Sets of 10's

[davidM]

Hi Andy,
I had to stop training for 2 months and as I started again I wanted to be careful (I'm 50) so basically I decided to do a 3 days per week full-body like this for 1 month:
1 Leg curl 2-3x10
2 Squat 2-3x10
3 Rdl's 2x10
4 Press 2-3x10
5 pull ups or Lat Pulldown 3x10
6 triceps press down super set with
7 BB curl (2x20 each)
I know that sets of 10's cannot be programmed very well like lower reps, but, I wanted to re-gain a bit of my bodyweight that for many reasons I had lost (7 kg.) My main goal now is to gain weight.

I just finished my 4th week and I have to say I don't feel wracked, tired or too sore. I have gained 3 kg. bodyweight (I eat more) and I noticed a noticeable growth in my legs ( hamstrings and quads) even if I'm using low weights (today I did 2x10 with 115kg. and 2x10 with 50kg in the Press).
So ..I wanted to return to my usual training, doing sets of low reps but this different kind of work seems to work for now. Should I try to keep on or how can I incorporate best sets of 10's in a program based on lower reps? Maybe doing sets of 5's on Monday and sets of 10's on Friday could be a useful option?

Thanks a lot.
David

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

My favorite way to use higher reps 10+ is after the main heavy barbell work. Either on assistance exercises or as back off work on the main barbell lifts. But having one day of lower reps and one day of higher reps is also not an unreasonable thing to do.

[MartinB]

If someone was training one lift per day with 5-3-1 or 8-5-2 schemes and wanted to do higher rep barbell work instead of using dumbbells. For example:

bench 5-3-1
press 2x12
triceps

What kind of intensity should someone use for the presses? Should it be full effort or lighter?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Doing reps that high after the main barbell work would be done for the potential hypertrophy effects, not as a "light day" exercise which is used for the purposes of active recovery and to "grease the groove" of a certain lift, and to some extent increase total training volume. So 2 x 12 in this instance would be performed at or near failure with whatever weight allowed that.