Hypertrophy/strength gains with high rep work

Anybody have any experience of building some mass with some high rep sets?

I just absolutely cannot stand 5x5 any longer. It's so boring and I end up on the equipment for longer and because I feel bad, end up sharing the equipment with others which just adds to frustration taking plates off and on, lowering power rack safety pins for each set etc etc.

But I digress, I'm experimenting with some higher rep work. Implementing some AMAP (as many as possible) sets for some exercises, and rather than fixating on achieving a set number each time, mixing it up a bit. So far, I'm finding it helps to have a nice mix of rep ranges. I could handle a real heavy 3x5, or a less heavy 5x5, but a 3x10 would absolutely kill me. So yeah, I'm having fun which is what keeps me coming back to the gym.

But in terms of actual progress, you guys use it? (Not really talking about isolation work that's all high rep for me)

This doesn't answer your question but with 5x5 I found that my body wasn't used to time under tension. E.g I could get the weight up by my joints and tendons would feel fuzzy and tingly or click.

Since then I've switched to 3x8 with slightly less weight and I don't get any of the previous unwanted effects.

In my opinion if you just need raw strength without having much muscle mass you should workout in low rep range 3x5 or 5x5 . But if want to mix low and high rep then windler program may be adopted where you get different rep range. With high rep scheme you are going to activate different muscle fibers than low rep range. There are advantages and disadvantages of both. You should point out by yourself in which rep range your body is more comfortable. I basically work in medium rep range (6-8) for upper body and low rep range for lower body exercises because on squat and deadlift high or medium rep range kill my legs and back respectively.

If you want to motivate yourself then you can add some martial art , boxing workout or sprint workout in your weekly schedule.

Anybody have any experience of building some mass with some high rep sets?

I just absolutely cannot stand 5x5 any longer. It's so boring and I end up on the equipment for longer and because I feel bad, end up sharing the equipment with others which just adds to frustration taking plates off and on, lowering power rack safety pins for each set etc etc.

But I digress, I'm experimenting with some higher rep work. Implementing some AMAP (as many as possible) sets for some exercises, and rather than fixating on achieving a set number each time, mixing it up a bit. So far, I'm finding it helps to have a nice mix of rep ranges. I could handle a real heavy 3x5, or a less heavy 5x5, but a 3x10 would absolutely kill me. So yeah, I'm having fun which is what keeps me coming back to the gym.

But in terms of actual progress, you guys use it? (Not really talking about isolation work that's all high rep for me)

No idea about exclusively high reps, but I've heard of those who warmup and work up to a just one heavy set, such as a 3-5 rep training max (or just below), and then finish off with a few lighter, higher rep "back off" sets.

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When I first started I never used 5x5, always used pyramid sets with a drop set at the end. Seemed to work really well for me

New trainees respond to pretty much any stimulus very effectively.

Apart from anything a PT tries to do

5x10 is just ridiculously good for strength

50 reps? that sounds like Jamie Lewis style

I know who that is but I don't find his writing interesting enough to know what he really does. By 5x10 I basically mean boring but big

Not a fan of 5/3/1 boring but big. Never done it myself, but since my friend did BBB deadlifts and vomited on my shoes, I have never liked the program.

I know who that is but I don't find his writing interesting enough to know what he really does. By 5x10 I basically mean boring but big

This is all my own opinion from running 5/3/1 and various other LP strength programmes.

5x10 isn't great for strength - it's a size plugin for 5/3/1. If you just ran the assistance without the 5/3/1 sets you wouldn't get strong very fast. Hell, even with the 5/3/1 you're only adding weight every cycle which is **** all unless you're at least intermediate.

When I ran 5/3/1 for about 3 months after running SS for 9 months my strength didn't improve that much but I did get pretty big. The size gains were definitely greater than my strength gains. I did come from 68kg 120/70/140 to 73kg 135/80/155 though staying around 14% and 5'8". Numbers are vague as It was quite a while ago now, I could probably work out the strength improvements as I just ran it as prescribed and skipped first deload week.

Thinking about this makes me sad at how small and pathetic I am now...

EDIT: Deadlift day BBB was also the only time I've ever vom'd as a result of training too - it was in some windowless shack under a bridge in the middle of summer with no aircon and I had about 45 minutes to crack out 5/3/1 deads, 5x10 deads and 5x10 hanging leg raises so I super setted the latter two..