Phil Heath Explains Heavy Weights vs. Light Weights For Muscle Growth

Heavy Weight Lifting or Lightweight For Muscle Growth

Many bodybuilders and lifters think the quickest way to build muscle is to use the heaviest weights you can manage. This approach usually means you won’t do many reps since you’ll get exhausted pretty quickly.

Bodybuilding is all about size and definition and less about strength and endurance. The bodybuilding isn’t the same as competing in powerlifting or a strongman competition. It’s about the development of the human form through sculpting your body into well defined and striated muscle groups.

Heavyweights, aside from making you vulnerable to injury, may not be the best way to tone up. Instead, doing the same exercise with less weight for more reps could give you the better or same results.

The 7x Mr. Olympia Phil Heath is known for one of the most well-rounded physiques in the bodybuilding today. In the following video by Massive Muscle YouTube channel, Phil answers a fan question about heavy weight lifting vs. lightweight for the maximum muscle growth. The question was:

“Hey Champ!  Can you please tell me your thoughts on what weight in terms of light/medium/heavy to use to build mass and how that might feel in the muscle?

I see a footage of You, Jay and Arnold in which you guys aren’t really going that heavy compared to your size, so I wonder if I just really need to dial back on the weight to see some results.

I see guys at the gym doing 80lb Dumbbell Shoulder Press and they don’t have big shoulders, guys squatting 300lbs with skinny legs…

Your thoughts Phil Heat?”

Check out the above video for Phil Heath answer to the question in details.