health, in his framework, reflects your ability to sustain that fitness across your lifespan. The concept of intensity and biologic effort defines CrossFit-style training, not the specific movements themselves.

He reviews four operational models of fitness:

  1. The metabolic model,
  2. Gymnastics (body-weight motor control),
  3. Weightlifting (external load displacement), and
  4. The sickness–wellness–fitness continuum.

He unifies these using a work-capacity graph, where:

  • the X-axis = time domains (short to long duration),
  • the Y-axis = average power output,
    and at each time point, power is averaged across multiple modalities, forming a power curve. The area under that curve represents total work capacity, which he equates with overall fitness.

Glassman then adds the Z-axis = age, creating a 3D graph built by reassessing the 2D fitness profile at multiple points throughout life. The resulting 3D figure resembles a plateau/plateau-blanket shape, which he interprets as “health” quantified as sustained fitness. In his model, health does not exist separate from fitness—both describe the same underlying property tracked through time, metabolic pathways, modalities, and aging.

The first half of the lecture covers the original three models and their unification. The second half introduces the continuum model of sickness → wellness → fitness, and then positions it as subordinate to the primary metric: maximizing and sustaining total work capacity across life.

Core prescription for creating this outcome: constantly varied, high-intensity, functional movement training, which he believes can expand work capacity predictably. He cites the existence of many thousands of examples as proof that the model can describe improvement.
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I think a lot about what I can do to extend my performance across as many modalities as possible given ongoing issues like my body’s limits (by injury, recovery time, or whatever else).