The current fitness wisdom is that to build muscle size, you need to lift heavy weights. But a new study at Canada's McMaster University found that a similar degree of muscle bulk can be achieved by using lighter weights. The secret is not the size of the weight you lift, but stimulating muscles and pumping iron until your muscles become fatigued.
"Rather than grunting and straining to lift heavy weights, you can grab something much lighter, but you have to lift it until you can't lift it anymore," Stuart Phillips, associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University, said in a statement. "We're convinced that growing muscle means stimulating your muscle to make new muscle proteins, a process in the body that over time accumulates into bigger muscles."
In the study, subjects lifted light weights that were based on a percentage of what the subjects were capable of lifting. Heavier weights were set to 90 percent of a person's best lift, and the light weights were set at 30 percent. "It's a very light weight," Phillips said.
People can usually lift weights set at 80 to 90 percent of their best lift from five to ten times before becoming fatigued. But at 30 percent, subjects could lift the weights at least 24 times before becoming fatigued. And the muscle fatigue, not how heavy the weights were, turned out to be the important factor in building muscle.
"We're excited to see where this new paradigm will lead," says Phillips, adding that these new data have practical significance for gym enthusiasts but more importantly for people with compromised skeletal muscle mass, such as the elderly, patients with cancer, or those who are recovering from trauma, surgery, or even stroke.
A study published in the Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that lifting weights helped seniors maintain muscle mass and avoid falls.
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