So here I am off on one of my adventures across the country, this one taking me to the beautiful city of Sheffield. I’ve eaten my meal, and I’m ready to call it a night in the hotel. So, I’d say this is the best time for a blog post.
This misconception is one I hear all the time, it’s the misguided belief that low weights with high reps helps create “toned muscle” whatever the hell that means. Now the word “toned” is one I particularly hate, (almost as much as people butchering the phrase “functional fitness”). Here’s how it works, you have muscle and you have fat. If you gain muscle and lose fat, well then, you’re going to have a better body composition.
Now personally I’m not a fan of training solely for aesthetics, for me, fitness is about being fast, flexible, and athletic. Three qualities you don’t get from bodybuilding style programmes. I’ve met many a man who brags about his abs, only for me to destroy him in jumping, sprinting and lifting.
Here’s my notion; people should train with more intensity and take longer rest periods. New research coming out of Australia suggests that people over 70 years of age, actually get massive health benefits from lifting heavy weights for low volume. In fact, the group that trained at low weights and intensities and with high volume actually saw some decreases to their overall health.
So, what this says to me is, we as a population are not strong enough. We’ve even seen research that shows endurance athletes becoming better when they train at maximal strength. Despite all this overwhelming evidence, people still insist on doing massive amounts of reps in the gym. All with the misguided opinion that it’s better than lifting actual weight.
So learn the Olympic lifts (properly). Try 3×3 on the back squat, get stronger and see your overall athleticism improve.
