Why You Should Lift Heavy Weights

If there’s one thing I hope to accomplish in my fitness career, it’s to convince people to start lifting heavy things.

More and more people are realizing how important strength training is (strong is the new skinny!), but many of them are missing out on some of the amazing benefits because they’re lifting weights that are too light.

If you watch a group fitness class or workout video, or walk around an average commercial gym, you’ll often see people (usually women) doing their exercises with tiny dumbbells. Many women have been convinced that small weights are the way to build muscle tone.

Unfortunately, those little weights are very unlikely to do much unless your starting strength is very low or you’re rehabbing from an injury. Anyone who tells you otherwise is misleading you.

The Truth About Muscle “Toning”

What most people are talking about when they say they want to look “toned” is that they want muscle definition. To do that, you have to make your muscles bigger and reduce your body fat so you can see them.

Muscles can only get bigger or smaller. They don’t get “longer” or “leaner”, no matter what kind of weightlifting you do. It’s physically impossible.

When I talk about muscles getting bigger, I don’t mean that they suddenly blow up to double or triple their size and make you look like a bodybuilder.

Lifting heavy weights doesn’t make you bulky. That’s a myth. To get really big muscles, you need to train and eat in a very specific way for a very long time. It’s really difficult to do, especially for women who don’t have the hormones to support a lot of muscle mass, and it definitely doesn’t happen by accident.

The average man might gain 1-2 pounds of muscle per month on a program specifically designed to build muscle mass. The average woman might gain 0.5 – 1 pound of muscle per month. That’s not nearly enough to turn you into Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This fear of getting too bulky leads many people to avoid heavy weights. Of course there are plenty of people in the fitness industry who are happy to capitalize on that.

When I was writing this article, I did some searching for programs that use light weights. I found a lot of people claiming that you can “get a lean physique” or “get longer looking, more defined muscles without bulk” by using light weights and more repetitions. It’s this kind of nonsense that discourages people from lifting weights the right way.

A few of the articles I found even cited research to back up their claims. Yes, there are studies (like this one: Resistance exercise load does not determine training-mediated hypertrophic gains in young men) that have found that lifting light weights can help build muscle in a similar way to lifting heavy weights, but there’s a very important point that those workout programs conveniently fail to mention.

What You Need To Do To Build Muscle

You can use light weights to build muscle, but it will only work if you lift those weights to failure.

Failure means you lift until your muscles get so tired that even if you push as hard as you can, the weight won’t budge.

In my experience, most people don’t take their sets to failure. They stop well before that. Going to failure is a very uncomfortable feeling, and learning to push yourself that hard is a skill.

Luckily, you don’t necessarily need to train to muscle failure. You can also get stronger by lifting heavy weights. If you lift heavy weights, you don’t need to go as close to failure to get results.

Even if you do lift light weights to failure, you’ll need to lift more and more to continue making progress. Either way, you’ll eventually need to lift heavy weights.

I want to be really clear here. "Heavy" is a feeling, not a number. It doesn't mean lifting huge weights. It means lifting weights that truly challenge you, and that you can only lift a few times in a row. No one should ever lift weights that they can't handle safely, and it's important to make sure your form is absolutely solid and to build up to lifting heavy weights slowly.

To learn more about the science of muscle-building, check out my article that explains how to stimulate muscles to grow.

More Reasons To Lift Heavy Weights

Now you know that you need to lift heavy weights to stimulate muscle growth, but it’s not the only reason.

Lifting heavy makes you feel like a superhero.

I’m not naturally a physically strong person. It took a long time and a lot of work to build up my strength, but it has made an incredible difference in my life.

Standing at the top of a deadlift with a 200 pound barbell in my hands is one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had. In that moment, I feel like I could do anything. I can get that feeling whenever I want, all I have to do is go to the gym!

I wish everyone could experience the joy of seeing what their body is capable of and knowing that they can handle any physical or mental challenge.

Sometimes you’ll need to lift heavy things in real life.

I believe that what you do in the gym should translate to your normal daily activities. After all, why spend your time training if it doesn’t improve your life outside the gym? When you need to move furniture, lift a heavy box, or carry your groceries upstairs, weightlifting makes it possible.

Training your body will help you prevent injury.

Along with your muscles, weightlifting also strengthens your joints, bones, tendons, and ligaments.

I like to think of weightlifting as a way to “emergency-proof” your body. If you suddenly need to push a heavy item off yourself, or if your kid runs from across the room and jumps on you, your body will be able to handle it.

Strength training has also been found to reduce the symptoms of many chronic pain conditions like arthritis and back pain.

Strength training has other incredible benefits.

Lifting weights does much more than give you nice looking muscles. It also improves your brain health, reduces stress, boosts mood, reduces the risk of disease, and helps you live longer.

To learn more about what strength training can do for you, check out my articles on The Mental Health Benefits of Strength Training and How Exercise Gives You What You Need. 

Heavy weightlifting is more effective at changing your body and brain than lifting light weights. That's because it creates systemic effects throughout your entire body, not just in your muscles.

So, what are you waiting for? Get in the gym and start lifting!

If You Need Help

To help you get started on your strength training journey, I have a few resources for you:

My FREE Strength Training 101 eBook will teach you exactly how to put together your own strength training program. You'll learn what exercises to include, how many sets and reps to do, and how to make sure you're getting the results you want.

For even more guidance, check out my Strength Training For Anxiety Program. This 12-week done-for-you workout program is guided by an app which shows you how to do each exercise and lets you track your progress. It also comes with unique features specifically designed to build mental resilience as well as physical strength and help you manage anxiety and improve your mental health.