Researchers discovered that heavy reps can stimulate the nerves after following the activity of frequent gym-goers.
They noticed that those who chose to lift many repetitions of light weight could build up muscle mass just as quickly as those who chose to do fewer reps of heavy weights.
But despite this, those who trained with heavier weights made better gains in strength than those who lift lighter loads.
To understand why, researchers asked 26 men to train for six weeks on a leg-extensions machine loaded with either 30 or 80 per cent of the maximum weight they could lift.
Researchers monitored the participants three times a week as they did as many reps as they could.
They found that those carrying light and heavy weights experienced a similar amount of muscle growth.
But participants carrying heavy weights increased their strength by roughly ten pounds more than their counterparts lifting lighter weights.
'If you're trying to increase strength - whether you're Joe Shmoe, a weekend warrior, a gym rat or an athlete - training with high loads is going to result in greater strength adaptations,' said Nathaniel Jenkins, an assistant professor of exercise physiology at Oklahoma State University, who conducted the research.
Samuel Howard
Uhh yea no shit
Christian King
>Dailyfail
Luke Rodriguez
>implying nerves have muscles
Brody Hernandez
This study is like 50 years late.
Robert Bennett
The role of nerves in building strength
To understand the role that nerves play in building strength, the researchers supplied an electric current to the nerves that stimulate the leg muscles.
Supplying the nerves with an electrical stimulant allowed them to work at 100-per cent capacity, which cannot be achieved through exercise alone.
Scientists then compared how hard each participant could kick with and without help from an electrical current.
By doing this, scientists were able to determine how close each participant's nerve cells are to achieving 100-percent efficiency
They repeated this test several times over a three-week study period.
Researchers found that over the course of the study period, participants who lifted light weights increased their nerve capacity from 90.07 per cent to 90.22 per cent.
But those who carried heavy weights saw the capacity of the nerve cells jump from 90.94 per cent to 93.29 per cent, a rise of 2.35 per cent.
This finding indicated that workouts with heavy weights help to improve how the efficiency of the nerve cells surrounding muscle tissue.
More efficient nerves carry more signals between the brain and the muscles, allowing them to become stronger, according to the researchers.
'I don't think anybody would argue (with the idea) that high-load training is more efficient,' Professor Jenkins said.
'It's more time-efficient. We're seeing greater adaptations. And now we're seeing greater neural [nerve cell] adaptations.'
Ian Brown
>lifting heavy weights makes you stronger
this change EVERYTHING i ever believed in
Jace Smith
>30% 1rm
They should have looked at the difference between 10 and 5 reps, but the difference in weight used is so small it wouldn't change the results.
Nicholas Diaz
BUT moderately heavy lifting with higher reps is more sustainable, hence the interest to mix it all up
Michael Lewis
lifting heavy makes you stronger than lifting light
good stuff give me the 100k grant thanks
Ethan Jackson
Yeah no shit; has this actually never been proven before?
Brayden Martin
I could've told you this
Levi Parker
>didnt actually read the study
Carson Ward
>didn't actually post the study
Nicholas Young
The study says absolutely nothing that we don't already know.
Noah Parker
>you need to lift heavy things in order to become better at lifting heavy things
Fucking John Madden tier
Logan White
so doing 2x as many reps at 2x lighter weight was well known as not being nearly good enough for a suitable replacement?
funny that literally every fit video on YT says to do this
Ayden Parker
>so doing 2x as many reps at 2x lighter weight was well known as not being nearly good enough for a suitable replacement? Want to try reposting this sentence in a way that actually makes sense? Literally read the sticky. It's mostly strength training at low rep high weight or at least the recommended programmes are >funny that literally every fit video on YT says to do this YT != Veeky Forums Go look at /PLG/ your big brave study is literally nothing people here haven't been doing for years and years
Jordan Reyes
No fucking shit, everyone knows this.
Andrew Mitchell
>its another "science confirms common sense things everyone involved in the activity already knows" episode
Alexander Wright
>makes sense
if you cant lift a heavy weight just do 2x as many reps at a lighter weight
the same is said for cardio, do the less stressful moves at 2x as many reps
this article says thats bullshit and not a suitable replacement for the heaviest weight
Anthony Russell
Literally who has ever said that lifting half as heavy for twice as many is a suitable replacement for lifting heavy?
Dylan Young
>want to bench 300 lbs >can't >bench 250 for 20 reps instead >surprised that I can't bench 300 after a week of doing this
Evan Carter
The article says muscle mass would increase at the same rate but the functionality wouldn't be the same.
Luke Perry
Still not making sense lad you are acting like this article disproves something Veeky Forums does but it doesn't at all. No one says these things. To gain strength you have to lift heavy for the same reason as this article says. There is even an image I don't have saved that has the results of dozens of studies compiled into a table that shows the relationship to weight lifted and reps to strength and muscle growth. You (assuming you are OP) have do come in here with old news and acted like it BTFO'S Veeky Forums but it's nothing new at all and common knowledge.
Jaxson Anderson
>projecting
i simply posted an article to discuss
you got your panties in a bunch
Jacob Young
interesting that muscle mass increases the same meaning doing low weight high rep is a good way to maintain muscle then just hit some heavy shit to wake them nerves up
Ryan Ortiz
I have been trying to figure out what your getting at you aren't making sense. Pic related is a table that's been on here for years, it covers your studies case and then some. Your study is old news here and what is there to discuss?
Jonathan Gray
So, 5x5 is ideally the best all rounded for muscle gain/strength gains.
Kayden Barnes
>yeah man maybe im 6'2 122lbs but i have NERVES so im stronger than everyone else
Jaxson Perry
why do you think small people are able to lift heavy things when their adrenalin is pumping and their nerves are on high stress
Angel Sanchez
Isn't it much harder to reach high volume with 3-5 reps than 8-12? I've read that that's why those focused on hypertrophy do it. It'd be hell to do 10 sets of 3.
Kevin Carter
Yeah and bigger people are able to lift even heavier things under those circumstances
Joseph Garcia
Did this really need to be explained? Intuitively, I think most lifters realize this; "If you lift heavy, you get used to lifting heavy".
Jose Cook
English ain't your first language, is it? The sentence you want to use is... >You can't just lift half the weight twice as often and expect to be as strong Which is literally what Veeky Forums has been saying for the past 10 years, if not more.