Requesting more clarification on beginner rep scheme
Mark,
First off, if this question has been posed and answered before on the forums, I apologize. However, I did search a few times on here and other places and couldn't get a detailed enough answer for my question. I've also read your Practical Programming book and still could not find the answer.
I'm about to become a personal trainer in New York City. The population here is quite different from what I might experience somewhere else. Most of the people are desk jockeys who have horrendous posture, minimal resistance training experience, and a generally negative view of any program that has less than 10 reps per set. Whenever I speak to trainers here about rep schemes for COMPLETE beginners who may or may not have postural deficiencies, we get into a debate on which is better -- 5-6 or above, with me being biased towards 5-6.
I do realize that a rep range of 5-6 with 3-5 sets for compound exercises is probably the most efficient and safest way to learn technique and gain strength since fatigue is not a factor. On another note, doing 5 reps is not mind-numbing boring! But is there a better justification for doing this, especially if I'm going to work with someone who has extremely bad posture such as kyphosis in the thoracic region, etc? Trying to explain why 5 reps is better than 10 reps to someone who is only interested in aesthetics is also like walking a tight rope since my paycheck is riding on their business, but what better way can I tell them?
Again, I'm sorry if this is redundant and long. I do appreciate your time and all the information you have provided for this community.
David