What’s going on, guys?
Sean Nalewanyj, www.SeanNal.com and in today’s video I want to talked about the topic of
super heavy “ego lifting” versus using lighter weights with slower more controlled
form and which one is better for stimulating muscle growth, because you’ll hear a lot
of debate on this from both sides.
So before going any further keep in mind that we’re specifically talking about hypertrophy
here and this is aimed at people whose primary goal in the gym is to build muscle.
So, if your goal is strength based and you just want to move as much weight as possible
from point A to point B, or you’re training for athletic performance then that’s a different
story, we’re talking specifically about improving body composition here.
Now, the issue that I see with a lot of these types of questions is that people usually
want a black and white, clear-cut answer.
It’s either one or the other, probably just because it’s easier to process and maybe
also because people like to feel, sort of, like they’re part of a certain camp.
It’s like a bodybuilding identity thing.
So it’s either, “I do hard heavy lifting, heavy lifting is the only way to go.”
or, “No, the amount of weight in the bar is completely irrelevant and it’s all about
mind-muscle connection and just feeling the muscle working.”
With most bodybuilding questions though, the answer tends to lie somewhere in the middle
rather than being at one extreme or the other.
And there are benefits and drawbacks to either approach whether it’s really heavy “ego
lifting” or lifting lighter weight in a more controlled way.
Now, the benefit of going a bit lighter is that by using a slower rep cadence you’re
still going to be able to place your muscles under tension and stimulate hypertrophy that
way but you’ll be doing it while placing less stress on your joints and connective
tissues.
The downside is that, we know from research that performing the positive portion of the
rep as fast as possible and using a more explosive cadence doesn’t improve muscle fiber recruitment
and strength gains and that super slow eccentrics, aren’t necessary either.
Basically you’re getting decreased injury risk but probably a bit less overall muscle
growth if you’re going particularly light and lifting really slowly.
Now, on the other hand we have the approach that says just lift as heavy and explosively
as possible using momentum and to basically just get the weight from point A to point
B.
The upside there being that as long as you’re using reasonable form, you are going to put
your muscle under more stress and generates betters size and strength gains that way in
comparison to going super slow and very tightly controlled.
But the downside, and this is something that really doesn’t seem to get addressed very
much but is really important, is that this type of lifting is going to produce more wear
and tear on your joints overtime and it’s also going to increased the risk of a sudden
injury as well if your form slips up on a particular set.
Now, are you guaranteed to get hurt?
No, there’s no guarantee and some guys who just generally have a stronger body structure
and who employ this type of lifting in a calculated way, they might be fine, but on average across
the whole population I don’t there’s any question that the super heavy style of lifting
is going to be risky, especially in beginners.
You’re going to have younger newbies out there who just take this idea of super heavy
lifting at face value who don’t have the fundamentals down, don’t have a good base
of size and strength to work with, and who’re just going to load the bar up using as much
weight as they can handle in sloppy form and they are going to be a lot more likely to
hurt themselves at some point.
The thing that a lot of lifters don’t really think about is the fact that weight training
is a lifelong endeavor.
And instead they just want to know what’s going to pack on as much muscle and build
as much strength as possible, as quickly as possible without realizing that this is something
you’re going to be doing, let’s say you’re eighteen right now, not just until you’re
twenty or twenty two but until you’re thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, literally decades.
And not just for the few years that are immediately ahead of you.
So if you’re doing really heavy, lower rep bench presses, just dropping the bar to your
chest and using a lot of momentum, really heavy lateral raises, wide grip dips, overhand
pull ups with as much weight as possible where the only real goal is to get your chin over
the bar, that stuff is going to add up overtime for most lifters.
You might be fine for a year maybe several years but heavy weight training is actually
really stressful to the body as a whole and most people who train over the long term,
even if they aren’t using a super heavy “ego lifting” approach but are just training
more moderately, they still usually experience injuries at some point.
Injury prevention isn’t just a matter of proper technique, or warm ups, or having a
properly balanced program, there is just a general wear and tear principal at play here
as well.
So even if going really heavy was to produce slightly better results it still doesn’t
automatically make it the best approach for building muscle long term because the risk/reward
has to be taken into account.
And we have to ask how much better of result is it really going to produce anyway.
We have data showing that sets of up to twenty-five reps can still produce similar gains and hypertrophy
to sets as low as eight reps, or we also know that three sets of ten can produce the same
result as ten sets of three.
So as long as the volume is equated for there’s no clear cut answer there anyway.
And if we already know anecdotally that a great physique can be built without going
all the way to that really heavy extreme, that you can get close to your genetic potential
without maxing out every time you go into the gym then I don’t really see a good argument
for doing it on a consistent year round basis, especially if you’re a beginner.
If you’re going to be using a very heavy, higher momentum style of lifting then you
should at least be an intermediate level lifter and have some reasonable experience under
your belt, a good foundation, understand proper technique, I think for a beginner to jump
right into that style of lifting would be very risky.
Remember that you’re only as strong as your weakest link and if you messed up your shoulder
or your lower back, those types of injuries can sometime be a one-way street and can give
you issues literally for the rest of your training career.
So again, bottom line, if strength is your main goal or if you’re just really enjoy
heavy lifting for the sake of it and you’re aware of the possible risk and you’re fine
with it then that’s up to you.
But I would say that if aesthetics are your primary goal and you’re mainly training
for hypertrophy, your goal is to gain muscle mass, going to that extreme under consistent
basis probably isn’t going to be the best long term approach.
So my advice is to just go with a healthy middle ground for the bulk of your training.
Not super light and super controlled but also not super heavy using tons of momentum, chose
a way that still feels decently heavy for you relative to the rep range that you’re
using.
Use a little bit of natural body movement during your sets, you don’t need to train
like a robot.
Perform the concentric portion hard and fast but while also focusing on activating the
muscle you’re trying to target.
And then lower the weight under reasonable control.
You don’t need to do super slow negatives but I wouldn’t suggest letting gravity do
all the work either because I do think there is a value in actively resisting the weight
as lower it.
And I think that for the goal of hypertrophy while taking your joints into account a good
two second or three second negative works well on most exercises.
So use that middle ground approach for the majority of your training and if you want
to mixed in some heavier “ego lifting” from time to time you can do that if you’re
more advanced and you know what you’re doing.
Or if you’re trying to work around an injury, or maybe you’re a bit older and your joints
are just a bit more beat up in general, then you can scale back even further and go with
a lighter weights, slower and more controlled approach.
All of those approaches will ultimately build muscle effectively as long as you’re progressing
overtime and your nutrition is on point, but again, the question has to be how do we build
muscle as effectively as we can and how do we do it as sustainably as possible.
And I think that in terms of really heavy weight versus really light weight, a moderate
approach is probably going to be best most of the time for most lifters out there.
So I hope this was useful.
If building a lean, muscular body is your primary goal and you want a complete plan
that shows you exactly how to maximize your gains in a sustainable, long term way then
you can check out my Body Transformation Blueprint by clicking here or by visiting www.BodyTransformationTruth.com.
That lays everything out step-by-step including the workouts, meal plans, supplement guides
and one-on-one coaching.
Make sure to like the video, leave a comment and subscribe if you enjoyed it.
The official website is over at www.SeanNal.com.
And you can follow me as well here on social media if you aren’t already.
Thanks for watching, guys.
I’ll see you in the next video.