Why You Received’t “Bulk Up” If You Begin Lifting Heavier Weights

To grasp how totally different types of weight coaching have an effect on the human physique, you first have to appreciate that there are various kinds of muscle fibers being exerted.

There are two classes of muscle fibers: Quick-twitch muscle fibers and slow-twitch muscle fibers1, they usually every serve a goal.

Per the Nationwide Academy of Sports activities Drugs, fast-twitch muscle fibers help fast and highly effective actions whereas slow-twitch muscle fibers help endurance actions. You may consider quick and slow-twitch fibers just like the tortoise and the hare. Quick-twitch fibers tire out as shortly as they’ll transfer, whereas slow-titch fibers help well-paced actions and are rather more fatigue-resistant. 

In accordance with celeb coach and founding father of the NWMethod, Nicole Winhoffer, you’ll see totally different outcomes in the event you’re lifting fewer repetitions of heavier weights than in the event you have been to do extra reps of lighter weights since you’re working totally different muscle fibers, and exercising them otherwise. 

“Lifting heavier requires bigger dominant muscle teams (ie. bicep, tricep, quad, and glute) to finish extra work and recruit extra muscle fibers to raise the load,” Winhoffer explains. Because of this these focused muscle teams will bulk up. Once you raise extra reps of lighter weights, you encourage slow-twitch muscle fibers, constructing a extra even tone over time.