Heavy weights and Friday hopping

In my travels as of late, I’ve been hearing time and time again that if you want to get stronger and build muscle, you should lift heavier weights at the gym for less reps rather than an easier weight at a high rep. I usually land somewhere in the middle: I do weights that aren’t that tough for me, but that do feel pretty heavy after lots of reps have gone by.

However, yesterday I decided to take the advice I’ve been hearing over and over again and try to put it to use. In a lot of ways, this method does work well with the way I like to work out. Generally if I know I’m going to be doing a long set of something, I dread it, whereas if I’m doing a short set, I won’t have that problem at all. It’s a mental thing. Plus, if I’m working hard at the gym, I like to know I’ve worked hard by feeling it in my muscles the next day.

Here’s what I did yesterday. All weights that I used were about 10 pounds heavier than my normal workout:

3×8 vertical chest press: 50lb
3×8 chest flies: 30lb
3×8 leg extension: 40lb
3×8 hip adductors: 60lb
3×5 regular chest press 20lb

And today I’m really feeling the effects! As soon as I got back to my desk after this workout, I downed a greek yogurt because it’s always good to have something high in protein right after doing something challenging to your muscles.

I’m really hoping that if I keep this up, I’ll start to see some new muscle building.

What is your weight lifting style?

---

Here are some great Friday blog hops. Happy Friday!