Dave Draper’s Musclebuilding Q&A

What do you think about the fewer reps, higher poundage workouts? I’m 56, train at my home in Nebraska and have found I don’t quite recover quite as fast as I  used to.

Must get lonely in rural Nebraska with few if any to share your iron tossing madness.

I like to mix the reps and weight in the sets of each exercise. For example, barbell curls: I choose a weight that allows me to preform 10 solid reps with a little body thrust to expand the muscle engagement. I can maybe get one more if I gag, scream, bleed and lose my groove — not good — I hold it at 10.

I then add weight and go for eight reps, same rules apply.

Next set, I add sufficient weight and go for six reps.

By this time I’m rockin’ and make another weight addition and go for another six, accepting 5 if I must.

I find the variation in resistance and repetitions is challenging, inspiring and otherwise beneficial to muscle growth.

Yes, recovery is slower as we get older. Our training needs to modified accordingly to avoid injury, overload, fatigue and disappointment.

Train hard and always… God’s Might… Dave