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Beginners program - too many reps???

Nirvecho Posts: 14 Joined: 2004/06/21

2009/03/15, 08:13 PM I have a question that i have tried to search but I was unable to find exactly what I was looking for. I am a 21 year old male. Physically I'm tall and skinny. I would defiantly consider myself a beginner and I'm doing the muscle mass program, but my routine calls for workouts with 4 sets with a high amount of reps (ranges of 20 and 16 starting). Correct me if im wrong but I've read that in order to maximum your workout in terms of building muscle and strength, you want to do more weight vs more reps. I am looking to bulk up (I'm incredibly skinny). Is it that lower amount of weights + more reps = bigger muscles while more weight + lower reps (8-10 starting) makes you stronger with the muscle that you already have? Because i am under the impression from the research I've done that lower sets (around 10 as opposed to 20) does both increase muscle and strength the fastest. or is it because freetrainer.com thinks that since I'm a "beginner" and thus not familiar with working out, I don't know proper form and thus should start with less weights in order to attain the right form and be comfortable and not cause an injury? Ive worked out off and on for years so I do know the right form of different workouts. Basically I'm weak so i consider myself a beginner but then again I'm defiantly familiar with working out and how to safely do each exercise with the correct form. So what Im asking is this: Would it be best if I'm trying to bulk up ( I want to look muscular), but obviously i want to be strong and not just have big muscle but with no strength, to alter my workout routine and start doing less reps and more weight. So my plan is that for workouts that work my chest and arms I'm going to increase my weight and decrease my reps from 20 down to around 12 starting. Maybe for my shoulder exercises i will keep around 16. If I do this should i change the amount of sets that I'm doing (which is 4)?