What scares you the most about lifting heavy weights?
Becoming too big?
Looking too manly?
Fear that you may actually enjoy it?
Whatever the reason, for us men none of the above have ever really been a
problem. For women on the other hand, the above (a least the first two) are very
common and are feared within every gym around the world.
So why am I trying to tempt you to train with heavy weights?
Especially as it’s a fact that women can and actually do put on muscle easier
than men when it comes to the legs department (a little known fact actually).
Now I’m not saying that you’ll end up with legs like Tom Platz (seriously, google
that name) but when you do start out, you will have more growth in that region.
This is where, as I’ve mentioned before in part 1 and 2, we need an even
balance. This is exactly where heavy lifting comes in due to shorter times under
tension.
Let me explain.
Say you’re squatting for 15 repetitions (common rep scheme) at a tempo of
2020, meaning 2 seconds to lower yourself into the squat and 2 seconds to bring
yourself up out of the squat. The 0’s are pauses in the lower and raising phase.
Anyway, in total 1 rep = 4 seconds…right?
So 15 reps x 4 = 60 seconds, now your trainer may have you doing the more
common 4020 (4 seconds to lower, 2 seconds to rise) equalling to 90 seconds.
So your ‘time under tension’ could amount from 60 seconds to 90 seconds for
every set.
Multiply that by 4 sets and you could have between 4 minutes to 6 minutes
under tension.
That’s quite a bit of time under tension!
If however, we apply heavier weights, we have no choice but to lower the
repetitions and therefore endure less time under tension.
Eg,
If we doubled our weight that we were using for our 15 reps squat and decided
to drop the rep down to 5 reps, here’s how it would look….
Squat 5 reps at 2020 tempo (4 seconds = 1 rep) x 5 reps = 20 seconds for 1 set.
Already this has dramatically lowered our time under tension but at the same
time increased our EPOC level (part 2) and is working our deeper more dense
muscles.
This is exactly what heavy training does; in fact back in the old days when
Arnold Schwarzenegger ruled the universe (Mr. Universe that is) they would
often train very heavy prior to competition. This heavy training would add
density to the muscle rather than them just being big and soft.
It also meant that when they were cutting down on the carbohydrates, they
were able to continue training due to the short intensity of the exercises (ie, 20
seconds sets).
What’s even better is this muscle that you build through heavy lifting does seem
to have a denser feel and hangs around a lot longer.
I guarantee, if you try heavy training you WILL get some fantastic results. But, if
you try an exercise programme like the one I’ve wrote in part 4. You’ll be
amazed!!!!
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