High rep training to improve strength?!

Wondered what peoples thoughts are on high rep training to improve strength?
Would you consider it to have much benefit for the modern day strongman? As lots of events are now for max reps. Or famrers/yoke/truck pull are all 'high rep' events, so to speak.

For example 20 rep squats or deads, 20 reps overhead

I think you can stil increase strength training this way as long as you stil increase weight... week 1 - 100x20 week 2 110x20 ect

I think it has its place. Sets of 10 whilst increasing the weight week in week out worked for me and might go back to it i think as 5s and 3s just dont cut it for me.

People are different and different rep ranges suit different people i guess

x2

I'd only ever use it for squats though.

Im the same, dont think 5's or 3's really work for me. Tend to make better improvements with higher reps

20 rep squats are horrible things lol

I should imagine doing weights until failure no matter the rep range will build strength, but by doing higher reps you need to allow your body longer recovery times, doing low reps you can train more often, that's just my opinion anyways.

You think so?

As an example, I used to do bench pressing as heavy as poss for low reps. I then for a few months did very light high reps well into lactic acid zone (hurt like hell).

Back to heavy benching 3 months later and my top weight went up slightly, but about 15% less than my max I could press more times than before. Draw your own conclusions.

I say try it for a while then go back to heavy and see what the results are.

I do it so.....

I think in this case it has more carry over to strongman as lots of events are now max reps with sub maximal weight

I think so. Olympic weightlifters train low reps often on exercises dont they?

I doubt they could if they did sets of 10 on squats/cleans/jerks/snatches etc.

Could be wrong here as i know f**k all about olypic weightlifting

Definatly possible. Doing low reps doesn't necessarily mean doing 90%+. Results from top peowerlifters sugges that it is best to train lighter and more often to increase motor learning patterns but not induce too much fatigue.

Also, IME training more often doing the same things isn't too hard going after a while. I seem to adjust.

Also, read somewhere that as the Olympic lifts don't require massive amounts of muscle tension, they can be trained more often heavier.

Its all relative to the outcome you want. If your intention is to compete in powerlifting doing 1 rep there is little point other than for technique practice or dynamic training in going over 3-6 reps max in any set.... On the other hand if your event requires 20 reps then you would train with 20-30 reps and look for progression with the weights for 20 reps. All the research points to low reps for absolute single maximum strength gains.

I guess that leads onto another question then... Is training for maximal strength or sub-maximal strength endurance better for a strongman athlete?

(This isnt me asking how to train, im asking for peoples oppinions on the subject)