3 Ways In Which Strength Training Is Good For Bodybuilders

Most people are ‘middle of the road’ types who, in whatever avenue they pursue in life, want to stick to the middle of the road – the area which avoids the fringes and provides the most safety. Bodybuilders, for instance, may tend to stick predominantly to the time-honored 8-15 repetition range which is the zone in which most muscle size gains are gotten, and avoid anything higher or lower. Lower repetition training is, for the most part, the domain of those who care less about muscle gains (or don’t care at all) and simply want to get stronger. It’s a fact that bodybuilding practices have very little benefit for strength athletes, but since the roots of bodybuilding are in fact in strength training, bodybuilders are in the lucky position of being able to benefit greatly by combining strength training into their bodybuilding routine. Three ways in which this happens are presented here for you.

1: Heavier weight for low reps builds muscle

For most people, the muscle built is much less than what can be gotten in the bodybuilders higher rep ranges, but it’s muscle nonetheless – and different muscle. When you train with lower weights and lift towards your maximum strength, you are engaging the fastest twitch muscle fibers which will grow and add to your overall size. Without having muscle biopsies taken, you don’t know what percentage of your muscles are fast twitch fibers – it could be a lot, or it could be a little.

It’s no coincidence that the most explosive, powerful and fast athletes on the planet have a high percentage of fast twitch muscle fibers.

2: Heavier weight helps to strengthen tendons

Tendons really are the most neglected part of the body. It’s a rare person who sets his or her stall out to train tendons specifically. It’s not seem as glamorous, I guess – but it’s fundamental to you whether you train for strength or muscle mass because without strong tendons, your muscles will be limited in how hard they can pull, and by trying to override this natural safety mechanism you risk a serious injury.

You are at your strongest when you hold a weight statically. These are called static holds or static contraction training. Static holds are a proven strength training method to gain muscle strength in a small range around the hold, and to place stress on the tendons without subjecting them or your muscles to the over-expectation of movement at a much heavier weight.

If static holds don’t sound appealing to you, you can simply go as heavy as good form will allow and perform full reps of multiple sets with singles or even partials.

By building up the tendons you not only help to keep yourself injury free but also unlock much more of your strength and muscle mass potential.

3: Heavier weight builds strength in lighter weight, proven muscle building rep ranges

The title of the above point is a bit of a winding mouthful so I’ll try to break it down as simply as possible for you so you get this concept 100%.

Building muscle mass is most effective in given rep ranges with a weight that challenges you to your strength limits within those rep ranges – which obviously means you lift a weight which is significantly less than what you could for a maximum weight single repetition.

For instance, let’s say you can handle 18.5kg for 8 reps (often cited as the optimal rep range for building muscle) in the dumbbell curl, and your single max is 23.5kg. By purposely trying to push up your single max to, say, 26kg, that should also push up the weight you can handle for your sets of 8 reps. Heavier weight means more tension on the muscle, which means more muscle mass.

It’s no coincidence the most notable bodybuilders tend to be those who are very strong and incorporate plenty of strength training into their routines; men like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman, etc.

That’s why it’s useful to periodically try to move your maximum weight up. It’s not merely ‘for show’ but has real benefits to your muscle building endeavors.

I hope this article has been helpful to you and opened your eyes up to new possibilities.