Lifting Light Weights?
This was originally published February 27th, 2008
The essence of effective strength training is a concept called progressive resistance exercise. This means that that even if the resistance may be light to begin with, it should not stay that way.
I go crazy when someone tells me about the routine they’ve been doing with their eight-lb hand weights. (P.S. Call them dumbbells. Calling them hand weights is a dead giveaway that you are clueless.) My first question is this. How long have you been doing this? Often, people respond with something like, “I’ve done this three times a week for three months.” The doctrine of progressive resistance says that the first two weeks were beneficial and that 10 weeks were wasted. It’s no wonder people stop working out.
Once you have passed the first three weeks of training, you should lift a weight that is heavy but allows perfect form. Be wary, however, of another all-too-common mistake. When we say the load should be heavy, people begin to cheat. We are not encouraging cheating. Strive for perfect technique in all exercises AND progressively increase the resistance. SportBlocks, from PowerBlock, are perfect for this as are the Bowflex Dumbbells. SportBlocks are a small version of the popular PowerBlock dumbbells that increase in three-pound increments. If you don’t want to buy SportBlocks, get a good selection of dumbbells. Beginners will need 2.5-, 5-, 7.5-,10- and 12-lb dumbbells in order to progress.
Point 4 – Work on basic strength in basic exercises. If your trainer has you practicing your golf swing with a dumbbell in your hands, get a new trainer. Do not wave dumbbells around and call it strength training. Learn to bodyweight squat, learn to do a push-up. Good basic training should strongly remind you of the calisthenics you used to do in high school.
Here’s the truth. The secret is, there is no secret. If you want to hit a golf ball further, you need to get stronger. You will not get strong lifting a five-pound dumbbell. Next time we’ll talk about two more pet peeves. Stretching. And worrying about getting too big.
Mike Boyle’s Fat Loss Secrets DVD is available at www.performbetter.com
Michael Boyle's Strengthcoach.com Blog 
August 3, 2012 at 4:35 pm
[…] Lifting Light Weights […]
August 1, 2012 at 3:10 am
[…] Lifting Light Weight may be Wasting your Time! var addthis_product = 'wpp-261'; var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true};No one has ever gotten better lifting light weights. Light weight is an oxymoron. A weight should be appropriate to the goal but, rarely, if ever, intentionally light. The load should be based on the strength level of the person. The reality is if you are lifting a weight ten times, numbers nine and ten should be difficult. If you can lift a weight 20 times but choose to do only ten, you are wasting your time. Period. –Michael Boyle […]
July 25, 2012 at 3:04 am
Kyle- obviously there are exceptions and conditions that might make a light weight necessary but this is geared to you previously mentioned pink dumbbell crowd.
July 25, 2012 at 3:01 am
I suppose I should clarify that “lighter loads” does not mean little pink dumbbells. It just means, I dunno, let’s say 50% or lower of 1RM.
July 25, 2012 at 3:00 am
Again, depending on what you mean by “light”… there may be many reasons to lift a light load. Stating what you’ll know but perhaps not all your readers might –
– if a person has strength imbalances, adding load will amplify their effects; for example a person with even a mild scoliosis will have greater lean to one side with 100kg in their hands than 60kg. Working through sets with amplified strength imbalances can make the strength imbalance worse over time.
– Injury issues, someone might need to do the movement to get the greatest strength and mobility possible from it, and the injury means they can handle weight X, but not weight X+1. Similarly with recovery issues, as I noted about my client Gyorgy.
– As with strength imbalances, problems with form will be amplified with a higher load, and some unlearning previous bad movements may take hundreds of reps over dozens of sessions to improve that form
– Lastly, if the same strength increases can be had with a lighter load, many people will prefer this to using a heavier load.
July 25, 2012 at 2:53 am
Kyle- I agree but, I think you missed the point. Of course loads should be appropriate but deliberately lifting light loads still makes no sense.
July 24, 2012 at 10:04 pm
I’m starting to think this is not entirely true, though it depends on what you call “light”. The official recommendation of 85+% 1RM is I think more than needed in many cases. For newbies at least, just focusing on correct movement and putting in lots of reps over time does a lot.
Recently I have had clients achieve the following over eight weeks,
Gyorgy @95kg, SQ60 –> 80kg, never squatting more than 30kg for 3×5
Theresa @65g SQ60 –> 75kg, never squatting more than 45kg 5×5
just to give two examples.
Similar results were achieved in bench, deadlift and some other lifts.
In the case of Gyorgy, there may be some muscle memory effect, since last year he squatted 100kg. However, he also had skin and lymphatic cancer this year and is recovering from them, so that should at least cancel out his muscle memory effect.
Theresa is a newbie to barbell training and thus almost anything will work (even just stretching a muscle will make it stronger for newbies [http://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Abstract/2012/03000/A_10_Week_Stretching_Program_Increases_Strength_in.33.aspx]), still it’s a remarkable jump.
In both cases what we did was to focus on correct movement over the fullest possible range of motion. For Gyorgy this was because though he is naturally strong, his form was atrocious, and anyway recovering from cancer he wouldn’t be able to handle heavier workouts (he could do the workout, but would be tanked the rest of the day).
For Theresa it was that she is a newbie so learning correct form is most important, but also because she has a tendency to say “I can’t” if pushed hard to 80+% 1RM. Easier just to get lots of reps in with a lighter weight.
Working in the gym with newbies, I find that a woman who has just done cardio might manage SQ30 or so in her first workout, one who has done BodyPump SQ50. And BodyPump is all about light weights and high repetitions. Just practicing the movement does a lot, in newbie terms.
I make no claims about what it takes to get from a 200 to a 220kg squat or the like. But for newbies and retreads, significant strength gains can result from a focus on correct form with lighter or moderate weights and a moderate to high volume.
July 24, 2012 at 5:17 pm
Calisthenics–whatever happened to that word? Great word. Great article (I definitely got a few laughs in from your classic one-liners). I thoroughly enjoyed this. Thanks, Mike.