Why lift heavy weights!

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There are several reasons to lift heavy weights when your looking to tone or lose weight.  Not only will lifting heavy weights allow you to gain muscle a little quicker (the more muscle you have the more weight you can lose, or the more food and drink you can eat) its great for overall strength and injury prevention

 

WEIGHT LOSS

1 pound of muscle burns 50kcals a day. That basically means it requires 50 kcals worth of energy to keep the muscle cells alive. 350kcals a week or 1400kcals a month (1/2 a pound of fat). So 2 pounds of muscle is 1 pound of fats worth of energy and 4 lbs of muscle is 2 lbs fats worth of energy. Or basically 2 lbs of weight loss a month (assuming you eat the same and do the same exercise.

 

4lbs oif muscle is actually not alot. We would expect everyone starting out in exercise to gain 2lbs of muscle in their first 6-8 weeks if theyre doing a mixture of cardio training at a reasonable level. rower, x trainer, classes etc. If your doing interval training and weights you will gain even more, upto 4lbs of muscle. 

 

Within two months of training you could be losing 2 lbs of fat a month on top of what your losing from eating healthy and exercise. Or of course you could just eat or drink more,  and not gain weight.

 

 

STRONGER BODY 

Lifting heavy weights make more muscles work. If you lift a light weight then only the muscles your are specifically using (the ones causing the movement are working. With heavy weights, so many more muscles have to help out. Your trunk muscles, core muscles and even legs all have to brace so you can lift the heavy weight. This is true for every weights exercise there is. 

 

Lifting heavy gets you stronger overall. 

 

HOW HEAVY?

 

How heavy a weight is, is only relivent to how strong sonmeone is. So 5kg may be heavy for one person while 40kg may be light for another. Heavy weights is a rep range rather than an actual weight. 

 

Light weights         15+ reps

Medium weights     10-15 weights

Heavy weights        Less than 10 Reps  

 

So next time your in the gym try upping your weight a little bit and do less reps. 

 

* If you are complete beginner, begin with 15-20 reps for the first 4 weeks, then increase the weight so you lift only 12-15 reps for the next 4 weeks. After 8 weeks you can drop down to 10 reps. This is because your tendons develop strength slower than muscles so it important not to go too heavy too soon. REMEMBER heavy is not how much effort you put in, but how reps you lift. You can try hard from the beginning.