To heavy or not to heavy? That's the question.

Trainers nowadays offer different kinds of advice regarding weightlifting. And everyone has a different approach. But are any of the approaches wrong? Let’s find out.

As I have discussed before, activities involving short periods of work, involving explosive movements, pushing you to muscle failure (to the point where you’re unable to move, maybe an oversimplification, but you get the picture), are the ones which burn maximum calories in minimum periods of time. So, lifting heavy should give you an optimal result in fat loss, right? Turns out, this is not always the case. It depends on your approach and your goal. In fact, if you’re new to the gym, I would advise against it. Why? Because primarily, your body is not used to the movement patterns in the gym and your muscles are weak. Therefore, lifting heavy is more likely to get you injured. Injuries are BAD for you, word!

Now, let’s take a person who has been a regular at the gym for quite a while. This person can lift heavy, his/her muscles have developed a suitable motor pattern for most exercises and is ready for it. Can he lift heavy? Well, yes, as it turns out, but to lose fat, he needs more volume per workout, meaning more sets, more exercises to aid in optimal weight loss. But then, heavy lifting cannot be done every day. It stresses out the body too much. Yes, your body can adapt to it gradually, but you need a suitable exercise pattern to make you reach that point. But, you cannot be in a caloric deficit state and you need a regular amount of slow, steady state cardio, to optimize fat loss, i.e. walking.

Another approach is to lift a moderate amount of weight, 3 times a week, and lift heavy weight 3 times a week, provided your body has adapted to it and you do cardio again post-workout. There are 2 more ways, but they involve moderate weights and different variations of cardio. Not going into details for now.
The gist is, it depends on your goal, your approach and your choice of whether or not you want to lift heavy.

Last and most important bit of advice is, while doing heavy lifting, please, please, please maintain correct posture, I CANNOT stress this enough, if your posture is incorrect, you are more likely to end up in a hospital bed sooner or later.

Kshitij Vashisth
Owner, Fitविज्ञान

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