Question on Kelly Baggett Statement

I thoroughly enjoy Kelly Baggetts work, and I was wondering what people thought about what he said here.

This statement is from Eric Cressey’s newsletter and is on Kelly Baggetts website under his articles.

  1. It’s been said that your muscles don’t know how much weight you’re lifting; they only know tension. This is true. I can also assure you that your joints DO know how much weight you’re lifting and will eventually let you know about it if you train heavy enough for long enough. The large majority of people over the age of 65 have some degree of “wear and tear” arthritis. That’s without subjecting their joints to 45 years of heavy weights. Keep that in mind if you want to be just as active at 75 as you are now. For optimal long-term joint health, not only should you pay close attention to structural balance, but in my opinion, the majority of the time you shouldn’t be lifting anything that you can’t lift with a two-second pause at the hardest part of the movement. This will ensure you’re directing tension to the muscles instead of the connective tissue.

Do people agree that the average joe should stay away from a lot of heavier lifting. I know if I used only weights where I had to pause at the hardest part, my weight I would use would go down significantly. I know people are saying that weekend warriors should train more like athletes, and to me that means more of moving heavy weights. Any thoughts?

He’s not saying don’t lift heavy weights. He’s simply stating that any time you get a tendonous contribution you are putting stress on the joints. That’s pretty much a fact of life. Squatting heavy is probably not good for your long term health but that’s just the nature of the game. He talks about the pause because that “will ensure you’re directing tension to the muscles instead of the connective tissue.”

If your weights go down big time, then you might do a lot of bouncing of the weight and might be wise to try some paused work. Not only might it be safer, but it’s also great for strength gains as well.

It’s called common sense…?

Of course you face the prospect of joint pain down the road. If you value your youth and pushing yourself now, more than you think you’ll enjoy perfectly free movement when you’re 60+ and don’t REALLY need to go anywhere fast, then don’ be afraid to lift heavy. If not, don’t push it.

I’m sure PERIODS of heavy lifting will lessen the joint damage. Kelly did say “heavy enough for long enough”.

I know it wasn’t your intention, but alot of people are taking the things KB is saying and totally not getting the point recently.

Hmm… another reason why it’s good to lift lighter weights quickly: increased tension with less joint stress.