2024
The Science behind lifting heavy weights
So we’ve covered how weight training , if done correctly, will increase muscle . The point is , what is correctly?
Obviously good form is important , but what many gym goers don’t know is that you have to increase the weight every time you have your session ,as long as it fits in with recovery time ,which we will cover later.
The science behind this is that when you lift a heavy weight , you microscopicically tear the muscle fibres . This is not an injury tear , but a good tear , which takes about 7 days to repair and you will experience increase in strength and probably muscle size. Only then should you continue with your weights program and lift slightly heavier weight . If you lift the same weight you will not tear the fibres and not receive gains .
Of course the increase in weights has to be done sensibly and this is why it’s important to hire a good trainer .
Just a side issue , and a question I often get is “do lighter weights and more repetitions create definition in your muscles ?” Absolutely not ! It does absolutely nothing .
Another question I regularly get is how many reps should be done ? Well this is getting into a bit of physiology here . There are three energy systems in the body , aerobic, lactate and anaerobic. The only system where you can build muscle is anaerobic which means when you lift the weight in question, you have to fatigue in less than 10 seconds or 10 reps. If you are able to do more reps , you are are too far down the energy timeline and will move into the lactate system where you can’t build a lot of muscle . You should not think how many reps but more about reaching fatigue around 9 or 10 reps .
So how many sets ? With the knowledge that you need to tear your muscle fibres to improve with a 7 day recovery period, you actually only need to do one warm up set and one real set because you can only tear the fibres once in a session . The old method of 3 sets has been proven to be a waste of time and may actually cause more harm than good because of a greater risk of injury .
So your workouts are looking more achievable already ! By doing compound exercises, less than 10 reps and only one working set to fatigue you don’t have to spend hours in the gym , in fact you only have to go once or maximum twice a week to do weights !
No more excuses ….. but cardio is a different story .