Resistance in Lying leg raises

[Felix]

Hello all,

Almost there now... I have been doing lying leg raises with additional weight for about 3 weeks now. I started with 1.0 kg (total amount of ankle weight pair) and gradually increased it up till 2.5 kg today.

However I'm wondering at what weight should you increase the load and decrease the repetitions to 30? What I know now is that you should increase weight everytime you reach 100 repetitions and at one point you should increase weight, but decrease repetitions to 30 and after that even to 15 and peform the leg raises in sets of 2.

Today 2.5 kg was pretty challenging to perform more then 40 times. Is it still light enough to peform 100 times or is it now time to increase weight and decrease repetitions?

Thank you

[dragon]

What I know now is that you should increase weight everytime you reach 100 repetitions and at one point you should increase weight, but decrease repetitions to 30 and after that even to 15 and peform the leg raises in sets of 2.

I have always believed(perhaps incorrectly) that the reason you drop the reps is to cope with the new weight and help build the reps back up.

Personally,i've never done it that way.I prefer using micro-loading:-Keep the reps the same and increase the weight in increments so small that your body can't tell the difference.

This method may take longer but i've never liked dropping the reps by so much.

I also cycle 2 different workout methods weekly(for abs anyway):-1 week high reps,low(or zero) weight.The next week low reps,heavy weight.


Dragon.

[Thomas Kurz]

I'm wondering at what weight should you increase the load and decrease the repetitions...

To decide when to increase resistance in a greater increment than so far and to drastically reduce number of reps, observe yourself. When small increases of resistance cause disproportional increase of muscle tension and fatigue, then it is time to change to a lower reps/higher resistance combination.

No matter how gradually you increase resistance in your exercises, eventually when it will be great enough you won't be able to do the same high number of reps. This is because of the way muscles' motor units with three types of muscle fibers are recruited when overcoming resistance. Motor units with the slow-twitch (Ia) fibers, which can generate relatively little tension but for many reps/long time, are recruited first. Motor units with fast-twitch fibers (IIa and IIb), which generate more tension but for fewer reps, are recruited successively (first IIa, then IIb) as resistance is increased. When the resistance is great enough all motor units are recruited. The units that are recruited last (IIb), to generate most muscle tension, are the ones with the lowest endurance and thus limit the number of reps you can do against that resistance.

If you have a real instructor, he or she can explain properties of muscle fibers and their recruitment patterns in depth. If not, then you can read about it in exercise physiology textbooks listed at http://www.stadion.com/bookshelf.html .

[Felix]

Thank you very much