There is an employee at Europa who comes in to work out in the weight room every afternoon. I wont mention any names but his initials are Roosevelt Brown. (Don’t worry, I have his permission). I over -heard someone not long ago say that he was lifting the weight way too fast! Well, if he’s lifting the weight the wrong way and too fast then we should all be lifting that way if we want to put on muscle mass. Why? Because Roosevelt is one big dude—that’s why. Now if I could ever get him to squat and out of the rack and go deep, but that’s for another time and a different article!

Research shows and tells us that if you want to become bigger and stronger and more explosive at the same time, then lift the weight FAST! Muscle responds to speed, that is if the weight is at least 60% of your 1 rep max (that 60% is the minimal load that will build muscle). If you’re lifting the weight or another word for the weight you are lifting is Mass, then you’re creating Force, and Force is simply: Mass X Acceleration. The more mass you lift and lifting that mass as fast as possible, then you’ll not only create muscle and strength but also explosiveness.

Now when you’re lifting a weight that is heavy (let’s say 90% of your 1 rep max) you’re already lifting the weight fast, it just looks slow because it’s heavy. This is called compensatory acceleration. Have you ever tried to lift a heavy weight slow? Can’t do it and if you can then the weight wasn’t that heavy for you or at least 90% to begin with.

Look at the graph below for hopefully a better understanding (if I haven’t confused you enough already).

The motor units to the far left are the (S) Slow muscle fibers or motor units, and they can go forever like your distance runners but they can’t handle a lot of force or mass in this case.

Over further you’ll see the (FR) OR Fatigue Resistance. These fibers of motor units can go up to around 5 minutes without calling it quits.

·When you go all the way to the right you’ll see some really big motor units, (FF) Fast Fatiqueable, however they’re not going to last very long. The bigger ones only up to 8-10 seconds but you’ll be lifting some very big weights! In other words, “High levels of force produce high levels of Motor Units recruitment; Low levels of force produce low levels of motor unit recruitment”.

However you can’t lift heavy all the time: 1 to 5 reps, or you’ll “burn-out” after a while and the (CNS) central nervous system will have a hard time recovering from one workout to the next. So that’s when you up the reps to 8-12, but once again, lifting the weight as fast as possible. Remembering all the time that good form and technique are never compromised. The speed I am talking about however is only during the concentric contraction. The eccentric load should be lowered in a controlled manner.

Now this applies also to the ladies, that’s why higher reps are always best for those wanting to shape and tone. That keeps the ladies from using a lot of mass. Some ladies respond and put on muscle quickly with loads as low as 50 to 60% where others not the case. That just depends on the amount of testosterone each lady has in her system—yes ladies, you have testosterone in your system also. With lighter loads you can still lift the weight being used fast…..Remember that muscle gives you the shape you desire