The question is not, Do you even lift? It should be, Do you ever lift light?
If your answer to that is no, I'm going to show you 5 reasons why today you might want
to start thinking about it.
What's up, guys? Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.COM.
Have I lost my mind? Now, I want you guys lifting light? We talked about 5 reasons you
should be lifting heavy.
If you haven't seen that video, you got to watch it, and I'll link it right over here.
But lifting light, guess what? It's just as important. See, today, we're going to define
5 reasons why you should be lifting light.
And I thought, let me start off by telling you what light really is. I'm thinking light
meaning 50 reps or more, 20 reps, 25 reps.
But here's the key. It doesn't matter how light you're going. You better be taking it
to failure.
You guys know that I believe in taking your sets to failure. You have to create overload.
You can certainly create a unique type of overload when you are lifting your reps to
failure even if it's in a 25-rep range.
So, that said, let's take a look at 5 reasons why light lifting is definitely part of the
equation.
Ok. Number 1. You can't confuse your fibers.
People that think that training and higher rep ranges is going to only work your type
1 fibers, you have to get a better understanding of your fibers.
Guys, type 1 fibers are mostly used for our long duration muscle-firing activities, like
walking, again, calves for walking.
You need to be able to walk and fire all day long. If there is a threshold at which you
fatigue and basically die out, that's more of a type 2 A fiber, one we call our type
2 oxidated fibers.
So you have to understand that those type 2 fibers we know are conducive to muscle growth.
You can definitely induce muscle growth by training type 2 A fibers. And you do that
by taking higher reps, 15, 20, 25, to failure.
Again, type 1 fibers mostly, longer distance, long bike riding, long running, walking activities
where you have to sustain that activity for a long period of time.
We're not talking about the same ones. So, is there some hypertrophy benefits as well
to training high fibers? Yes, absolutely.
Number 2. Two Words. Nut Check. If you are new to high rep training, this is going to
be a nut check for you.
What do I mean by that? Nut check, gut check, whatever term you prefer, you're going to
have to dig deep and learn how to become more resistant to fatigue.
The good thing about that, guys, is the more you train in these higher rep ranges and take
yourself to failure, like I said in the beginning,
the more you're going to be able to teach your muscles how to become more resilient
to fatigue.
Even when you go into your lower rep ranges, you're going to have if nothing else a mental
toughness to stick it out for that 1 or 2 or 3 extra gut-wrenching reps that,
as I say all the time, those are the ones that really matter when it comes to making
a change in your physique.
Number 3 reason for you to start lifting some lighter weights is it's time to find out who's
lifting who.
Are you lifting the weights? Or are the weights lifting you?
You cannot underestimate the value of actually contracting a muscle that you're trying to
work.
And what happens is, guys really tend to worry about getting an exercise from point A to
point B with no regard for the actual contraction that took place to get it there.
Was it your biceps? Was it your chest? Was it your shoulders? How did you get that weight
from point A to point B?
If you don't really care, then you're not going to see the results that you want to
see.
Using lighter weights are going to give you a great opportunity to contract, to be in
control that shen you then again apply that to some of your heavier weights.
And as you start to train heavier and heavier, you'll still be able to bring with you that
mind-muscle connection that is so invaluable for making your training sessions that much
more productive.
Next up. There's no denying the ability for our higher rep sets to be great set intensifiers.
Whether you're talking about running the rack for a set of Dumbbell Curls, or Drop Sets,
or Tubing Burnouts, whatever it is,
you're able to create an intense overload by usually pairing up your higher rep set
following a heavy set, right?
We have the ability to take a set beyond failure. I always say, Don't just go to failure. Take
it through failure if you can.
There's no better way to do that than incorporating high rep burnouts, run the rack, all those
things I just mentioned
after you've completed a set of heavier or moderate lifting, 10-12 reps. Don't underestimate
their power.
Your 5th and final reason. There is no underestimating higher reps' ability to help promote muscle
recovery.
As a natural lifter and guys who watch my channel looking for recommendations on how
to build muscle,
you guys know that I always underscore the importance of recovery. It's key to what we
There's no if's, and's, or but's, there's no ways around it. You got to allow your muscles
to recover. Doing higher reps can do that in a really great way.
Matter of fact, they can even allow us to train when we're sort of feeling a little
bit less than perfect in terms of our joints.
We can go a little bit lighter. We can again put the muscles in control, and not allow
the joints to do the work for us.
And the extra blood flow promoted by the higher rep ranges actually allows a better clearance
of metabolites from our working muscles.
So we do get that benefit of feeling more refreshed without having to skip the gym entirely.
So, there you have it, 5 reasons why you need to start lifting lighter weights.
And again, if you haven't seen the 5 reasons why you need to lift heavy weights, that video
is right here one more time.
But Jeff, what about moderate weights, 10-12? That might be what you're asking. Matter of
fact, our ATHLEANX Program has a lot of 10-12 rep ranges built into it.
I think you can see where I'm going here, guys. I can do another video if you like.
5 reasons why you need to lift moderately.
The key here is, you need to be lifting in all these ranges because these are training
variables.
Sometimes you have to lift fast and explosive. Other times you should be lifting slow and
controlled, super slow as a matter of fact.
Sometimes you need to be lifting 10-12 reps, other times you should be lifting 25. Some
you should be lifting 3.
Again variables are that reason, and called variables for that one very reason. You should
be varying them.
And a proper training program varies them in a very specific way. I always say, there's
7 ingredients or so used to make a cake.
But if I don't give you any instructions, you may not have a cake at the end. And when
you add those ingredients, makes all the difference.
Maybe one guy decides to bake the cake and then crack the egg on top of it when it's
done.
That's not going to be a very edible cake. Same ingredients, bad timing.
Guys, science is what guides what we do when we train our bodies if you train seriously.
If you want to just train haphazardly and take your egg and put it on top of your cake
and take your heavy reps and put it when you're not supposed to,
you're probably not going to get the results that you want to see. And unfortunately what
riles me up more than anything is to see bad trainers do just that, right?
We're not about that. Here at ATHLEANX, what we try to do is give you guys the right sequencing,
the right progression, and put that science behind the strength
so that you're doing things the right way. You build your foundation, you start to progress
to heavier, heavier rep ranges.
And you start to go for techniques that maybe aren't best for those that are just starting
out.
Well, we get you there and we put you in a progressive way where you need to be.
That's our ATHLEANX Training System. It's at ATHLEANX.COM right now. If you haven't
already, guys, join the revolution here.
And get on team ATHLEAN and start to see what it's like to train like an athlete.
I'll see you guys back here in just a little bit. If you found this video helpful, make
sure you leave a thumb's up and a comment below.
What rep ranges you prefer to train at, and then whatever else you'd like to see, by all
means, leave it below.
I've been reading your comments. I love to make the videos that you guys want, and I'll
make sure I do that in the weeks ahead.
I'll see you guys back here soon.