Let me cut straight to the heart of this point, 1 rep maxes aren’t a very efficient way of building muscle volume for the majority of people. They are also extremely limited as a fat loss tool which is why for anybody who wants to transform the aesthetics of their physique, I feel they are a complete waste of time.
Limited Muscle Tension
1 rep maxes are more about power and speed, therefore, the muscle tension is very limited. To induce cell swelling within a muscle you need to accrue enough time under tension, with progressive resistance. This is why the majority of working sets in the Health Kik workout plans are all above 8 repetitions.
Generating progressive overload is also crucial for building muscle, which means covering significant amounts of training volume with enough repetitions is the smartest way to achieve this. For example, 5 sets of 1 rep maxes, with 200lbs on the bench press gives a total count of 1,000lbs lifted. However, if you did 5 sets of 10 reps with 120lbs, you will have accumulatively lifted 6,000lbs! Training with 6 times the amount of overload has a massive impact on your progression in terms of building size and burning fat.
Low Energy Output
Although 1 rep maxes are extremely demanding on the body they won’t lead to as much calorie expenditure as doing higher rep ranges for many sets per workout. This is why they are a relatively ineffective tool for burning fat!
High-Risk Training
Using 1 rep maxes is an extremely risky way to train because your muscles, connective tissues, and skeleton are literally being pushed to their absolute limit – this is where injuries often occur!
Think smarter and follow a properly structured training program to induce fat loss and muscle growth.