Light weights V heavy weights
Hey guys,
I am new to body building and from what i understand about it is that doing heavy weights with low reps (6-8) is generally best for gaining muscle mass.
I have also heard that there is a myth that if you do lightweights with high reps it will tone your muscles. however i am not entirely convinced as i have heard many times that the only way to tone your muscles is by losing that fat around them via diet.
So what does lightweights actually do for your physique? Is there much point in doing lightweights or should i just stick to heavy?
Thanks guys,
Aidos.
Light weights V heavy weights
Depends on your goals.
1. Want to stay small and weak?
2. Want to get bigger and stronger?
1. If that is ok with you, stick to light weights. It doesn't matter what the volume, if the load is light enough, there is no muscle building stimulus. Just google the pics of the Olympic gold marathon winners. A set of thousands of reps lasting a couple of hours has no muscle building results if the load is too low.,
2. If that is your goal, no matter what the rep range, you have to train progressively. That means you have to increase the load regularly. At first the strength increase is neural and mechanical efficiency as you learn the exercises. So there is no visible muscle gain at all!
After the initial gains, you can't get much stronger unless your muscle fibers get bigger. So you have to train progressively. And you have to eat enough to feed the muscles, or they won't grow. Hence all the little pumpers on the threads who are the size I used to be(130), are afraid to lift heavy, and are afraid to eat enough.
You can get huge on
1 set x 20
or
20 sets x 1
after your warmup sets.
But it lots of 90%+ intensity(percent of max) singles will burn you out quickly. So not efficient for mass long term. If you only do low volume at the top, like 3 x 3 or less, there is no pump, which limits the availability of blood and nutrients to feed the muscle fibers.
And it is hard to train progressively for long at high rep ranges. So doing everything for twenty reps is actually inefficient as well.
So most do something in between like 5 x 5 or 3 x 8-12.
I do low rep strength stuff first. Could be something like 10 x 3 ramping sets. Then follow with higher volume assistance work, usually 5 x 10. Best of both worlds.
You don't need to do that as a beginner. See my sig.