Reps/ Sets in Facial Training vs Body Training
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free skin care · Sat Mar 24, 2012 1:19 am

Some background: I've been training my body for 25 years. I've seriously studied strength training for nearly as many years. I do understand that muscles recruited nearly constantly in our daily lives (ie abs) can be worked out nearly daily, so that's not a new concept for me.

What I don't understand, though, is the way the different fitness programs are set up. I have facersize, Ageless, and FlexEffect. Facercise and Ageless both use a high rep setup, the former without resistance, the later with. Flexeffect is resistance training but only 5 reps per exercise. Ageless recommends a everyother day training split. Flexeffect and Facersize are daily. All are only one set

What I don't understand is this: whenever we are trying to build muscle size in the body, we want to exercise to failure... and in several sets to progressively fatigue the muscle. I don't understand how one set can help actually build size in the areas we need to build (like the cheeks)? The reps don't bother me as much, because when you looks at all of the research for the body, most of it suggests that its the working to failure bit that causes size gains. Which brings me to another point, I don't feel that the number of reps recommended in FlexEffect (which is my basic program, though I use some of LouLou's variations instead) brings me to failure. Or even close. And I really push the resistance.

At the same time, I'm afraid to do a more traditional 3 set/8-12 rep set for fear of messing up my face. I'd love to hear the reasoning behind why all of the programs are set up the way they are.

free skin care · Mon Mar 26, 2012 7:08 pm

Okay, I'm sneaking in a few minutes to be online...

Having a background in strength training, too, I agree with many of your points. For example, if you really wanted to mimic what bodybuilders do, you would

a) Train in the right rep range per set (see http://www.gain-weight-muscle-fast.com/rep-ranges.html)

b) Do at least a couple to a few sets per muscle each time that a muscle is trained

c) Lift to failure or close to it

d) Train each muscle something like once every 3-4 days (e.g., twice a week)

Now here are my thoughts on these points:

a) Programs like FlexEffect and others that recommend less than about 12 reps or so are on target IF building maximum muscle is your goal. See http://www.gain-weight-muscle-fast.com/rep-ranges.html for rep ranges. (Of course, FlexEffect does not say that this should be everyone's goal and has options for those who do not have these goals). When I want maximum muscle growth, I train mostly in the hypertrophy range of 8-12 reps per set, but sometimes I do less when I want to focus on strength and power or want to focus on muscle fiber recruitment (i.e., when I want to improve the mind-muscle connection). Conversely, programs like Facercise with the high reps and light or no resistance are on target if your maintain goal is toning. That link I posted above has a great overview of this concept.

b) I think Carole Maggio's programs has you do two sets a day but they are not one after the other with a short rest inbetween. So I'd really say that not a single program does this correctly. I think facial exercise programs are missing the boat on this one. I personally do 2-4 sets per muscle each time I train muscles that I want to build (i.e., this doesn't apply to my muscles that are in maintenance mode).

c) I think Deb at FlexEffect was totally right on this one, and I haven't see any other program get this right. You just can't really lift to failure in doing facial exercises because whenever you are about to reach failure, your hand instinctively lightens the resistance it applies. I've tried this also. So the trick instead, imo, is to lift as if you are trying to lift to failure. What's critical anyways is what fraction of the maximum weight you can lift in a single rep are you actually lifting in each rep; e.g., lifting 80% of the amount of weight you can lift in a single rep will put you on track for building max muscle, but 30% will not. Hope that makes sense. I often use the muscle "pump" (that feeling of tightness in the muscle from increased circulation that can be gotten from lifting to failure) as a sign of whether I am on track with the amount of resistance I am applying.

d) I think Ageless is closest to getting this one right in that it recommends not training every day. I asked why most programs have you train each muscle every day or almost every day (e.g., 5 days on, 2 days off). I was told that this is because the muscles of the face are smaller and can recover faster. Well, imo, of course they can recover within a day if you are only doing *one* set! The same might be true for bodybuilders if they only did one set, but they do multiple sets, so they rest multiple days. So I never could accept the reasoning given. Sure, lifting heavy weight (high resistance, low reps) lays the foundation for muscle-building, but I think you should get even better results from doing multiple sets followed by longer rest periods. So for my non-maintenance muscles, I do multiple sets and train each muscle twice a week (3-3-1), with 1 rest day per day. And the way I train with the intensity I train, I can't train the same muscle again the next day. And I've been happy with doing that.

For muscle-buidling, I think FlexEffect has it closest to correct in all aspects and none of the rest come close, imo. For toning, the playing field is more diverse and level, so it's harder to go wrong. But back to going for max muscle build, personally, if I were to do anything different, I would say that after an initial introductory period (e.g., after 1 year of training time), intermediate facial exercisers who want to continue to build muscle should consider doing 2 or more sets and not training every day (a more bodybuilding-type schedule). And of course, along the way, whenever one achieves his/her goals for a muscle, s/he should drop down to a toning program for that muscle.

Finally, just to be clear, virtually everything I said above only applies to building maximum muscle and does not apply when toning a muscle is your goal. For toning, you want less resistance and higher reps, more often, or just do normal bodybuilding training but much less often.

I sort of dropped arguing these finer points on the nuances of bodybuilding training a couple years ago but I still believe them. Just my two cents Smile

free skin care · Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:20 am

Well the thing is the facial muscles, whilst being muscles, are a little different in that of the body not just origin and insertion but also width and lengths and actual ratios (fast/slow), and often you’ll rarely find a facial muscle that is completely fast/slow twitched based, so your training has to take that into account. With that also in mind, you’ve got to realise that even after you work out your face, you will still to some extent engage partially exhausted muscles – with things like eating, speaking etc, so the recovery time is also an important element. This is one of the reasons why we urge on the caution that if someone has a health concern or is going through a particularly stressful time in life that they back off from working out daily and allow more r&r time.

You do want to exercise to failure, but with most people because they’ve neglected their facial muscles so long they don’t have the same awareness that you perhaps have. You will notice in FlexEffect we make recommendations for the majority of people to gain maximum benefit, but we also make suggestions as to variations etc where people can alter or change their training method to encompass beliefs like those you have. The resistance element really is the crucial part and having taught hundreds of people, and even some bodybuilders (both male and female) I can seriously tell you that the 5 reps, if your focusing on form and holding the contraction is enough to really tire and break down any major muscle, but if you want to do more, then so be it, just record what your doing in your work out log so you can monitor your progress and any gains etc you make and then can alter things accordingly.

When any program is created, its always usually trialled on a small number of people before it goes mainstream, and the creator of each program will work with a wide variety of different people, genetics, lifestyle and diet and health wise which of course will all have a role in how much a person progresses and there are sometimes ways of tweaking things to enable individuals to have more benefits, but at the same time whilst the test group may benefit its impossible to guarantee for everyone that they will have identical results – they clearly wont. That’s to me why the goal and intent is so important, because if you are working with something like increasing overall facial muscle strength, this is a measurable and obtainable goal. When the goal is focused purely on the look of the face, this will differ because different people view different facial features different.

I realise its probably not the answer you were looking for, but figure its worth sharing as food for thought!

free skin care · Thu Mar 29, 2012 10:32 pm

SeanySeanUK wrote:

I realise its probably not the answer you were looking for, but figure its worth sharing as food for thought!

No, your answer was exactly the answer I was looking for. I just wanted to know the reasoning behind it so I could make educated decisions on where to tweak my training.

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