Originally Posted by Roody
To really build muscle, would high weights and low reps not be the way to go? I think you misspoke--low weight and high reps would be used to increase endurance (stamina) not strength.
If you were going simply for muscle mass, you'd do high weight and low reps (4-6). For a pretty decent mix of strength and stamina, aim for 12 reps with moderately heavy weights. Start with less weight, and after each set, add some more. When I do leg presses, I do 270 for my first 12 reps, 300 for my second 12, and 330 for my third. Take a rest inbetween sets to give yourself time to recover. Do multiple leg exercises so as to not make one muscle group much more powerful than another. And don't lift more weight than you really can do! If you lift less than the guy that just went ahead of you, so what. Concentrate on your form, and you'll be lifting a lot in no time
.
Best of luck to you Mika