Heavy Lifting vs ??

jbrinda1

Can someone who actually knows what they're talking about (i.e. personal trainer or someone who has actually done heavy lifting and seen results) please explain briefly the difference between that and regular lifting and explain why it is preferable? MFP seems to be chock full of success stories. How does it work? How to start? How do you determine the right "heavy" weight?

Taylerr88

I am not pr but ill give you my personal advice

difference between the two? you want to give your body a reason to grow. its just that simple. with strength comes size.

How do you determine the right "heavy" weight? the "HEAVY" part is not a set number. its just basically whats heavy for you

How does it work? You basically want to give your body a reason to recruit more muscle fibers. You do this by lifting heavier and heavier weight each time you go to the gym.

How to start? where ever you feel comfortable to be honest. the MAIN thing with heavy lifting is you want to put your self on a liner progression path. Track everything you do. you want to get stronger every-time you go to the gym. Do not for whatever reason get stuck repping the same day to day.

ninerbuff

Can someone who actually knows what they're talking about (i.e. personal trainer or someone who has actually done heavy lifting and seen results) please explain briefly the difference between that and regular lifting and explain why it is preferable? MFP seems to be chock full of success stories. How does it work? How to start? How do you determine the right "heavy" weight?

8 reps with good form with as much weight as you can physically handle is heavy. Why does it work? Because muscle is challenged. If muscle isn't challenged it atrophies.
If steady state continual exercise worked on a daily basis, then walking mailmen and construction workers shouldn't have an issue of getting out of shape and overweight.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

taso42

If you lift lift heavy, you disrupt homeostasis and your body repairs itself and grows stronger. If you lift light, you're just spinning your wheels.

thefuzz1290

How to start? I recommend using Stronglifts 5x5 because it has you start with the bar only and you progress from there. If you go to the website and download the PDF, the last half of the PDF file (which is over 50 pages long) is full of success stories.

By regular lifting, I assume you mean the 3 sets of 10 where you're really not working hard. If you've never lifted before, the 3x10 strength training will give you newbie gains, but you'll quickly stall. When you lift heavy, adding weight every week, your body never has time to adapt and continues to grow and strengthen.

Why lift heavy? Do you really want to be that guy who can't change a tire because he's not strong enough to loosen the bolts? Or do you want to be that guy that struggles to help his kid move furniture into his 3rd floor college apartment? And why not be the guy at the pool who makes other women jealous of your wife? Or how about just because its possible for you to be an absolute beast in the weight room and make people's jaws drop? Oh yeah, it helps reduce your risk of injury, strengthen's your back so you have a better posture, helps you live longer, yadda yadda yadda....lol.