Why you don't need to train with super heavy weights at low reps to get stronger, and why pilates and bodybuilding are effectively the same thing. I train in the 10 - 20 rep range. This is the first time I've used 405 lbs on the bench in months.
And you don't have to train to absolute failure to get stronger. I don't train to failure. You just have to know where you would have failed (eg "I could have gotten 2 more").
Picture an elephant standing on a square platform, happily eating hay.🐘
The platform is suspended 3 feet off the floor by chains at each corner.
The chains connect to a bundle of 200 ropes, that each go through a hook in the roof. The ropes are each securely tied to mooring cleats on the floor.
If I have enough force on each of those 200 ropes, I can gently lower the elephant 3 feet to the ground, then raise it back up again, then reattach the ropes to the mooring cleats.👍🏿
It's about 75 lbs per rope to lower an elephant under control.
If I have 20 school kids, that's... not enough kids. But if I have 600 school kids, that's more than enough kids!
But... if the kids just run into the gym and start untieing ropes? Someone is going to get hurt.😬
The kids have to be coordinated.
I both need enough kids in the gym, and I need the kids to be able to apply their little force in a coordinated way, that sums up to the weight of the elephant.
Muscle mass is a physical attribute. It can be developed. (Add more kids!)
Strength is a skill. It can also be developed. (Practice taking up the slack and pulling at the same time!).
Training close to max strength builds muscle mass, but in a risky way. You can add mass with lower weights.
One of the best ways to build muscle mass, is "stretch mediated hypertrophy," and "lengthened partials." That's a fancy way of saying "Stretch! But stretch while holding a moderate weight!"
Pilates and bodybuilding are almost the same thing. Your butt looks better because you added muscle to it.🤷🏿♂️
In the elephant gym analogy, this is "Use a longer rope! When kids find out there's a live elephant in the gym, more will naturally want to join the 'lower the elephant' project! So make sure that there's room on the rope for them to join!"
(Sarcomeres. The kids are sarcomeres).
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