Right. I should be in bed, but tomorrow Baby comes home and I might not ever get the chance to stay up late in peace again
There are two schools of thought when it comes to training. The first is how Arnold trained and how most people still train today. This is based around a lot of exercises and alot of sets for each exercise. Arnold used to train a split routine and do something in the morning, then come in again in the evening and train something different. He ended up training his whole body in two days and then repeating so he ended up training his whole body twice in one week
However, a lot of drugs were involved and in his era there used to be a cup of dianabol tablets next to the water fountain in the gym
Then there was the heavy duty crew. These guys were few and far between but they took a more scientific view. They basically did a couple of warmup sets and then did ONE working set per exercise, where as Arnold would work up to a weight and do 3 or 4 sets at this weight. However, they would usually do whats called a drop set. They would go to failure on their maximum weight, then imeediately take some weight off and go again to failure and so on until there was very little on the bar and they could hardly more.
Its not so different to Arnold in that they might do the same amount of reps in total, but the intensity is at a higher level. Arnold may take 15 minutes to do his 3 heavy sets, but the heavy duty gang will do it all within 90 secs. They also understood recuperation better and some didn't train again until they had stopped aching. This can be 3-4 days if you are training really hard!
eg
Arnold Benching
1 x 15 x 100kg (warmup), 1 x 12 x 150 (warmup) then 3 x 10 x 200kg
Heavy duty
1 x 15 x 100kg warmup, 1 x 12 x 150 warmup then (1 x 10x 200kg - 10x 150kg - 10 x 100kg)[dropset]
Stu, when it comes to reps; muscle building and strength training keep to between 5-12 reps. 12 reps + is more fitness and endurance and stamina comes in.
In your book, the 3 x 8 reps is a very generic statement. It could mean 2 warmups and one working set, or 3 working sets. Whichever way you take it 3 x 8 over a period of time will not have the same effect as 2 x 12.
Bodybuilding is about building muscle. A big muscle is a strong muscle and so in order to grow, it has to become stronger by progressively lifting heavier weights. I think most people realise that they will be able to lift a heavier weight for 5 reps than they can for 12.
This is why strength athletes and bodybuilders keep in the lower rep range.
I am personally in favour of the heavy duty style because it means I'm in and out of the gym quickly. I do a couple of warmup sets, increasing the wieght each time and then do one set which I class as my working set. I will nearly always drop the weight too and keep going to failure. I will also do about 3-4 exercises per bodypart.
This is not to say that what Arnold did was wrong. I am a firm believer in listening to the body and finding out what works best for you. Heavy Duty works for me but it might not suit others. Also changing your style of training every other month for a week is a good thing as it keeps your muscles guessing.
So, in a nutshell if you are going for strength and size, keep the reps low and put every effort in to progressively lifting heavier. And if your into fitness and maintaining a high heart rate then do lots of reps and sets.
Remember that the pro's do take a rediculous amout of drugs to enable them to train harder, faster, longer and more often.
Because the traditional way is a lot of sets, this is what most books recommend as most people cannot deliver the intenisty required for one all out set. I must admit that it took me a few years to evolve into it, but now its my prefered way of training.
A good book is Dorian Yates', Blood and Guts. He was the 6 time Mr Olympia and British to boot. He was an advocate of heavy duty training and followed in the footsteps of Mike Mentzer who was the pioneer of heavy duty training.