“Mike, I know you mentioned in a previous post that I need to lift heavy weights.  So what’s considered heavy?”

Glad you asked.

Before determining how heavy of weights you should be lifting, you’ll need to choose which weight lifting goal you’d like to achieve.  Your three options are:

Getting Stronger

This option is best for people that want to maximize their strength improvement and/or improve muscular thickness.  This option is not effective for improving muscular endurance.

Building Muscle

This option is best for building muscle and/or looking better.  You will also get solid strength improvement and some improvement in muscular endurance.

Improving Muscular Endurance

This option is best for improving muscular endurance and keeping your physique as thin as possible.  While you won’t get as much strength improvement as the other options, you will get some.

 

Are you still not sure which option to choose !?!?!?  Well, they say a picture is worth a 1000 words so I’ve added these pictures to help your cause.  The person on the left is an example of someone that’s focused on getting stronger.  The middle person is focused on building muscle.  And the person on the right is focused on muscular endurance.

 

 

 

Now that you have chosen your weight lifting goal, we can focus on how heavy you need to go in the weight room.

First ….. Know your rep range.

Your rep range will vary depending on which goal you have chosen.

Getting Stronger = 3-6 reps per set

Building Muscle = 8-12 reps per set

Improving Muscular Endurance = 15-20 reps per set

 

Second ….. Understand going to failure

Each set should conclude when you are no longer able to lift the weight.  That means your pushing/pulling the weight as hard as you can and it ain’t moving.  Your goal is for that failure to take place within your chosen rep range.  If failure happens before or after your ideal rep range then adjust the weight on your next set to reach failure within your goal rep range.

 

“But Mike, if I go to failure on bench press I’ll get squished!?!?!?”

 

Yes there are a few lifts that you shouldn’t go all the way to failure if you don’t have a solid spotter.  Off the top of my head a few of those would be Bench Press, Squats, Angled Leg Press, etc.  On these exercises just get as close as you can to failure without getting squished (or get a spotter).

 

“But Mike, I’ve always heard that lifting heavy weights is how people get injured.”

 

Ummm…..No.  You are not more likely to get injured because you’re lifting heavier weights.  You are more likely to get injured by using bad form.   The reason it sometimes seems like more people are getting injured while lifting heavy is because they are wiggling, squirming, and flailing around trying to get the weight up.  Don’t do that.  (Example:  don’t be like the guy at the top of this post).  Just be content with hitting failure.  If you’re still worried about any aches or pains you’re having, see my earlier post “No pain, No gain?”  http://www.sarcastictrainer.com/?p=464#more-464

 

Third ….. You’re not stuck with the same goal forever.

You can change your goal at anytime.  Maybe you start out focusing on improving your strength, get strong, and decide you now want to work on your muscular endurance.  That’s fine.  For some it might even be better to change your goal on occasion.

 

I know most people want to lift light weights and get amazing results, but it just doesn’t work like that.  So my goal for today is to help you get the most out of your time in the gym by using enough weight to maximize your progress.