How Heavy Should You Lift?

This is a question that is asked quite often, and the answer is usually the same to many people; “If you want to get big, you have to lift heavy. If you want to tone up, you have to do a lot of reps.” While this may ring true for some people, the answer to this question is not always as simple as this response may insinuate.

It’s true that lifting heavy weights will earn you big muscles, but on the flip side, lifting higher reps can also promote huge muscle growth as well. “How can this be?” you may ask. “After all, those gargantuan men in the bodybuilding magazines are all lifting massive weights in their pictures, and look at the size of their muscles!” The fact of the matter is that these men are lifting these massive weights simply for the photo shoot. They have to look impressive for the magazines, and so they pile the weights on for the photographers. Most of these professional bodybuilders lift relatively light weights, do one body part per day, and stimulate the muscle into growth. You would be very surprised to see a professional bodybuilders’ true training routine.

If your goal is simply to lift a lot of weight, the way a powerlifter does, then by all means you are going to need to train heavy. The simple goal of getting big and strong is acquired through lifting heavy weights, eating plenty of calories, and proper supplementation.

Now, the misnomer of “high reps to tone up” is handled similarly. Let’s say I’m training with 25 to 30 reps per set and three sets per body part. That should be good enough to tone my muscles, right? Not if I’m drinking beer 4 days a week and eating fast food meals every day. Much like gaining big muscles, the key to toning up is proper nutrition and supplementation. While high reps will definitely wear your muscles out, if you’re not doing anything to lose the body fat on top of them, you will never look the way you want to.

Muscles grow from proper stimulation, and that can come from heavy weights or high reps. My advice would be to mix things up every now and then to shake your muscles out of their typical routine and into some new growth. If you always train heavy, switch to higher reps, and vice versa. As always, make sure you’re eating proper nutrients to fuel muscle recovery and growth, and you may find that the typical training methods are not always the best ones for you.