Resistance training is exercising against a resistance. That does not have to be weights, body weight exercises are also resistance training. Just to clear that one up.
Now in this area lies a huge amount of confusion. There still seems to be, less so than in the past, this idea that doing high rep, low weight will build you definition. This genuinely couldn't be more wrong. I will outline later how to get muscle definition.
What Resistance does what?
Right, Here is how it is, simple as i can make it:
- Heavy weight, low reps (2-6) builds muscle strength.
- Medium weight, medium reps (8-15) Builds muscle size, but if you do much lower reps it will build strength too.
- Light Weights, high reps (over 20) Builds muscular endurance, and generally does not effect muscle size or definition.
Each of these different weight groups have their good and bad bits, but PLEASE don't get confused.
Do the right weight to fit your goals!
If your goal is simply to add mass, then do medium weights. If you want to be super strong, but don't care much for size, then do heavy weight for low reps. If you want better muscular endurance (for example, rowers), then do light weights for high reps. SIMPLE.
First off, thank you for the blog. I appreciate the unique information. I was just curious where you got your information regarding the increase in muscle size. I think it would help me better understand the increase in muscle size at medium weight and how I can adjust my work out accordingly.
ReplyDeleteA fair question. In terms of muscle growth, there are dozens of programmes and websites devoted to it. I will be covering it in later posts in further detail.
ReplyDeleteWhat it really depends on is what type of muscle you want to build. If you want to look like a bodybuilder, then you should be checking out the sites like bodybuilding.com, or typing into google adding mass.
I'm sorry i can't be of more use on this point, I'm not a huge fan of overly large muscles and so I don't do an aweful lot of research into the area. I wish you good luck in your training, though.