Study Suggests Building Muscle Doesn't Require Heavy Weights (...Bullshit)

A new McMaster University study is suggesting that to build muscle you only need to lift weights in the range of 30 percent of your max. To quote the article...

"Rather than grunting and straining to lift heavy weights, you can grab something much lighter but you have to lift it until you can't lift it anymore," says Stuart Phillips, associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University. "We're convinced that growing muscle means stimulating your muscle to make new muscle proteins, a process in the body that over time accumulates into bigger muscles."

Sounds a lot like Westside Barbell's "repetition method" at work (light weights in the 30 percent range done for time, rather than rep count.) But the repetition method is only one part of the program -- a program that includes large doses of lifting heavy weights as well.

To build muscle and get stronger you should be consistently pushing that maximum lift, then work off of percentages of that maximum in the 70 to 90 percent range.

-Daily Life Wellness

Photo: Dmitry Valberg