I was just wondering what approach regarding weight the body builders on this site take.
I like lifting heavy, I enjoy the feeling of lifting heavy. I will keep a set/rep scheme (usually between 5 - 10 reps) and lift as heavy as I can while good form. I’ve built some descent muscle using this approach. I’ve only been training for about 8 months so I feel there is still alot to learn.
Now the reason for my question. There is a guy at my gym. His probably one of the most muscular people I have seen in person. I never have the opportunity to pick his brain regarding training. But I ALWAYS seem him using fairly light weights. But his tempo is always quick and form excellent. I don’t know if he does heavy lifts in the mornings and light in the evenings. But I have only ever seen him doing “light” weights.
He has a full visible eight pack and is at a level I would like to get to.
So long story not so short. How many accomplished body builders on this site use “light” weights?
You know, i have seen many very advanced BB’s doing the same, i think it is down to the fact that when they are very, very cut - when we notice them more - and in that particular phase of the diet and training, the weights lighten for many of the older BB’s (the protocols have changed for many now) and they go for much much higher reps… 15-30 somewhere.
I know that it was the norm for this technique from the 60’s or so through to the late 90’s, until it was realised that heavy weights during cutting is much less catabolic, and just asefective at creating the definition - as this is largely due to posing and diet.
I personally train all over… at the moment i have 2 days of 3x10-15 reps, and 2 days of 5x4-10 reps cycled every 6 days or so…
But as a rule, i am most comfortable, and gravitate towards heavy 5-9 reps, high volume.
I build the best mucle with lower reps… 4-5 reps is the lowest i can go with intensity to stil achieve a pump. and about 8-10 is the highest i can go before the results start dropping off…
It is a very very personal thing though, some pros train with 6-8 reps, and some with 12-15 reps regularly…
It’s depends on personal genetics. You can build in the higher rep range as long as you add weight.For instance if you can do barbell curls with 100lbs for twelve, work towards doing 120lbs for twelve and so on. Steve Reeves was known for lifting in the 12-15 rep range.
This is one of those things that’s gonna vary from person to person. As a rule- big weights stimulate deeper into the muscle fibers and cns.
I’ve seen juice heads lift light and make gains as well, but that’s another topic.
[quote]kayveeay wrote:
yogaroots wrote:
Do posts get edited here? A few sentences is missing from my post…internet ghost?
Yes, they do.
For instance, you cannot talk about a certain company on here.
Muscles + Technology = a company we can’t talk about.
(No disrespect mods, just example)
But yes… this is a moderated forum.[/quote]
Apparently so, but there must not be a system to it. There’s alot of garbage that sneaks through the cracks…oh well. It’s their house, not a community.
[quote]yogaroots wrote:
JJ wrote:
Yeah… those juiceheads can just look at a DB and they’ll grow…
Perhaps you should go see Bigger Faster Stronger and you’ll leave the theater Smarter, Wiser and Knowledgeable.
If gear didn’t make this easier- NOBODY would bother doing it. It’s a short cut. I thought that was common knowledge. Go see the movie PLEASE.[/quote]
you are serious! good god!
It isnt easier… it is enhancement. Someone on steroids doesnt work less hard for the same results or less hard for more results, they work just as hard or more hard for better results.
That isnt a shortcut, it is assistance.
It makes nothing easier, it makes it more productive. I always thought you were an intelligent poster, but i am disappointed in your opinion, as it is one of ignorance and a distinct lack of knowledge.
I have had to deal with ignorance and discrimination for years, on other facts of my life, and this is simply another kind.
Please do some research other than propaganda and general media depiction of this drug and its use in sport performance.
I am sure you will continue to believe this tripe, so i wont continue to waste my ‘breath’, but i am making it known your opinion is ignorant, uneducated, diminutive, discriminative and offensive to me and many other posters here. Just because i choose to supplement my training with something you do not does not give you the right to make false and absurd claims as to my commitment to this sport or my training life.
Some guys just respond well to lighter weights. A few days ago I was watching one of the biggest guys at my gym doing his squat routine�??200 lbs. on a hammer strength machine that my weak little legs are doing 280 on. But the lighter weight is what works for him.
Yoga, if that’s what you got from that movie, you have the verbal comprehension skills of preschooler. It was specifically stated in the film that drugs do NOT make building muscle easier, and that athletes on drugs train must much harder than natural athletes to see results.
[quote]yogaroots wrote:
JJ wrote:
Yeah… those juiceheads can just look at a DB and they’ll grow…
Perhaps you should go see Bigger Faster Stronger and you’ll leave the theater Smarter, Wiser and Knowledgeable.
If gear didn’t make this easier- NOBODY would bother doing it. It’s a short cut. I thought that was common knowledge. Go see the movie PLEASE.[/quote]
I doubt that was his point. I warm up now more than I have in the past. That means anyone watching me train for the majority of my early reps in a movement would assume I wasn’t lifting all that much. They would have to literally follow me around to every exercise to get any type of idea of what my strategy is. They would NOT gain this insight by simply watching me do a few sets out of the corner of their eye.
Not only that, but if I already have the size and am not looking to bulk up significantly, I can maintain on a lighter weight. This is one fact many seem to overlook.
Just because that huge guy in the gym isn’t impressing you with the weights he is using today, that does not mean he got that big by lifting exactly how you see him lifting at that very moment.
[quote]yogaroots wrote:
It’s depends on personal genetics. You can build in the higher rep range as long as you add weight.For instance if you can do barbell curls with 100lbs for twelve, work towards doing 120lbs for twelve and so on. Steve Reeves was known for lifting in the 12-15 rep range.
This is one of those things that’s gonna vary from person to person. As a rule- big weights stimulate deeper into the muscle fibers and cns.
I’ve seen juice heads lift light and make gains as well, but that’s another topic.
[/quote]
Steve reeves looks like that guy from CSI, the one that works for grisam
Serge Nubret almost exclusively lifted in the 12-20 rep ranges with short rest periods for very high volume. He recommends to everyone who asks him how to train to do the same.
However when he started lifting he could already bench 100kg for a few so… not sure how good his advice would be.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
I warm up now more than I have in the past. That means anyone watching me train for the majority of my early reps in a movement would assume I wasn’t lifting all that much. [/quote]
I’m the same way. My bench workout always starts with the bar for 30, 135 for 20, and 225 for 15. I never count those as working sets, but anybody watching me for the first 5 minutes is not going to be very impressed. I get the occasional smart ass asking me if I need a spot when I’m benching the bar
[quote]jstreet0204 wrote:
Professor X wrote:
I warm up now more than I have in the past. That means anyone watching me train for the majority of my early reps in a movement would assume I wasn’t lifting all that much.
I’m the same way. My bench workout always starts with the bar for 30, 135 for 20, and 225 for 15. I never count those as working sets, but anybody watching me for the first 5 minutes is not going to be very impressed. I get the occasional smart ass asking me if I need a spot when I’m benching the bar
[/quote]
You see the looks from other trainers as if they think you should be lifting more…which I do but usually not until my last set on a given exercise.
People would do better to either mind their own business in the gym…or actually gain the balls big enough to ask that big fucker in the corner about WHY he trains like he does.
I speak to many guys over 35 who lift who now use less weight than they did to get that big. That doesn’t mean you need to copy them OR that they are weak.
Professor brings up a good point that people miss a lot when watching for example pro DVDs. You see Jay Cutler practically going through the motions, 15 rep sets with weights that aren’t all that impressive. People declare “See! You don’t have to be strong to be big!” based on that. What? Jay has had the same level of muscle mass for 5+ years now… he isn’t trying to gain more size, he just needs to hold onto what he’s got.
Go watch an NPC or lower level guy train who needs to move up a weight class or two to fill out properly and you likely won’t be seeing that sort of training, it’ll be heavy and hard with lots of food going down for the majority of them.
Was it Branch Warren that said “light days? Isn’t that a f***ing tampon?”
Light relative to what? I train lighter now, as I’m almost 37 and have tons of orthopaedic injuries. However there are some movements I am stronger on than when I was 25. It all works to some degree. You must find what works and works efficiently and consistently otherwise you’re just wasting your time. That said, I’ve spent the majority of my training career lifting relatively heavy weights for relatively low reps for relatively moderate to low volume. (see not so hidden message here). My muscle fiber composition/neurological “wiring” and recovery environment responds consistently well to that type of training.
[quote]Radjxf wrote:
Was it Branch Warren that said “light days? Isn’t that a f***ing tampon?”
Light relative to what? I train lighter now, as I’m almost 37 and have tons of orthopaedic injuries. However there are some movements I am stronger on than when I was 25. It all works to some degree. You must find what works and works efficiently and consistently otherwise you’re just wasting your time. That said, I’ve spent the majority of my training career lifting relatively heavy weights for relatively low reps for relatively moderate to low volume. (see not so hidden message here). My muscle fiber composition/neurological “wiring” and recovery environment responds consistently well to that type of training.[/quote]
I lift heavy too…but my biceps days still start with me sitting on a machine and doing curls with the lightest weight possible because I get a pain in my lower biceps if I don’t.
That is why judging some lifter by what you see them doing at the moment and then assuming this is all there is to their training is just retarded.
I know some guys who build impressive arms with lighter weights, actually most of them who are arm and tit builders, that are impressive, just seem to hang around the 35s and 40s lb dumb bells.
As for building a big chest and other parts, I don’t really think you can build a big chest with light weight. Then again, the guy at my gym who kicks up 450 on bench, doesn’t have a ripped massive impressive chest of a body builder.
I guess when you train with heavy weight, alot of the time, you’re more just training your muscles as a lever for that movement than, actually kicking them into overall massive development, the way you may with a moderate weight.
