Many people who workout are so obsessed with hoisting the heaviest weights they can that they sometimes lose track of the original purpose of lifting the weight – which is to stimulate muscle growth.
While it’s true that lifting heavier weights is necessary in order to grow bigger muscles, you should not do it at the expense of poor form. Not a day goes by at the gym where I don’t see people jerking their bodies back and forth trying to lift weights their body can’t handle. The truth is, lifting very heavy weights that your body can’t handle does not automatically improve your physique. In fact, it can be detrimental not only to your muscular gains but also to the body. Have I got your attention yet?
You still don’t believe me?
Perhaps a good example would be weightlifting/powerlifting athletes. We all know that weight lifting is a sport that demands tremendous explosive power, strict technique and discipline. Most of us would have seen weighlifting events during the Olympics coverage on TV. They lift and train with amazing poundages, but yet – most do not develop what most of us consider to be a ‘pleasant’ or a bodybuilder’s physique. Don’t get me wrong – they’re BIG and STRONGER than bodybuilders, and weightlifters are amazing athletes who excel in their own sport. It’s just that their physique is something most of us dont normally dream of getting. Picture 1 below is that of someone who trains like a bodybuilder, and Picture 2, a weightlifter. Need I say more?
To stimulate muscle growth, you should stick to a rep range of 8 – 12 reps (strength training and endurance training have different rep ranges). And this 8 – 12 reps means that you should NOT be able to complete more than 12 reps when these are reps done in strict form. If you find yourself being able to carry more than 12 reps – you need to add more weight to bring your reps down.
So, if given the option of using lighter weight with strict form OR using heavier weight with lousy form, by all means – use the lighter weight with strict form! When you lift heavy weights you can’t handle, you will have the tendency to swing the weights rather than moving it in a controlled manner. Swinging heavy weights has no benefit other than feeding your ego.
Always ‘feel’ the weight and have absolute control of the weight at all times, when you squeeze the weight up and also when you’re controlling the descent. Some people enforce a 2-seconds UP, and 2-seconds DOWN movement to ensure that they’re not swinging the weights around.
Remember, that whenever you step into the gym, to forget about ‘competing’ with the others. The purpose for you to be there is to take care of the most important person – YOU. Leave your ego at the entrance before you step inside.
Occasionally, advanced lifters do lift weights that they are unable to handle – but this is referred to as ‘controlled cheating’. When done in a safe and controlled manner, this allows for the extra bit of overload sometimes necessary to spawn continual muscle growth in seasoned athletes. This is another topic altogether.
Just remember – lift to build your physique, and not your ego.
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This post was written by...
Noel Chelliah, ACE-CPT, ACE-LWMC, has been recognized as one of the Top Transformation Experts in Malaysia. No stranger to being overweight himself, Noel has gone through a life-changing transformation himself, from fat, to fit. In 2010, Noel founded the DailyMuscle Body Transformation Camp, which today helps hundreds of individuals exercise and practice healthier habits. In his spare time, Noel serves the community with various programs that promote a healthier lifestyle, and enjoys playing with his dogs.
My name is Noel Chelliah, and I’m a Transformation Specialist and founder of the 
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
about the rep thing.. it really deoends on individual. But I think when I restrat my training again. I shall try to stick to 12 reps only as opposed to my current 15reps, 3 sets coz I find it too time-consuming for one!
ANd since I wanna try training for 4 days(instead of my current alternate 3 days weight and 2 days cardio) I might also wanna take on diffferent workout regime as opposed to my full body workout for 4 days! which explained why I might have overtrained and again time-consuming. Wat do u think?
steveneleven: for muscle growth, the ideal rep range is 8 – 12. When you increase your poundages, try a weight that only allows you to lift at most 8 at first. Slowly, as you get stronger, you will be able to lift 12. Then you add more weight to bring your reps down to 8 again.
And yes, a change every now and then in your workout routine is always a good thing to ensure your body is challenged and keeps guessing. I don’t believe in full body workouts if you’re planning on seriously developing your physique. It’s okay as a beginner.. but as you progress, you would want to train different bodyparts on different days. This allows more focus and more intense workouts and more time for recovery.
Cheers.
P.S : How’s the Cellmass coming along? Broke any dumbells in your gym yet? Ha ha. :P
haah CELLMASS.. hmm I am taking it tho I am off training this week. Well I can say one thing, I’m not as bloated as when I took Monohydrate.
But I am curious abt cellmass, coz u take it AFTER a workouit as opposed to B4 workout with Mono. I plan to take mono again after I finish my cellmass as I felt it gives me the OMPHH during my workout, we’ll see, time will tell on the cellmass, it might just not work for me only hehe. Anyway, any creatine is expensive to me it seem. hehe. Oh yea, Optimum taste great!
perhaps I should take it easy and not rush things, otherwise I will over-train again
Hi! Great to see you guys having a hell load of fun here! My thoughts on overtraining? I’d rather train light consistantly than train heavy but not consistantly. Overtraining suxks ballz. I once trained 800reps on bench presses where by one set was 50reps each. Man, shrinking was the keyword. My policy; Train till you feel good. Go for your instincts. fcuk what the rest says. Do what you do. If they dont respect you for it, you can ask them to fcuk off. Anyway thats my opinion. if you dont like you can fcuk off too.
Anyway, steveneleven glad to know you’re now on CellMass. The main purpose of cellmass is to speed recovery and act as a cell volumizer. OOMPH and strength comes from stuff such as NO-Xplode. Cellmass gives you excellent muscle size after a cycle. It gives your muscles a good swollen feeling. and you’ll notice your muscles enlarging. Creatine monohydrate retains and absorbs water into your muscles. Cellmass engorges your body cells with nutrients making your muscles larger. Remember high school science? Cells > Tissues > Muscles.
Thats my food for thought for today. Hit me back, else i’ll hit you.
tim: 800 reps on bench press? Geez.. you must have been bedridden by all that soreness the next day. But if you ask me, ‘stunts’ like those are actually pretty okay once in a blue moon in order to shock some new growth into your system. But maybe not 800 reps though.
And i totally agree with you on training by instinct. Sometimes I walk into the gym all psyched up to train a certain bodypart. When that happens.. I often follow instinct. Same goes for the poundages I use. I dont follow textbook. After all, we’re just – we aint competing for the Olympia. If we are.. well then thats a totally different story.
steveneleven & tim : hmm.. now you’ve got me excited about cellmass… *opens wallet to check cash*
Cheers people. Have a great weekend.
There is a school of thought were you go heavy and do no more than 6 reps. I have tried both method below 6 and 8-12 reps, some how, what works for me is start to failure method. This is roughly 6-8 reps. Whats ur thought?
6 reps? yeah failure. Failure sadly enough doesnt account for the pump. There aint no point if you got up till failure but 10 minutes later you could still force out more reps… no pump only puncture.
If you ask me, we all still lack that mental focus to really force out real quality 6 reps (ala animals). 6reps plus the pump yeah thats good but normally the case is were just not strong enough to really dish out the kind of pain that is needed to stimulate growth with just 18-24 reps (3-4sets)
Its gotta be slow on the concentric and even slower on the eccentric motions on your own for 6 reps( and with a buddy at least 8).
I rather use the pyramid system or just supersetting to blow myself off (get dailymuscle to get the articles for you…hehehehe).
Ganee: I think if you fail at 8 reps.. thats pretty okay to me. As long as you feel that you’ve given your bodypart a decent blasting. As for me, I tend to stick within the 8 – 12 rep range, and would sometimes perform a drop-set* for my last set to ensure I’ve really exhausted the muscle.
Drop-set = You begin by reaching failure with a weight, as soon as you hit failure, lessen the weight, and then continue the set until failure is reached again.
Daily: drop-set sounds hardcore, meaning u dropt he set immediatly after failure and continue to lift without rest right?
Tim: 800 reps is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond, thaht the point where it says “are u nuts?” hehehehe
steveneleven: Yeah, you continue to lift with hardly any rest. It’s a proven technique to help you get better gains.. but not to be overused as it could easily lead to overtraining.
this is the dumbest article i have ever seen…a picture of someone with low body fat and a picture of a superheavy weightlifter…..there are plenty of lighter weightlifters with very good physiques
john: Yes there are, but TYPICALLY, a majority of weightlifters have significantly different physiques when compared to a bodybuilder. Why? simply because their FOCUS is not on their aesthetics, but their sport – which emphasizes strength, power and speed, and not the physique. A bodybuilder’s focus is different, often resulting in a more leaner physique. I was painting a typical scenario. :)
its pretty obvious that DM has never seen a picture of Pyrros Dimas. ha! :P
trey: Nope… haven’t. Plus… this writeup was written almost 2 years ago… so gimme a break lah! heh heh.
hehe its always fun to poke around in the older threads :)
anyways, do search for Pyrros Dimas on youtube, or google him. He was the greatest greek olympic lifter of all time. Snatched almost 2.5 of his bodyweight, and Clean & Jerked 230kg+ @ bodyweight of 85kg.
amazing, pound for pound.. one of the strongest human ever lived. his built is not all that pretty, but solid good ol muscle (far from the fat guy’s picture you posted up in this thread..haha)