Heavy Weights vs Light Weights | Build Muscle (THE WINNER IS...)

The question of whether to use heavy weights or light weights to build muscle is one of the most common training questions. The answer is not so straight forward. The fact of the matter is that in order to build as much muscle as possible you better learn that you need to lift light weights at times and heavy weights at other times. In fact, there is a third way that you should be lifting as well if you want to get serious muscle.

In this video, I use the example of the shoulder side lateral raise to illustrate how to build muscle using both light weights and heavy weights on the same exercise. It has to do with the portion of the contraction that you are attempting to focus the overload necessary for building mass on. If you are looking to overload the concentric or positive portion of the lift then you better get used to lowering the weight that you are using.

That’s right. Leave the ego lifting at the door when you are trying to build muscle by overloading the concentric. Often times, way too much momentum is used to throw a weight up during the concentric on an exercise. This disperses the force from the single area that you are trying to build up to the many areas and muscles around the muscle in question and therefore weakens the overall effect on the target muscle.

On the contrary, if you are trying to stress the eccentric or lowering phase of a muscle contraction on a target muscle then you better get used to asking for help from surrounding muscles in order for this to work the best. In the example of the side lateral raise for shoulders, the middle delts can recruit additional help from the traps, rear delts and even torso muscles to safely help cheat the weight up into position where a stronger eccentric can be performed.

Relying solely on the amount of weight that can be strictly muscled up by the singular muscle in question will limit the amount of weight that you can use on an eccentric (and therefore will be limiting your size potential). This technique is actually something that you can apply to not just this one exercise but almost every exercise you can do.

That said, this combination of heavy weights and light weights is not enough to complete the picture. The explosive component of your training can only be achieved by using a weight that is in the middle of the two extremes shown here and focusing on accelerating the weight as you lift it. This introduces the element of power to strength. Power combined with concentric and eccentric overload makes your size and strength gains even more functional.

[juliogomez]

before i even watch the video, knowing jeff, i know he gonna say both.

[CJHan]

Every time I watch one of Jeff's videos, I just wanna get back into the gym so quick.

[TheGoldenSheepYTMAA]

i like this guy because his straight out and doesn't give you bull shit

[ramsay]

I like him because he explains the science behind his theory.

[lee]

But Ronnie Coleman taught me that it's all light weight baby...

[mart]

Whenever I lift too heavy with bad form and people call me out on it I'll say shut the hell up this is neccessary for overloading the eccentric!

[MyStrongTower]

This man answers every question I've ever had. Days of scrolling through Google never finding any direct answer . Glad I find this dude

[mk-tfgw]

I like long videos by jeff. The more he talks the more knowledge I acquire.

[scyther]

No bs, no time wasting, just pure info with experience. This is the reason why I watch your videos Jeff.

[zainulhakim]

I've been following jeff's channel for over 2 years, and his video really showed the flaws in my workouts and it has changed the way i used to work out, to a better and a more effective training. Thanks to you jeff!

[davidev.]

Thing is, people might confuse light weight with many reps. What you are doing, is using a light weight, with a stict form, that will be heavy so that you wont be able to do high high reps. I believe that you should focus on fewer reps if you want to build muscle, but I still argue as you've been saying before, high reps and light weight can also build muscle. Yet, if your only goal with your training is to build muscle, focusing on 20+ reps on pretty much every exercise simply won't build as much muscle as someone focusing on rep ranges such as 4-6 on compound exercises.

[lol-lzfd]

He always uploads right after I workout lol

[gzuz]

I love his videos because not only do you know what to do and what not to do but you also know WHY, like a lot of other fitness channels just tell you what to do, but never why you do it or the proper reasoning behind it

[BROOKLYN]

i just subbed, i remember seeing your vids popping up when you first started. Ill be honest i never gave you a chance. At the time, so many guys were paying to show up on the feeds giving people lies. Your a straight up dude and i respect that, thanks for the tips man.

[albertozarate]

This makes a lot sense, I never understood the difference. But when you say you focus on the muscle . You’re actually make the muscle work and grow . Thanks dude.

[carligromero]

I've only been watching jef videos for a week and learned more than five years of exercise. I realized mistakes I made every day and that often caused me to take off for a while. You are the best and I plan to buy your program to learn much more.

[jimmya]

Im 51 ive been workin out since i was 17 old school way Your the first that i have 4days listening to you on utube today i tryed chest your way Its always good to change routine brings shock to the muscle witch gives growth Thats what i was always told Thank you

[johnathanyinger]

Hey Jeff, can you go more into detail about drop sets? I fully understand them, but I'm wondering how you can make them more effective.

[theendgamefitness]

So important to understand the difference in activation and overload. Love this channel! Great work!

[Ash-xdzn]

Your channel is really the best. Because every other fitness related media is either instructional, biased, incomplete. While yours are instructional, you go beyond that and provide understanding of all aspects of training so not only can we do what you do but also use your concepts to making our own customized training. Seriously amazing work.