Research shows that lighter weights and higher reps can build muscle, but it’s important that we prioritize strength and power.
Anyone who follows me knows that I tell women they need to prioritize strength training in their workouts and that they need to include days where they lift heavy sh*t. So some women have reached out to me, confused about recent headlines regarding a study showing that for older women wanting to build muscle, higher reps and lower weight may be the way to go. Full disclosure, this is not new news, it is well documented in older untrained women, that hypertrophy training (higher reps, lower weight) does increase lean mass; and younger untrained women can gain strength with higher or lower reps by training each session to failure.
