With well-worn phrases such as "no pain, no gain" to "eat big to
get big," there is no shortage of one-liners used to describe the world
of weight lifting and bodybuilding. However, it seems at times that
these phrases are nothing more than catchy ways of expressing ideas that
don't actually hold true when put under the microscope. Of course,
one-liners aren't the only pieces of advice repeated throughout the
bodybuilding community. Another popular sentiment is that you have to
lift big weights to get big muscle gains. Is this true? Unfortunately,
the answer is a bit more complicated than a simple yes or no.
Large muscle gains are dependent on many factors, including diet, genetics and of course, training. Simply put, there will not be one factor that absolutely dooms or confirms your results. However, training does have a large effect. In order to make any gains - large or small - you need to challenge your muscles in a way that overloads them. This means that you need to continue increase the amount of work your muscles need to perform, whether in the form of the amount of repetitions you perform or the amount of resistance you put on your muscles. In other words - at some point, you will have to lift heavier weights, because heavier weights will be required to produce serious muscle gains.
But are heavier weights the only way? Again, no, but they are important. If you choose to embark on a muscle-building journey that focuses on building muscle through performing a lot of repetitions, you will soon notice that your muscle gains may not necessarily be as massive as you'd hope. Instead, your performance improvements will be mostly in the form of enhanced muscular endurance, as performing more repetitions with an amount of resistance that is not overly challenging helps your muscles function better under repeated strain and doesn't really improve size all that much.
If your main goal is size, then you should focus on lifting heavier weights, even if you cannot lift them for a great number of repetitions. The difference in the type of challenge - a high level of resistance over a limited number of repetitions rather than a low level of resistance over repeated bouts - will spur your muscles to develop in a different way. This difference will result in primary increases in size rather than just in muscular endurance.
In addition, you can also focus on increasing "time under tension," which is often abbreviated TUT. This method of muscle growth enables you to lift heavy weights and doesn't focus on a high level of repetitions but instead challenges you to support the weight for as long as you can in one long repetition. This type of training takes the principle of heavy weights and low repetitions to the extreme, promoting even larger gains in size.
Large muscle gains are dependent on many factors, including diet, genetics and of course, training. Simply put, there will not be one factor that absolutely dooms or confirms your results. However, training does have a large effect. In order to make any gains - large or small - you need to challenge your muscles in a way that overloads them. This means that you need to continue increase the amount of work your muscles need to perform, whether in the form of the amount of repetitions you perform or the amount of resistance you put on your muscles. In other words - at some point, you will have to lift heavier weights, because heavier weights will be required to produce serious muscle gains.
But are heavier weights the only way? Again, no, but they are important. If you choose to embark on a muscle-building journey that focuses on building muscle through performing a lot of repetitions, you will soon notice that your muscle gains may not necessarily be as massive as you'd hope. Instead, your performance improvements will be mostly in the form of enhanced muscular endurance, as performing more repetitions with an amount of resistance that is not overly challenging helps your muscles function better under repeated strain and doesn't really improve size all that much.
If your main goal is size, then you should focus on lifting heavier weights, even if you cannot lift them for a great number of repetitions. The difference in the type of challenge - a high level of resistance over a limited number of repetitions rather than a low level of resistance over repeated bouts - will spur your muscles to develop in a different way. This difference will result in primary increases in size rather than just in muscular endurance.
In addition, you can also focus on increasing "time under tension," which is often abbreviated TUT. This method of muscle growth enables you to lift heavy weights and doesn't focus on a high level of repetitions but instead challenges you to support the weight for as long as you can in one long repetition. This type of training takes the principle of heavy weights and low repetitions to the extreme, promoting even larger gains in size.
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