https://lanenelsonfitness.com/blog/how-intense-should-you-train/
In this one, I wanted to sort of branch off from that and discuss how heavy one should be lifting in order to make progress, and while also staying safe.
People can run into issues if they’re trying to push too much, and then things like form and technique breakdown, which can take away from the desired goal of the lift, or potentially increase the risk of an injury. Same goes for if someone maybe isn’t pushing enough, and wondering why they’re not making progress.
But either way..
THE IMPORTANCE OF FORM AND TECHNIQUE
For those who are more beginners to lifting, building a good foundation of proper form and technique is crucial before picking up heavier weights.
This is not achieved by trying to lift as much as you can.
Building a good base of form, technique, and also stability is done by things like:
- Bodyweight exercises – squats, lunges, pushups, planks
- Lightweight exercises
- Exercises with bands
My recommendation would be that before anyone starts throwing around heavy weights, they should focus on building that foundation first. Plus, beginners make progress relatively quickly (“newbie gains”), therefore, lifting heavier weights isn’t particularly necessary to make progress.
Muscle and strength is built by small and steady increases in resistance, overtime (adding weight, reps, sets). This happens by properly performing exercises and reps to allow the muscles and nervous system to adequately adapt.
What this also means is reminiscent of the popular phrase: “Check your ego at the door”.
Which is saying not to try and show off, or look impressive by lifting heavy. But rather, not giving a flying fuck about what anyone thinks, and lifting the right way. Even if it means going lighter in order to nail your form and technique. This won’t only get you better results in the long run, it will also build confidence over time, and not ego.
IF during a heavier set, form is breaking down, or you’re using a lot of momentum, lighten the weight, and focus more on improving technique before jumping up in weight again!
LIFTING FOR GOALS
There are four common goals when lifting weights:
- Muscular strength
- Muscular hypertrophy – bigger muscle size
- Muscular endurance
- Muscular power
It’s been widely believed that each of these categories has their own specific method of training. For example, to increase muscular strength, it’s commonly said that a person must lift a heavy weight staying in the 1-5 rep range.
This isn’t wrong. But the reality is that a person can get stronger from lifting a variety of weights in a variety of rep ranges.
Same goes for training for muscular hypertrophy, and so on.
Here’s a study further discussing this! >>>
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7927075/
Now each category does have some of its own general distinctions. Allow me to break down a little bit of each one!
STRENGTH
Increasing muscular strength is all about training the neuromuscular system to overcome heavy loads or resistance.
Common training method: lifting a heavier weight (around 80%-100% of 1RM (1 Rep Max)) where you can only get up to 5, maybe 6 reps.
More advanced, or experienced lifters might perform sets of 3-5, or sets of only 1 or 2 reps (singles or doubles) to help boost strength
But again, you can still get stronger from a variety of weights and rep ranges, especially beginners.
STRENGTH CONSIDERATIONS
Getting stronger doesn’t mean always lifting super heavy. Exposing the muscles & nervous system to more resistance overtime will also help to make them stronger. Don’t overdo it.
And exercise matters too. For example, if someone was doing something like a leg extension, It would not be recommended to go as heavy as to only get 1-5 reps – goodbye knees.
Similarly with something like a shoulder lateral raise. Exercises like these should still be done in the moderate to higher rep ranges (8-12+), with moderate to lighter weight.
Heavier strength lifts focusing on the 1-5 rep range are ideally for those who are specifically looking to increase their max strength on lifts such as bench press, deadlift, squats, etc.
HYPERTROPHY
Achieving muscular hypertrophy is simply about increasing the size of muscles.
Common training method: Train with a weight around 70%-90% of 1RM in the rep range of about 6-12.
However, as alluded to, this isn’t entirely set in stone. Research has shown that muscular hypertrophy is stimulated not by hitting a certain amount of reps, but by taking the muscle close to (up to 5 reps away) or to muscular failure.
Someone could stimulate hypertrophy in higher rep ranges, but that has the potential to turn into more of a cardio challenge, which can prevent someone from reaching that failure range.
Here’s a study diving further into hypertrophy training!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9302196/
ENDURANCE
For muscular endurance, the idea is for the muscle to be able to perform continuously while under stress.
In terms of how heavy someone should train for muscular endurance, the answer is not heavy.
General recommendation: < 60% of 1RM. The main goal for muscular endurance is to stick to lighter weights, even body weight, and to train in higher rep ranges (12-20+).
POWER
Muscular power is all about the muscle being able to move through resistance in a quick, short period of time.
Common training method: 20%-30% of 1RM. Muscular power is about being explosive.
You can train for muscular power through body weight exercises, such as plyometrics, or by using lighter weights.
As someone gets better, and more advanced, they can then start incorporating heavier loads into their power training.
RECAP
How heavy someone should be lifting is really relative to them, their goals, experience, capabilities, etc.
The main goals of resistance training have some general guidelines on how heavy one should be lifting, but these aren’t the end all be all. Here are the main considerations for lifting for a specific goal:
- Muscular strength: using loads that challenge the neuromuscular system
- Muscular hypertrophy: lifting with enough reps and weight to get close to or to muscular failure
- Muscular endurance: using light weights/bodyweight and continuously working the muscle for longer durations
- Muscular power: can be achieved with variety of weights; the focus is on explosiveness, moving through resistance faster
Thanks for reading!
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