We’ve all been there: You slept through your alarm, a meeting ran late, or your kids suddenly need to be picked up from school early. Life can get in the way of your gym time sometimes. And it seems like the older we get, the less time we have to spend on that “me time” during our workouts.
But studies show that at least for strength training, you can still get a lot stronger by doing shorter, harder, and more focused sessions with heavier weights instead of a lot of reps for a long time with lighter weights. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a long workout at the gym when you have the time. This study, on the other hand, has some useful information for when you’re busy.
Here’s what the study found and why lifting heavier weights for shorter amounts of time can still help you make big gains.
What did the research show?
The study, which was published in SportRxiv, is still in the pre-print stage, which means it hasn’t been formally reviewed yet. Researchers looked at dozens of other studies to find out how the amount of training a person does in a single session affects their muscle growth and strength gains.
The researchers found that doing more sets while lifting can help build muscle, but doing just one or two really hard, focused sets with heavy weights during your workout can lead to big strength gains, especially for people who trained several times a week.
Not surprising: People who did more sets per session got bigger and stronger muscles. But after about 11 sets per session, the benefits for muscle growth stopped. After two direct sets of one movement per session, the benefits of getting stronger levelled off.
What did you learn? More reps isn’t always better, though. Adding extra sets may not do much more than waste time and make you tired. Instead, try to lift more weight.
Why is it better to do fewer sets with more weight?
Albert Matheny, RD, CSCS, co-founder of SoHo Strength Lab, says that lifting heavier weights for a shorter amount of time can help to stress your muscles (also known as working your muscles hard to get gains), which can lead to bigger results.He says that the fewer reps you do, the more weight you should use. “Putting more stress on your muscles can help them grow.”
How can I tell how much weight I should lift?
Matheny says that in most cases, you should try to do between eight and twelve reps. He says, “Choose a weight that you think you can do that with good form for three to five sets.” “If you can do more than 12 reps every time, add more weight.”
He says that if you can’t get to eight, you should try a lighter weight. Matheny says, “Pick a weight and see how many reps you can do.” “That’s a good way to start.”
How often should I work out with weights?
It’s always a good idea to do some weight lifting and strength training because it can help with a lot of things, like metabolism, bone density, and more. And even though everyone’s body may need something a little different, this study found that lifting weights twice a week was helpful. That fits with the current exercise guidelines, which say that adults should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week and two days of strength training.
