Lift heavy or moderately?? DILEMMA

[Toenail Juice Z]

For two years ive been lifting as heavy as I can. I gained some decent size, but when I use lighter weights, I feel the muscle burn much better. I think I'm gonna change my training style for a while.

The thing that confuses me however is that you don't grow if you don't increase your poundages, but since I feel the light weights stress my muscles much better, do you think I could benefit with lighter weights.

Or is the theory - very heavy poundages = growth the only one that works?

 

[Beezers]

I myself like the heavy iron. The light weights are'nt necessarily stressing your muscles more than heavy weights. Infact the opposite is most likely the case. The burn from higher reps is due to lactic acid which is a byproduct of anaerobic metabolism, not muscle tissue break down. More blood is needed in the muscle at this time to clear these waste products away so you get that overbulging pump with more reps that you seldomly aceive after a lower rep set. However, this does not mean you have placed more stress on the muscle, only a different kind of stress. Heavy weights activate the motor units mainly comprised of the fast twitch fibers which hypertrophy much better than slow twitch which become active during higher reps. A mixture of both is bennificial none the less, but it is the overload of resistance that stimulates the muscle to make the significant hyerotrophic changes reponsible for the bulk of muscle mass.

 

[Enigmaxxx7]

From your previous post, you don't sound happy with the results of your training so far. Change your routine. You need to shock your muscles. Try going lighter (not light) and go for 15 to 20 reps. Go until muscle failure. Get someone to spot you. Do negatives. With your BF, you it you will probably notice more of a change in your body with this new routine.

Good luck.

 

[gotmilk]

Time under tension works best.

Mix it up....I like to lift heavy for a month and then I go in and drop the weight. Try repping out with a weight you can control. My pumps were great. I actually did a creatine/winstrol/Boldenon cycle using moderate weight and high reps and I filled out quickly

 

[BigTone]

go heavy or go home!

 

[Toenail Juice Z]

go heavy or go home!

Very enlightening answer

 

[nautica]

Mix it up.

But the most important thing to remeber when using heavy weights. Is to only use a heavy enough weight which your muscle can lift not MOMENTUM. For example. Don't drop the bench bar on your chest just to have it bounce half way up. Control it down and control it up.

Good luck.