Here we explain what we believe is best.
Muscle growth is about one thing; Muscle protein synthesis. Muscle protein synthesis is the process where amino acids are combined into new compounds and form new muscles, and for muscle growth to take place, this must be greater than muscle catabolism, the process where muscles are broken down. A high muscle protein synthesis must be the goal for everyone who wants bigger muscles, but the paths to the goal are long and different. A mouse and a sparrow want the same breadcrumb, but the mouse must run along the ground while the sparrow can fly elegantly through the air. Both reach the goal.
Genetics are crucial
Most choices in life we can make ourselves, but we can’t choose our parents. Where you come from determines the composition of your genes, and these genes have a great importance for the development of you as a person. We have written several articles where we recommend both high volume and heavy weights, and it is a well-documented truth that both methods are effective for muscle growth. What is crucial in the duel between which method is best, is how you as a person respond to the training stimulus that the training gives you. Where one person experiences the greatest progress by lifting light and a lot, you may have the greatest progress by lifting a little and heavy. This falls back on how our muscles are built and is largely determined by genetics.
There may also be differences between genders. Women have less of the androgenic (muscle-building) hormone testosterone in their body than men. This may mean that women need to lift more volume and lighter weights to trigger muscle growth than most men need. Studies also suggest that women are naturally more enduring than men, so that women can benefit from lifting more reps is not entirely unlikely.
A lot suggests that women will respond better to muscle growth by lifting lighter weights more repetitions
“Training” age vs. age
Those who say that “age is just a number” are not entirely wrong. There is indeed a big difference between the actual age and the age the body is in a given period of life based on how well trained you are. But, an untrained 20-year-old without financial worries and obligations such as children, family, house, car, and job, who has just started strength training, needs very little stimulus before muscle growth accelerates. A well-trained 40-year-old with 20 years of training background, wife and children, house, car, a cabin that should be renovated, a busy job and training on the side, will require much more and much harder training to achieve further muscle growth.
The reason we mention all these “obligations” is that they cause a stress response, and stress is a factor that starts the production of cortisol in the body. Cortisol is a hormone that is good in small amounts, but definitely not good when the amounts become too large. In addition to being directly muscle-degrading, it stimulates the body to convert testosterone into estrogen, which is also muscle-degrading. We thus get a double effect where the muscles are slowly but surely broken down. Estrogen also contributes to us more easily gaining fat, something that is very undesirable for most of us.
High on oneself, and high on testosterone It has its advantages to be young when doing strength training
Training background means more than you think
In the case of the young 20-year-old, he will probably achieve rapid muscle growth due to the immediate adaptation the body makes to be able to lift the weight of the load he tries to overcome. Hormone production is large, external stress is low, and the conditions for muscle growth are favorable. As he develops greater strength and better technique by lifting lighter weights and many repetitions, he will have to gradually increase the weight or the number of reps.
In the example of the 40-year-old, hormone production is much lower as testosterone production starts to decline already from the age of 30. In addition, he has a number of factors that cause stress to the body and head, there is less time for training and the body has already adapted to strength training to a great extent. With over 20 years of training background and experience, the joints and muscles have been strengthened and can withstand more than for the youth of 20 years who has just started to train. Taking into account all the stress factors that the older person has to think about through everyday life, and that heavy lifts with few repetitions place high demands not only on the physical, but also on the nervous system, we can imagine that he will benefit more from lifting lighter weights and more repetitions.
This does not mean that he CANNOT lift heavy and fewer reps occasionally, but that most of the training should be set up for high-volume training. Where you are in life, what training condition you are in, and what kind of external stress factors affect you, will all be crucial for how you should set up your training.
The more tasks and stress factors you have, the harder it is to build muscles. A busy father or mother may benefit from trying relaxation techniques to reduce stress.
Body structure and proportions
The perfect body for powerlifting has a long torso and short legs and arms. Unfortunately, or fortunately, not all seven billion people on earth are created equally, and we cannot expect a training method to work for everyone.
In the case of a tall person with long extremities and a shorter torso, it is important to remember that very heavy lifts to a much greater extent can lead to injuries to joints and connective tissue than for people who are more suitable for lifting heavy (read: long torso, short extremities). It should therefore be of interest to tall people to have knowledge of when he/she should put away the heaviest weights in favor of high-volume training.
For people in this group, it can be effective to train isolation exercises to promote muscle growth. The long extremities ensure that the weight must travel a long distance due to the long lever arm, and the muscle being trained is put under high tension for a longer time. Exercises such as leg extensions or leg curls can therefore be a better alternative for training the thighs than heavy squats.
One last thing
Several studies suggest that training with heavy weights, especially exercises that require high spinal loading, can be very effective for releasing testosterone and growth hormone from the spine.
Other studies point out that using high-lactate training, training methods such as drop sets, rest-pause, or supersets, can achieve the same effect on the release of testosterone.
