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10. Brain gainz - “heavy” is relative
20 Plays25 days ago
When the goal is to build muscle & get stronger, it’s not enough to “lift weights”. We have to lift heavy enough to send a signal to our muscles to grow. If we don’t lift heavy enough, we simply won’t see the changes we want to see.
However, “heavy” is relative to many factors.
In this episode, I’m going over some of those factors that affect our ability to lift heavy and also shed light on how heavy can mean more than just high # of lbs lifted depending on how an exercise is programmed.
Was there something I said on the show that you want to know more about? Have a topic you'd like me to cover? Fill out the form below!
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Transcript
Introduction to Lifting Heavy
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, my friends. Welcome back. We are going to be talking today um about heavy. Lifting heavy in your workouts is required in order to build muscle, in order to get stronger. However,
00:00:16
Speaker
Heavy is relative. And for somebody who is newer to strength training versus just like high intensity interval or, you know, just working out to burn calories, if I say, hey you need to be lifting heavy enough, that's pretty vague, right? And so um I'm excited to take today to talk a little bit more about specifically as it relates to strength training, how, yes, it is 100% mandatory that we are lifting heavy enough.
00:00:46
Speaker
in order to get stronger, in order to build muscle, but heavy is relative. There are a few different variables um as it relates to what heavy actually means, okay? And some of these things are within our control and some of these things are outside of our control, but I feel like the more that we understand um what we are looking for when we are trying to build muscle, when we're trying to get stronger, the better able we're gonna be able to show up for ourselves because we know what we're looking for and we can therefore self-gauge and say, i can do more next time or oh that might have even been too much. I need to take it down a notch, right? Quality over quantity.
Difference Between General Workouts and Strength Training
00:01:25
Speaker
um And so I will say, first of all, there is a difference between working out and training, okay? Working out is a very general, broad, vague term. Anything can technically be a workout. That can be a leisurely walk to doing a high-intensity interval training workout for an hour um to Olympic weightlifting. You know, like working out is just simply exercising. It's moving your body. Versus training, we are following a structured strength training pork program with a purpose. Okay. The purpose is to, you know, maybe get stronger, maybe build muscle, maybe just simply increase your muscular endurance. Um, you know, you're training for a purpose, right? And so training, when you're following a structured strength training program, when we are trying to get stronger and build muscle, we want to make sure that that program is following progressive overload type training, um principles. Okay. And that basically just means that we are trying to do more over time. So we're trying to lift heavier weight over time in that same exact exercise. um
00:02:32
Speaker
And, you know, obviously we are going to increase our weight slowly week after week, but then that kind of points to the idea that when you are training,
00:02:43
Speaker
you are practicing the same exercises over and over and over again. Okay. So you're going to do the same workout routine for weeks on end with the intention of, uh, doing more right and lifting heavier weight. Um,
00:02:58
Speaker
Doing more can also be, hey, you're just getting better at that movement pattern with each week that you practice. You're more fluid.
Challenges of Building Muscle
00:03:05
Speaker
You're doing it more accurately, you know, things like that. You're not struggling as much. And so that's training. Okay. Difference between working out and training. um And when the goal is to to build muscle and get stronger, we have to lift heavy enough in order to send a signal to our body that to respond how we wanted to, aka get stronger, right?
00:03:29
Speaker
But oftentimes um when I'm working with a newer client, especially females, um predominantly females, they have a um concern that they don't want to get bulky. And I understand that. I completely understand that. um But the thing is, is that It is it's extremely hard to build muscle, and I don't think a lot of people understand that it is very difficult to build build muscle. Well, let me back up. It's easy to build muscle. It is um it just takes time. OK, it takes time and it takes a lot of dedication. You're not just going to. build muscle overnight. Okay. You're not going to accidentally build muscle. It really does take concerted effort week after week, day after day, making sure you are sleeping enough. Your muscle cannot grow unless you are getting enough sleep, period. That that basically it cannot happen. Uh, also not getting enough sleep will promote muscle breakdown. So you're going to have the opposite effect, you know? Um, if you're not eating enough food, right. So that means you got to take a break from fat loss, that you have to take a break from the deficit. You have to take a break from, um you know, dieting and you have to intentionally eat enough to fuel that muscle growth. Um, you got to make sure that we are eating enough protein. You know what i mean? Like
00:04:43
Speaker
Things have to happen. So you can still be following the best workout program, um strength training, progressive overload, you're lifting heavy, but like also those things, if they are not taken into consideration consistently, you're not going to see the muscle growth um that you are trying to see, right?
00:05:02
Speaker
So anyways, all of that to say when, you know, females, when they express concern that they don't want to get bulky, um okay, valid. Let's, you know, let's kind of like decode that a little bit,
Debunking Muscle Myths
00:05:14
Speaker
right? Let's talk about that. And those are kind of some of the things that I explained to them, if you will, right? And I will say too,
00:05:23
Speaker
You know, females specifically are mostly after the long lean muscle, right? They don't want the bulky muscle. And I will say, guys, there is you build one kind of muscle. you You don't build lean muscle. You don't build long muscle versus like bulky muscle. You're either building muscle or you're not building muscle. Like muscle is muscle. Um,
00:05:45
Speaker
I mean, we have fast twitch muscle fibers and slow twitch muscle fibers. That's more for like how your body actually moves when you're working out and what kind of workouts you're doing to, um you know, recruit slow twitch or fast twitch. But when you're talking about what you look like, um you're either building muscle or you're not. There is no long versus bulky versus any of that. And so it's kind of just like breaking down some of these, know,
00:06:12
Speaker
just these fallacies in the fitness world that we have come to adopt as truth. And i think sometimes when we understand what we are doing from a big bird's eye view, we're better able to say, okay, I don't have to be worried about getting bulky as much as I'm trying to build muscle because helping or because chasing that muscle growth is Definitely not only going to help my overall health investing in my future, right?
00:06:41
Speaker
But it's, of course, going to help you with a lot of physical goals that people have. If your goal is to um lose fat and then building muscle is in your best interest, right? Muscle is basically metabolism. And so the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism. And so if we're trying to lose fat, yeah, we want your metabolism as high as we can, right? So we want to build and preserve muscle. um So anyways, all of that to say, ah it is very important that we understand that unless we are doing certain things, we're not going to see that muscle growth. um But also at the same time, we are all we're basically only chasing one kind of muscle growth because there is no bulk versus
Factors Influencing Perceived Heaviness
00:07:22
Speaker
long, right? But heavy is relative to a lot of things. um
00:07:27
Speaker
For example, um kind of i just mentioned this briefly, your habits are going to determine how heavy something is, right? You can be doing the exact same workout. We're going to use squats as an example.
00:07:43
Speaker
for a lot of what we're talking about. We're going use squats as an example, and it's the very first exercise that you're doing. So you're doing it with fresh energy. Okay. If you are day after day, week after week, you are sleeping enough. You are, um, uh,
00:08:00
Speaker
eating enough food, you are eating enough protein, you're doing all the quote unquote right things, right? you You're doing your squats, first workout of the day, first workout of the week, and man, you are invincible. You are PR-ing, your mind-muscle connection is on point, like best workout of your life. Compared to same workout, same day of the week, same first exercise of that workout, but you did not get great sleep last night, or maybe you haven't slept great for a few days. Just that one change, that one variable.
00:08:35
Speaker
That squat is likely not going to be as good as the squat when everything was like sunshine and rainbows. If you're not sleeping, that's directly going to affect your, um first of all, your gains. But second of all, that's going to directly affect your performance. And so you could be doing the exact same workout, but if your habits are not there, and if we are not, you know, getting that sleep and food and all of that stuff, well, you're probably not going to be able to lift that same amount of weight that you were PRing when you were recovering because you were sleeping and all of those things. And so heavy is relative to our lifestyle also. You know what i mean? And that is another reason why we want to focus on are we working out or are we training, right? Like thinking more of a of an athlete, less of somebody who just simply works out, right?
00:09:27
Speaker
ah Athletes, they train, they refuel, they are intentional, right? And so they are, yes, I'm working out, I'm lifting weights, but I'm also complimenting that one activity with how how I handle the rest of my day, right? um and And same, same, if you are not eating number one, enough food, but also enough balance within those calories, that's gonna directly affect your strength, right? That's gonna directly affect, hey, I was PR-ing last week and this week, that weight is impossible. I have to drop down weight. Okay, well, it's not that there's a problem with you, but that points towards, okay, well, what can we focus
Exercise Placement in Routines
00:10:11
Speaker
on, right? If we were able to lift so much heavier and have better mind-muscle connection when we were doing these things, and we have lack of strength because we're not doing those things, okay, well then we focus on those things. You know what i mean? Like that that gives us some action items that we can actually focus on um within our fitness journey, right?
00:10:34
Speaker
So heavy is relative to your habits, to your lifestyle. um And that's gonna directly affect how heavy something is, which is one of the reasons why we wanna focus on our habits. um You know, it's not enough to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle to just simply focus on what you eat and your workouts. There's a lot more that we can be focusing on outside of those two factors. Okay.
00:10:59
Speaker
ah Heavy is also going to be relative um based on exercise selection. Okay. So kind of going back to when you're following or when the goal is to build muscle and get stronger, you should be following a structured strength training program. You shouldn't just be doing random workouts. um And so within that structured strength training program, let's use a six-week training.
00:11:22
Speaker
ah training cycle as an example, okay? You're doing the exact same workouts every single week. Every Monday is the same, Tuesday is the same, so on and so forth, okay? And so let's say squats on the very first workout of the very first day, we have all the fresh energy and we are PRing, we are lifting to our max, hey, life is good. Okay, after those six weeks, we might do another six weeks of squats. However, we might put that same squat exercise at the last exercise of your last workout of the week.
00:12:01
Speaker
Well, I'm sure you can appreciate you're not going to feel as strong on that second scenario. You know what i mean? You are, you've exerted a lot more energy. You have pre-fatigued those muscles. um And so therefore you're simply not going to be able to lift as heavy, right?
00:12:18
Speaker
And so heavy is relative to exercise selection. um and And it's not necessarily saying, again, there's an issue with you. Like, man, I just, I don't know what's wrong with me. I just can't lift enough. Hey, listen, trainers, we are tricky. We will find a way to make sure that we are continuously being challenged doing the same movement pattern. So we're not having to reinvent the wheel, but we are challenging our body differently. And that is an example of how we are challenging our body differently while also
00:12:51
Speaker
practicing those same movement patterns, right? To help us see as much progress as we can.
Impact of Reps and Rest on Weight Perception
00:12:55
Speaker
um You might even, you know, speaking in terms of ah a workout specifically or a routine specifically, your reps are and your rest timer will directly affect how strong and how heavy you can go as well. Okay? So example again, squats, right? If I'm going to ask you to do six squats versus 12 squats,
00:13:22
Speaker
those weights are going to be very different six squats compared to 12, okay? And if that's new information for you, typically speaking, the the lower the rep prescription, that is going to indicate, hey, I want you to lift heavier, okay? Compared to the higher the rep prescription, hey, we need to reduce that weight, okay? So lower reps, heavier weight,
00:13:46
Speaker
versus higher reps, lower weight, right? And so that squat, you might be able to, let's just say, squat 100 pounds for your sixth rep.
00:13:56
Speaker
Well, you won't be able to lift 100 pounds for double that. So of course, we are going to drop that weight down to make it more realistic. You're still being challenged. It's just not necessarily the same load. That's still heavy, but heavy is relative to the ah the rep scheme that I'm asking you to do, right? We might utilize higher rep prescriptions if we are trying to um build a little bit more muscular endurance rather than specifically focus on strength, right? Strength, you're typically going to see lower rep schemes, like one to six reps, Uh, uh, endurance, you're typically going to see higher rep schemes. Like, i mean, this is very vague, but you know, somewhere in between like the eight to 12 or even higher rep scheme.
00:14:47
Speaker
And so you can still be doing that same exercise. Weight selection is going to be very different, but that challenge is still going to be there. And just because you're lifting half of the weight for your higher reps doesn't mean you're not lifting heavy. Right. Um,
00:15:04
Speaker
And also at the same time, heavy can be relative to the rest time. Okay. When your goal is to build muscle, when your goal is to build strength, we need to make sure that we are resting in between our, our sets, our exercises and our sets.
00:15:20
Speaker
You should not be able to do burpees. during your rest time. if If you are able to do burpees, if you are able to do any other kind of exercise in your rest time, that's a clear indicator you didn't go heavy enough, okay? That's a clear indicator that you should be able to do more on your next time. Your rest time should feel required. Your rest time should feel appropriate, okay?
00:15:42
Speaker
um But if we are, let's say really trying to raise endurance in a muscle group, the more endurance we have in that muscle group, the more weight it's going to be able to to lift, you know, over time, of course, right? And so if we are trying to increase your endurance level in that muscle group, Hey, you might see shorter rest times, okay? So we might be hitting squats with one-minute rest time, going back to squats, one-minute rest time, compared to, hey, no, i want you to get strong today. We are focusing on strength. We're going to do our squats with less reps, six reps, and we're going to rest for like two to five minutes. Long, long time, because we have to allow our body
00:16:29
Speaker
to recover, um let that heart rate come down so that we can go again, but not start that next set from a strength deficit, right? We're fresh. We're good to go. We recovered. Let's go again. And that's how we you know continue to see progress.
00:16:43
Speaker
If we're not resting long enough, our body's never going to have an opportunity to lift to its true potential. And so seeing different rest timers might indicate, hey, we're really trying to focus on building endurance rather than you know, chasing straight up strength. You know what I mean You're still getting stronger. We're still lifting heavy relative to that exercise within that rep prescription, within that rest timer. Okay.
Compound vs. Isolation Movements
00:17:09
Speaker
um And then the other thing is, and this is so common, this is so, so common. There is a difference between multi-joint compound movements and accessory isolation movements. Okay. For example, a, uh, I was going to say shoulder press, but guys, let's just, let's keep on with the same theme. Okay. We're just going to keep talking about squats. So a squat is a compound movement. We are using many joints. We are using many different muscle groups in order to complete that one exercise compared to, let's say a leg extension, a quad extension. Okay. So in a squat,
00:17:48
Speaker
your quads are one of the primary muscles that are you know helping you complete that exercise. Well, in a leg extension, we are isolating the quads, okay? Nothing else is really moving in a quad extension, okay? Both are targeting your quads, if you will.
00:18:04
Speaker
ah But we are, of course, going to be able to lift much heavier in a squat than we would be able to in a leg extension. Okay. And I say that because that might sound like, well, yeah, duh, that makes sense. But I can't tell you how many times I'm working with somebody And we get to a lateral raise and they they always leave a comment in their workout. And they're basically telling me like, I was only able to do 10 pounds on my lateral raise, knowing that they can overhead press, you know, 50, 60, 70 pounds. And so they basically, they they share these comments almost as a way of them telling me, because they know I'm looking at their workout. Hey, no, I really pushed. It was only 10 pounds, but like, just know I pushed. And it's like,
00:18:49
Speaker
I know that, but do you know that? You know what i mean? Like, that's a perfect coaching ah coaching opportunity, but like, do you know that? And so there's a difference between accessory lifts versus like, you know, compound multi-joint, like max lifts. You know what i mean?
00:19:03
Speaker
um and And all of that to say, we might see different variations. Like I had this a few training blocks ago. We did a chest press, but it was with a cable. Okay. And so, you know, obviously a chest press traditionally we're laying down. And so we're obviously pressing that weight over our chest line. Well, when we're working with a cable, we're not laying down. We are actually vertically oriented, okay? And we're facing away from the cable. And that same motion, a chest press, you're not going to be able to lift as heavy using a cable as you would be able to, ah comparatively speaking, to a bar or dumbbells, okay?
00:19:44
Speaker
Same exercise, but heavy is relative to the equipment that we are using, Okay. um And so that's kind of like my last point here is, yes, okay, we can still be doing that same exercise, but depending on the equipment I'm asking you to use, that's going to very much change how intense that exercise is or how heavy you're able to go, right, in that exercise.
Intensity and Self-Check in Lifting
00:20:09
Speaker
um And so all of that to say, you know, again, kind of just like in recap, we do need to make sure that we are lifting heavy enough, right? Like we have to bring the training intensity.
00:20:21
Speaker
It's not enough to just like lift weights. And that's one of the biggest mistakes that I see when it's somebody newer to the strength training program. um is it's not enough to just go through the motions. I mean, sometimes we go through the motions because, hey, the other the other alternative was to not show up. And so, yes, we're counting that as a win, showing up and going through the motions. But if we are trying, um you know, to to chase something, if we are working out training for a purpose, right, um then we we have to bring the intensity. We can't just go through the motions. We can't just follow the program as it's written. We have to be constantly checking in with ourselves, right? um Using that ah rest time example, if we're getting to that rest time and we're like bored watching the clock, wondering why we have to rest and you want to do burpees, Hey, that's checking in with yourself. That's owning your choices. And that's saying, okay, next time we need to go a little bit heavier. Okay. So that we can push a little bit more. So we need that rest time. Um, and so we do have to make sure that we are lifting heavy enough, right? However, i hope that these kind of gave you some examples as far as like heavy is relative. Are we doing what we need to do outside of our workouts to be able to lift as heavy as we possibly can to see those changes that we want to see, right?
00:21:40
Speaker
And again, i you know, I get not everybody is here to like build muscle and strength, but hey, that's what we're talking about. Yeah. If the goal is to build muscle and strength, these things are facts. If you're not sleeping, you're not going to get stronger. You're not going to build muscle. You're just going to continue to break it down. If you're constantly dieting, you're not going to be able to build a booty. It's just simply not going to happen. um And so, you know, it's it's just important to kind of just understand if we are lifting heavy enough, a couple of tips here.
00:22:09
Speaker
and I already used the rest time example a few times. So moving on from that, if your last couple of reps are not naturally slower than your first couple of reps, you're not lifting heavy enough, right? Your first few reps, we're fresh. We have the most energy, right? So we're able to go probably a little bit faster. But over time, you're exerting all that energy. You're using all that energy. And so your body is going to struggle to lift that same load the more reps that you do. And so if you're, you know, not even breaking a sweat, if you're not making weird faces at the end of your sets, um then no, we we need to be going
Stepping Out of Comfort Zone with Weights
00:22:52
Speaker
heavier, okay? And it takes it takes experience to experience what that feels like. It also takes... um
00:23:01
Speaker
Sometimes kind of getting out of your comfort zone, because I think a lot of times we look at the number of pounds on the bar or number of pounds on the machine or the dumbbells, and we mentally say, that's a lot.
00:23:15
Speaker
We see that number and we say, oh, surely that's a lot. You know what i mean? But really, we have to remember your body doesn't know how many pounds you're lifting. Your body just knows If the load is heavy enough or it's not heavy enough, if the load is heavy enough, that load is going to send a signal to your muscles and we're going to see one um outcome, right?
00:23:39
Speaker
If it's not heavy enough, that signal is not going to be sent to your muscles and we're going to see a very different outcome. And so I think that it takes experience feeling what it feels like um to really truly lift heavy enough, especially those who are coming from a background of again, just focused on working out, trying to be challenged and basically, you know, burning calories, getting out of breath, sweating, things like that. It takes experiencing, okay, there is a difference between i am so out of breath because I'm doing burpees versus I physically cannot lift this weight over my head and I'm shaking, fighting for that last rep. You know what i mean? um and also too i think
00:24:21
Speaker
the more that you can just try. Try to see what you're capable of. You will surprise yourself as it relates to, wow, I didn't know that I could lift that. Just try it.
00:24:36
Speaker
Try is the key word, right? Sometimes we try things and we succeed. Sometimes we try things and we don't succeed. But as long as we try, okay? And that's kind of what it's all about is try it. Heavy is relative to the exercise that we're doing The rep, you know, prescription, the selection, all of those things, isolation versus main lift.
Recap and Motivation to Push Limits
00:24:56
Speaker
But we have to try. we have to We have to see what we're capable of. And when we can see what we're capable of and we can experience, oh, now I know what that feels like. We're getting better at identifying what heavy means for us in specific exercises, right? And that's how you grow. That's how you learn more about what you're capable of. You learn more about your body. That's how you become more in tune with your body and things like that. That's you evolve, if you will.
00:25:25
Speaker
Um, so I hope that that was kind of helpful. ah I love talking about training. So if there's anything that I said in this, uh, podcast that maybe, you know, sparked a question or something that you want me to kind of elaborate on or anything like that, don't forget there's a form in the, in the caption of each and every single episode where I want to hear from you. Okay. If there's ever anything that you kind of want me to go over, um, let's talk about it. All right. I got plenty of time. in these podcast episodes. Hopefully I had your attention throughout them all, but um all of that to say, i hope that this was helpful for you. I hope that this kind of like helped give you a little bit more clarification. You know, heavy heavy is a non-negotiable, but heavy can also be relative to all of those things, okay? So,
00:26:10
Speaker
I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. Don't forget, lift heavy things, ah eat enough food, protein matters, go to bed, all your habits matter, okay? Have a great rest of your day, guys, and until next time, bye.