Hey guys, i've been doing 5 sets of 5 at the gym and its been going alright with me, but i was talking to a mate who trains with one of the front rowers from the warratahs who was telling me he does lighter weights with sets of 10 and does about 5 sets and reckons it builds up lactic acids in his chest/arms which helps to make them bigger when you have a protein shake straight after the gym?


anyone know anything about this?

Ideally you need a combination of both. Also varying the speed of your reps helps. 5 Reps over 3 seconds = 15 seconds under pressure. 5 Reps over 5 seconds = 25 seconds under pressure. The thing people do wrong is stick to the one training style, I've been guilty of it, most people have. Not sure exactly what your mate is trying to say about lactic acid, but if that's exactly how he worded it, he needs to explain himself better. Lactic acid does not build up and make your chest/arms bigger when you have a protein shake straight after training.

Well, first of all 10 reps per set is in the hypertrophy zone anyway and it's not unheard of for people to do up to 6 sets like this.

Second of all, any exercise builds up lactic acid, if you go for maximal effort per set it doesn't matter whether your doing 5 reps or 50. The only difference is that less reps and more weight build strength while more reps and lighter weight will build endurance.
Hell, you can do sprints all day if you want to build up lactic acid, but it won't make you bigger than someone doing 5x5 sets of squats.

I think what the dude meant to say was perhaps that with more lactic acid build up in your body your body produces more growth hormone which in turn does make you bigger.

http://www.csmngt.com/lactic_acid.htm - just a quick google search so dont quote me.

I have noticed in the last week switching from 5x5 strength stuff to high rep and short rest period circuit training that i am actually getting fitter, but not really bigger...however i have only done it for a week so we'll see how it goes. I just want to work on my conditioning mostly.

Oh and a protein shake straight after weights is the best thing to have as it brings you to an anabolic state quicker.

lift hard and fast