Less is more, more or less
We have now got the news that more content for blog posts is better. So, what we had been thinking for so many years about blogging is now either no longer true or it never was true in the first place. This makes me wonder about so many other assumptions that we make daily that may be 180 degrees from the reality of what we think is right.
For example, many years I thought that brushing my teeth after every meal and especially if I ate sugar was the best thing I could be doing. WRONG! In fact, sugar softens enamel and when you brush right after eating it, you risk taking away that which protects your teeth the most. Believe it or not, the best time to brush is before you eat sugar. This takes some of the bacteria that cause tooth decay away from your mouth. Fewer, in this case, is less. But I digress.
Ultimate in light weight lifting technology
More to the point of this blog post is the news, that is actually not new depending on what sources you have been listening to, is that many repetitions of light weights builds muscles just as well as lifting heavy with fewer repetitions. This news is great for me as I advocate and sell Clustas which is the ultimate in light weight lifting technology.
But should we not be revisiting another pot of wisdom that says ‘variation is the ideal for a healthy, well-rounded fitness regime’ irrespective of whether they do or do not build muscle equally? Is the motivation to build muscle or to be fit. Since fitness is end-goal-specific, then we must be careful by qualifying; ‘fit for what?’. If you are building muscle for the sake of building muscle then great. But otherwise, be clear about what your end goals are in life and get fit for those.
According to current studies..
Are we stressing ourselves out more by driving ourselves to more and more fitness without realizing the consequences of the stress we are creating for ourselves? I think being pain and injury free is worth a lot. When we add these factors to the debate, given the necessity to choose one over the other, lightweights win, hands down (Or up and down). However, we are blessed in this day and age with apparent choice meaning that we can do both heavy and light. According to current studies, short heavy bursts with as many simultaneous muscle groups activated can be better for losing belly fat so, if that is your motivation, you need to do that (Curious how most of the most slender people I know are distance runners). But I digress again.
As I always like to one up the one upper, my mind goes to the concept of varying the variation. Every time you vary your routine, vary the way in which you vary it. If, for example, you typically vary upper and lower body every session and the amount you are lifting from one week to the next, then try one day upper body with light weights and the next lower with heavy etc. The next week you could vary it again by doing pyramids up and or down for example 20 reps light 5 reps heavy, 19 reps light 6 reps heavy.
The brain works in mysterious ways.
By simulating a sort of guided randomness your body will not know what to expect from one day to the next and it is even better when you let a personal trainer make some of the exercises up for you so you don’t inadvertently cheat yourself. The brain works in mysterious ways. You tell yourself you will eat well and work out hard and you find a way to sit around and eat ice cream all day. Good luck with that!
