Building Up Slowly

[venomousbird]

I've read a lot of threads that talk about bulking and cutting. I can understand why someone would want to bulk intensely if they were going for size and a certain look quickly, but to me, it seems like it would make more sense to remain consistant in diet and exercise over a longer period of time, and do more reps at a lower weight to maintain density. I'm finding pushups and other bodyweight exercises are doing more for me than weight training was. Could be my metabolic type I suppose?

I'm personally trying to develop explosive power, but remain flexible and not add too much size. If I could develop my body to match any physique it would probably be closer to Bruce Lee than Arnold. Anybody have an opinion on this?

[Scorcher2005]

More reps at a lower weight does not always equal strength. Sometimes, it may not even provide stimuli to grow at all. It could just lead to muscle fatigue with no growth. High weight and low reps will always out due low weight high reps for strength gains.

[Eric3237]

It's strength endurance after a while. Unless you find some way to progress. You can do that with pushups to putting the feet up higher or having one arm on a raised surface. All sorts of things. Comes a time when weights are more effecient. Just doing more and more reps at the same weight will not cause continued hypertrophy, like Scorcher said. Nothing wrong with looking like Bruce Lee, btw, but don't kid yourself, he may have done a lot of innovative training things, but he also lifted some weights.

[venomousbird]

Oh yeah, I know he did weight training. I'm not opposed to the idea at all, I just wanna avoid putting on too much soft muscle mass and bulk relative to power, so I'm trying to take my time. I'm finding that my abs are getting tired from pushups faster than my arms now, so I should probably change up the way I'm doing them for a while, I'll try raising my feet up. This site is teaching me a lot, btw, thanks to everyone.

[Riddick2112]

if you keep your calories in check and keep the intensity high (%1RM) and the volume low you will probably not add any appreciable mass no matter what type of exercise you do.

you could also try HIT as i found that a great way to train and NOT get bigger, lol.

oh wait, i didnt get much stronger with HIT either. Scratch that!

btw, what is "soft" mucle mass???

[Scorcher2005]

Yes, please explain this soft muscle concept to me...

[venomousbird]

well, I guess I mean muscle that has size and brute strength, but lacks explosive force. . . lol, you guys always catch when I'm vague

I'm reading up on slow twitch vs fast twitch muscle fibers now
they claim it's genetic, but I think that's just naysaying

[venomousbird]

My next logical step?: dead lifts, squats, dead lifts, squats, dead lifts, squats. . . . etc

don't think I don't learn anything! I just wanna make sure I have the best route so that I don't hurt myself or waste time

[Riddick2112]

what you're talking about is "power".

[Scorcher2005]

Originally Posted by venomousbird

well, I guess I mean muscle that has size and brute strength, but lacks explosive force. . . lol, you guys always catch when I'm vague

I still dont really know what you mean. Take someone who can squat 500pounds. Of course when he is going for that one rep max he's going to be going slow while pushing with all his might. Now take that same guy and have him squat 200-300 pounds and he will be very explosive as he pushes it up with ease.