Light vs Heavy Weights for Muscle Growth (WHICH WORKS BETTER)

Summary

The video script discusses the effectiveness of heavy and lightweight training for muscle growth. It highlights that both can be effective depending on the application of the right stimulus and reaching true failure. The importance of a balanced approach is emphasized, with recommendations for different rep ranges for various fitness goals and age groups. The script also stresses the significance of intensity and proper execution in both heavy and light workouts for optimal muscle development and functional capability.

Takeaways

• 💪 Muscle building can be effectively achieved with both heavy and lightweight training, depending on the rep range and intensity.
• 🏋️‍♂️ For muscle growth, it's not just the weight but the application of the right stimulus within the rep range that matters.
• 📈 The repetition continuum includes heavy tension for low reps, eccentric overload for mid-range reps, and metabolic stress for high reps.
• 🔍 Real failure, where you can't perform another rep, is crucial for muscle growth, especially in higher rep ranges.
• 👴 For individuals over 50, a balanced approach is recommended with 50% moderate reps, 10% heavy, and 40% light reps to maintain strength and function.
• 🏋️‍♂️ Light weights can be beneficial for muscle growth if the set is pushed to real failure, ensuring high intensity and effort.
• 💪 Light work has a place in training, contributing to neurological preparation and strengthening weak points.
• 🏋️‍♂️ For strength-focused individuals, 60% of the training should be heavy, with 30% moderate and 10% light reps.
• 💪 For hypertrophy-focused individuals, a 50-25-25 distribution of moderate, heavy, and light reps is suggested for optimal muscle building.
• 🔥 High effort and intensity are necessary when performing light work to ensure it contributes to muscle growth.
• 📚 Research supports the idea that muscle can be built across a wide range of loading spectrums, up to 30-40 repetitions.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video script?

The main topic is whether heavy or lightweight exercises are more effective for building muscle.

What is the purpose of the video clip showing Jesse's dumbbell bench press?

The clip is used to demonstrate and compare the effects of heavy (8-10 rep max) and lightweight (20-30 rep max) exercises on muscle building.

What does the expert in the video comment suggest for muscle building?

The expert suggests that using at least 80% of one's rep max is necessary for effective muscle building.

What does Dr. Brad Shonfeld's research indicate about muscle gain across different rep ranges?

Dr. Shonfeld's research indicates that similar amounts of muscle can be gained across a wide range of loading spectrums, up to 30 to 40 repetitions.

What are the three main stimuli that drive muscle growth according to the video?

The three main stimuli are heavy tension, eccentric overload, and metabolic stress.

Why is it important to understand the repetition continuum when training for muscle growth?

Understanding the repetition continuum allows one to effectively apply different stimuli for growth, ensuring that the training is tailored to reach failure at the right point for optimal muscle development.

What is the recommended workout distribution for individuals over 50, according to the video?

For individuals over 50, the video recommends 50% of the workout in the moderate rep range (6-12 reps), 10% in the heavy range, and 40% in the light range.

How does lifting heavy weights affect muscle fibers and strength as one ages?

Lifting heavy weights helps maintain type two muscle fibers, which are responsible for strength and function as one ages, reducing the risk of losing strength and functionality.

What is the role of lighter workouts in a strength-focused training program?

In a strength-focused program, lighter workouts serve as neurological preparation, helping muscles get ready for heavier lifts, and also strengthen weak points to prevent them from becoming a limiting factor in overall strength.

What is the recommended workout distribution for hypertrophy-focused individuals?

For hypertrophy-focused individuals, the video recommends 50% of the workout in the moderate rep range, and the remaining 25% should be divided equally between heavy and light workouts.

Why is it important to include both heavy and light workouts for muscle building?

Including both heavy and light workouts ensures that all three stimuli for muscle growth (tension, eccentric stress, and metabolic overload) are addressed, leading to the most effective muscle development and functional capability.

Outlines

00:00

🏋️‍♂️ Muscle Building: Heavy vs. Light Weights

The paragraph discusses the effectiveness of heavy and light weights in muscle building. It presents a scenario where Jesse performs dumbbell bench presses with different weight ranges and rep maxes. The narrator challenges viewers to determine which approach is more effective for muscle growth. The video suggests that both heavy and light weights can be effective, depending on how they are applied within a training program. The importance of reaching true failure and understanding the repetition continuum is emphasized, along with the role of different stimuli like tension, eccentric overload, and metabolic stress in muscle growth.

05:01

🤔 The Subjectivity of Failure in Training

This paragraph delves into the concept of failure in the context of high rep ranges and how it becomes more subjective. It explains that while heavy weights can easily drive tension and lead to failure, lighter weights require a higher level of intensity to achieve the same effect. The narrator uses Jesse's workout as an example to illustrate that even with lighter weights, reaching true failure can lead to effective muscle growth. The importance of not just training for stress but also for size is highlighted, and the video encourages viewers to consider a balanced approach to their training.

10:02

📊 Training Breakdown for Different Goals

The final paragraph provides a detailed training breakdown for individuals with different goals, such as those over 50, strength-focused individuals, and hypertrophy-focused trainees. It suggests a 50-40-10 distribution for older individuals, with 50% in the moderate rep range, 40% in the light range, and 10% in the heavy range to maintain strength and function. For strength-focused individuals, the breakdown is 60% heavy work, 30% moderate, and 10% light work, emphasizing the neurological preparation and strengthening of weak points. For hypertrophy, the video recommends a 50% moderate, 25% heavy, and 25% light approach, stressing the importance of all three stimuli for optimal muscle growth. The paragraph concludes with a reminder that both heavy and light training are necessary for the most effective muscle development.

Keywords

💡Rep Max

Rep Max refers to the maximum number of repetitions one can perform with a given weight before reaching muscle failure. In the video, it is used to compare the effectiveness of heavy weights (8-10 rep max) versus lighter weights (20-30 rep max) for muscle growth. The script discusses how both rep ranges can be effective when applied correctly, depending on the individual's training goals and experience.

💡Muscle Hypertrophy

Muscle hypertrophy is the increase in muscle size or volume. The video's main theme revolves around understanding how different rep ranges can contribute to muscle hypertrophy. It emphasizes that both heavy and light weights, when properly applied, can lead to muscle growth.

💡Repetition Continuum

The repetition continuum refers to the spectrum of rep ranges that can be used in resistance training, from low reps with heavy weights to high reps with lighter weights. The video explains that different stimuli drive muscle growth across this continuum, and that effective training involves understanding and applying these stimuli correctly.

💡Eccentric Overload

Eccentric overload occurs when the muscle is subjected to more stress during the lowering (eccentric) phase of a movement compared to the lifting (concentric) phase. This concept is used in the video to explain how mid-range rep counts can contribute to muscle growth through increased muscle damage and recovery.

💡Metabolic Stress

Metabolic stress is the accumulation of metabolic byproducts in the muscles during high-rep, low-weight exercises, which can contribute to muscle growth. The video highlights that high rep ranges can be effective for building muscle due to the metabolic stress they create.

💡Failure

In the context of resistance training, failure refers to the point at which a muscle can no longer perform a repetition with proper form. The video emphasizes the importance of reaching true failure to maximize muscle growth, especially in higher rep ranges where the perception of effort is more subjective.

💡Training Frequency

Training frequency refers to how often a muscle group is trained within a given period. The video discusses how the after-effects of heavy training, such as muscle soreness, can impact training frequency and suggests that incorporating lighter weights can help maintain frequency without compromising muscle growth.

💡Strength Training

Strength training involves exercises aimed at increasing muscular strength. The video touches on the importance of including heavy weight training for maintaining strength and function, especially as one ages.

💡Neurological Preparation

Neurological preparation refers to the process of mentally and physically preparing the muscles for a workout. The video suggests that lighter weight training can serve as a form of neurological preparation, helping to activate and coordinate the muscles for subsequent heavier lifts.

💡Functionality

Functionality in fitness refers to the ability to perform everyday tasks with ease and efficiency. The video emphasizes the importance of not only building muscle size but also ensuring that the muscle can be used functionally.

💡Training Breakdown

A training breakdown is the distribution of different types of exercises (heavy, moderate, light) within a workout routine. The video provides specific recommendations for how to structure a workout to maximize muscle growth, strength, and functionality.

Highlights

The video discusses the effectiveness of heavy and lightweight training for muscle building.

Jesse's dumbbell bench press is analyzed for muscle building effectiveness.

The importance of reaching failure in both heavy and light training is emphasized.

A study is referenced suggesting muscle can be built with as low as 30% rep max.

Dr. Brad Schoenfeld's research supports muscle gain across a wide range of repetitions.

Three main stimuli for muscle growth are identified: heavy tension, eccentric overload, and metabolic stress.

The margin for error in applying these stimuli narrows as rep ranges increase.

Real failure is defined as the point where the weight cannot be moved anymore.

Lightweights can be effective for muscle building if failure is reached.

A balanced approach to training is recommended, incorporating heavy, moderate, and light weights.

For individuals over 50, a specific breakdown of rep ranges is suggested to maintain strength and function.

Lifting heavy slowly with controlled pace is recommended for older individuals.

Lightweight training is important for functional capability and should be part of a balanced program.

The video concludes that both heavy and light training are necessary for optimal muscle growth.

A link to a video on the 'three sets of 12 mentality' is promised for further information.

Full programs and meal plans are available at aex.com for a comprehensive approach to training.

Transcripts

so heavy weighs or lightweights which

one do you think builds more muscle well

you're about to find out but not before

you're about to be tested see check out

this clip of Jesse doing a dumbbell

bench press on the left a you'll see him

using an 8 to 10 rep max performing his

repetitions and on the right side B

you'll see he's using a much lighter

weight somewhere in the 20 to 30 rep max

and all he's doing here is again

performing these repetitions I want you

to analyze and tell me which one is more

effective

for building muscle be careful with your

choice because again we're going to

grade you when this is all said and done

and here on the left hand side he's

looks like he's getting ready to reach

failure and about does it okay but he's

still going over here at rep 18 there's

19 got a little Grimace on his face over

there looks kind of

uncomfortable

202 how far is Jesse gonna go here it

might matter for those of you that think

that light might be useful

here we are he's getting at

24 will he yeah no sorry so he gets 24

to failure okay what is your answer now

I know you could probably just fast

forward until you get the answer but

that would be cheating so what I'd

rather you do is even have to pause the

video leave your answer and why you feel

that way and don't go back and change it

later I want to know your real answer

now what is my answer well I think I

have to appeal to sort of the authority

here and I'm not it because apparently

in my last video where we talked about

repetitions and how many you should be

performing there was an expert there and

he left a comment and it said to build

muscle you have to use at least 80% rep

max so easy and they went on to say

directly at me show us how much you'll

increase the muscle with only 30% rep

max stop blah blah blah clown party guy

I'm not a party guy I don't know where

that came from then he proceeded to say

a next stop blah blah publish a study

proven that with only 30% rep max you

can increase the mass if not close this

Channel and then he says show me a

natural bodybuilder training with only

with 30% of rep max and once again stop

blah blah blah and party guy with the

hat now in the past I've actually

interacted with some of these guys and

one time in particular we called him

professor dickweed this is his cousin

Professor dick wagon but I have a reason

for that because if you answered

lightweight don't feel bad you actually

could be right if you answered

heavyweight

don't feel bad cuz you actually could be

right if you answer both that's what I

answer you're going to be right but it

requires an understanding of the

repetition Continuum here because when

you understand this you can make any of

these work and before we even have to go

any further he asked for studies there's

plenty of studies and not just studies

that prove that you can build muscle in

any of these rep ranges but there's

actually real science being done on this

every single day one of my friends Dr

Brad shonfeld has done plenty and I'll

let him him explain for dick wheat dick

Wagon in his own words why this is so so

I had always thought that if you're

doing anything over 12 to 15 repetitions

it's basically glorified cardio and that

you know it's just muscle endurance

you're not going to gain

muscle um the literature is now

compellingly showed I I just there's so

much literature on the topic our lab is

uh done quite a bit of research as well

as many others and it shows that you can

gain um muscle similar amounts of muscle

regardless of the loading across a wide

range of loading spectrums up to 30 to

even 40 repetitions which is a long

that's a long set and again that's a

large amount of research that's being

done to show this but it's driven by a

few different things namely the fact

that there's different stimuli here that

drives muscle growth the three main ones

being the heavy tension high tension we

get down here in these lower rep ranges

the Ecentric overload that's very

possible as we get to sort of these

midre ranges here and then the metabolic

stress that we can get as we get all the

way up into these higher repetitions but

knowing how to apply them is really

critical if you want to see the gains

from all these rep ranges and it might

just be that the person who did comment

here never experienced any success with

those higher rep ranges because he

didn't apply them right the first thing

you have to understand is that your

margin for error when applying these

different stimuli for growth comes very

very narrow when you get up into this

range meaning there's only one

repetition that's going to matter here

in terms of its ability to produce

growth and that will be the one

repetition that you do that takes you to

failure and I mean real failure hold on

to that for a second because down here

we know that we can drive heavy tension

just by lifting the weight if we're

using a two or three rep set it's really

heavy we know that right away and then

this area here applying those slower

Ecentric like I covered in our three

sets of 12 video that you're going to

want to check out at the end of this one

becomes an easy driver of overload and

also Ecentric muscle damage that we know

can cause growth but look what happens

here when we look at this rep scale

again this way subjectivity what happens

is that the scale of subjectivity

becomes very broad as we get into those

higher rep ranges meaning no one's going

to question what it feels like when you

reach failure here again we're not

talking about training for stress you

wouldn't really be training to failure

here but if you're training for size and

you're using heavier weights you know

when you hit failure you either can or

you can't when we get into this area it

starts to get a little bit more broad

but it's still pretty clear whether you

end your set to failure at 10 11 or 12

even the research will back up the fact

that whether you take it all the way to

failure or maybe a rep or too shy of

true failure you're still going to get

the same results but when we get up here

it starts to get so muddy

because what is real failure here are

you really reaching it when it starts to

burn that's not failure that is not

failure that's not enough of a stimulus

you have to get to that really high

level of intensity and it might happen

there or it might happen here or it

might happen here but it has to be a

specific number based upon your effort

let's go back to that set from Jesse and

let's watch if he had decided to stop at

the point he's going to stop even though

he's feeling a burn here I could tell by

the Grimace on his face

is that really a stopping point there I

mean I'm sure it was difficult but no we

have to rewind that pick those damn

dumbbells back up Jesse and keep going

and I'm not saying you could evaluate

everything based on the look on his face

or even the pace of the dumbbells but I

can tell you this he's getting more

repetitions which means he did not reach

failure and I'm talking about pushing

through this extreme level of burn until

those dumbbells cannot move anymore now

he's reached failure now that set has

become an effective one for building

muscle even though it was lightweights

and so if your answer to the quiz was

that yes lightweights is my choice for

building more muscle you could be right

could be because it depends also on what

you're doing right now I think it's safe

to say that we should all be doing all

of it and that was my original answer

both why is that because all of them

serve as a stimulus that you're going to

need to adopt at some point the guys

that want to always lift heavy are going

to find that that pathway will dry up at

some point so they start to Veer into

maybe this pathway or the Ecentric

overload that works really nicely in

this rep range but that creates muscle

damage that often times elicits muscle

soreness that can sometimes decrease

your training frequency because of the

after effects of having to train with

that delade onet muscle soreness so that

starts to become an impediment to you

continuing your training so then you

have to sort of say well what else do I

have and I do have this option and it

works really really well especially you

haven't been doing doing it in a while

and that's where I want to make some

recommendations cuz I think you might

think to yourself well how much of it

should I do then well let's say we

address the guys that are over 50

because a lot of us will talk about

these are the guys that have to stay

away from the heavy weights just lift

light I know that was my answer cuz I'm

an older guy no I don't recommend that

if you look at this chart here this is

my breakdown pretty much 50% of your

workload let's see see if you want to do

it in terms of something you can kind of

grasp think about your next 10 sets of

your next workout five of them should be

in the moderate rep range and that was

in that middle range there 6 to 12 your

heavy stuff heavy yes there should be

heavy here 10% of your work should be in

that heavy range and here 40% should be

in that light range now why is that

because I believe that the overvalue of

just lightweights here is a big mistake

for men as we age because we need to

maximize our strength and hold on to

every bit that we have and if you do do

not train in these heavier rep ranges

and load up exercises appropriately

you're going to lose your ability to

hold on to those type two muscle fibers

which are also going to be responsible

for you maintaining good strength and

function as you age you know decrease

all kinds of mortality risk so you want

to do that but how do you do it I always

recommend you still lift heavy but you

lift slower you keep your pace in

control so that you can be in command of

that weight and it will still be very

healthy and when we get away from all

the Reliance on light weight here we cut

down on some of those repetitions

because I will tell you despite the fact

that yes the load could be a factor the

rotations on the tire count too if all I

do is keep even if I had no weight in my

hand I kept doing this there is some

wear and tear in the joints that will

occur especially as you get older that

if you keep relying only on lightweight

it's not going to be the path that you

really want to go down so you want to

make sure you're veing into these two

categories too but certainly there's a

good amount of lightweight here being

used the next group here the strength

Focus guys now I get it you're focused

on strength and maybe again this video

is really geared more towards

hypertrophy but if you're focused on

strength then of course about 60% of

your work here is going to be focused on

doing that real heavy strength work and

then the 30% over here is still going to

be in the moderate range but there's

still going to be a portion and a place

for that light work as part of your

overall approach even if good friend

Matt wedding has his wedding warm-ups

that he plans as part of is training

what purpose do they serve number one

they serve a neurological preparation

purpose in other words they get your

muscles ready to perform and all these

auxiliary muscles that help out the

bigger muscles in performing those big

lifts are required and they should be

ready to work for you when you need them

and that's what these do and they also

help to strengthen the weak muscles the

weak points because you're only as

strong as your weakest link and when

that weak link undermines your strength

you'll know it so you want to make sure

that you're still working on them here

and for the hypertrophy fol Focus guys

which is most of us who just want to

build muscle what should your breakdown

be again 50% I believe should be here in

that moderate range 25% an equal amount

to what we do for our heavy work should

be broken down as follows why is this

cuz what I just said you're going to

need to build yourself around all three

stimuli tension Ecentric stress and

metabolic overload if you want to build

the most amount of muscle and dancing

between these is the dance you need to

learn and you weave from one to the

other but I can tell you that having a

place in your training for that lighter

work even if it's just body weight

training is incredibly important to not

just building the most muscle but being

the most functionally capable I can do

something with the muscle I put on my

body I'm not just someone that can looks

good on stage but I actually can perform

with it you're going to need to do some

of this light work but make sure when

you do that you're doing it the right

way and you're applying that intensity

that Focus that high effort learn to

live with the burn and then go further

until you can't even sustain another rep

that being said you might get fatigued

from doing that you don't really

mentally have the focus to do that over

and over again that's fine only 25% of

it needs to be there you still got these

other areas that you can work with the

bottom line guys is if you want to build

the most muscle you must do both heavy

and light and that other video that I

promised you I will link for you right

over here where you can learn more about

that three sets of 12 mentality all

right guys I hope you found it helpful

full programs over at aex.com where we

show you how to do exactly this and

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all right guys see you

soon