Heavy weights or lighter weights?
I'm hearing different stories about poundage these days. I'm curious about people's take on this subject.
I was talking to a big guy at the gym today about heavy weights. He told me I was training too light. This seems to contradict Kai's light weight philosophy. He does 225 lb deadlifts and 30 lb curls feeling for stretch and contraction.
I used to train heavy and I know my legs and back seem to respond best from really heavy lifting. Everything else I train fairly light. When I realized I could bench 405 and I had a small chest I knew I needed a different approach for chest at least.
So what's the story here? Lift one heavy day one light day for each body part each week? Tighten up form, fight gravity on all negatives, and feel each squeeze? Or continue to experiment and see what works for my body?
Train in 6-8 rep range, 12-18, and 20+ for each exercise?
I want to start to get more systematic about my lifting. Right now I'm just going by intuition and I feel like I'm getting nowhere.
Thanks.
- Bookmark
- 0
- 0
I personally start out heavy until my muscles fatigue a bit and then I drop the weight and let the lactic acid burn the heck outta me. I cant just do heavy or just light, I like variation like I like my women.
hell yeah back responds best to HEAVY ass weights nothing else
I actually been doing light weight legs recently, instead of 3 plates squats I'm hitting 1 plate but doing sets of 20 reps. The burn and pain lasts much longer days into the week when doing this. Also on leg press try light weight
Arms I go heavy as I can and each set decrease slightly and do as many sets as I can maintaining more than 6-7 reps
chest I mix it up but usually stay medium weight. when my lifting partner is there I tend to stack the plates ahah but by myself I don't go as heavy cause I hate asking for a spot certain times of the day when there are a lack of people lifting
HEAVY.........
i do both. 1 week heavy, the next week lighter
go watch some Kai Green videos.. he goes to the point of using like super light weights on some days to
like a mid-heavy heavy weight considering his size. I think the most that he benches is like 500..and
doesn't go over that much with his squats.. so I think both have a place in the gym. If you cant move the
heavy stuff some days.. just use the light-med stuff to get the pump.. and you have still stimulated
your bod either way. Cant be going max-out each time.. wont work..His reps are always 20...
my 2 peso's...
StevebRonnie Coleman and Dorian Yates always went heavy and often maxed out. And they won more Olympias than anyone else. Ronnie could probably out lift any other pro BB.
Below are from Arnold's wiki page.
I've blown by these..im not mr O by any means. (ive never done a cycle yet.)
Personal records
Clean and press – 264 lb (120 kg)[28]
Snatch – 243 lb (110 kg)[28]
Clean & jerk – 298 lb (135 kg)[28]
Squat – 470 lb (210 kg)[28]
Bench press – 440 lb (200 kg)[28]
Deadlift – 680 lb (310 kg)[28]
CocopuffYates working sets were composed of many forced reps and etc, its practically a huge ass set in one.
StevebDid you ever see when Yates was making fun of Kai for lifting too lite?
Cocopuffnope but at least he doesn't have a torn everything haha
BigBmajAnd that's a good point actually. If I don't need to crush my body with super heavy weights I'd rather not. Cardiologist told me not to go so heavy too.
Cocopuffswitch between strength training 5x5 to gain strength and to a bodybuilding routine/ german volume training for mass is my routine. can't gain size with lifting the same shit over and over for 10 reps.
Train in all three ranges and train frequently. Increase weight, reps or TUT and keep doing it. Ensure diet et al is keyed in and youll grow like a weed.
For me especially on my first cycle realized that my muscles grew much faster than my tendons and connective tissue did and was prone to injury. So I had no choice but to go lighter, concentrate on form, stretch and contraction. I hate it because I'm lazy. I'd much rather rep out 6 to 8 heavy rather than 12 reps but it has proven to be the right choice for me.
All about the pump, stretching in between sets. Break down that muscle with rep ranges of 10-15 upper body, lower body 15-20
Currently going to failure at 6 reps. Heavy! Normally I'm going to failure a 10. Big difference for me in weight.
BigBmajAnd how are you growing?
Nice post. Mixing things up is always key, but many people forget that. It's easy for people to get caught up in the "more is always better" philosophy. Listening to your body and trying new things has always worked for me. Thanks for the info!
StevebMy chest was small because I would mainly use the barbell. But when I switched to dumbbells my chest seemed to get bigger every week,
Hmm benching 405 you must have really good form if your chest is lacking. Try bench M&F 3sets of 5reps on Monday heavy weight, and Friday 5sets of 5 reps 15-20%less weight than Monday. Wednesday fly's and stretching, and some isolation work if you feel spry. Try that for a few weeks see how you feel. Programming above intermediate is highly tuned to the individual it'll be very tough to get your programming 100% no-one knows your body better than you take about 3 or 4 of the opinions you value and take from them what you think would serve you best.
BigBmajI think it was my front delts and triceps that picked up the 405. Since I have straightened out my form. And it's fucking genetic this small chest thing. My upper pecs are non existent. I'm doing heavy flyes now to try and open things up and get some mass up there.
An Internet 405 is actually a 285, come on we all know that.
Ha I gotcha my bench only went up when my lats got stronger fucking weird how muscle groups work to do a complex lift. Upper pectorals I think is a reflection of overall pec mass thing I don't think any particular exercise will target upper pecs differently from the lower pec. People say oh do "this" for upper pecs, but that added exercise just raises their total volume of work for that muscle group, and they wouldve seen the same results from adding another couple sets of any chest work. Idk man just keep working. Explosive push-ups are good.
Hmmm....um dbol works too.
Funny.
I have problems with my upper chest as well. I have super long arms, which makes chest hard as well. I just keep trying new things and mixing it up.
I have really long arms too but I think the development comes from form. I bench or dumbbell press with a wider grip where I see a lot of people use a closer grip that tends to put more of the load on the tri's&delt's
I agree. I try to mix wide and a little narrow in as well. I have nice lower development, but it's very slow going in the middle and upper. Thanks man.
Now that funny! I'm actually the opposite. I'm heavy chested and I feel my arms and delta need more work for proportion. I actually have a bit of a complex about my shoulders.