Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Lifting heavy weights may not be necessary to build large muscles or get a good workout after all.
A new study published by kinesiologists at McMaster University in Canada found that it could be just as useful to use lighter weights and do repetitions until muscles are tired.
Elizabeth Ault, a graduate student from Topeka, works with trainer Ehren Guntert Monday at the Ambler Student Recreation Fitness Center.
The study compared samples of muscles from two groups of men. The first group did leg lifts using a weight that was 90 percent of their best lift; the second group used a weight that was 30 percent of their best lift. The participants in both groups benefited from the exercises. However, after comparing muscle samples, the individuals in the second group gained slightly more muscle.
Personal trainers at the Ambler Student Recreation Center met the results with skepticism, however.
Personal trainer Ehren Guntert said the amount of weight an individual should work out with depends on the person’s fitness goals.
Guntert, who has been a personal trainer at the recreation center for six years, said that it was better to use lighter weights with more repetitions if an individual was trying to lose weight. Guntert stressed, however, that if people were trying to build muscle, they should use heavier weights with fewer repetitions.
“Using heavier weight is more of a body-sculpting tool,” Guntert said. “Lower weights can be used to produce more of a cardiovascular workout.”
Jon Denning, another personal trainer at the recreation center, said exercising with a lighter load of weights could produce results, but not if exercisers did it all the time.
“If you only used lighter loads, your body will adapt to this type of workout very quickly,” Denning said. “So in order to keep your body guessing, you must also work out with heavier, more challenging loads.”
When Denning exercises, he said he preferred lifting a combination of heavier and lighter weights and then adjusting the number of repetitions accordingly.
“I feel this type of training works the body in a way that allows for both increased strength and increased endurance,” Denning said. “This type of training is also very taxing and there will be an increased number of calories being burned, so alongside the right diet, this type of training can lead to a higher rate of fat loss.”
Riley Judy, a senior from Shawnee, said he follows an exercise routine similar to Denning’s.
“Usually if I’m trying to bulk up and put more muscle on me, I’ll use heavier weights with lower reps,” Judy said. “That’s what they tend to say works. But if I want my muscles to get more stamina, then I do more reps and lower weights.”
Judy said if he could gain both stamina and strength from using lighter weights, however, he would be willing to vary his schedule when he visited the gym.
Student trainer Ashley Sevigny said regardless of a person’s goals, safety is something people should take seriously every time they lift.
“Advice I would give to people would be to be cautious when determining the weight they are lifting,” Sevigny said. “Lifting a weight that is too heavy for the individual can lead to injury.”
She advised that exercisers lift a weight that they could complete eight reps with while still maintaining good form.
— Edited by Dana Meredith
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