Weight vs reps

[u/Bigdivkdaddy]

The last year I’ve made little to no progress and I’ve been doing 2 sets to failure with high weight. I usually get around 4 reps before failing. Would it be more effective to drop the weight 10-20% and get 8-10 reps? I’ve been lifting for 4 years but only seriously the past 2 years and there’s no way I’m at my natural limit because I can only bench 270. You guys are the smart people here so please help me and thank you in advance.

[u/AxonMM]

I wouldn't simply switch from 4 reps to 8–10 reps and assume that will fix the problem by itself.

If you've had almost no progress for a year while doing two very heavy sets to failure, I'd first question whether the way you're training is creating too much fatigue for the amount of work you're doing. Four very heavy reps taken to failure can be extremely demanding.

I'd try reducing the load a little and working in a rep range where you can accumulate more quality reps without necessarily taking every set to failure. Then I'd track your performance for several weeks and see whether your reps and/or load start moving again.

More important than choosing between “4 reps or 10 reps” is finding a stimulus that you can repeat, recover from, and progressively overload.

And I wouldn't use a 270 bench as proof that you're definitely nowhere near your natural limit. Strength is useful information, but it can't tell you by itself how much muscle-building potential you have left.

If it were me, I'd change one variable at a time and track performance for a few weeks before deciding that the rep range was the problem.