Benefits of Lifting Heavy Weights

1. Benefits of Lifting Heavy Weights

3. For years only a handful of dedicated fitness enthusiasts have practiced a sure-fire method of achieving results from exercise: lifting weights with the heaviest loads possible. Most common gym routines are derived from the bodybuilding world and focus on moderate-to-high repetition ranges, usually 8-15 reps, to increase the size of a muscle. Serious strength-training enthusiasts know that lifting heavy for five repetitions or less

4. Size and Strength are NOT the Same There is a distinct difference between training for muscle size – technically called hypertrophy, and training for strength – increasing a muscle’s ability to generate force. Here’s the interesting thing, lifting heavy can improve the force output of a muscle without significantly increasing its size whereas training for size can increase muscle volume without necessarily improving strength.

5. Supercharge Your Workouts! If you are looking for a way to change your workouts or move past a plateau, consider using a weight heavy enough to limit you to five repetitions or less.

6. Muscles Generate Force Muscles generate force – that’s just what they do. Newton’s 2nd Law of physics is F = ma; a force is the produce of a mass and its acceleration. To train muscles to become stronger requires either adding more mass or moving with a faster acceleration. Using heavier weights recruits more muscle fibers; moving at a faster rate of speed teaches them to contract faster.

7. Training for Strength is Different Than Training for Size Training for muscle strength is different than training for muscle size. Lifting heavy for six-to-ten weeks can increase the strength of a muscle, if it is followed by a six-to-ten week phase of hypertrophy (bodybuilder) training you can use heavier weights for the higher rep ranges which could result in significant size increases.

8. Heavy Weights Require Type II Muscle Fibers Using heavy weights increases intramuscular coordination, the number of type II motor unit units and muscle fibers engaged within a specific muscle. Have you ever felt yourself shaking with lifting heavy? This is because you are literally  recruiting and activating the larger type II muscle fibers which are only stimulated to work when a muscle is challenged with heavy resistance or working to fatigue.

9. Using Heavy Weights Produces Stronger Muscles Using maximal loads for compound (multi-joint) movements like the deadlift, squat-to-shoulder press, bent-over row or chest press can improve inter-muscular coordination, the ability of many muscles to work together to generate and control high levels of force through multiple joints.

10. Heavy Weights Stimulate Hormone Production Elevate levels of anabolic hormones, specifically testosterone, growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), used to repair muscle fibers damaged during exercise helping them to become thicker and capable of generating higher levels of force.

11. Heavy Weights Could Make Your Smarter Lifting heavy weights increases the hormone IGF-1 which is related to the production of Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) a protein responsible for stimulating the growth of new neural pathways in the brain along with enhancing communication between existing pathways. In short lifting heavy could make you smarter by enhancing cognitive function.