Lifting Heavy

djwife03
djwife03 Posts: 333 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
What is it? How heavy is lifting heavy?
GO!

Replies

  • ravenmiss
    ravenmiss Posts: 384 Member
    Pick something up, if you think it's heavy you just lifted heavy. Heavy to one person will be nothing to another.

    Or do you have a more specific question?
  • djwife03
    djwife03 Posts: 333 Member
    Haha! My apologies! I just see a lot of posts advising people to start lifting heavy.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    Lifting heavy is a relative term. It means using a weight that's heavy enough to cause failure in the lower rep ranges. If your goals are based on building or preserving muscle mass, the suggested heavy lifting rep range is failure between 8 and 12 reps. If your goals are purely strength based, the suggested heavy lifting rep range is failure below 8 reps.
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
    Haha! My apologies! I just see a lot of posts advising people to start lifting heavy.
    bodybuilding.com has some good info about this if you are interested. :)
  • establishingaplace
    establishingaplace Posts: 301 Member
    Lifting heavy is what you can manage to lift for 1-5 reps.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    What is it? How heavy is lifting heavy?
    GO!
    As mentioned it is a function of how much it takes for you to hit failure, where you couldn't do any more reps even if someone had a gun to your head. This works specific muscle fibers that are not otherwise (significantly) used during cardio/endurance exercises.
  • wheird
    wheird Posts: 7,963 Member
    What is it? How heavy is lifting heavy?
    GO!
    As mentioned it is a function of how much it takes for you to hit failure, where you couldn't do any more reps even if someone had a gun to your head. This works specific muscle fibers that are not otherwise (significantly) used during cardio/endurance exercises.

    To expand on this a bit, heavy lifting is when you lift a weight that is heavy enough to cause failure inside of a given rep range. While not all agree on what this rep range is, most can agree that it is within 1-8 reps. Higher than that and you start getting into the hypertrophy range.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    What is it? How heavy is lifting heavy?
    GO!
    As mentioned it is a function of how much it takes for you to hit failure, where you couldn't do any more reps even if someone had a gun to your head. This works specific muscle fibers that are not otherwise (significantly) used during cardio/endurance exercises.

    To expand on this a bit, heavy lifting is when you lift a weight that is heavy enough to cause failure inside of a given rep range. While not all agree on what this rep range is, most can agree that it is within 1-8 reps. Higher than that and you start getting into the hypertrophy range.

    Hypertrophy is considered heavy lifting
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    What is it? How heavy is lifting heavy?
    GO!
    As mentioned it is a function of how much it takes for you to hit failure, where you couldn't do any more reps even if someone had a gun to your head. This works specific muscle fibers that are not otherwise (significantly) used during cardio/endurance exercises.

    To expand on this a bit, heavy lifting is when you lift a weight that is heavy enough to cause failure inside of a given rep range. While not all agree on what this rep range is, most can agree that it is within 1-8 reps. Higher than that and you start getting into the hypertrophy range.

    Hypertrophy is considered heavy lifting
    Ya, I think he was referring to the hypertrophy/strength ranges. Although they aren't exclusive, one end produces more strength than hypertrophy and vice versa, which is probably why it's not easy to delineate.
  • lindsey1979
    lindsey1979 Posts: 2,395 Member
    I consider heavy lifting to be a progressive overload program -- one where you increase weight as you go. These are all workout with olympic weights -- compound barbell lifts like squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, etc. I personally prefer 3x5 (Starting Strength), but Stronglights (5x5) is good and there are few others out there.

    If you're looking for a specific program, I strongly recommend getting the Starting Strength book. It's great for discussing so many different aspects of heavy lifting and especially for form -- which is essential to avoid injury and maximize your efforts.

    So, when I see heavy lifting, that's what it means to me.
  • quellybelly
    quellybelly Posts: 827 Member
    Lifting heavy is a relative term. It means using a weight that's heavy enough to cause failure in the lower rep ranges. If your goals are based on building or preserving muscle mass, the suggested heavy lifting rep range is failure between 8 and 12 reps. If your goals are purely strength based, the suggested heavy lifting rep range is failure below 8 reps.

    ^ this man knows what he's talking about.
  • sculli123
    sculli123 Posts: 1,221 Member
    A weight that you struggle to move in the 3 - 5 rep range is normally a good definition.
  • Healthy_4_Life2
    Healthy_4_Life2 Posts: 595 Member
    Lifting heavy is a relative term. It means using a weight that's heavy enough to cause failure in the lower rep ranges. If your goals are based on building or preserving muscle mass, the suggested heavy lifting rep range is failure between 8 and 12 reps. If your goals are purely strength based, the suggested heavy lifting rep range is failure below 8 reps.
    ^^^This right here!

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