Mix Your Workouts For More Strength
July 7, 2009 by Kris Jones
Filed under Weight Lifting
Most men hit the gym for bigger muscles. The focus has been on appearance rather than performance. The result is more men focus on building bigger muscles by lifting heavier weight continually. However, they’re not as strong as the guys that mix their workouts to include lighter and more moderate weight as well as heavy weight.
Here’s a workout for lifting for strength:
Day A: Heavy weight, low reps
Day B: Medium weight, full reps
Day C: Light weight, high reps
If you think about this program, it makes a lot of sense why it works. First, it will take much longer to plateau as your muscles are getting used to adapting on several different levels. Whereas a straight heavy-heavy-heavy workout will teach your muscles to lift heavy reps with low weight, your muscles won’t build the endurance and explosiveness they would under the changing workouts.
If you work on all three phases, you’re training your muscles to be well rounded and you’ll end up becoming stronger and leaner than lifting only heavy. Remember light and medium don’t mean any less intensity. See the video below for more information on periodization and bursting through plateaus.
