Benefits of Lifting Heavy Weights

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Benefits of Lifting Heavy Weights
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• For years only a handful of dedicated fitness
  enthusiasts have practiced a sure-fire method of
  achieving results from exercise lifting weights
  with the heaviest loads possible. Most common gym
  routines are derived from the bodybuilding world
  and focus on moderate-to-high repetition ranges,
  usually 8-15 reps, to increase the size of a
  muscle. Serious strength-training enthusiasts
  know that lifting heavy for five repetitions or
  less

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Size and Strength are NOT the Same

• There is a distinct difference between training
  for muscle size technically called hypertrophy,
  and training for strength increasing a muscles
  ability to generate force. Heres the interesting
  thing, lifting heavy can improve the force output
  of a muscle without significantly increasing its
  size whereas training for size can increase
  muscle volume without necessarily improving
  strength.

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Supercharge Your Workouts!

• If you are looking for a way to change your
  workouts or move past a plateau, consider using a
  weight heavy enough to limit you to five
  repetitions or less.

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Muscles Generate Force

• Muscles generate force thats just what they
  do. Newtons 2nd Law of physics is F ma a
  force is the produce of a mass and its
  acceleration. To train muscles to become stronger
  requires either adding more mass or moving with a
  faster acceleration. Using heavier weights
  recruits more muscle fibers moving at a faster
  rate of speed teaches them to contract faster.

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Training for Strength is Different Than Training
for Size

• Training for muscle strength is different than
  training for muscle size. Lifting heavy for
  six-to-ten weeks can increase the strength of a
  muscle, if it is followed by a six-to-ten week
  phase of hypertrophy (bodybuilder) training you
  can use heavier weights for the higher rep ranges
  which could result in significant size increases.

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Heavy Weights Require Type II Muscle Fibers

• Using heavy weights increases intramuscular
  coordination, the number of type II motor unit
  units and muscle fibers engaged within a specific
  muscle. Have you ever felt yourself shaking with
  lifting heavy? This is because you are literally 
  recruiting and activating the larger type II
  muscle fibers which are only stimulated to work
  when a muscle is challenged with heavy resistance
  or working to fatigue.

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Using Heavy Weights Produces Stronger Muscles

• Using maximal loads for compound (multi-joint)
  movements like the deadlift, squat-to-shoulder
  press, bent-over row or chest press can improve
  inter-muscular coordination, the ability of many
  muscles to work together to generate and control
  high levels of force through multiple joints.

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Heavy Weights Stimulate Hormone Production

• Elevate levels of anabolic hormones, specifically
  testosterone, growth hormone and insulin-like
  growth factor (IGF-1), used to repair muscle
  fibers damaged during exercise helping them to
  become thicker and capable of generating higher
  levels of force.

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Heavy Weights Could Make Your Smarter

• Lifting heavy weights increases the hormone IGF-1
  which is related to the production of
  Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) a
  protein responsible for stimulating the growth of
  new neural pathways in the brain along with
  enhancing communication between existing
  pathways. In short lifting heavy could make you
  smarter by enhancing cognitive function.