crank
New member
Light Weight Lifting VS. Heavy Weight Lifting
An Honest Look at Light vs. Heavy Training
Ever heard this one in the gym? I’m just going easy today; yesterday was my heavy day. Those few words point to a plethora of misconceptions and false premises that thwart maximum muscle growth and can even lead to a loss of strength and mass. It’s not that light or heavy workouts are the right or wrong ways to train. Its that you need to know exactly what you are trying to get out of your training in order to choose the right workout. Your body responds to exercise in a similar way it responds to any other stress. It makes an adaptation so future stresses are less stressful. For example if you go out into bright sunshine today your light skin is pushed to the limits of its ability to protect you and will adapt by darkening into a tan. So tomorrow the same amount of sunlight is less stressful to your body. Similarly, you make muscle building progress by pushing your muscles to the limits of their ability to work so they adapt by increasing in size and power so the identical workout is less stressful next time.
The Invisible Line
The trick is finding the invisible line between a workout that is stressful enough to trigger new muscle growth and a workout that is not. We all understand that a day spent in the shade is not going to deepen our suntan, but do we truly understand that a light day of weight lifting will not increase our muscle? Because I assure you it won’t. To help visualize this very important and fundamental concept, imagine that your level of strength could be measured on a scale of 1 to 100. The number 100 represents the absolute limit of how strong you could become if everything possible was done perfectly to build your muscles. Let’s say today your strength scores 35 on that scale. Now let us suppose that if you work your muscles to within 5 points of your maximum you will generate 2 points worth of new lean, hard muscle. Now it’s all very simple and clear. If today’s workout pushes past 30 in intensity and work done then your strength level will grow to 37. Wow! A productive workout! But your next workout will have to push past 32 (5 points from your new maximum) in order to trigger even more muscle growth. If you do that 30 workout again, or God forbid… a light day of an 18 workout you don’t have a prayer of generating new muscle. So what would be the point of the workout?
You Can’t Train Heavy All the Time
This leads us to something else you might have heard in the gym. You can’t train heavy all the time. I hear that refrain every time I try to explain the concept in the last paragraph. But what people really mean when they say that is, I love to lift weight 3 or 4 days a week and I can’t train heavy that often. Yes, very true. And I can’t get my hair cut 3 times a week just because I like going to the barber. Reality check: Do you want to lift weights as a social event or do you want to build muscle? The fact is you can’t train heavy all the time but you can train heavy every time. But because your body needs time to recover from heavy, productive, muscle building exercise you need to add more time off between workouts. Our man in the above example can do a workout that is a 37 then one that is a 40 then one that is a 41, if he takes enough time off between workouts. That’s the way you work your way up to 100. That’s the way everyone has to do it. It’s a physiological law.
There is a concept that can really help unlock the secret to all of this:
Perceived Effort. Hypothetically, if your level of strength is 28 then a 26 workout feels extremely intense and demanding. But if your strength level is 88 and you perform an 86 workout the perceived effort is identical! As you get stronger your workout intensity increases but your perceived effort stays the same! That’s great news because it means you don’t really have to psych yourself for more and more difficult workouts just the same level of perceived effort every time.
The Realities of Light Training
So you can see that the guy performing a light day s pretty much wasting his time. There is no possibility whatsoever that his light workout can trigger new muscle growth. In fact, if his last workout was productive his body will be in recovery mode and will need to fully recover before the new muscle growth will manifest. And doing another workout the next day even a light one will only slow down recovery. Personally, I think the main reason these “light day” guys go to the gym is just so they can chat about hockey with their buddies, lift some light weights, jump into the sauna then head over to booster juice and praise each other for “making it to the gym”. The gym, for many guys, is what the local bar is for others a place to meet and socialize. So people have taken their need for frequenting the gym and rationalized it into a training method of frequent light days without regard to the physiological facts of the matter. But, all that said, there is one tangible and valid benefit of lighter training. The stress relief and mild endorphin release makes it a pretty good bargain. I too enjoy a light day every now and again but I don’t kid myself that I’m building muscle. I know that takes truly grueling effort. So, want to get the best of both worlds? Plan your productive muscle building workouts far enough apart to ensure a steady climb to that 100 that represents your full genetic potential. When you need some stress relief and a shot of endorphins, do a few lifts at about 30% of your capacity if you really feel you must.
As always, Good Luck Bro's
An Honest Look at Light vs. Heavy Training
Ever heard this one in the gym? I’m just going easy today; yesterday was my heavy day. Those few words point to a plethora of misconceptions and false premises that thwart maximum muscle growth and can even lead to a loss of strength and mass. It’s not that light or heavy workouts are the right or wrong ways to train. Its that you need to know exactly what you are trying to get out of your training in order to choose the right workout. Your body responds to exercise in a similar way it responds to any other stress. It makes an adaptation so future stresses are less stressful. For example if you go out into bright sunshine today your light skin is pushed to the limits of its ability to protect you and will adapt by darkening into a tan. So tomorrow the same amount of sunlight is less stressful to your body. Similarly, you make muscle building progress by pushing your muscles to the limits of their ability to work so they adapt by increasing in size and power so the identical workout is less stressful next time.
The Invisible Line
The trick is finding the invisible line between a workout that is stressful enough to trigger new muscle growth and a workout that is not. We all understand that a day spent in the shade is not going to deepen our suntan, but do we truly understand that a light day of weight lifting will not increase our muscle? Because I assure you it won’t. To help visualize this very important and fundamental concept, imagine that your level of strength could be measured on a scale of 1 to 100. The number 100 represents the absolute limit of how strong you could become if everything possible was done perfectly to build your muscles. Let’s say today your strength scores 35 on that scale. Now let us suppose that if you work your muscles to within 5 points of your maximum you will generate 2 points worth of new lean, hard muscle. Now it’s all very simple and clear. If today’s workout pushes past 30 in intensity and work done then your strength level will grow to 37. Wow! A productive workout! But your next workout will have to push past 32 (5 points from your new maximum) in order to trigger even more muscle growth. If you do that 30 workout again, or God forbid… a light day of an 18 workout you don’t have a prayer of generating new muscle. So what would be the point of the workout?
You Can’t Train Heavy All the Time
This leads us to something else you might have heard in the gym. You can’t train heavy all the time. I hear that refrain every time I try to explain the concept in the last paragraph. But what people really mean when they say that is, I love to lift weight 3 or 4 days a week and I can’t train heavy that often. Yes, very true. And I can’t get my hair cut 3 times a week just because I like going to the barber. Reality check: Do you want to lift weights as a social event or do you want to build muscle? The fact is you can’t train heavy all the time but you can train heavy every time. But because your body needs time to recover from heavy, productive, muscle building exercise you need to add more time off between workouts. Our man in the above example can do a workout that is a 37 then one that is a 40 then one that is a 41, if he takes enough time off between workouts. That’s the way you work your way up to 100. That’s the way everyone has to do it. It’s a physiological law.
There is a concept that can really help unlock the secret to all of this:
Perceived Effort. Hypothetically, if your level of strength is 28 then a 26 workout feels extremely intense and demanding. But if your strength level is 88 and you perform an 86 workout the perceived effort is identical! As you get stronger your workout intensity increases but your perceived effort stays the same! That’s great news because it means you don’t really have to psych yourself for more and more difficult workouts just the same level of perceived effort every time.
The Realities of Light Training
So you can see that the guy performing a light day s pretty much wasting his time. There is no possibility whatsoever that his light workout can trigger new muscle growth. In fact, if his last workout was productive his body will be in recovery mode and will need to fully recover before the new muscle growth will manifest. And doing another workout the next day even a light one will only slow down recovery. Personally, I think the main reason these “light day” guys go to the gym is just so they can chat about hockey with their buddies, lift some light weights, jump into the sauna then head over to booster juice and praise each other for “making it to the gym”. The gym, for many guys, is what the local bar is for others a place to meet and socialize. So people have taken their need for frequenting the gym and rationalized it into a training method of frequent light days without regard to the physiological facts of the matter. But, all that said, there is one tangible and valid benefit of lighter training. The stress relief and mild endorphin release makes it a pretty good bargain. I too enjoy a light day every now and again but I don’t kid myself that I’m building muscle. I know that takes truly grueling effort. So, want to get the best of both worlds? Plan your productive muscle building workouts far enough apart to ensure a steady climb to that 100 that represents your full genetic potential. When you need some stress relief and a shot of endorphins, do a few lifts at about 30% of your capacity if you really feel you must.
As always, Good Luck Bro's
