Weightlifting: Why You Should Do It and How

I find it shocking how many times I get both men and women expressing concern over the idea of “bulking up” if they so much as touch a weight. I find it funny as well given that building muscle is no easy feat and therefore unless you’re truly dedicated towards that end you generally don’t have anything to worry about. So, fear of turning into The Hulk aside, there is an extensive list of benefits to be had by lifting weights:

1. Speeds up your metabolism which results in increased fat loss even at rest (especially if coupled with a good diet of course).
    
2. Naturally increases testosterone and human growth hormone production, both of which lead to increased fat loss as well (all within natural limits so perfectly safe and healthy).
    
3. Increases bone density, and no, this will not make you “big boned,” but rather “strong boned.” This means you will be less likely to experience stress fractures and breaks which become increasingly likely as you age and your bone density naturally diminishes (particularly for women as their estrogen levels decline).
    
4. Makes you faster and stronger.
    
5. Improves joint stability by strengthening connective tissue (providing you’re employing the correct form as not having correct form can instead result in injury so be sure to check with a personal trainer if you’re not sure).
    
6. Increases production of collagen meaning it will make you look younger by improving skin elasticity.
    
7. Reduces stress.
    
8. Instead of merely being thin or “skinny fat,” you’ll achieve that coveted lean and toned look.
    
9. Improves endurance by making muscles better able to use oxygen.
    
10. Increases the amount of fat over muscle burned during cardio (particularly steady state cardio) workouts.
     
11. Improves coordination.
     
12. Improves pain tolerance (resistance training has been shown to help reduce pain in those suffering from fibromyalgia which is a medical condition characterized by chronic widespread pain).
     
13. Better quality sleep and therefore less likelihood of insomnia.

• Improved self-esteem from looking better, feeling stronger, sleeping better, being less stressed and being overall healthier.
• Decreased risk of injury from having stronger bones, stronger muscles, stronger joints and better coordination.

Now that you’re aware of just how great weight lifting can be for you I’ll explain why the common fear of “becoming bulky” is mostly unfounded:

1. Testosterone levels play an important role when it comes to building muscle. The normal range for adult men is 270-1070 ng/dL and the normal range for adult women is 15-70 ng/dL. As you can see, women simply don’t have the hormonal function to allow them to truly get bulky unless they use steroids (a woman at the high end of the range has four times less testosterone than a man at the low end of the range). Bodybuilders who take steroids have a testosterone range of 2500-4500 ng/dL.
    
2. High protein consumption is needed in order to repair and build muscle as well as high carbohydrate consumption in order to replenish the muscles glycogen stores. 2.2-3.3g of protein per kg of bodyweight is recommended for building muscle (the average man needs 6-9 chicken breasts a day, and the average woman needs 4.5-6.5 chicken breasts a day). Chances are you aren’t eating that much protein per day.
    
3. You should be resistance training 2-3 times a week for optimum health. Bodybuilders however train 2 times a day, 6 days a week.
    
4. It only takes 3 days of inactivity for muscle atrophy (muscle breakdown) to occur. Muscle needs to be constantly maintained and not only that, you can even lose muscle if you lift too much too often (overtrain) or do a lot of cardio. You need to allow your muscle time to rebuild before training again which is why weight lifting is recommended to be done 2-3 times a week (bodybuilders can train as much as they do because of their artificially high levels of testosterone).

• The environment needed for your body to really pile on the muscle requires fairly precision work.
• Continued efforts are needed in order to build muscle with progressive overload being employed (where the weight is gradually increased to raise the amount of stress placed on the muscle). Stop increasing the weight and you’ll stop building muscle.

I’ll now go on to discuss the different types of weight lifting and the different modes of employing them and how they affect your body so that you can customize a weight lifting program to suit your goals:

Isotonic

• Free weights (dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, etc) where the weight remains constant throughout the whole range of movement.
• Advantages: versatile, works connective tissue as well as the primary muscles, strength developed through a full range of motion, time efficient.
• Disadvantages: poor technique can cause injury.

Isometric

• Static resistance training where the length of the muscle doesn’t change (plank, chair, etc).
• Advantages: low risk of injury.
• Disadvantages: develops one dimensional strength, time consuming.

Isokinetic

• Operate at a constant speed against resistance (uses exercise machines).
• Advantages: resistance easily altered, strength developed through a full range of motion, relatively safe.
• Disadvantages: doesn’t develop connective tissue strength, lacks versatility.

Isotonic exercises in my opinion are the best. They target everything and can be used in almost anyway you can think of. The only issue is that if there’s an exercise you haven’t previously been introduced to then be sure to get coached on how to perform it or at the very least watch instructional videos online. However, the most important rule is usually to make sure your back is straight throughout the entire range of movement (for single armed rows, bent over rows, and squats in particular). Also, proper form with a lighter weight will do more for you than improper form with a heavier weight (you’ll also look like a total newbie/noob if going really heavy with improper form because it’s stupid and dangerous).

Isometric exercises can be done anywhere as the only equipment you need to perform it is your body (although using a mat can improve comfort). It’s great for getting a little extra in if perhaps you’re too fatigued to perform another weighted rep. Always good to mix it up as well.

Isokinetic exercises are ones that I like to employ if I’m wanting to target large muscle groups and hit them hard. While there are more overall benefits with isotonic exercises, you tend to become fatigued faster due to the fact that you’re having to work your connective tissue to stabilize the weight as well as the primary muscle to perform the full range of motion (only as strong as your weakest link!). Isokinetic exercises however provide the stabilization for you and so the focus is solely on the primary muscle. A great way to work with both of these types of exercises is to do an isotonic exercise first (always first) and then follow it up with an isokinetic exercise targeting the same area. For example, dumbbell bench press followed by a seated machine chest press.

Next comes the question about how many reps you should do and this also falls into three categories:

Strength

• When your goal is to simply improve your maximum strength, i.e. going from being able to lift 20kg to lifting 40kg for a single rep (your 1 rep max/1RM).
• Rep range: 1-6 reps.
• Rest time: 2-5 minutes between sets.

Hypertrophy

• When your goal is to get bigger and increase the size of the muscles.
• Rep range: 6-12 reps.
• Rest time: 30-60 seconds between sets.

Endurance

• When your goal is to improve your stamina and be able to lift for sustained amounts of time.
• Rep range: 12+ reps (I think 15-20 is ideal as I find anything above 20 gives you diminishing returns).
• Rest time: ≤ 30 seconds between sets.

The only thing I really feel the need to mention here is that even if your goal is endurance based you should still throw in a maximum strength building and hypertrophic exercise/rep range per muscle group every now and then. Furthermore, if your primarily goal is weight loss and muscle toning then you should consistently mix up your weights/rep ranges because otherwise your muscle will become too efficient and therefore your caloric expenditure will begin to decrease and your progress slow. Lastly, don't be afraid of the 6-12 hypertrophic rep range! It only results in dramatic increased size when coupled with progressive overload so, if you don't want to build size and can fairly comfortably complete 10 reps (where only the last two are a little difficult) then don't increase the weight. However, if at half way you're already struggling then you should go lighter (obviously ignore this if you're going for GAINS).

As for how many sets you should do, 3 is the standard, but you can go for as many sets as you like providing your form is being maintained for each rep throughout the entire range of motion. If your form starts to suffer then you shouldn't continue as you're ability to perform the exercise safely is now compromised. For example, I always know that I've done my limit for deadlifts when I'm no longer able to keep my back flat. If this happens to you but you still want to continue targeting that same muscle you can either drop the weight down and continue until you reach form/muscle failure (whichever happens first) again or you can go from the isotonic to an isokinetic exercise (deadlift to machine hamstring curl).